The Mile High City of Denver, is perhaps the last place one would look to uncover the story of a remarkable rav, a noted posek and a talmid chacham with encyclopedic knowledge of Toras nigleh v’nistar, and a scion of one of the great European houses of Chassidus. And perhaps that is why the isolated way station of Denver best suited Rav Bentzion Chaim Shloime Meshulam Zusia Twerski ztz”l, the previous Hornosteipler Rebbe, whose mission was to ignite the souls of Jews wandering in the American midbar.
Simchas Torah this year marked Rav B.C. Shloime Twerski’s 30th yahrtzeit and although three decades have passed those who knew him will all tell you the same thing — it is impossible to present a complete picture of this rebbe who deliberately concealed the greater part of himself. However conversations with those who knew him best — his brothers his children his talmidim — weave a tapestry that although not comprehensive nor even entirely comprehensible reveals the beauty and the mystery of his life.
“He was brilliant profound wise intuitive and deep ” reflects his brother Rav Michel Twerski the Hornosteipler Rebbe of Milwaukee. “He was a spellbinding speaker in Yiddish and English. At the tisch people would give him any pasuk and on the spot he could expound on it as if he had researched it at length.”
“My father had a near-photographic memory — he never forgot anything he learned” says Reb Shloime’s son Rav Mordechai Dov Ber Twerski the Hornosteipler Rebbe of New York. “His insight into what was happening with Jews all over the world in his generation enabled him to predict all the difficulties we’re encountering today.”
Looking back over his life Rav Shloime Twerski’s single-minded focus was apparent throughout his years as rav of Denver — to light the spark of Yiddishkeit in remote places in dormant hearts and to fan that spark into a roaring flame. He sought to shine the light of Torah into the furthest reaches of settlement raising a beacon for wayward souls wandering in the American midbar.
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