ר׳ שמואל הלוי ואזנר

ר׳ שמואל הלוי ואזנר (4 September 1913–3 April 2015), widely known as the שבט הלוי, was a Vienna-born rabbinic judge, yeshiva head and influential halakhic decisor. The son of Yosef Zvi and Rachel Wosner, he studied in Vienna and then at Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin under ר׳ מאיר שפירא and ר׳ שמעון מזליחוב. After marrying Rivka Gelber and spending time in Pressburg, he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1939. In Jerusalem he studied at Yeshivat Dushinsky, served as a religious judge and taught in the Geula neighbourhood. At the encouragement of ר׳ אברהם ישעיהו קרליץ and other senior rabbis, he moved to Bnei Brak around 1947. There he became rabbi and av beth din of the Zikhron Meir neighbourhood and re-established Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin, which he led for more than six decades. He later created a beth hora'ah and a network of communities associated with his rulings. His eleven-volume שו״ת שבט הלוי treats all divisions of the Shulchan Arukh and applies halakhah to medicine, electricity, electronic sensors, transport, kashrut and changing domestic technology. Students also published his Talmudic lectures, discourses and practical rulings. He died in Bnei Brak on the first night of Passover 2015.