Ephraim Oshry (1908–September 28, 2003), was anOrthodoxrabbi,posek, and author ofThe Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry. He was one of the few European rabbis to survivethe Holocaust.

Ephraim Oshry was born inKupiškis,Lithuania. He studied alongside some of the most prominent and reveredJewish leaders and rabbis of his time, including theAlter of Slabodka,Moshe Mordechai Epstein, Isaac Sher andAvraham Duber Kahana Shapiro (author ofDevar Avraham). He quickly rose to prominence among the students atSlabodka Yeshiva.^[1][2]

When the Nazis invadedKaunas in 1941 duringWorld War II, Oshry's community was forced into theKaunas Ghetto andConcentration Camp, where his first wife and children were murdered.^[3]

In his book,The Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry, Oshry tells his story of living through theHolocaust. He related in horrific detail how theNazis and their Lithuanian collaborators viciously murdered Jews, but he also focused on the spiritual life of theJews living in theKovno Ghetto andconcentration camp. Despite being starved and beaten, the Jews continued to studyTorah in secret, and risked their lives in order to fulfill themitzvot (God's commandments).^[4]

While in the Kaunas Ghetto and concentration camp, Oshry began writing hisresponsa regarding the Holocaust, answering difficult questions in such subjects as human nature, God, and Jewish ethics. Before the final battle between the Nazis and the Soviets, Oshry buried his responsa in the ground. After the war, he retrieved them, and in 1959, he published some of theHebrew responsa under the titleShe'eilos Uteshuvos Mima'amakim (Questions and Responses fromthe Depths).^[5] This volume was later followed by four additional volumes, the final one being published in 1979. An English volume of the original work (adbridged, with much of the halakhic argumentation removed), was published, titledResponsa from the Holocaust.^[3]

After Kaunas was liberated in August 1944, Oshry and his wife Frieda Greenzwieg, a survivor ofAuschwitz, went toRome. There Oshry started a yeshiva for orphaned refugee children.^[1]

In 1950, Oshry moved toMontreal, Quebec,Canada, with his family and yeshiva students.^[4]

In 1952, Oshry moved toNew York City, where he became the rabbi ofBeth Hamedrash Hagodol. Oshry opened a yeshiva for boys and a yeshiva for girls named Yeshivah Torah V'Emunah in theEast Bronx.^[3]

In 1949, Oshry became engaged to his second wife, Frieda Greensweig, a daughter ofSigeter Hasidim, at the suggestion of her uncle Moshe Friserman, the Tomashover Rebbe. Together they had 6 sons, all of whom became rabbis, and 3 daughters. Frieda died in 2018.^[2]

Oshry died on September 28, 2003, atMount Sinai Hospital inNew York City. Nearly 1,000 mourners attended his funeral. He is buried inJerusalem.^[1]

Yeshiva Shaar Ephraim inMonsey, New York is named after him. It is headed by his son-in-law.

• Oshry, Ephraim.Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry, Judaica Press, 1995ISBN 978-1-880582-18-3
• Oshry, Ephraim.Responsa from the Holocaust, B. Goldman and Y. Leiman Eds., Judaica Press, 2001ISBN 978-1-880582-71-8

• Yisroel Spira

• Individual PDFs of each of the five Hebrew volumes can be accessed at the following links: Volumes"one","two","three","four" and"five".

• 1914 births
• 2003 deaths
• People from Kupiškis
• 20th-century Lithuanian rabbis
• American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
• Lithuanian emigrants to Italy
• Kovno Ghetto inmates
• Jewish American historians
• Personal accounts of the Holocaust
• Writers from New York City
• Orthodox rabbis from New York City
• Historians from New York (state)
• 20th-century American rabbis
• 21st-century American rabbis
• Burials at Har HaMenuchot
• Orthodox poskim
• 21st-century Lithuanian rabbis

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