User:Sreguer

Simcha Zelig Reguer, Rabbi and Dayan Simcha Zelig Reguer (Var. Ryjer, Riger, Rieger Rijer) was born in Navaridok in 1863. His father, Rabbi Dov was part of Volozhin yeshiva. His brillaince was evident at a very young age. When he enteredVolozhin Yeshiva, he was befriended by R. Haim Soloveitchik, who, when offered the rabbinate in Brest Litovsk, agreed only if R. Simcha Zelig came as the dayan of the city. The two families lived in the same two-family house until World War I, when the men separated. After the war, R. Simcha Zelig returned to Brest Litovsk but now with R. Velvel Soloveitchik as rabbi.

He married Sara (Sorke) Rudensky at the age of 21. They had seven children who lived to adulhood, three sons and four daughters. The two older sons became socialists as did the youngest daughter. Two daughters married and stayed in Brest Litovsk. The third son, Moshe Aron, came to New York in 1929 and taught at Yeshiva University until he retired.

R. Simcha Zelig was the Rosh Av Bet Din of Brest Litovsk and a main legal decisor for decades. He was known for being a maykil, working in the so-called 'grey area' of Jewish law. Very few of his legal decisions were published. The most famous one had to do with the use of a regrigerator on Shabat. He gave smicha to many rabbis, including R. Isser Yehuda Unterman and R. Joseph Ber Soloveitchik.

Despite obtaining a visa for the United States, R. Simcha Zelig decided to remain in Brest Litovsk when World War II began. He was executed by the Nazis in October 1942, the third of MarCheshvan, along with the rest of the Jewish men of the city.