Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal

A prominent Hungarian Rosh Yeshiva and author of the vast halachic responsa Mishneh Sachir, Rav Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal is best known for his dramatic theological transformation during the Holocaust, moving from a position of staunch anti-Zionism to becoming one of the most fervent advocates for Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. While hiding from the Nazis in a Budapest attic with no access to his library, he reconstructed hundreds of sources from memory to author the monumental Eim HaBanim Semeichah, arguing that the physical rebuilding of the Land is the essential precursor to the final Redemption. His life of profound scholarship and courage ended in an act of selfless chesed on a transport train just days before liberation, when he was murdered by guards for defending a fellow Jew who had reached for a crust of bread.