Family Stories
The Origins: Shimon Lieberman of Sena
The earliest known ancestor of our family, Reb Shimon Lieberman, lived in Sena, Slovakia. His son Yitzchok Yehuda was also of Sena, before the family moved to Mad, Hungary — the town that would become central to our family's identity and its connection to the world of Torah leadership.
Reb Shimon Lieberman of Mad — Son-in-Law of Rav Meir Avraham, the Pri Tzaddik
Reb Shimon Lieberman of Mad, Hungary was the son-in-law of the holy Rav Meir Avraham, author of the Pri Tzaddik — one of the towering figures of Hungarian Chassidus.
Rav Meir Avraham studied under the holy Chozeh (Seer) of Lublin for a year and a half, rising to the highest levels among his select disciples. It was the Chozeh himself who sent him to Hungary to spread the ways of Chassidus. He also drew his Torah from Reb Shmuel HaLevi Kolin, author of the Machatzis HaShekel, and according to some accounts merited to stand in the presence of the Gaon of Vilna.
He was appointed Av Beis Din of Csaba (Tshabe) in 1809, serving for twenty years. The Yismach Moshe wrote a remarkable haskama in his praise, repeatedly using the title "Tzaddik" — which the Satmar Rebbe later noted was extraordinarily rare. The Be'er Shmuel of Aonsdorf declared him to be "an angel in human form." The Chasam Sofer and the Yismach Moshe both gave approbations to his posthumously published sefer, Pri Tzaddik, containing chiddushim on Shas.
He was known for extreme piety — at one point eating nothing of animal origin and living secretly in a cave outside the city, learning day and night, unwilling to be publicly known as a miracle-worker. He passed away in 5589 (1829).
Remarkably, the new edition of the Pri Tzaddik cites R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — our direct ancestor — by name in its biography of the author (footnote 24), as a primary source and transmitter of traditions about the Pri Tzaddik's life. Our family thus appears in the very sefer of the Pri Tzaddik himself.
Malka Lieberman — Daughter of the Pri Tzaddik, Wife of Reb Shimon of Mad
Malka was the daughter of Rav Meir Avraham, the Pri Tzaddik, and wife of our ancestor Reb Shimon Lieberman of Mad. Through her, the Lieberman family became directly connected by blood to one of the towering figures of Hungarian Chassidus.
Her matzeivah — a beautifully carved gravestone with a radiating sunburst motif — survives to this day in Sátoraljaújhely, the famous Hungarian city that was home to the Yismach Moshe (Reb Moshe Teitelbaum), and one of the great centers of Hungarian Torah life. The inscription identifies her as הרבנית הצרקיה — "the Rabbinic, righteous woman." Her kever has been photographed and is preserved in this family record.
That her matzeivah still stands is itself remarkable — a tangible, physical connection between our living family and the Pri Tzaddik himself.
See her matzeivah in the photos section →Balassagyarmat, in Nógrád County in northern Hungary near the Slovak border, is home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in Hungary — nearly 600 years old. Jews first settled in the town toward the end of the 17th century; by 1778 there were 47 families, and the community reached a peak in 1920 with 2,401 Jews, over 21% of the total population.
Among the last in the whole country, the yeshiva of Balassagyarmat continued to function, as did the matzah bakery, the kosher butcher, and the mikveh — right up until the German occupation in March 1944. The community had its own independent council, led by the rabbi, consisting of prosecutors, judges (dayanim), and councillors, with authority over the legal and home affairs of Jewish citizens.
The community was organized as Orthodox in 1868. Among the rabbis who served were Mordecai and Ezekiel Banet, and successive members of the Deutsch family — Aaron David, Joseph Israel, and David — from 1851 to 1944. Rabbi Áron Dávid Deutsch was one of the three Orthodox envoys who had an audience at the court of Emperor and King Franz Joseph.
In 1849, 39% of the town's population called themselves Jewish. More than 2,000 people were deported from this town during World War II. The Jews were deported to Auschwitz in two transports that left on June 12 and June 14, 1944. The Germans used the synagogue as a munitions depot and destroyed it before their departure.
