Rabbi Pinchas Mordechai Teitz (1908–1995) was an American rabbi, teacher, author, and innovator in creating a modern Torah community in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He excelled in his family's tradition of caring for Jews across the globe in any challenges they faced. A mikvah he built in 1938, a day school he founded in 1941 that grew to more than 900 students, adult education courses that he initiated, the welcome he gave to displaced persons after WWII and to Jews who came from Russia, all became a model for other leaders to implement in their cities and towns.
Early life Mordechai Pinchas Teitz was born on 8 Tammuz-July 7, 1908 in Subat, Latvia. The first name had a long history in the family, going back to Rav Mordechai Yoffe, the Levush. ‘Pinchas’ was the title of the parshah in the week of his bris. He became known by this name, which proved to be appropriate as he acted for the welfare of the Jewish community throughout his adult life. But he signed legal documents in Hebrew ‘Mordechai Pinchas,’ and his passport from Latvia read ‘Morduchas Pinchas Taic.’
His father's name also raised questions. At birth he was named Binyamin Yaakov, with Rabinovich as his last name. The family wanted to avoid his being taken into the Russian army. A boy who was an only child was exempt from the draft. The parents of an only son, Avraham Teitz, did not inform the authorities when their little boy died. They gave his passport to Binyamin Rabinovich, who now became , and was called ‘Avraham Binyamin’ or ‘Binyamin Avraham’ within the community. In his last years, when he did not have to fear that the Tsar's army would come after him, he signed letters with his original name, Binyamin Yaakov.
Another source of confusion was that Pinchas's grandfather was a Yoffe. But when he married Rivkah Rabinovich, he took on her surname because her family had become renowned. Her father, Rav Binyamin Rabinovich, was the courageous rabbi of Vilkomir who made a powerful man stop sending Jewish boys to the army.Rivkah Blau, Learn Torah, Love Torah, Live Torah: Harav Mordechai Pinchas Teitz-The Quintessential Rabbi. Ktav, 2001, pages 8-9. Her brothers were the twins Rav Eliyahu David and Rav Zvi Yehuda, who added ‘Te-omim’ to the family name. The initials of the first twin's name, aleph daled reish taf, formed an acrostic, ‘Aderet.’ His daughter married Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook, who later became the first chief rabbi in Palestine. When his wife died in the third year of their marriage, Rav Kook married her first cousin, and became doubly related to the Rabinoviches.Blau, page 9-11. For Pinchas's father, the youngest in the family and orphaned when he was nine, there was a special closeness with his uncles and their families; he lived with them when he was home from the yeshiva. He married Shaina Sira, a daughter of Rabbi Moshe Mishel Shmuel Shapiro, the rabbi of Rogova, Lithuania, and the author of noted scholarly works. Her ancestor was the Maharshal, Rav Shlomo Luria, known for his accurate rulings in Torah law. Her sister Leah married Rabbi Ben-Zion Zilber. Leah's son, Yitzchak Yosef, and Shaina Sira's son, Pinchas, first met in 1972 in Tashkent; two World Wars and the Iron Curtain had kept them apart until then.
Rabbi Binyamin Avraham Teitz was the rabbi in Subat for the mitnagdim and the hassidim.See Pihas Hakehillot Lavia v'Estonia, ed. Dov Levin, Jerusalem : Yad Vashem, 1988, page 193. Living quarters for the family were between a shul for one group at one end, and for the other group at the second end. The five sons and five daughters learned that everyone was a valued member of the community, united with one rabbi. Years later visitors to Elizabeth commented that in most places the residents would erect separate synagogues for different factions, but Rabbi Teitz kept them united.Information about the family comes from the biography written by Rivkah Blau, Learn Torah, Love Torah, Live Torah: Harav Mordechai Pinchas Teitz-The Quintessential Rabbi. Ktav, 2001. It was translated into Hebrew by Sassona Yovell and published as "V’Samahta B’Hayekha." Urim, 2006. Information about Rav Teitz and his father is also in "Toldot Anshei Sheim," ed. Asher Rand. New York, 1950, page 59. A summary account of Rabbi Teitz’s life and of his family is in the online encyclopedia. The Encyclopaedia Judaica lists articles about the family under Rabinowich, Rabinowitz, and Teitz.
In 1914, Rabbi ,More information on Rabbi Eliyahu Akiva Rabinovich is available in the online encyclopedia. a brother of Rabbi Binyamin Avraham, urged him to come with Shaina Sira and their children to Poltava, Russia, where he was the rabbi. The danger in Latvia was that the Russians and the Germans - whichever army reached a city first - took the rabbis as a hostage to prevent any aid being given to the enemy. Rabbi Eliyahu Akiva edited and published Hamodia,The newspaper is published today in English and Hebrew. The masthead reads "The Daily Newspaper of Torah Jewy ... 1910 Hamodia Poltava, Pland, Rabbi Eliyahu Akiva Rabinowitz Z"L, founding editor". a newspaper, and , a journal. Pinchas and his brothers set type on a machine their uncle had bought in Warsaw in order to print professional editions. The young Pinchas learned from his uncle to speak and write without fear about communal issues, and to act. If people were fleeing to Poltava, his uncle cared for them. Rabbi Eliyahu Akiva Rabinovich died before Passover in 1917, while he was preparing to bake matzoh for the refugees.
