ELYE-DOV HEYLPERN

ELYE-DOV HEYLPERN (b. ca. 1860)

            He was born in Vilkomir (Ukmergė), Lithuania, into a rabbinic family.  For many years he devoted himself to Torah study.  From the late nineteenth century until WWII, he was living in Warsaw, for a time working as a businessman and active in community affairs in Orthodox circles.  He appeared at rabbinic conferences to give sermons about strengthening the faith.  He was the author of religious texts and pamphlets in Yiddish and Hebrew: Himel revolutsye, a diskusye fun a foter mit zayn familye in shabes baym tish iber der revolutsye (The revolution in heaven, a father’s discussion with his family on the Sabbath table, on the revolution) (Warsaw, 1923); Hagada shel pesaḥ (Passover Hagaddah), an analysis of the four sons (n.p.: n.d.); Sefer mikve yisrael (Volume on the Jewish ritual bath), “erklerung iber dem yidishn kosher un zoybern familyen-lebn” (explanation of the Jewish, kosher and tidy family life) (Warsaw, 1916), 32 pp.; Nishmat ḥaim (Spirit of life), a eulogy and biography—“explanation of the great loss which the Jews have suffered during the war period, the Brisk rabbi, our master and teacher, the brilliant Ḥaim Soloveichik” (Warsaw, 1918), 24 pp.; Der liber shabes (The beloved Sabbath) (Warsaw, 1926), 16 pp.; Seyfer lekoved shabes (Volume to honor the Sabbath), “Rules regarding the principal thirty-nine forbidden labors on the Sabbath….  This book contains the Jewish laws concerning Sabbath and holidays.  Just as the program from the rabbinic conference explains, one must study in elementary school the laws of the Sabbath, to which we have added important notations and explanations to engender faith among the young so that our enemies will be unable to defeat us at a future time” (Warsaw, 1926), 40 pp.; Sefer ḥemdat yisrael (Work on the desire for Israel), 3 parts (first edition, Warsaw, 1902), 114, 139, and 168 pp., “this work includes all 613 commandments about which men and women are warned, with necessary laws and numerous topics on the commandments, with stories from the Talmud and midrashim,” with a preface by the author and an additional Edut leyisrael (Testimony for Israel), 98 pp., in which he explains “Jewish history, in short, with proper proofs of the divinity of the faith, which can have an effect on the Jewish spirit and judgment, to love their religion, their people, and their land.”  All editions until WWII were reprinted many times.  Heylpern would likely have been in the Warsaw Ghetto, though his subsequent fate remains unknown.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1927); Kh. Fridman, Bet eked sefarim (Library) (Tel Aviv, 1956); information from Rabbi A. Zembo.

Khaim Leyb Fuks