The Orthodox cemetery contains more than 3,400 tombstones, some from the 18th century. It was named a national historic monument in 1993 — the first Jewish cemetery in Hungary to receive this honor after the fall of Communism. Our ancestor Reb Boruch Lieberman and his descendants were part of this ancient kehilla.
Visit the Balassagyarmat Jewish Community website →Reb Boruch Lieberman of Balassagyarmat
Son of Reb Shimon of Mad, Reb Boruch Lieberman settled in Balassagyarmat, northern Hungary. He married twice and raised a large family of children, of whom Reb Ahron Mordechai is our direct ancestor. Reb Boruch passed away on 22 Nissan and is buried in Balassagyarmat.
Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman זצ"ל הי"ד — Av Beis Din of Kiskunfélegyháza
Among the uniquely gifted rabbonim of prewar Czechoslovakia and Hungary was Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — an individual whose greatness in Torah was matched by his broad vision and deep sense of communal responsibility. He was known for his boundless energy in advancing the needs of the tzibur, and wherever he went, he commanded admiration and respect — not only for his learning, but for his noble character and ability to lead with both firmness and sensitivity.
Origins & Youth. Born in 5647 (1887) in Balassagyarmat into a family steeped in rabbinic lineage, his father Reb Boruch Lieberman served as Av Beis Din of the community and had been the assistant rabbi to Reb Ahron Dovid Deutsch, baal mechaber Goren Dovid, a talmid muvhak of the Chasam Sofer. Through his paternal line, Reb Ahron Mordechai traced his ancestry to Reb Meir Avraham Klein, Av Beis Din of Tsheba (the Pri Tzaddik). His grandfather was rav in Shenya — a position the Lieberman family held for over one hundred years.
The Be'er Shmuel's Yeshiva. Reb Ahron Mordechai set out to learn at the yeshiva of the gaon and kadosh, Reb Shmuel Rosenberg, Av Beis Din of Unsdorf, baal mechaber Be'er Shmuel. In the Be'er Shmuel's home, young Ahron Mordechai was welcomed with extraordinary warmth — his rebbi saw in him a pure and noble soul and invited him to live in his own home, a privilege rarely granted to any talmid. This closeness was deepened by a personal connection: the Be'er Shmuel's Rebbetzin, like Reb Ahron Mordechai, was a descendant of the Pri Tzaddik — linking them as einiklach of the same spiritual legacy.
Marriage. At eighteen, he married Rebbetzin Frumit, daughter of Rabbi Yaakov Beilush, Av Beis Din of Yanashi (Kántorjánosi), a talmid and hoiz bochur of Reb Yehudah Assad and son-in-law of the tzaddik Reb Naftali Hertzke of Ratzfert. The shidduch was arranged by Reb Hershel Liska, baal mechaber Ach Pri Tevuah. He received semicha from the Be'er Shmuel and from Reb Eliezer Dovid Greenwald, Av Beis Din of Satmar, baal mechaber Keren LeDovid.
Bilke. Around 1915, Reb Ahron Mordechai arrived in Bilke, founded a large yeshiva whose graduates went on to the elite yeshivos of Slovakia, and became a towering communal figure. He successfully brought the Joint Distribution Committee to extend aid to the devastated Jewish communities of Carpatho-Rus after WWI — an American automobile bearing the Joint's insignia arriving at his door in Bilke became a moment of historic hope for the entire region. He rose to serve as President of the Lishkas HaYire'im, the Orthodox Bureau headquartered in Ungvár, representing Orthodox communities across the region. He was a signatory on the famous public letter condemning the faction that broke from the Sigheter kehilla, alongside the leading Av Beis Dins of the region. He maintained a close personal friendship with Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum zt"l.
