הרב יעקב יוסף (ניו יורק)

Rav Yaakov Yosef (5600/1840–5662/1902), known in America as Rabbi Jacob Joseph, was brought to America by New York City’s Association of American Orthodox Hebrew Congregations to serve as its chief rabbi from 5648/1888 until his petirah. Born in Krozhe in the Kovno region, he learned in the Nevyozer Kloiz under Rav Yisrael Salanter and in Volozhin under the Netziv, where his sharpness won him the name “Rav Yaakov Charif.” He served as rav of Vilon from 5628/1868, of Yurburg from 5630/1870, and later of Zhagory, and in 5643/1883 the community of Vilna chose him as its maggid.

In 5648/1888 the Association — eighteen congregations headed by the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol — called him across the ocean as chief rabbi, hoping to set kashrut and Jewish chinuch in the new land on firm ground. He hesitated, knowing how few Torah-keeping Jews America then had, but accepted. The task proved bitterly hard: his authority was contested among the many camps of New York Jewry, the disputes over the fees that supported kashrut supervision dragged on for years, and after six years the Association ceased paying his salary. Yet real things were built in his day: qualified shochtim were engaged, the irremovable plumba seal was introduced to mark kosher poultry, mashgichim were set over the slaughterhouses, and he took an active part in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva on the Lower East Side — forerunner of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He published Le’Beis Yaakov (Vilna, 5648/1888), a collection of derashot and chiddushim.

A stroke in 5657/1897 left him unable to serve in more than name during his last years. He was niftar on July 28, 5662/1902, at sixty-two. More than fifty thousand Jews followed his levayah — one of the largest New York had seen — which was marred when workers of a factory along the route pelted the mourners. After his passing, congregations vied for the honor of burying him, and he was laid to rest in the plot of the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol at Union Field Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens. The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School (RJJ), then on Henry Street on the Lower East Side, carries his name.