Do you have memories, photographs or documents about Rabbi and Mrs. Greenberg’s work in Buffalo? Please email history@chabadbuffalo.com or call/text/WhatsApp 716-545-6806.
הרב ישראל העשל גרינברג
Shliach to Buffalo since 1972
Shliach of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to Buffalo: 1972 (תשל״ג) – present
Founder & Director, Jewish Discovery Center
Table of Contents
Overview
Rabbi Heschel Greenberg has served Buffalo’s Jewish community for more than fifty years. In 1972, he and his wife, Lea Greenberg, came to Buffalo as shluchim of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to join Rabbi Noson Gurary at the Chabad House of Buffalo. For two decades, Rabbi Greenberg taught and guided Jewish students at the University at Buffalo. In the 1990s, he and Mrs. Greenberg went on to lead the Jewish Discovery Center, which they direct to this day.1
Rabbi Greenberg is known throughout Western New York as the host of the long-running television program Let My People Know, as a Torah scholar who has written extensively on the Rambam, Talmud, halacha and Chassidus, and as a teacher who has given thousands of classes. In 2023, the Buffalo Jewish Federation established the annual Rabbi Heschel Greenberg Lecture to honor his contribution to Jewish Buffalo.
His shlichus is part of the larger story of Chabad in Buffalo, which goes back to the founding of Anshe Lubavitz in the 1880s. See Chabad History in Buffalo and the life of Rabbi Noson Gurary.
A Family of Early American Temimim
Rabbi Heschel Greenberg was born in 5708 (1947–48) in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Rabbi Meir Greenberg, who merited to be among the first Temimim and shluchim of the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe in the United States. When he was five years old, the family moved to Paterson, New Jersey.2
Reb Meir, the son of Reb Yehoshua Falk Greenberg, was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, in 1916. He was one of the first American students of the Lubavitcher yeshiva, Tomchei Temimim. In 1939, he was one of six American bochurim who travelled to learn in the yeshiva of the Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, in Otwock, Poland, on the eve of the Nazi invasion. On 14 Kislev 5704 (1943) he married Baila Malka Grossman, sister of Rabbi Rafael Grossman, the longtime rav in Memphis, Tennessee.
For close to a decade, Reb Meir served as Chief Rabbi of Worcester, Massachusetts. In 5714 (1953–54) he was appointed rav in Paterson, New Jersey, then a city of some 40,000 Jews, a position he held for 45 years. In 1959 (5719) he was also appointed Rosh Yeshiva of the Lubavitcher yeshiva in Newark, which later moved to Morristown. He served for two years as president of the Igud HaRabbonim (Rabbinical Alliance of America) and wrote the sefarim Shiurei Gittin and Shiurei Mesechtos. He passed away on 3 Elul 5768 (September 2008), and Rebbetzin Baila Malka Greenberg passed away on 3 Teves 5769.
Rabbi Heschel Greenberg’s siblings are Mrs. Sterna Lerman, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Greenberg, Rabbi Mendy Greenberg and Mrs. Chasha Samuels.3
Yeshiva Years and Marriage
Rabbi Heschel Greenberg grew up listening to his father teach. When he was fourteen, his father had him deliver the Shabbos HaGadol derashah, the scholarly talk given in shul before Pesach. He went on to study in Lubavitcher yeshivos.4
As a young bochur, he was among the Lubavitcher students who gave shiurim in Chassidus at Yeshiva University. In 5728–5729 (1967–69), he was one of the Rebbe’s talmidim hashluchim, the student emissaries sent to strengthen the Yeshiva Gedolah in Melbourne, Australia.5
He married Lea Labkovski, daughter of Rabbi Nachum Labkovski (5668–5742), who escaped the Soviet Union in the great exodus after World War II and served for more than thirty years as mashgiach of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Brunoy, France. Her brothers include Rabbi Shneur Zalman Labkovski, Rosh Yeshiva of the central Tomchei Temimim at 770, and Rabbi Yisroel Labkovski, one of the heads of Yeshivas Chovevei Torah in Crown Heights.6
1972: Coming to Buffalo
A year after Rabbi Noson and Miriam Gurary opened the Chabad House of Buffalo, Rabbi Gurary asked Rabbi Heschel Greenberg to come to Buffalo to give classes to the thousands of Jewish students at the University at Buffalo. Rabbi Greenberg has recalled that he could not imagine living there, but he asked the Rebbe, and the Rebbe said yes. Before leaving New York, Rabbi and Mrs. Greenberg went into yechidus with the Rebbe, who told them “to go with joy.”
