Rabbi Moses Yehuda Fischer

1896-1918: Rabbi Moses Yehudah Fisher (1875-1948) – our synagogue’s first full-time Rabbi

Rabbi Moses Yehudah Fisher was born into a scholarly family in Paks, Hungary.

His father was Rabbi Amram Fisher, Rabbi Amram Fisher was born in 1853 to his father Rabbi Akiva Fisher, a student of the Chasam Sofer. He studied by his father, by Rabbi Oinchos Elya Ostreicher – Ozlreiner (the Dayan of Oyven Yashan, Obuda, today past of Budapest), by Rabbi Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer, by Rabbi Avraham Eliezer Zev Alt (Rabbi of Kobersdorf, Kobold), Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Monheimer (Rabbi of Ungvar, today Uzhgorod, Ukraine), and by the Shevet Sofer. He was the son-in-law of Rav Eliezer Zusman Sofer, Rabbi of Halash (Kiskunhalas) and Paks. After his marriage in 1873, he became a Dayan in Halash with his father-in-law and in 1878 was appointed to head the Beis Din of DenDek (Gyongyos?). In 1879 he was appointed as head of the Beis Din of Yanak (Gyonk). There he remained until his passing on 18 Nissan 1925, buried in Yanak. In 1966, his bones were exhumed and reinterred in Jerusalem on Har Hamenuchos. He wrote Divrei Amram, included in the back of his father’s book Ateres Akiva.

His sons were:

Rabbi Mordechai Efraim Fishel Fisher, head of the Beis Din of Sharash – Potok (Sarospatak) and a student of the Shevet Sofer, Rabbi Yosef Betzalel Fisher, Rabbi of Vochterlitz, Rabbi Moses Fisher, our Rabbi, Rabbi Akiva Fisher, Dayan in Kin-Sent-Miklos (Kunszentmiklos) and a student of the Daas Sofer, Rabbi Simcha Yoel Fisher who was Rabbi in Deva and Chicago at Congregation Ohavah Tzedek on Claremont Avenue. His son-in-law was Rav Elozor Singer, a Dayan in Rima Sambat (Rimaszombat, today Rimavska Sobot, Slovakia) and a student of the Daas Sofer.

Rabbi Moses Fisher studied under Rabbi Yeshaya Zilberstein, the Dayan of Viatzen (Vac) , and under his grandfather Rabbi Eliezer Zusman Sofer, the Dayan of Paks.

In 1895 our congregation contacted the great Rabbi Simcha Sofer, known as the Shevet Sofer of Pressburg, Bratislava, to provide our Synagogue with a full-time Rabbi. Rabbi Sofer found no one who was more suitable and competent for this post than his pupil Rabbi Moses Fisher, on whom he had conferred ordination. The Rabbi was welcomed at a festive gathering to Agudas Achim. Speakers included his father, Rabbi A. Fisher, Rabbi Dr. Felsenthal of Oak Park Temple, and Rabbi Abraham Braude of Congregation Anshe Shalom.

Rabbi Fisher devoted all of his time to the task of improving and consolidating our congregation and the greater Jewish community of Chicago. Thanks to his active work, the congregation soon began to grow, and in 1903 its membership built a large synagogue on Marshfield Avenue and Polk Street.

At that time, when Chicago Jewry was just beginning to grow and expand, Rabbi Fisher participated in the development of Orthodox Jewry in the city, helping with all his energy and sincerity to strengthen it and to direct the course of those institutions which sought to administer to those who were deficient in Jewish faith and Jewish knowledge.

Rabbi Fisher was instrumental in founding the Home for the Aged, of which he was the director, the Federated Charities, for which he also acted as director, the Mount Sinai Hospital, Hebrew Theological College, and other institutions. In addition to these great causes, he devoted a large part of his time to Adas Bnai Yisrael, an Orthodox youth organization, the goal of which was to attract the Jewish youth to the Jewish people and Jewish traditions. Rabbi Fisher was also a participant in the Zionist movement.

Not only a Hebrew sage but a man of considerable secular knowledge as well, Rabbi Fisher was a scholar in the best sense of the term. He was a very prominent civic leader, helped build this community and contribute a great deal to its development rendering great services in every field of communal life. Always a conscientious man, he had a serious attitude towards work In 1923 Rabbi Fisher left Chicago to become Rabbi of Congregation Bnai Moshe in Detroit which he served until his passing.

In an article in the Daily Jewish Courier, a Yiddish newspaper printed in Chicago, Rabbi Fisher told reporters that “I regret that I must leave the Jewish community of Chicago, which has many large Jewish institutions. I refer particularly to the Hebrew Theological Seminary, where I had hoped to educate my children. I envy the rabbis and civic leaders who are privileged to continue their work for Jewish knowledge. I hope that G-d will give me an opportunity to build such institutions in my new circle of influence.”

http://www.agudasachimnsc.org/history/index.html?history3.html