Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft

Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft (Hebrew: ) was a rabbi and Rosh Hashochtim of Poland (overseeing the country's kosher slaughterers) before the Holocaust. After the Holocaust he was Chief Rabbi of Hanover and Lower Saxony. After emigrating to the United States he was a Rav Hamachshir (kosher certifier) and was described as the "foremost authority on shechita" (kosher slaughter).

Early life Family Rabbi Zweigenhaft was born in Sosnowiec Poland in 1915. His mother, Michla, was a daughter of Meir Dovid Reinhertz, a Rabbi who was a son of the Rabbi of Yanov and a grandson of the Rabbi of Przedbórz. Zweigenhaft's father, Rabbi Moshe Chaim, was a shochet (kosher slaughterer) and a student of Avrohom Bornsztain. Zweigenhaft was orphaned at the age of two and was raised by his paternal grandfather, Efraim Mordechai Mottel Zweigenhaft, who was a posek and shochet in Sosnowiec and a descendant of David HaLevi Segal and Joel Sirkis.

Education Rabbi Zweigenhaft studied at a Radomsker cheder in Sosnowiec until the age of 12. For the next two years he was a student of Dov Berish Einhorn in Amstov. At the age of 14 he had memorized the gemara of the entire massekhtot of zevachim and menachot with the commentaries of Rashi and Tosafot

Rosh Hashochtim of Poland Rabbi Zweigenhaft's father, grandfather and great-grandfather were shochtim. As a young boy Zweigenhaft had been privy to his family's masorah (transmission of Jewish religious tradition) of shechita stretching back hundreds of years. When Zweigenhaft was 14 years old and still studying in Amstov, the shochtim of the city encountered a halachic difficulty and summoned Dov Berish Einhorn for assistance. Einhorn asked Zweigenhaft to accompany him on his walk to the slaughterhouse. When they arrived, Einhorn began to contemplate the problem that the shochtim presented to him. Zweigenhaft then proceeded to deftly pick up the chalef (shechitah knife) and demonstrated how to perform the shechitah and resolved their issue. Einhorn was so impressed that from then on he would only eat meat if it was slaughtered by Zweigenhaft despite his youth. Shortly thereafter, Rabbi Einhorn proudly told Yitzchok Mordechai Rabinowicz (Chief Rabbi of Polavno) about Zweigenhaft. Rabinowicz requested that Einhorn send Zweigenhaft to him and then proceeded to teach Zweigenhaft the masorah of shechita that he had learned from his grandfather the Tiferes Shlomo of Radomsk. Thereafter, the Radomsker Rebbe would only eat meat from Zweigenhaft's Shechita. Year later, when the Minchas Elazar of Munkach visited Sosnowiec, he too would only eat from Zweigenhaft's shechitah.

In the mid-1930s Zweigenhaft was appointed one of the seven members of the Vaad Roshei Hashochtim of Poland and Lithuania a board of seven rabbis overseeing thousands of shochtim throughout Poland. In 1936, a bill outlawing Shechitah was introduced in the Sejm (Polish legislature). Despite being the youngest member of the Vaad, Zweigenhaft was selected to perform Shechita in front of the assembled legislators and demonstrate that shechitah was a quick humane form of animal slaughter. Together with an intense lobbying effort, this led to the Sejm allowing the practice to continue, although it was restricted with a maximum quota.

Zweigenhaft was later appointed to be the head of the Vaad

Leadership Roles In Germany Rosh Hashochtim of British Occupation Zone of Germany Zweigenhaft survived the Holocaust and was liberated in Bergen Belsen on April 11, 1945. Zweigenhaft retrieved a chalef (shechitah knife) from a museum Thereafter, the British Chief Rabbi's Religious Emergency Council appointed Zweigenhaft to be the Rosh Hashochtim of the British Zone of Germany. were the leaders of Agudas Yisroel of the British Zone. In 1953 Zweigenhaft moved to New York where he was shocked by what he considered to be low kosher standards of shechita and began to advocate for improvements. In time, Zweigenhaft became the Rav Hamachshir of several kosher slaughterhouses and instituted reforms previously unknown in America. Some rabbis would not eat meat unless it was certified by Zweigenhaft. Over the years, many of Zweigenhaft's reforms took root in the industry.

Berel Wein writes in his autobiography that during his tenure as Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union and Rabbinic Administrator of its Kashrut Division, the Orthodox Union found certifying kosher slaughterhouses very challenging and relied upon Zweigenhaft. He describes Zweigenhaft as "an expert in all the halachic and practical issues of kosher meat production."

The Orthodox Union certifies certain species of quail as kosher based on Zweigenhaft's masorah (tradition).

Authority on kosher slaughter Zweigenhaft was world-renowned as an authority on shechita. His expertise was highly sought after and he was asked to travel internationally to lecture on shechita, inspect kosher slaughterhouses, and recommend improvements. He trained hundreds of shochtim.

Family When Zweigenhaft was 18 years old he married his cousin Esther, the daughter of Shlomo Sztencl. She and their two children were murdered in Auschwitz on August 2, 1943.