R. Nathan-Neta Olevski’s Eternal Life (Vilna, Ust-Uda, Cheremkhovo, Irkutsk, Moscow)

Abstract

The article reviews the philosophic-religious heritage of R. Nathan-Neta Olevski, Irkutsk chief rabbi in 1919-30, who became later one of the most prominent Jewish religious figures in the USSR. His collection of responsa, Haye Olam Nata (Who Has Implanted Eternal Life, 1930/1), his only book published in his lifetime, can be considered as the most substantial Halachic work ever written in Siberia that preserved its value for the Orthodox Judaism until today (it was republished three times from 1992-2012, in the United States and Israel). The article is focused on unique information mentioned within R. Olevski’s responsa about “internal life” of various Jewish communities in Siberia during WW1, The Russian Civil War, and the first decade of the Soviet regime.