Ricse. After departing Bilke in difficult circumstances, Reb Ahron Mordechai was appointed Chief Rabbi of Ricse and the Lower Bodrogköz Rabbinical District — succeeding Reb Shmuel Gross, who was the son-in-law of the holy Reb Shayale of Kerestir (R' Yeshaya Steiner, 1851–1925), one of the most beloved tzaddikim of Hungarian Chassidus. Ricse sits in the heart of the same Bodrogköz region as Kerestir, and at R' Ahron Mordechai's installation, almost all the chief rabbis of the Bodrogkeresztúr district gathered to receive him. The appointment came through the personal intervention of his first cousin Adolph Zukor, founder of Paramount Pictures — whose mother Chana was the sister of Reb Boruch Lieberman. Zukor funded a new seven-room residence and donated a magnificent new Sefer Torah. The inauguration in March 1927 was a major civic event, with flags, singing children, and government officials.
Kiskunfélegyháza. In 1928, Reb Ahron Mordechai was elected Chief Rabbi of Kiskunfélegyháza with an overwhelming majority, after the community had been without a permanent rav for over half a century. His installation ceremony on October 25, 1928 drew representatives of every major civic institution in the city. He founded the Tiferes Bachurim society, published widely on Orthodox youth policy, upheld the Chasam Sofer's principles on the primacy of Yiddish for drashos despite fierce opposition, and won a landmark defamation case that publicly vindicated his leadership.
Al Kiddush Hashem. On June 15, 1944, the deportation began. Gendarme commander Márton Zöldi launched a brutal public attack on Reb Ahron Mordechai — tearing out his beard and beating him viciously in full view of the crowd. That night, 983 Jews were forced into sealed cattle cars. Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman perished al kiddush Hashem together with his kehilla. His yahrzeit is י' תמוז. His wife Rebbetzin Frumit shared the same yahrzeit.
The new edition of the Pri Tzaddik cites Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman ztz"l by name (footnote 24, p. 33) as a transmitter of traditions about the Pri Tzaddik heard in the yeshiva of the Be'er Shmuel — completing the circle that began when Reb Shimon Lieberman of Mad married Malka, daughter of the Pri Tzaddik himself.
The Kerestirer Connection — Reb Shayale of Kerestir
When R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman was appointed Chief Rabbi of Ricse in 1927, he succeeded Reb Shmuel Gross — the son-in-law of the holy Reb Yeshaya Steiner of Kerestir (1851–1925), known universally as "Reb Shayale." One of the most beloved tzaddikim of Hungarian Chassidus, Reb Shayale was renowned for his extraordinary ahavas Yisrael, his open table for the poor, and his power of blessing. His kever in Bodrogkeresztúr draws tens of thousands of visitors each year on his yahrzeit, 21 Iyar.
Ricse sits in the heart of the same Bodrogköz region as Kerestir, and the connection between R' Ahron Mordechai and the Kerestirer's family through this rabbinic succession places our family within the warm spiritual orbit of that holy court. It was fitting that at R' Ahron Mordechai's installation in Ricse, almost all the chief rabbis of the Bodrogkeresztúr district — the very district of Kerestir — gathered to receive him.
Adolph Zukor — First Cousin & Founder of Paramount Pictures
Adolph Zukor, the legendary founder of Paramount Pictures and one of the founding fathers of Hollywood, was the first cousin of Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman. Zukor's mother Chana was the sister of Reb Boruch Lieberman — making Adolph and Reb Ahron Mordechai first cousins. Alongside their brother, the renowned Rabbi Nosson Lieberman (the Imrei Daas), the three siblings came from a distinguished rabbinic family. Following the early deaths of both his parents, young Adolph was raised in the home of Rabbi Nosson Lieberman, then the Rav of Ricse.
In 1927, Zukor returned to Ricse and personally arranged for Reb Ahron Mordechai to be appointed Chief Rabbi of Ricse and the Lower Bodrogköz Rabbinical District, covering his salary and donating $6,000 toward a new seven-room rabbinic residence. The inauguration on March 31, 1927 was a major civic celebration. That following Shavuos, Zukor donated a magnificent new Sefer Torah — completed and carried in a public procession through the entire town to the shul.