In 1921, the family had to flee again, this time from Communists who were intent on destroying Torah education and Torah life. In Latvia, their father became the rabbi in Livenhof.Pihas Hakehillot Lavia v'Estonia, page 169. In the nearby city of Dvinsk were brilliant Torah scholars—Rabbi Yosef Rosen (the Rogatchover) and Rabbi Meir Simchah HaKohen, the author of Or Samei’ach and Meshekh Chokhmah.Blau, pages 33-51. By the time Pinchas turned fourteen, he had met outstanding scholars and courageous, caring leaders, many of them his relatives. He learned from them how to be a rabbi.
Education Pinchas learned in a yeshiva in Ponevez, then in Riga. When he came home for vacation, he found that boys who were not in school were in danger. He was only fourteen and a half years old, yet he took the initiative and founded a heder for them.Blau, page 16.
He studied for six years at the yeshiva in Slabodka, where he and Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky began a life-long friendship. He was ordained in 1931 by Rabbi , Av Beis Din of Kovna, and by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch, Rosh Yeshiva of Telz. His education in community-building began with an invitation from Rabbi Mordechai Dubin (1889–1956) to help in his successful campaign for a seat in the Latvian legislature, the Sejim. Dubin set the example of helping everyone, Gentile and Jew, observant and non-observant.
In 1931, when the doctor recommended that he spend time at home to recover from an emergency appendectomy, Pinchas took a daily train ride to Dvinsk to study Yoreh Deah, particularly the laws of kashrut, with Rabbi Yosef Rosen (the Rogatchover).
Career Rav Pinchas Teitz became friendly with Shimon Wittenberg, also a representative to the Sejim, and Avigdor Balshanek, the head of Agudath Israel in Latvia. He became Secretary of Agudath Israel and traveled around the country to establish a heder in every town. His powers of analysis, memorable phrasing, and ability to engender enthusiasm in an audience led to his being asked to speak at many gatherings. He met the Lubavitcher Rebbe (1880–1950) at the border when the Communists released him from Russia to Latvia; he helped the Rebbe establish a yeshiva in Riga. He met Rav Yehezkel Abramsky (1886–1976) at the train station in Riga when the Communists released him from prison. The prison officials had wanted to humiliate Rav Abramsky by removing his beard. Rav Teitz arranged a minyan in an apartment where the rav could stay while his beard grew back.
He edited Unzer Shtimme, "Our Voice,"Blau, page 53. a Yiddish newspaper in Riga; he headed a religious youth movement that he named Yavneh; he was the rabbi of a small town.
At his sister's wedding the heads of the Telz Yeshiva observed his organizational skills and heard him speak. They asked him to accompany Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch (1895–1955) on a fund-raising trip to North America. He promised his father that he would return to Latvia after the trip. He prepared by learning at the yeshiva for a semester.
Rabbi Bloch and Rabbi Teitz arrived in New York on November 3, 1933, the thirtieth day after the passing of Rabbi Elazar Mayer Preil, a distinguished Telz alumnus. He had been the rabbi of the Orthodox community in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a close friend of the Bloch family, the author of scholarly works, and had contributed essays under the pen name A.L. Tzihan to Hapeles, the journal Pinchas's uncle had edited and published in Poltava decades earlier.
Marriage Rabbi Preil had written in his will that if the man his oldest daughter, Basya, would marry will be suitable, he should become the rabbi of Elizabeth.Blau, page 85. Basya and Pinchas hesitated to meet since people spoke about a solution to the problem of finding a rabbi, not about the relationship of a young couple.Blau, page 81. Then Rav Bloch introduced them to each other. In autumn 1934 they became engaged and on January 13, 1935, the 9th of Shvat, they married; she would teach her husband English.
Rescuing Jews from Europe Their trip to Latvia and Lithuania to meet the family took them across Germany; fear of the Nazis was evident.Blau, page 91. Rabbi Teitz spoke wherever he was invited about the danger of Hitler carrying out his plans and the need to leave Europe.Blau, page 101. When the couple returned to America, he started the process of immigration for his family. He was able to save one brother and his parents. A brother-in-law came to the United States in 1938, then went back to accompany his wife and young children; they waited too long.Blau, page 104.
He had worked in Europe in the 1930s on an economic boycott of Germany, but the Nazis used it for propaganda against the Jews. Now that he was in the United States, he met with government officials, including senators, to propose paying $100 for each Jew who would be permitted to leave the lands that the Nazis had conquered. But anti-Semitism was rampant; one politician told him that helping Jews would hurt his chances in the next election.Blau, page 105. He joined Va’ad Hatzalah, sending food and trying to rescue people.
In 1941, Jewish life in Europe was being destroyed; Torah education and observance would have to grow in America. He started a day school where a high level of Jewish and secular knowledge would be attained. He instituted nursery for 3-year-olds, kindergarten at 4, and primer at 5, where children learned to read Hebrew and English, each one at an individual pace. He wanted children to enjoy learning through Shabbos parties, making a seder, singing, performances, and daily recess in a large playground. Opposition to a day school was intense; the word ‘yeshiva’ could not be used until Dr. Samuel Belkin, president of Yeshiva University from 1943 to 1975, made it part of the American vocabulary. The assumption was that only a big city with a large Jewish population could sustain a yeshiva. Elizabeth was the third small community to start a school.