Harav Eliezer Gur Aryeh, an active member of the RCE’s Young Rabbis’ Forum, will be installed on Sunday as Rav of the city of Krakow, Poland, in an elaborate ceremony, with the participation of: Harav Yirmiyahu Cohen, Av Beis Din of Paris and member of the Presidium of the Council of European Rabbis; Harav Binyamin Jacobs, Chief Rabbi of the Netherlands; Harav Yaakov David Schmahl, Dayan in the beis din of Antwerp’s Shomrei Hadas community; as well as members of the Council of European Rabbis, dozens of community rabbis from all over Europe, and many other Rabbanim, Rashei Yeshivah and leading Torah authorities.

Harav Gur Aryeh, who received his semichah from some of the leading Rabbanim of Eretz Yisrael and Europe, has been serving as a Rav and Chabad shaliach in Krakow, Poland for the past eight years. Ever since he and his family arrived in Krakow, he has been known for his active role in disseminating Torah and Yiddishkeit and in bringing the local Jews closer to Judaism. In addition to his other activities, he was involved in retrieving Jewish buildings that had been nationalized by the local authorities, and he developed a unique approach to Jewish activity there, which draws adults and young people alike. He is also the one Jews turn to when they come to Poland to daven at the grave sites of Rabbanim and gedolei Torah, as well as when they are trying to locate graves of their ancestors. His close ties with government authorities benefits both the local Jewish community and Jews from around the world.

At the request of leaders of the Jewish community, he submitted his candidacy to serve as Krakow’s Rav and was subsequently chosen for this exalted position. With his installation as Rav, he becomes another link in a long line of Rabbanim. Harav Gur Aryeh is the son of Harav Yochanan Gur Aryeh, Chief Rabbi of Holon, and the son-in-law of Harav Menachem Mendel Glitzenstein, Rav of Ma’ale Efraim.

Ever since the beginning of the fifteenth century Krakow has been considered one of the most important Jewish communities in Europe. In 1495 the Jews were expelled from Krakow and were sent to a new city nearby, called Kazimierz (which the Jews called Kozhmir). Over time, Kazimierz was incorporated as part of Krakow, and by 1867 the Jews were allowed to live in all sections of the city.

In September 1939, when the Germans occupied Poland, they made Krakow the capital, and with the occupation of the city, the Nazis began their systematic persecution of the nearly thousand-year-old Jewish community, which, before the war, numbered about 60,000 – one-fifth of the city’s population. In order to actualize their plan and make Krakow “Judenrein,” the Germans allowed only a minimum of Jews to remain in the city.

After World War II only a handful of Jews remained in Krakow. A few survivors returned to the city from the camps after they were liberated, and others came out from hiding places. Between 1947 and 1951 most of the Jews left, due to waves of anti-Semitism. After 1968 only a few dozen Jews remained in the city.

After the fall of the Communist regime at the end of the twentieth century, the city’s leaders invested considerable resources in reconstructing and preserving Krakow’s Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, in an effort to memorialize its Jewish heritage. Shuls were renovated and are now popular tourist sites, and restaurants, cafes and Jewish-style shops were opened in the neighborhood.

Some of the great Torah leaders of all time lived and operated in Krakow, among them Harav Moshe Isserles (the Rema); Harav Yoel Sirkis, author of the Bayis Chadash (Bach); Harav Gershon Shaul Yom Tov Lipman Heller, author of Tosafos Yom Tov; and Harav Nasan Nata Shapira, author of Megaleh Amukos.

In recent generations some of the world’s leading Rabbanim served in Krakow, including the Chasam Sofer’s son Harav Shimon Sofer, who was later succeeded by his son-in-law, Harav Akiva Kornitzer and then by the latter’s son Harav Yosef Nechemia Kornitzer.

The last Rav to serve in Krakow before the Holocaust was Harav Shmuel Shmelke Kornitzer, a descendant of Harav Shimon Sofer.

Next Sunday, Harav Eliezer Gur Aryeh will assume the seat that was occupied by this esteemed group of Rabbanim.