One century ago, in the fall of 1924, there appeared a newspaper article in Der Morgen Zhournal announcing the visit of a very esteemed guest for Shabbos in Boro Park. He was Rav Chaim Baruch Rubin, Hy”d, a scion of the great tzaddikim of Sanz, Lizensk, and he was the son of Rav Naftoli Rubin, the Rov of Vishnitza (Nowy Wiśnicz, Galicia). At the time, he was a rov in Shinieve, and he had come to raise money in America. The Ruv perished in the Holocaust in 1943, along with countless other Yidden from the area. Here, we tell his story. 

Vishnitza  

We begin the story with his father, Rav Naftoli Rubin, ABD Vishnitza, the son of Rav Shmuel Rubin, ABD Kortshin, a descendant of Rav Naftoli Tzvi of Ropshitz. He was the son-in-law of Rav Yechezkel Shraga of Shineve, a son of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz. His father-in-law provided all his needs, and he would sit and learn, day and night, with his brother-in-law Rav Menachem Mendel Halberstam, later a rov in Frystak, Galicia. 

In 1899, Rav Chaim Baruch married Rebbetzin Dinah, the daughter of Rav Tzvi Yosef Rubin ABD Jasło, and the wedding took place in Shineve, in the court of the Divrei Yechezkel. It was the year of the passing of the Shinever Rov, and he was already weakened and confined to a wheelchair. 

America 

After their wedding, Rav Chaim Baruch and his rebbetzin settled in Jasło, where his father-in-law opened a glass manufacturing shop. When his father, Rav Naftoli heard of this, he immediately came to Jasło and insisted that under no circumstances would his son be a merchant, and he took him home with him to Vishnitza. His father-in-law then opened a bank for him in Vishnitza, and sent another son-in-law to oversee its operation so Rav Chaim Baruch could sit and learn. 

The aftermath of WWI was very difficult for the Yidden of Galicia, and in 1924, with one of his children engaged to be married, Rav Chaim Baruch set out for America to raise the money to marry off his child. From a letter that he wrote while in New York, we can read about his desperate plight. 

He arrived here in the spring of 1924, and in fall, we find his visit to Boro Park advertised in the Morgen Zhournal. “A very esteemed guest in Boro Park. We would like to publicize that the Shinever Rebbe, Harav Hatzadik Rav Chaim Baruch Rubin, the son of Rav Naftoli Rubin ABD Vishnitza, will daven in our shul this Shabbos parshas Chayei Sarah. The Rebbe, shlit”a, is a descendant of the holy tzaddikim of Shineve, Sanz, Ropshitz and Lizensk. Whoever wishes to have an oneg Shabbos is asked to come. The Rebbe will stay with Reb Dovid Elya Krieger, 1330 52nd Street. 

“Signed: Chevra Shomrei Shabbos Anshei Sfard Boro Park, 50th Street and 13th Avenue. Hirsch Silverstein, President, Dovid Elya Krieger, gabbai.” 

The Rebbe returned home in 1926, but was back in America in 1927.  

Al Kiddush Hashem 

With the passing of his father in 1938, Rav Chaim Baruch assumed the post of ABD Vishnitza. 

Alas, only a year-and-a-half later, the Holocaust would come to Galicia and take with it the Rebbe and most of his family and loved ones. 

Vishnitza is in the area of Bochnia, and it was in the Bochnia ghetto that the Rebbe and his family were incarcerated, along with many Rabbonim and Admorim from the region, including the Admorim of Belz, Bilgoray and Tchechoiv. In Bochnia, the Yidden suffered terribly from hunger, beatings, poverty, and death for a number of years, until many of them were sent to Auschwitz. 

On the third day of Elul, 1943, the Rebbe was brutally murdered by a Nazi in the Bochnia Ghetto. As he was being taken out to the slaughter, he yelled out to his fellow Yidden to be proud as they give their lives Al Kiddush Hashem.  The Rebbetzin and seven of their children were killed soon thereafter. One son, Avrohom Yehoshua Heschel, survived alone from his entire family and made his way to Los Angeles where he carried on the legacy of his illustrious father, Rav Chaim Baruch Rubin, who visited Boro Park one century ago.