They arrived in Buffalo on Columbus Day, 1972, and Rabbi Greenberg became the first of approximately ten shluchim whom Rabbi Gurary would bring to Buffalo between 1972 and 1986.7
Two Decades at the Chabad House of Buffalo
For more than twenty years, Rabbi Greenberg worked alongside Rabbi Gurary, reaching Jewish students at the University at Buffalo and helping to expand Chabad’s educational and outreach activities on campus. On Simchas Torah, one student recalled, the crowd danced “around Main Street at midnight” in hakafos “led by Rabbi Nosson Gurary and Rabbi Heschel Greenberg.”8
He also brought Buffalo to the Rebbe. He recalls translating the Rebbe’s Yiddish talks at a farbrengen for guests from Buffalo, and seeing the Rebbe look at him with great love.9
At the Rebbe’s direction, Chabad’s Torah classes at the university were offered as accredited courses, and Rabbi Gurary recalled that the shluchim who worked under him also taught credited courses at the university.10
Rabbi Greenberg and Rabbi Gurary also reached out to the families of former Soviet Jews who settled in Buffalo. In 1990, Chabad helped the local community of former Soviet Jews celebrate a community bar mitzvah, with both rabbis taking part.11
The Jewish Discovery Center
In 1993, after more than two decades as part of the Chabad House of Buffalo, the Greenbergs’ work separated from Rabbi Gurary’s organization, and they continued independently through the Jewish Discovery Center. In 1995, Rabbi Laizer and Chani Labkovski arrived in Buffalo and initially directed the Jewish Discovery Center together with the Greenbergs. The Labkovskis’ programming later continued under what is today the Center for Jewish Life, while the Greenbergs continued through the Jewish Discovery Center.12
From its earliest years, the Jewish Discovery Center set out “to embrace and accept all Jews, regardless of background or belief.” By 2007 its staff included Rabbi Heschel Greenberg as director, Rabbi Laizer Labkovski for outreach and programming, Rabbi Yehoshua Greenberg for education and Rabbi Levi Greenberg for development. Before its present home, the Center was located at 757 Hopkins Road in Williamsville.13
Rabbi Greenberg’s care reached far beyond Buffalo. In September 1992, a Soviet Jewish immigrant in Buffalo, Rakhilya Shvartsman, told him about the brother she had not seen in half a century; the two had fled Poland for the Soviet Union in 1939, and he had settled in Melbourne, Australia. Rabbi Greenberg called an associate in Australia, tracked down Gilbert Traub, and put his sister on the phone. “It was Sept. 4 (1992) when my ex-wife said a rabbi from America was looking for me,” Traub recalled. Brother and sister were later reunited in person.14
Today the Jewish Discovery Center, at 831 Maple Road in Williamsville, describes its mission as embracing every Jew and offering each person an individual Jewish experience. What began with two people has grown into a full week of Jewish life: adult classes in Talmud, Kabbalah and contemporary topics; children’s programs; bar and bat mitzvah lessons and one-on-one study; a shul with no membership dues; Shabbos gift bags; hospitality for guests; and visits to seniors and to hospital patients.15
Let My People Know: Teaching Torah to Western New York
For decades, Rabbi Greenberg’s weekly television program, Let My People Know, brought Jewish knowledge and Jewish values into homes across Western New York. Produced through the Jewish Discovery Center and filmed in the 1990s, the half-hour episodes featured Rabbi Greenberg with co-host Ellen Bernstein, exploring Jewish ethics and law. Through the program and thousands of hours of classes and lectures, he has reached tens of thousands of people. Today his teaching continues through The Rabbi Greenberg Show podcast, a weekly discussion series at the Jewish Discovery Center, and the class archive at RabbiGreenberg.com.16
