Rabbi Meyer Schwartzman

Rabbi Doctor Meyer Schwartzman was born in the small town of Zagorow in the township of Kalisz in the province of Poznan in 1901 to Rabbi Yisroel Moshe and Ruchel (nee Bauman). He was the first of 7 children born to Yisroel Moshe and Ruchel and was one of many rabbis in his family(including 2 of his brothers as well as his father and grandfather). Meyer recalled the destruction of his town during WWI in a letter he wrote to one of his fellow authors:

"I was born in the city of Zagorov… before the first war broke out. In the year 1914 I lived in Kalisz. I remember on Tisha B'Av the Germans entered Kalisz and on the third day they attacked and several people from [the Jewish people] were killed, also the teacher from Davshitz (I forgot his name) fell in the street."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Kalisz]:

''"During the first year of World War I, the invading German army destroyed 95% of Kalisz in a deliberate act committed on a defenceless city, and killed 33 Jews."''

Rabbi Meyer learned in Yeshiva and was ordained as a Rabbi and also received a doctorate in literature. He moved East, as did most of his siblings, to Seidlce, Poland, after he married his wife Chava (nee Jablon from Kock, Poland). There, Meyer and Chava had 7 children in Seidlce before the outbreak of WWII. Just before the war, Rabbi Meyer went to Canada using his profession as a journalist to obtain a visa. Soon after the war broke out, in 1939, Chava rushed her 7 children out of Poland on the ship named "Batory" that made port in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Meyer's brother, Rabbi Shloyme Usher, fled to Shanghai. Aside from his brother, all of Meyer's siblings were murdered in the Holocaust.

After escaping the war, the Schwartzmans settled in Winnipeg, Canada, where Meyer joined the Agudat Yisrael organization and became the Chief Rabbi of Winnipeg, as well as the pulpit rabbi of the shul Beyt Yehudah (appointed in 1940). He was involved in disputes between two Kashrut organizations. Rabbi Meyer wrote many books, or sefarim, on Chasidic history, literature, and culture. He also wrote a collection of sefarim on the 5 books of the Torah titled "Meir Eyney Yesharim" which are perhaps his most famous works. Rabbi Meyer Schwartzman was an avid reader and is remembered for cramming every wall in his study with books. He is well known amongst Gere Chassidim as he was a Gere chassid himself. Rav Meyer also had historic correspondences with other great Jewish scholars of his time.

He passed away in Winnipeg in 1969 and is buried in Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem next to his wife Chava.

From: [https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8_%D7%A9%D7%95...]

מאיר שורצמן נולד בעיירה זגורוב, למשפחה חסידית אדוקה. למד ב"חדר" ובישיבה, והשלים לימודי הסמכה לרבנות. לאחר נישואיו עבר לעיירה שדליץ הסמוכה ללודז', כיהן שם כרב צעיר, והיה בין מייסדי ופעילי "אגודת ישראל" בפולין.

בשנת 1938 היגר מאיר שורצמן עם משפחתו לקנדה והתמנה בשנת 1940 לרב בית הכנסת "בית יהודה" בעיר ויניפג. כבר מצעירותו כתב ופרסם דברי ספרות ביידיש ודברי תורה בעברית. בגיל עשרים כבר נדפסו סיפוריו הראשונים ביידיש באירופה ובאמריקה, ובעברית נדפסו בארץ ישראל. יחד עם עיוני התורה שלו וסיפורי הילדים ברוח החסידות, נתן מאיר שורצמן מכוחו גם לסיפורי חייהם ותולדותיהם של רבנים גדולים. על ספרו "מאיר עיני ישרים" הסכמות של רבנים רבים, בהם הרבנים יצחק אייזיק הלוי הרצוג, בן-ציון מאיר חי עוזיאל, משה אביגדור עמיאל, זלמן סורוצקין והאדמו"ר מגור ישראל אלתר.

מספריו ביידיש: 'היום-טובים שלנו', וויניפעג, 1946. 'הלהבה היהודית', (אש התמיד), וויניפעג, 1958. 'ליליאן', עם הקדמה מאת שרה שנירר, שעדלעץ (שדליץ), 1926. ספריו של מאיר שורצמן מעוררים עניין עד היום בציבור החרדי, וספריו חוזרים ונדפסים גם היום. LINKS TO HIS SEFARIM: https://ia802703.us.archive.org/2/items/nybc210312/nybc210312.pdf http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pagefeed/hebrewbooks_org_3246_2.pdf http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pagefeed/hebrewbooks_org_3195_2.pdf http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pagefeed/hebrewbooks_org_3105_2.pdf

USEFUL LINKS: [http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/article/zagorow/3,local-history/] [https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005790] [http://donhoward.net/genpoland/pos.htm] [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0012...] [http://www.bh.org.il/databases/jewish-genealogy/] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Kalisz] http://www.tidhar.tourolib.org/tidhar/view/10/3546