Harav Yehoshua Neuwirth, the author of Shmiras Shabbos KiHilchoso, has passed away. The following obit from Hamodia explains how he came to write his monumental work on the Laws of Shabbos. Yehi Zichro Baruch.
For two and a half years they lived in a bunker with nothing but two sefarim, a Gemara Kesubos and a Mishnah Berurah chelek gimmel, and so, they were able to learn only hilchos Shabbos.
In the spring of 1946, Reb Yehoshua joined a group of illegal immigrants traveling to Eretz Yisrael. They were ordered to board the ship in Marseilles, France, on Shabbos, which distressed him to no end. On the other hand, it would have been dangerous to remain alone in a strange place with no money, food or belongings. He boarded the ship, but felt remorseful about it for many years, especially when he learned that the whole boarding on Shabbos was a setup by Shabbos desecrators who wanted the religious group to desecrate Shabbos.
As he boarded the ship that Shabbos, Reb Yehoshua pledged that when he would settle down, he would do something for Shabbos. This pledge was the seed that germinated into the sefer Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah.
We often forget the significance of his sefer. It's the last universally accepted sefer on halacha to be published.
ReplyDeleteVolume 1 of a new edition has already been released. What happens now to the rest?
I believes it enjoys such popularity because of the simple language and the fact that R' Shlomo Zalmen Auerbach backed him. But by no means was it accepted universally.
DeleteI have no idea about new editions.