ר׳ יעקב קמינצקי

ר׳ יעקב בן בנימין קמינצקי (1891–1986) was a Lithuanian-born North American rosh yeshiva, halakhic adviser and communal leader. Born in Kalushkove in the Minsk region and raised near Dolhinov, he studied in Minsk and for many years at the Slabodka yeshivah under ר׳ משה מרדכי אפשטיין and ר׳ נתן צבי פינקל. After marrying Etta, daughter of ר׳ דב צבי הלר, he continued in the Slabodka kollel and in 1926 became rabbi of Tytuvėnai. He left Europe in 1937, served briefly at Bikur Cholim in Seattle and then became rabbi of Congregation Toras Emes and a yeshivah head in Toronto. In 1946 he joined Mesivta Torah Vodaath in Brooklyn; after ר׳ שרגא פייבל מנדלוביץ’s death he shared its leadership with ר׳ גדליה שור, serving as rosh yeshiva until retirement. From Monsey he became, alongside ר׳ משה פיינשטיין, a widely consulted guide of American Orthodox Jewry and a senior leader of Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah. He was renowned for lucid judgment, Hebrew grammar and an unusually broad intellectual curiosity. אמת ליעקב, much of it edited from manuscripts and oral teaching, preserves his biblical and Talmudic insights. He died in Baltimore and was buried at Mount Judah Cemetery in Queens.