Shimon Sholom Kalish

Shimon Sholom Kalish (1882–1954) was the Hasidic Rebbe of Amshinov–Otvotsk.
He was the son of Rabbi Menachem Kalish (1860-1918), the 2nd Rebbe of Amshinov (Hasidic dynasty) in Mszczonów (Yiddish: אמשינאוו Amshinov), Poland, and the brother of Rabbi Yosef Kalish, Rebbe of Amshinov (d. 1935).
When Rabbi Menachem died in 1918, Rabbi Shimon Sholom, became rebbe in Otwock (Yiddish: אטוואצק Otvotsk). He was a major driving force behind the exodus of thousands of young men in Mir, Kletsk, Radin, Novhardok, and other yeshivas, via Russia and Japan to Shanghai at the outbreak of World War II. By the time Shanghai came under Japanese control, it held 26,000 Jews (Shanghai Ghetto).
As World War II intensified, the Nazis stepped up pressure on Japan to hand over the Shanghai Jews. Warren Kozak describes the episode when the Japanese military governor of the city sent for the Jewish community leaders. The delegation included Amshinover rabbi Shimon Sholom Kalish. The Japanese governor was curious: "Why do the Germans hate you so much?"
"Without hesitation and knowing the fate of his community hung on his answer, Reb Kalish told the translator (in Yiddish): "Zugim weil mir senen orientalim — Tell him the Germans hate us because we are Oriental." The governor, whose face had been stern throughout the confrontation, broke into a slight smile. In spite of the military alliance, he did not accede to the German demand and the Shanghai Jews were never handed over." The Rabbi of 84th Street: The Extraordinary Life of Haskel Besser by Warren Kozak (HarperCollins, 2004) ISBN 0-06-051101-X p.177
After the war, Rabbi Shimon moved to the United States. Upon his passing in 1954, his son Rabbi Yerachmiel Yehuda Myer Kalish (1901-1976) accompanied Rabbi Shimon's body to Tiberias in Israel, and remained there. 
==References==
Category:1882 births
Category:1954 deaths
Category:Polish Jews
Category:Hasidic rebbes
Category:Jewish Chinese history
Category:Burials in Tiberias
Category:Refugees from Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union