The Mirrers Who Didn’t Make It

It’s well known that the Mir Yeshiva collectively and successfully escaped war torn Europe, being stranded first in Kobe, Japan, followed by a long exile in Shanghai, China. While mostly true, there were students who were unable for one reason or another to escape together with the yeshiva, and remained behind being martyred by the Nazis and their collaborators along with millions of their brethren.  One of the prominent ones was Rav Yona Karpilov (Minsker). As a student of Rav Elchanan Wasserman and Rav Baruch Ber Leibowitz, he arrived in Mir in 1926 as a budding scholar, and soon emerged as one of the closest students of the Mir mashgiach Rav Yerucham Levovitz, as well as one of the yeshiva’s leaders guiding many of the younger students. He was also part of a contingent who studied in Brisk under Rav Yitzchak Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav. Many theories have been presented as to why he didn’t succeed in obtaining one of the coveted Sugihara visas in the summer of 1940, but ultimately he was in Kovno the following summer and not in Shanghai with his friends. He was murdered by Lithuanian collaborators in 1941.   This episode is sponsored by the OU. Make your Tish B'Av more meaningful with the OU. Renowned speakers, special programming, and live kumzits straight from the Kosel!  For more information and to pre-register see below. https://go.ou.org/ejljxmkA    To support the efforts to publish Yonas Eilem, the writings of Rav Yona Minsker Hy”d: https://charidy.com/yonasilem    For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at:  [email protected] Subscribe To Our Podcast on:  PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/ Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites You can email Yehuda at [email protected]