Torah Scholar and Author
Rabbi Greenberg has written prolifically on Tanach, Talmud, the Rambam, halacha, Kabbalah, Chassidus and the Yomim Tovim, including several volumes of commentary on the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah. The Buffalo Jewish Federation credits him with more than one hundred books and more than fifty scholarly papers in rabbinic journals. He serves as Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Jewish Studies and has lectured across the United States, Canada, Australia and South Africa.17
His published works include:
- Sefer Pe’er HaMelech, on the Rambam’s laws of tefillin (Morristown: Rabbinical College of America Press, 1986)
- Shlichus: Teaching about Moshiach, a resource handbook for shluchim and laymen (Brooklyn: Nshei Ubnos Chabad, 1994)
- Ner L’Meshichi, answers to 250 questions on Chanukah (Buffalo, 2012)
- Tefilin: The Ultimate Mitzvah (Buffalo, 2013), published in honor of the bar mitzvah of his grandson Hillel
- Likut Nichnas Yayin, with Kuntres Megillas HaMelech on the Rambam’s laws of Megillah (Buffalo, 2014)
- Light from the Future, essays on the weekly Torah portion (Buffalo, 2014; second series 2016)
- Sefer Ma’aseh Yisrael, chiddushim on Tractate Sanhedrin (Buffalo, 2017)
- Tefillin: Judaism’s Crown (2022)
Many of his books were published by the Jewish Discovery Center.18
In 2022, responding to the Rebbe’s call to study one halacha in depth, he launched Rambam In-Depth, a series of classes on the Mishneh Torah. His shiurim on the Rebbe’s sichos and on the Rebbe’s teachings about Moshiach are widely followed in the Chabad world, and in 2023 he was among the speakers at a Hakhel gathering at 770 Eastern Parkway, where he spoke about Hakhel and Moshiach.19
Mrs. Lea Greenberg
Lea Greenberg, co-founder of the Jewish Discovery Center, has been her husband’s full partner since the day they arrived in Buffalo. A Judaic scholar and a mother of eleven, she has shaped the Center through hospitality, informal teaching, and hundreds of hours of counseling. The Greenberg home has long been open around the clock to guests and to anyone seeking Jewish knowledge. In 2018, the Jewish Journal of Western New York honored her, together with her daughters-in-law and Mrs. Chani Labkovski, as a “Woman of Valor.”20
Fifty Years in Buffalo
On March 12, 2023, the Buffalo Jewish Federation’s Day of Jewish Learning at the JCC Benderson Building in Getzville concluded with the first Rabbi Heschel Greenberg Lecture, a new annual lecture established to honor Rabbi Greenberg’s contribution to Jewish Buffalo and to mark his fifty years in the city. Rabbi Greenberg delivered the inaugural lecture himself, on “The Rational Mystery of Mashiach.”21
The next generation has joined the work. Two of the Greenbergs’ sons and their wives, Rabbi Yehoshua and Brocha Leah Greenberg and Rabbi Levi and Rivky Greenberg, serve alongside them at the Jewish Discovery Center, and their son Rabbi Mendy Greenberg serves as a Chabad shliach in Bonita Springs, Florida.22
More than half a century after the Rebbe told them “to go with joy,” Rabbi Heschel and Lea Greenberg remain among the longest-serving shluchim in Buffalo, part of a Chabad story in the city that spans more than 130 years. Read the full history at Chabad History in Buffalo.
Sources, Footnotes & Links
- Jewish Discovery Center; Chabad Buffalo, “Chabad History in Buffalo.”
The Jewish Discovery Center describes Rabbi Greenberg as “the longest-serving Rabbi in Buffalo’s history.”
