Pinchas Mordechai Teitz


Pinchas Mordechai Teitz was a prominent Orthodox rabbi, educator and radio broadcaster in Elizabeth, N.J.

Personal life

He was born on the 7 Tamuz 1908 in Riga to Rabbi Avraham Binyamin and Sheina Sira. Teitz was educated in Lithuanian yeshivos. He came to the United States in 1933 and married Bessie Preil, daughter of Elozor Mayer Preil, the rabbi of what was then a small Orthodox community in Elizabeth.
Teitz was survived by one son, Rabbi Elazar Mayer Teitz, five daughters, a brother, a sister, 20 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. His wife died in 1993. Since he passed away after Shkia, his Yartzeit is the 4th of Teves.

Career

Teitz made 22 trips to the former Soviet Union, beginning in 1964, where he aided Soviet Jewry. Teitz's visits were during the height of the Communist empire and its secret police. He secured permission for his visits. He had good contacts in the government, and they trusted him. He left his papers to the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement . He served on the presidium of Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada.

Radio program

In 1953, he started a Yiddish-language Gemara radio program that lasted 36 years. It covered a page per week, and became known as Daf HaShavua.

Schools

The New York Times called him a "Founder of Schools" - some named after him: