Rabbi Refael Yehoshua Zelig Diskin
Rabbi Refael Yehoshua Zelig Diskin was born in 1896 in Chislavichi to Rabbi Shim'on Moshe Diskin, the author of "Midrash Shim'oni", the prominent speaker on Zionism throughout Russian Empire, and Sarah, the daughter of Rabbi Eliyahu Bachrach of Chislavichi, the author of responsa "Bikurei ha-Aviv".
In 1904 his father was elected for rabbinate in Lubny, 120 km to the west from Poltava, Ukraine, and the family moved there. Here R. Yehoshua studied Torah, and, eventually, was ordained a rabbi by R. Gluskin of Minsk and R. Yisser Zalman Meltzer. In 1926 he married Miriam Leah a daughter of R. Shimon Yosef Lifshitz of Chislavichi. A year before he took rabbinate in Pereyaslav, 80 km to the south-east from Kiev.
During 9 years of the service he proved to be an expert in Halakhic issues as well as wise solver of everyday life's problems of the local Jewish community. He worked hard to provide proper Jewish education to the children under the pressure of atheistic Communist regime. His activity in foundation of underground cheders and yeshivas attracted attention of the authorities, not once he was arrested and put in jail. In 1932 heavy hunger stroke Ukraine, millions were dying of starvation. As R. Yehoshua's son-in-law wrote, "there was a point when the entire city lived in dire poverty; there was literally nothing to eat. My father-in-law took the sefer Ohalei Shem, which had addresses of many rabbanim from all over the world - rabbanim whom he did not know, and they did not know him - and he simply wrote them letters. He sent each rav the address of another member of his community who needed financial assistance. After a while, donations from all over the world started pouring in. The donations were in foreign currency, which was very valuable in Russia at that time, and this assistance sustained the community. And then a miracle happened. The government officials finally caught on to what was happening and my father-in-law could have been punished severely for "speaking ill of the country" and saying they didn't have food to eat. But the miracle was that he had just left Russia and moved to Eretz Yisrael".
It happened a day after Shavuot 5694 (1934) when R. Yehoshua arrived in Jaffa with his wife and three children. He met Chazon Ish and became close to him. During his first years in Eretz Israel he did not occupied any Rabbinic position and earned a living working as accountant. But on Shabbats he used to make drashot at the Great Synagogue in Tel-Aviv. In 1937 he began to work as a teacher at Sharansky seminar in Tel-Aviv. In 1947 he took position of the Rabbi of Pardes Chana, where he was well- known for his strong stands on Torah issues. In 1957 he was involved in a tremendous public controversy over his ruling to bury the child of a mixed marriage (only the father was Jewish) according to the halacha - with dignity but outside the regular burial area. He stood firm for the Torah view in the face of tremendous abuse and pressure. On the other hand, he was deeply involved in the everyday life of the community and took part in its various activities. On the old pictures taken in 1960s (courtesy of Beit Harishonim of Pardes Chana-Karkur) we see him at the Memorial Day ceremony and addressing the audience on 1964' Independence day celebrating 16 years to Israel and 35 years to Pardes Chana.
