Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft

Zweigenhaft was the scion of a family of shochtim. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were shochtim. As a young boy Zweigenhaft had been privy to his family's masorah (transmission of Jewish religious tradition) of shechita stretching back hundreds of years. When Zweigenhaft was 14 years old and still studying in Amstov, the shochtim of the city encountered a halachic difficulty and summoned Rabbi Dov Berish Einhorn for assistance. Einhorn asked Zweigenhaft to accompany him on his walk to the slaughterhouse. When they arrived, Einhorn began to contemplate the problem that the shochtim presented to him. Zweigenhaft then proceeded to deftly pick up the chalef and demonstrated how to perform the shechitah and resolved their issue. Einhorn was so impressed that from then on he would only consider meat to be kosher if it was slaughtered by Zweigenhaft despite his youth. Shortly thereafter, Einhorn proudly told Rabbi Yitzchok Mordechai Rabinowicz (Chief Rabbi of Polavno) about Zweigenhaft. Rabinowicz requested that Einhorn send Zweigenhaft to him and then proceeded to teach Rabbi Zweigenhaft the masorah of shechita that he had learned from his grandfather the Tiferes Shlomo of Radomsk. Thereafter, the Radomsker Rebbe would only eat meat from Zweigenhaft's Shechita. Year later, when the Minchas Elazar of Munkach visited Sosnowiec, he too would only eat from Zweigenhaft's shechitah.[3]

By the time he was 20, he was the shochet of many cities in Poland, including, Radomsk, Polavno, Amstov, Volbrum, Elkish, Tchebin and was the Rosh Hashochtim of the large Jewish community of Sosnowiec.[3]

In the mid-1930s Zweigenhaft was appointed one of the seven members of the Vaad Roshei Hashochtim of Poland and Lithuania. As the youngest of the seven Roshei Hashochtim of Poland and Lithuania, Zweigenhaft was tasked with overseeing thousands of shochtim throughout Poland. In 1936, a bill outlawing Shechitah was introduced in the Sejm. Zweigenhaft was selected to demonstrate to members of the Sejm that Shechita was, in fact, a quick humane form of animal slaughter. The members of the Sejm gathered in a nearby courtyard and Zweigenhaft demonstrated actual shechita for them. This demonstration together with an intense lobbying effort was partially successful and instead of banning shechita completely the Sejm allowed the practice to continue although they restricted it with a maximum quota.[4][5]

Zweigenhaft was appointed to be the head of the Vaad[6]

In 1952 Zweigenhaft emigrated to America and was invited by Rabbi Eliezer Silver to serve as the Rosh Hashochtim of the two Kosher slaughtering houses in Cincinnati, Ohio.[11] In 1953 Zweigenhaft moved to New York where he was shocked by the low kashrus standards of shechita and he began to advocate for improvements. In time, Zweigenhaft became the Rav Hamachshir of several kosher slaughterhouses. As Rav Hamachsir, he was very selective in the shochtim he hired and he trained them extensively. Zweigenhaft also instituted many reforms previously unheard of in America. Meat certified as kosher by Zweigenhaft was considered the gold standard of kashrus and many rabbis wouldn't eat meat unless it was certified by him. Over the years, many of Rabbi Zweigenhaft's reforms took root in the industry and led to the overall improvement of shechita in America.[9]

The Orthodox Union certifies certain species of quail as kosher based upon the masorah of Rabbi Zweigenhaft.[12] [13][14][15]

Zweigenhaft was world-renowned[16] as an authority on all matters related to shechita. His expertise was highly sought after and he was constantly requested to travel all over the world to lecture on shechita and inspect kosher slaughterhouses and make recommendations for improvements.[17] Over the years Rabbi Zweigenhaft taught and trained hundreds of shochtim who carry on his legacy.[9]

Zweigenhaft died in New York City August 2, 2005, and was buried the next day on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.[18]

When Zweigenhaft was 18 years old, he married his cousin Rebbetzin Esther, the daughter of Shlomo Sztencl. They had two children, but Esther and the two children were murdered in Auschwitz on August 2, 1943.[9]

After surviving the Holocaust Zweigenhaft married Rebbetzin Frieda (the daughter of Rabbi Chiel-Meyer Lubinsky) who, at the time, was a teacher of Judaic studies at the religious girls seminary (kibbutz) in Bergen-Belsen. Rebbetzin Frieda Zweigenhaft volunteered regularly at the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital and she was one of the founders of "Rivkah Laufer Bikur Cholim", a board member of "N’shei Agudas Yisroel" chapter in Crown Heights and the vice president of "Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes Kupath Polin" Ladies Auxiliary of Brooklyn.[9] They were survived by two children:[9][19]