Background
Ephraim Fishel was born on Yom Kippur 1922 (10 Tishrei 5683) in the city of Mukačevo, Czechoslovakia (present-day Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine).
Ephraim Fishel was born on Yom Kippur 1922 (10 Tishrei 5683) in the city of Mukačevo, Czechoslovakia (present-day Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine).
He is a respected elder in the American Orthodox community. When he was older, Ephraim Fishel would accompany them to visit the Spinka Rebbe, Grand Rabbi Isaac Weiss (1875–1944) on every Yom Tov. As a boy, Ephraim Fishel learned in the local Talmud Torah in Munkacs.
When he was ready to attend yeshiva, his father did not want to send him to one of the large, Ashkenazi yeshivas of the time for fear that he would lose his Hasidic fervor.
Thus, he remained in Munkacs, learning with other bachurim in the Spinka kloiz (synagogue) without a Rav or rosh yeshiva. Rabbi Hershkowitz played an active role in judging cases of agunahs after the September 11 attacks.
He has also given his approbation to hundreds of sefarim and many organizations benefiting the Jewish world. He was one of the leading American rabbis honored at the Eleventh Annual Siyum HaShas in Madison Square Garden in 2005, where he read the beginning of Masekhet Berakhot.