Jewish Discovery Center — About Us
Chabad Buffalo — Chabad History in Buffalo ↩︎ - Chabadpedia, Rabbi Yisroel Heschel Greenberg.
Chabadpedia — הרב ישראל העשיל גרינברג ↩︎ - Anash.org, “Pride of the American Tmimim”; Chabadpedia, Rabbi Meir Greenberg; COLlive, September 2008.
The Anash.org article covers his journey to Otwock in 5699 (1939), his marriage, his decade in Worcester and his 45 years in Paterson. In comments on the article, Rabbi Heschel Greenberg noted that his father was born in Brownsville, that his grandfather’s name was Falk, that his mother passed away on 3 Teves 5769, and that his father was president of the Igud for two years. COLlive lists the surviving children.
Anash.org — “Pride of the American Tmimim” (Reb Meir Greenberg), September 2019, with comments by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg
Chabadpedia — הרב מאיר גרינברג
COLlive — Rabbi Meir Greenberg, OBM, September 2008 ↩︎ - RabbiGreenberg.com, “Life’s Mission”; Homesick for Lubavitch podcast, Ep. 99.
In the podcast Rabbi Greenberg shares memories of his father, “late Rosh Yeshiva in the Morristown Yeshiva Rabbi Meir Greenberg,” growing up in a home of Torah learning, and his studies in Lubavitch yeshivos.
RabbiGreenberg.com — “Rabbi Heschel Greenberg: Life’s Mission” (2021)
Homesick for Lubavitch podcast — Ep. 99, “What Will Bring Moshiach?” with Rabbi Heschel Greenberg ↩︎ - Kfar Chabad Magazine, 5 Teves 5784; Chabadpedia.
The Kfar Chabad article recalls the Chassidus shiurim given at Yeshiva University by Lubavitcher bochurim, among them “Heshel Greenberg.” The years in Melbourne are given by Chabadpedia.
Kfar Chabad Magazine — “Preserving the Tzelem Elokim: The Story of Hadras Panim Zakan,” 5 Teves 5784 (PDF)
Chabadpedia — הרב ישראל העשיל גרינברג ↩︎ - Chabadpedia, Rabbi Nachum Labkovski.
“בתו, לאה, אשת הרב ישראל העשיל גרינברג – רב ושליח בבופולו, ניו יורק.”
Chabadpedia — הרב נחום לבקובסקי ↩︎ - Jewish Journal of Western New York, July 2018, p. 18; Chabad Buffalo, “Chabad History in Buffalo.”
In Ellen Goldstein’s article “Women of Valor,” Lea Greenberg recalls arriving on Columbus Day 1972 after Rabbi Greenberg was recruited by Rabbi Noson Gurary, and the Rebbe’s instruction “to go with joy.”
Jewish Journal of Western New York — “Women of Valor,” July 2018 (PDF)
Chabad Buffalo — Chabad History in Buffalo ↩︎ - Beis Moshiach Magazine #1345, p. 42.
Beis Moshiach Magazine #1345 (Shevat 5783), interview with Tamar Adelstein, p. 42 (PDF) ↩︎ - RabbiGreenberg.com, “Life’s Mission.”
RabbiGreenberg.com — “Rabbi Heschel Greenberg: Life’s Mission” (2021) ↩︎ - Chabad Buffalo, “Chabad History in Buffalo”; A Chassidisher Derher, Cheshvan 5778, p. 44; Rabbi Noson Gurary.
Rabbi Gurary describes the Rebbe’s instruction to teach only credited courses and notes that the shluchim who worked under him taught accredited courses as well.
Chabad Buffalo — Chabad History in Buffalo
A Chassidisher Derher — “Pioneer on Campus: Interview with Rabbi Nosson Gurary,” Cheshvan 5778 (PDF)
Chabad Buffalo — Rabbi Noson Gurary: Founder of the Chabad House of Buffalo ↩︎ - University at Buffalo Libraries, Digital Collections, item JBIC556.
