Rabbi Shmuel Isaac Hillman
Rabbi Shmuel Isaac Hillman was Chaim Herzog’s grandfather, father of his mother, Rabbanit Sara Herzog.
Rabbi Hillman was born in the city of Kaunas in Lithuania in 1868 (5628 Jewish year). His father, Rabbi Chaim Hillman was a descendant of Rabbi Shmuel Hillman from the city of Metz. His mother Paya Rivka was a descendant of Rabbi Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen of Hamburg, a scion of Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi), one of the most prominent Jews of all generations.
Rabbi Hillman studied in his youth at the well-known Volozhin Yeshiva. After he was ordained as a Rabbi, he served as the rabbi of the town of Byerazino, located next to the city of Brisk in Belarus. In 1908 he was appointed as Chief Rabbi of the city of Glasgow in Scotland and six years later he was appointed head of the Rabbinical Court in London. In that role, he led the aid to Jewish refugees during WWI. In Honor of his activities, he was awarded a gold medal by King Albert I of Belgium.
After his immigration to Israel in the 1930’s, Rabbi Hillman was the head of the “Ohel Torah” Kolel in Jerusalem and led the reestablishment of the Kolel at the Rehavia neighborhood. Under the leadership of Rabbi Hillman, The Kolel was considered as a unique-leading institution for Torah learning in Eretz Israel.
Rabbi Hillman was involved in the election of his son-in-law, Rabbi Isaac Halevy Herzog, to the position of Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel and supported him in his efforts to save Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
Rabbi Hillman published a well-known series of books called “Or Hayashar”, which includes lectures and midrashes written by him about the main topics of Parshat HaShavua, Midrash, and Talmud. In honor of his writing he was awarded the Rabbi Kook prize. During the siege on Jerusalem during the 1948 Israeli-Arab War Rabbi Hilman vacated his home and stayed with Rabbi Baruch Dov Povarsky, future head of the Ponevezh Yeshiva.
Rabbi Hillman became known for his activity against Rabbi Joseph Shapotshnick, a controversial Rabbi who claimed to rule on the status of pregnant women in contradicted way to the Halacha and thus damage their children’s status. In the late 1920s, Rabbi Hillman led a collaboration between hundreds of rabbis around the world opposing Rabbi Shapotshnick. Among the rabbi who joined Rabbil Hillman’s call were the “Chofetz Chaim” (Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan), Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky, and the Rebbe Imrei Emes of Ger, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter.
Rabbi Hillman was married to Haya Sheina, daughter of Naftali Hirsch Kempner. Their son David was a well-known artist in London and their daughter Sarah married Rabbi Herzog and founded the “Emunah” movement for religious women in Israel.