Rav Mordechai Yaakov Breish
The Chelkas Yaakov, Rav of Zurich for forty years, who built a community eruv in Germany and founded a kollel in Bnei Brak.
Biography
Early years and rabbinate in Germany
Rav Mordechai Yaakov Breish of Zurich zt"l, the Chelkas Yaakov, was born in Skohl, Galicia. His father was a chassid of Rav Yissochor Dov of Belz. He married in 1920, and the couple lived in Lvov. He became Rav in Alesk, and then in 1928, of Disbourg, Germany.
In 1933 he published Tikun Eruvin, a detailed examination of the halochos of eruvin. It grew out of his project of making a community eruv to help his mispallelim (those who davened in his shul), who were otherwise carrying on Shabbos.
Zurich and Bnei Brak
After a life-threatening incident with the Nazis, who had just come to power, Rav Mordechai Yaakov and his wife decided to escape Germany. After a brief time in Lance, France, they settled in Zurich, Switzerland, where he nurtured the Jewish community for forty years. In 1967 he established the Kollel Le'Horo'a Chelkas Yaakov in Bnei Brak.
Seforim
- Tikun Eruvin: A detailed examination of the halochos of eruvin, published in 1933.