Background
He was born in 1873 (5633 in the Jewish calendar) in Lyuban, Minsk Voblast, Belarus (near Slutsk) to Avraham and Chasha Levovitz.
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Yeruchom Levovitz
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He received his education in the yeshivas of Slobodka and Kelm. He was a disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Simcha Zissel Ziv of Kelm as well as Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (Chofetz Chaim) of Radin. He was the spiritual leader of the in Poland until his death in 1936.
His disciples were said to have followed his every word, never doing anything that they "felt" he would not want them to do.
Most of the leaders of the yeshivas of inter-war Poland were Rabbi Yeruchem"s disciples. They would come on occasion to visit him and seek his advice.
After World World War II, much of orthodox Jewry in Europe was wiped out, along with their many yeshivas (Jewish schools of higher learning). One of the only yeshivas to survive as a whole body was the, which managed to escape miraculously to Shanghai, China, and then on to America.
Some of his better known disciples include Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Malin, Rabbi Dovid Povarsky, Rabbi Abba Berman, Rabbi Zelik Epstein and Rabbi Shimon Schwab.
His many discourses and lectures are preserved for posterity in nine books Daas Chochma U"Mussar which are a staple of many yeshiva libraries today, as well as many Orthodox Jewish households. He died on the 18th of Sivan in the year 1936 at the age of sixty-three. He is buried in the town of Mir, Belarus.
His grave site (recently rebuilt by his family) is a common destination for the many Jewish tourists who visit the decimated cities of pre-war Europe.
Most of his family escaped the Nazis and made it to America where they were pioneers of the rebuilding of Orthodox Jewry in the United States. Reb Yeruchom Levovitz"s grandson then went on to open the famous beth hatalmud yeshiva.
Reb Leib Maalin served as the rosh yeshiva till his passing he was then taken over by Rabbi Chaim Visokier after his passing Reb Naftali Kaplan became the rosh yeshiva along with Rabbis sholom menashe gotlieb binyomin zeilberger yisroel perkowsky.
