Rav Yitzchok Schiener, rosh yeshiva of the Kamenitz Yeshiva of Jerusalem, who was considered the “elder of the Roshei yeshivos” after Rav Soloveitchik, passed away.
By JDN
During the levaya attended by thousands in Jerusalem for Rav Dovid Soloveichik, the news came that Rav Yitzchok Scheiner, rosh yeshiva of the Kamenitz Yeshiva of Jerusalem, who was considered the “elder of the Roshei Yeshivot” after Rav Soloveitchik, passed away due to complications caused by coronavirus. He was 98-years-old.
Those close to him say he was extremely careful about following coronavirus guidelines and, for a long period, did not leave his home. He was confirmed as infected with the virus 10 days before he was set to receive the second dose of the vaccine.
From an early age, Rav Scheiner was considered a prodigy in Torah learning and put great effort into it. He was born in the United States to American immigrants from Poland. During the 1940s, he studied at Yeshivas Rabbenu Yitzchok Elchonon and at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas under Rabbi Shlomo Heiman. Toward the end of the 1940s, he married a granddaughter of Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz.
During the 1960s, he taught at a Yeshiva in Montreux, Switzerland.
After the death of his father-in-law (who was the rosh yeshiva of the Kamenitz yeshiva in Jerusalem), Rabbi Scheiner headed the yeshiva alongside his brother-in-law. After the death of his brother-in-law in 1998, Rabbi Scheiner served as the rosh yeshiva with his brother-in-law’s son at his side. Rabbi Scheiner’s two sons and his son-in-law also teach at the yeshiva.
In the 1990s, Rav Scheiner was appointed to be a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Degel HaTorah.
His wife died in 2007. He lived in the Kerem Avraham neighborhood in Jerusalem.
