page_title: Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach
section_title: Lifestyle
hierarchical_section_title: Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach / Lifestyle
caption_attribution_description: Graves of Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach (left), his wife Tzivia (center), and son Eliezer (right) at Har HaMenuchot, Jerusalem, Israel.
context_page_description: Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach was a Haredi rabbi and roshei yeshiva of Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva, a landmark Jerusalem institution specializing in Talmudic and kabbalah studies for Ashkenazi scholars that he helped found in 1906. The yeshiva still exists today. Known for his great love and personal sacrifice for Torah and Torah scholars, Auerbach raised sons who also became great scholars — including his eldest son, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, a preeminent posek of the mid- to late-twentieth century.
context_section_description: Like other Jerusalem families in the post-World War I Yishuv, the Auerbachs lived in dire poverty. Their home in the Nachalas Tzadok neighborhood of Jerusalem (adjacent to Shaarei Chesed) lacked a refrigerator and an icebox; instead, food for Shabbat was kept in a box tied to a rope, which was lowered into the well outdoors to keep cold. Their son, Shlomo Zalman, once remarked, "In my youth, I never felt full." His brother, Rabbi Avraham Dovid Auerbach, said, "In our home, I never once ate a whole egg. My mother would scramble an egg with a bit of flour and divide it among three children. A whole egg? Who ever heard of such a thing?"
  Though consigned to poverty, Auerbach and his wife valued Torah and Torah scholars above all else. To that end, they sought only serious Torah scholars for their daughters rather than men of means or reputation. They also were willing to sacrifice all to feed and support the hundreds of young men learning at Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva. Often Auerbach pledged his own family's belongings, including the furniture, as security against loans which he took for the upkeep of the yeshiva students.
  Auerbach was given to holy ways. Often he rolled in the snow and wore sackcloth under his clothing to mortify his flesh, in the way of hidden tzaddikim. He would retire early in the evening and then rise before midnight, learning until dawn. Then he would recite the Shema and go to bed again until it was time for the morning prayers. Some of his neighbors criticized his penchant for "going to bed early and getting up late," not realizing that while they slept, he was learning Torah.
  Collecting sefarim (holy books) was one of Auerbach's passions. Though sefarim in the 1920s were extremely expensive, Auerbach nevertheless managed to build up a large library of his own. He did so primarily in the period between World Wars, when Palestine was ravaged by famine and people sold off their sefarim by the wagonload to buy bread. Living on a bare minimum, Auerbach managed to purchase many sefarim in this way.
  Auerbach authored a Torah commentary called Chacham Lev.
  A month before his death, he had a severe heart attack and lapsed into semi-consciousness. He died on 26 September 1954 (28 Elul 5714).
caption: Graves of Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach (left), his wife Tzivia (center), and son Eliezer (right) at Har HaMenuchot.
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