Biography Explores R’ Dovid Horodoker’s Life on 80th Yartzeit

By COLlive reporter

A new biography titled “Beinoni” examines the life, challenges and accomplishments of Rabbi Dovid Horodoker (Kievman) OBM. As a young and talented Yeshiva bochur, he was dubbed a “Beinoni of Tanya” by Rabbi Sholom Dovber of Lubavitch—the Rebbe Rashab.

The 266-page book was written by his great-grandson Yehoshua Fogelman and published by Chazak Publishing. It was sold in Israel since the 9th of Nissan, the 80th yartzeit of R’ Dovid and has received positive reviews. “This is the book our generation has been waiting for! A glimpse into the life of an actual ‘beinoni’ and oh so fascinating,” one reader commented.

Fogelman was a Yeshiva student when he first started hearing stories about R’ Dovid. Impressed and curious about the chossid’s saintly demeanor—and his uniquely famous service of both prayer and Torah study—he journeyed through time.

Reb Dovid’s personal history is deeply intertwined with the times and travails of Lubavitch Chassidism in Soviet Russia—under the tyranny of the government and in the shadow of the Second World War. It is the fruit of rigorous and punctilious research.

“Reb Dovid was a Chossid with all his being,” Fogelman says. He was ever preoccupied with the service of prayer and Torah learning as he was in his days at the Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in the town of Lubavitch.

“The Rebbe Rashab, who was not one to mince words, is known to have said that the entire formation of the famously successful Yeshiva would have been sufficient for the sake of his beloved and prodigious student alone,” Fogelman notes.

Due to the extensive Bolshevik spy network and later the Holocaust, much of Reb Dovid’s life was one of movement. He migrated from place to place, whether as Rav of Vietka or refugee in Samarkand. “In all places, Chassidim saw in him a venerable figure and an example of a chasid, someone who elevated himself from matters of this world, whose entire interest was to live the ways of Chassidus as taught by the leaders of Chabad,” Fogelman says.

“For him, Iskafya was natural, this was the routine way he lived—even as a communal leader. His exemplary life was cut short when, in the horrific days of the Holocaust, he found refuge in Samarkand and passed at the age of 59. Even after his passing, he is considered an icon and symbol for a chassid who practically implements service of G-d according to the Torah of Chassidus.”

The book is a result of in-depth documentation about his R’ Dovid by way of interviews, thorough research, and collecting books, newspapers and historical documents. Assisting Fogelman in the work was researcher and author R’ Shneur Zalman Berger.

The book is now available for purchase in the U.S. and online.