Rabbi Chanoch (Heinich) Gad Justman

Early years

Rav Chanoch Gad Justman zy"a, the second Piltzer Rebbe, was a Gerrer chassid who served his people as a rav, a Rebbe, a rosh yeshiva and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. He was born in Gur (Góra Kalwaria), Poland. His father was Rav Pinchas Menachem, and his mother, Hendel Leah, was a sister of Rav Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger.

He married Devora Matill, the daughter of Rav Chaim Halperin. As a young man he was a devoted chassid of his uncle, the Gerrer Rebbe, Rav Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter.

Torah and leadership

When his uncle passed away in 1905, Rav Pinchas Menachem moved to Pilica (Piltz) to serve as its rav, and he became the first Piltzer Rebbe, leading a circle of Gerrer chassidim. In 1907 his son followed him to Piltz, where he served as a rav in all but title.

In 1915 Rav Chanoch Gad was appointed rav of Wieruszów, and his father moved there with him. Father and son shared the work: the son served as the town's rav, while the father led the chassidim as Rebbe. In 1919 Rav Pinchas Menachem moved on to Czestochowa, and his son remained in Wieruszów.

After his father's passing in 1921, his cousin, the Gerrer Rebbe Rav Avrohom Mordechai Alter, asked Rav Chanoch Gad to take his father's place. He became the second Piltzer Rebbe and moved to Czestochowa. In 1931 he became rav of Wieluń.

In Czestochowa he headed Yeshivas Sifsei Tzaddik as rosh yeshiva. He also sat on the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisroel in Poland and of the World Agudah.

Later years and passing

The Second World War began on 1 September 1939, and on that very first day the German Luftwaffe bombed Wieluń. Some 1,300 civilians were killed, 90 percent of the town center was destroyed, and the town was annexed to the Third Reich.

The Rebbe decided to flee with his family and what was left of his community. They went first to Łódź, then to Warsaw, and from there to Czestochowa. Soon after he left Wieluń, German bombs struck his home there and destroyed it.

In the Czestochowa ghetto, his home became a place where rabbanim and activists met in secret, and a warm refuge for hungry and forsaken refugees. In those bitter days he gave strength and comfort to everyone around him.

He kept teaching Torah and Chassidus in the ghetto. Despite the great danger, he insisted that tefillos resume in the shul at Warszawska 23, and he encouraged people to come to the shul and learn Torah there with friends. Avraham Yeshaya Lewnhoff gave shiurim in the shul on ul. Berka Joselewicza.

The Rebbe taught his chassidim the halachos of Kiddush Hashem (giving one's life to sanctify Hashem's Name), from a special booklet printed in secret by Rav Aryeh Tzvi Frumer of Kozieglowy.

Two men who had escaped from the Chełmno death camp reached Czestochowa in March 1942. One was Chaim Yerachmiel Widawski (1913–1986), who later lived in Antwerp; the other was Yitzchok Justman, who later spent a short time in Israel and passed away in New York. They told the Rebbe of horrors beyond belief. When he heard that Jews were being gassed to death, he collapsed, and for several days he could not rise.

After that he urged families to send their young people out of the ghetto, the girls too, even when their mothers could not bear to part with them. In 1942 the Rebbe was taken to the death camp of Treblinka, and there he perished.