It is with sadness that we report the petirah of Harav Shmuel Yosef Fishbain zt”l, an esteemed Rav who served the White Lake community and surrounding region for more than 55 years, leading his kehillah with unwavering mesiras nefesh and total devotion to authentic Torah life and hashkafah until the end of his life.

Harav Fishbain was born in Chicago in 1927. His father, Reb Nochum Dov Fishbain zt”l, had founded the only yeshivah in Chicago at the time, and his early passing left the family to carry on without him. It was Rav Fishbain’s mother, Miriam Devorah a”h, who stepped into that void with extraordinary mesiras nefesh, sending her son and his brother to learn in Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in New York at a time when such a step was nearly unheard of in American cities.

The Fishbain home in Chicago was itself a center of hachnosas orchim, and the family merited hosting some of the greatest Torah figures of the generation, who passed through America during those formative years of American Yiddishkeit. As a child, Rav Fishbain was thus zoche to encounter such giants as Harav Elchonon Wasserman zt”l Hy”d, the Rayatz of Lubavitch zt”l, the Lomzher Rosh Yeshivah, and numerous other gedolim and tzaddikim.

Those encounters left an impression that endured for a lifetime; Rav Fishbain would return to those memories again and again throughout his life, carrying within him a living bond to a world of Torah greatness that had largely vanished.

Even as a young boy, Rav Fishbain’s commitment to Yiddishkeit ran deep. As a child in Chicago, he once staged a protest against stores that were open on Shabbos — and was arrested for it, with his mother having to collect him from the authorities. It was a portent of the mesiras nefesh that would define his life.

Rav Fishbain learned in Torah Vodaas and Telz, and later became closely associated with Harav Yisroel Zev Gustman zt”l at Yeshivas Netzach Yisroel, where he also served as a maggid shiur.

Over the course of his life he maintained close relationships with the Rebbes of Bobov, Satmar, Tzelem, and Skver, and counted among his personal connections such luminaries as Harav Avrohom Pam zt”l, Harav Moshe Feinstein zt”l, Harav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l, Harav Avigdor Miller zt”l, and Harav Eliezer Silver zt”l, among many other gedolim and tzaddikim.

Among his family connections, Harav Yitzchok Feigelstock zt”l, the longtime Rosh Yeshivah of Mesivta of Long Beach and member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, was his brother-in-law. A sister’s son leads Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway.

Before assuming the rabbonus of White Lake, Rav Fishbain served kehillos in other parts of the Catskills, including Ellenville and Hurleyville. His path to White Lake came about in a remarkable way: when the rov of White Lake was niftar at a young age, Rav Fishbain came to be maspid him. The hesped made such a profound impression on those present that they offered him the position on the spot. He accepted, and in the early 1970s began what would become more than five decades of devoted service to that community.

What he inherited was largely a seasonal shul; what he built was a year-round kehillah with a daily minyan. That transformation did not come without resistance. There was real tension in the early years between those who embraced his uncompromising standard of Torah observance and those who did not.

Rav Fishbain was also a mekareiv many neshamos over the decades, drawing Jews of all backgrounds closer to Torah. Among those he influenced was a talmid who came to him as a teenage boy from a non-observant home, and whom Rav Fishbain personally escorted to the airport when he left to learn in Eretz Yisrael.

There is also a well-known story from the morning of September 11, 2001. Rav Fishbain had an appointment high up in the Twin Towers with a prominent baal tzedakah. He arrived with his gabbai, but they were unable to find parking. Rav Fishbain called ahead and suggested they move the meeting to a nearby coffee shop instead. The two men came down, and the meeting took place safely on the ground. The towers fell shortly after.

Harav Fishbain is survived by his Rebbetzin and many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, who carry on his legacy of Torah and Yiddishkeit.

A levaya took place at Lakewood Chapel Monday night. Another Levaya will be held Tuesday at Bais Yisroel, 92 Main Street in Monsey at 10:30 AM.

Kevurah will be at Monsey Chevra Kadisha Cemetery, located on Brick Church Road in Monsey, immediately to the left after the wall of the Viznitz Bais HaChaim.

Yehi zichro boruch.