A never-before-seen picture of the chossid Reb Hillel Gurevitch, son of Reb Itche der Masmid, was just discovered in Riga, Latvia and is being shared for the first time on Anash.org.
by Hershel Rosenbluh for Anash.org
A never-before seen picture of the chossid Reb Hillel Gurevitch, son of Reb Itche der Masmid, was just discovered in Riga, Latvia and is being shared here first, courtesy of head shliach Rabbi Mordechai Glazman of Riga.
Reb Hillel was born in 5674/1914 and served as a Rosh Yeshiva in Tomchei Tmimim in Dankra, Latvia. He married Rivka Cohen, daughter of the famous chossid and rov, Reb Refoel Cohen, knows as Reb Refoel der Rov, on 17 Elul, 5700/1940. The Frierdige Rebbe writes to Reb Itche that he should see what could be done about getting Reb Hillel to become a rov in Lievenhoff, Latvia, after the previous rov, Rav Avrohom Binyomin Teitz, fled to America.
Reb Itche der Masmid was killed in Riga with several other notable chassidim, including Reb Chatshe Feigin and Reb Mordechai Cheifetz, hyd. Reb Hillel was the only son who was killed during WWII, as all the others were in Russia and thus survived the war and had large families of chassidim.
Official German records show that Reb Refoel entered one of Riga’s ghettos and was not among the Jews that were killed in the shul in the summer of 5701/1941, despite what some reports show and what has been previously published about Reb Refoel. Those records also show that Hillel was with his shver in the Riga ghetto and was likely among the thousands killed by the Nazis in subsequent years.
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