Yehoshua Mondshine

Yoshua Mondshine was born on January 30, 1947 (or 9 Shevat, 5707, in the Hebrew calendar), in the city of Tel Aviv, Israel. Mondshine studied at Yeshivas Hayishuv Hachadash in Tel Aviv and later at Central Tomchei Tmimim Yeshiva in Kfar Chabad where he studied under the Mashpia Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Kesselman. In 1968, Mondshine studied at the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. As a student in Crown Heights, Mondshine worked as a lead editor assisting Rabbi Yehoshua Korf publish a new commentary to the Tanya, the classical work of Chabad philosophy. In 1968, Mondshine married Rochel Leah Braufman (Braverman), daughter of Rabbi Dovid Braverman who headed the Kehot publishing group in Europe and the Kfar Chabad Council, and had five children. After the death of his wife Rochel in 2006, Mondshine married Devorah Kwin-Althaus. Mondshine's son Rabbi Dovid Mondshine is the director of the Ohr Avner Foundation. Correspondence with the Lubavitcher Rebbe In around 1960, Mondshine began corresponding with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, when he requested and received a blessing ahead of his Bar Mitzvah. Mondshine continued to write to the Rebbe, confiding his teenage anxieties and seeking spiritual advice; Mondshine, in one early letter, included a list of textual variants he had noticed in the Chabad prayerbook compared to earlier sources. The Rebbe referred him to a number of sources where he could explore the issues and discover an answer for himself. ==Career==

Though he received an offer from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to run the Chabad Library, Mondshine instead took the position as a librarian at the National Library of Israel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. his work was especially well received by the Lubavitcher Rebbe who encouraged his literary work. Along these lines, Mondshein also collected statements from Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s responsa that indicate the preoccupations with the conflict that interfered with his writing responsa. Immanuel Etkes in turn cites Mondshine's identification with Chabad Hasidism as limiting the critical viewpoint necessary for such research. Commissioned work for the Lubavitcher Rebbe In the 1970s, the Lubavitcher Rebbe requested Mondshine to compose an introduction and indexes to the surviving writings of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, the Rebbe’s father. ==Works==

Mondshine authored over twenty books including: • Hama’asar Harishon (The First Imprisonment) – a historical work on the imprisonment of the first Chabad rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, published by Knizhniki Publishing, Moscow; • Ha’masa Ha’aharon (The Final Journey) – a historical work on the journey of the Rabbi Shneur Zalman during the Napolenonic War with Russia, published by Knizhniki Publishing; • Kerem Chabad (The Chabad Vineyard) – a scholarly journal on Chabad and Hasidic topics; • Migdal Oz – a memorial volume incorporating many previously unpublished Hasidic texts with sections devoted to Jewish law, Chabad philosophy, Hasidic tales and memoirs, published in 1980; • Otsar Minhagei Chabad (A Treasury of Chabad Customs) – a two volume work on Chabad customs; • ''Sipurim U'gilgulaihem'' – a series of over seventy articles published online combining scholarship and wit to challenge conventional thinking concerning popular Hasidic tales. Other works include studies on various aspects of Hasidic Judaism: • Mondshine, Y. (1982). “Al ha-Tikkun ha-Kelali shel Reb Naḥman mi-Breslav ve-Yaḥaso le-Shabta’ut,” Zion, 47(1), 201-45. Commemorative works Following Mondshine's death, Chabad scholar, Elie Matusof, published a short book of letters titled ''Tzidkoscha Omedes Lo'ad'' () from Mondshine's correspondence with him in 1987. ==See also==