Photograph from the Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo Records, University Archives, Jewish Buffalo Archives Project. Reproduced with permission.
University at Buffalo Libraries, Digital Collections — “Local Former Soviet Jews, celebrate a community Bar mitzvah with help of Chabad,” 1990 (JBIC556) ↩︎ - Chabad Buffalo, “Chabad History in Buffalo.”
See the sections on Rabbi Heschel and Lea Greenberg and on Rabbi Laizer and Chani Labkovski.
Chabad Buffalo — Chabad History in Buffalo ↩︎ - Jewish Discovery Center website (archived 2007 and 2009).
Jewish Discovery Center website, “Our Mission” (archived July 2007)
Jewish Discovery Center website, Board of Directors and Staff (archived July 2007)
Jewish Discovery Center website, building location (archived November 2009) ↩︎ - “Rabbi’s Well-Placed Call Reunites Siblings.”
“Rabbi’s Well-Placed Call Reunites Siblings” (newspaper article, reprinted on RabbiGreenberg.com) ↩︎ - Jewish Discovery Center, “About Us.”
Jewish Discovery Center — About Us ↩︎ - Jewish Discovery Center, “About Us”; RabbiGreenberg.com; The Rabbi Greenberg Show.
Jewish Discovery Center — About Us
RabbiGreenberg.com — Let My People Know episode, “Why Judaism Is Neither Pro-Life nor Pro-Choice”
The Rabbi Greenberg Show — About ↩︎ - Buffalo Jewish Federation, March 3, 2023; COLlive, May 26, 2022.
COLlive describes him as having “authored dozens of works on diverse subjects including several volumes of commentary on the Mishneh Torah.”
Buffalo Jewish Federation — “Rabbi Heschel Greenberg & Dr. Gerhard Falk,” March 3, 2023
COLlive — “New In-Depth Series of Classes on Rambam,” May 26, 2022 ↩︎ - Library catalog records.
University of Pennsylvania Libraries — Sefer Pe’er HaMelech (Morristown, 1986)
University of Pennsylvania Libraries — Shlichus: Teaching about Moshiach (1994)
University of Pennsylvania Libraries — Ner L’Meshichi (2012)
Open Library — Tefilin: The Ultimate Mitzvah (2013)
University of Pennsylvania Libraries — Likut Nichnas Yayin (2014)
Open Library — Light from the Future
University of Pennsylvania Libraries — Sefer Ma’aseh Yisrael (2017)
Open Library — Tefillin: Judaism’s Crown (2022) ↩︎ - COLlive, May 26, 2022; COLlive, July 11, 2023; Chabadinfo.com.
Chabadinfo.com identifies him as a shliach to Buffalo, NY.
COLlive — “New In-Depth Series of Classes on Rambam,” May 26, 2022
COLlive — “Renowned Speakers Address Hakhel Event at 770,” July 11, 2023
Chabadinfo.com — “Rabbi Greenberg Delivers Sicha Synopsis” ↩︎ - Jewish Discovery Center, “About Us”; Jewish Journal of Western New York, July 2018.
Jewish Discovery Center — About Us
Jewish Journal of Western New York — “Women of Valor,” July 2018 (PDF) ↩︎ - Buffalo Jewish Federation, Buffalo Day of Jewish Learning 2023; Buffalo Jewish Federation, March 3, 2023.
Buffalo Jewish Federation — Buffalo Day of Jewish Learning 2023
Buffalo Jewish Federation — “Rabbi Heschel Greenberg & Dr. Gerhard Falk,” March 3, 2023 ↩︎ - Chabad Buffalo, “Chabad History in Buffalo”; Jewish Journal of Western New York, July 2018; Bonita Springs, 2018.
Chabad Buffalo — Chabad History in Buffalo
Jewish Journal of Western New York — “Women of Valor,” July 2018 (PDF)
“Bonita Springs Jewish community urges kindness in response to Pittsburgh shooting” (2018, reprinted on RabbiGreenberg.com) ↩︎