YITSḤAK GERSHTENKORN (GERSTENKORN)

YITSḤAK GERSHTENKORN (GERSTENKORN) (January 28, 1891-October 4, 1961)

            He was born in Warsaw, son of the well-known Warsaw merchant and Hassid, R. Petaḥya Gershtenkorn.  His mother Frumet was a descendant of the Plotsnik family of Warsaw.  He studied in religious elementary schools and in the yeshivas of Lida and Radin (Raduń).  After marrying, he tried his hand at commerce, but due to the persecution of Jews in Poland, he had no success.  In 1924 he made aliya to Israel.  He was one of the founders of Bnei Brak, and over the years 1924-1951, mayor of the city.  On behalf of this colony, he traveled to the United States and South Africa.  He published articles in the Yiddish press in these countries.  He was the author of such books in Hebrew as: Zikhronotai al bene berak (Memoirs of Bnei Brak) (Jerusalem, 1940s); Yehudah veyisrael, leiyun ulemaḥshava (Judah and Israel, review and thoughts) (Bnei Brak, 1947), 92 pp.; and Neim zemirot yisrael, yalkut maamare ḥazal umefarshe hatehilim harishonim ṿehaaḥaronim (The Psalmist of Israel, compilation of the sayings of the Sages and commentators, earlier and later, on the Psalms) (Bnei Brak, 1953).  In Yiddish he published: Bene brak, entshtehung, gegenvart un tsukunft (Bnei Brak, its origins, present state, and future) (New York, 1926), 36 pp.  He was living until his death in Bnei Brak.

Sources: D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the founders and builders of Israel), vol. 2 (Tel Aviv, 1947), pp. 935-36; Who’s Who in Israel (1952).