Nafla ateres rosheinu, the crown has fallen from our head (Eicha 5:16). The Jewish people has lost a brilliant scholar, faithful leader, devoted servant and one of the Poskei Hador. The Rabbinical Alliance of America — Igud HaRabbonim, representing over 950 American Orthodox Rabbis — joins Klal Yisroel in mourning the passing of HaGaon HaRav Dovid Feinstein, ZT’L, the Rosh Yeshivah of Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
HaRav Dovid Feinstein was born in 1929 in Lyuban, Russia and immigrated to the United States in 1936 with his father, the late Posek Hador, HaGaon Harav Moshe Feinstein, ZT’L. After the passing of HaRav Moshe Feinstein in 1986, HaRav Dovid Feinstein was appointed the Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem, which he ably led for the past three and a half decades. He taught countless students and laypeople, in his yeshiva and his popular public lectures. His wise communal guidance commanded attention around the world.
Rabbi Mendy Mirocznik, executive vice-president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, stated, “We at Igud HaRabbonim respected and revered Harav Dovid Feinstein as a world class talmid chacham and a gadol hador. He personified the humility and refined character traits he spent his life teaching. With the passing of HaRav Feinstein, the Jewish people face a void that seems insurmountable, magnified by the pain we are experiencing as we grapple with the reality of the Coronavirus pandemic. Today, the worldwide Torah community stands as orphans, painfully bereft of the profound wisdom and courageous leadership of HaRav Dovid Feinstein. But we continue with unbending faith that our Father in Heaven will send us proper guidance and salvation, because the children of Israel will never be abandoned. We pray that HaRav Dovid Feinstein serve as a melitz yosher for his family and the entire Klal Yisroel in this time of fear and sorrow.”