Yisroel Belsky


Chaim Yisroel Belsky was an American rabbi and posek of Orthodox Judaism and Haredi Judaism who resided in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of the roshei yeshiva at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, and rabbi of the summer camp network run by Agudath Israel of America.
Belsky served for more than 28 years as a senior kashrut advisor to the OU.
He was widely acclaimed for his in-depth knowledge across the length and breadth in Torah which he used together with an encyclopedic command of general knowledge and a hands-on familiarity with worldly affairs.
Belsky faced criticism for his statements in reaction to sexual abuse accusations made against a Jewish camp counselor.

Education

Belsky received his semicha from Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, in Brooklyn, NY, in 1962, and from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in 1965. He also studied at Beth Medrash Elyon beginning at age 17. His Rosh Yeshiva was Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky.

Career

Belsky served as a member of the Iggud HaRabbonim Beth din under, successively, Rabbis Yitzchok Isaac Liebes, Baruch Leizerowski and Herschel Kurzrock. Some events that he addressed with this beth din were: the aftermath of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack and freeing its widows from agunah status, New York City tap water, human-hair wigs from India, surrogate motherhood, and a kashrus scandal in Monsey.
His first kashrus position was with the Kof-K. He served with the Orthodox Union starting in 1987, and was eventually described as one of "the chief experts for the Orthodox Union, which certifies more than 600,000 products as kosher." In 2004, Belsky ruled that water that might contain microscopic nonkosher organisms is kosher even if it is unfiltered. The same year he ruled that "gruesome" slaughtering of animals at Agriprocessors, then the largest glatt kosher meat producer in the United States, appeared not to violate kosher laws as long as the animal "felt nothing". He later ruled on a kashrus scandal surrounding Doheny Meats, which had been videoed violating the laws of kashrus, saying that food that had been sold by Doheny prior to the scandal could still be considered kosher.
In September 2005, Belsky served as the keynote speaker at the Igud Horabbonim Annual Siyum HaShas. The event also served as the chag ha’semichah where 35 students of his received their certificates of semichah.

Controversies

Belsky publicly defended confessed sexual abuser Yosef Kolko, who taught children at a Lakewood, New Jersey, yeshiva. Further, he condemned the victim and his parents for reporting the sexual abuse to the police, and wrote that one who does so "has no share in the world to come." Belsky was criticized for his actions in this regard. According to The Jewish Week, the Ocean County, New Jersey District Attorney privately warned Belsky to cease and desist writing letters defending Kolko, or risk prosecution.
According to court documents, Belsky was alleged to have served on a Beth din together with Mendel Epstein and Martin Wolmark which approved the use of physical violence against Jews who were civilly divorced, yet refused to give a get to their wives.
In 2000, Belsky sided against rabbis in Borough Park, Brooklyn who established a controversial eruv, referring to them as amateurs and populists.
In a 2011 interview with The New York Times about a divorce case, Belsky described a court-ordered child custody order as "a joke" since it interfered with observance of the Jewish Sabbath.

Personal

Belsky was the son of Rabbi Berel and Chana Tzirel Belsky. His maternal grandfather is Binyomin Wilhelm, a founder of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas.
In 2012, he suffered a serious medical emergency. At that time, the name Chaim was added to Rav Belsky's name. He recovered, and was able to return to Torah Vodaath. In 2013, the annual Yeshiva Torah Vodaath dinner honored the rosh yeshiva and highlighted 50 young men who earned semichah from him.
Belsky was re-hospitalized in January 2016 and died in the early hours of 19 Shvat 5776, the evening of January 28, 2016.

Works