R' Naftali Herzka Lieberman — Son of R' Ahron Mordechai, Brooklyn NY
Born כ"א טבת תרס"ט (January 1909), R' Naftali Herzka Lieberman was a son of Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman, Av Beis Din of Kiskunfélegyháza. He survived the war and settled in Brooklyn, NY. He passed away כ"ה אלול תשנ"ח and is buried at Floral Park Cemetery in Deans, NJ, alongside his brother R' Moshe Shmuel. His matzeivah identifies him as בן מוהרר הגאון אהרן מרדכי זצ"ל אב"ד דקה"י פעלעדיהאז.
See his matzeivah in the photos section →Share a Memory
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Family Tree
Family Geographic History
The towns and cities connected to the Lieberman family across Slovakia and Hungary — from their origins in Sena to the communities where they served as rabbis. Click any marker for details.
the Pri Tzaddik (d. 1829)
the Pri Tzaddik
Deans, NJ
Deans, NJ
Deans, NJ
Based on the published genealogical record Reb Shimon Lieberman, son-in-law of the Pri Tzaddik. Nodes highlighted in gold indicate our direct line of descent. Gold-bordered nodes in the collateral generation are direct ancestors.
Photographs
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Floral Park Cemetery — Deans, NJ
Burial place of three generations of the Lieberman family: R' Naftali Herzka Lieberman (d. כ"ה אלול תשנ"ח), R' Moshe Shmuel Lieberman (d. ג' סיון תשס"ו), and Moshe Ahron Mordechai Lieberman (d. ד' אדר תשפ"ו).
Document Archive
Balassagyarmat Jewish Community — Official Website
History of the Jewish community of Balassagyarmat, one of the oldest in Hungary (~600 years). Includes Holocaust remembrance records, the Orthodox cemetery catalogue of over 3,400 tombstones (named national historic monument 1993), and survivor testimonies. Our ancestors Reb Boruch Lieberman and R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman were members of this kehilla.
Balassagyarmat — Encyclopaedia Judaica Entry
Records the Jewish community of Balassagyarmat from its earliest settlement in the late 17th century through the Holocaust. Documents population figures, rabbinical succession, the Orthodox reorganization of 1868, and the deportations of June 12–14, 1944 to Auschwitz. Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica via Encyclopedia.com.
Matzeivah of Malka Lieberman — Sátoraljaújhely, Hungary
Photograph of the surviving gravestone of Malka Lieberman, daughter of Rav Meir Avraham the Pri Tzaddik, and wife of Reb Shimon Lieberman of Mad. The stone features a carved sunburst motif and identifies her as הרבנית הצרקיה — "the Rabbinic, righteous woman." Buried in Sátoraljaújhely, the great Hungarian Torah city, home of the Yismach Moshe. This is a direct physical link between the Lieberman family and the Pri Tzaddik.
The new edition of the Pri Tzaddik by Rav Meir Avraham of Csaba contains a biography of the author (תולדות המחבר). In footnote 24 (p. 33), R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman ztz"l is cited by name as a primary source who transmitted eyewitness traditions about Rav Meir Avraham's life — heard in the yeshiva of the Av Beis Din of Aonsdorf. Our ancestor thus appears by name in the sefer of the Pri Tzaddik, whose family he descended from through Reb Shimon Lieberman of Mad. The sefer bears approbations from the Chasam Sofer and the Yismach Moshe.
Genealogical Record — Reb Shimon Lieberman, Son-in-Law of the Pri Tzaddik
A published genealogical document tracing the descendants of Reb Shimon Lieberman of Mad, Hungary. Source of much of the family tree data on this site, including the children of Reb Boruch of Balassagyarmat and the line down to R' Naftali Herzka Lieberman.
Sefer Be'er Shmuel — Rav Shmuel Rosenberg, Av Beis Din of Unsdorf
Responsa work authored by Rav Shmuel Rosenberg (1842–1919), the Av Beis Din of Huncovce (Unsdorf), disciple of the Ksav Sofer, and R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman's primary rebbi. Known as "a Rebbe of Rebbes," his yeshiva in Unsdorf produced generations of Torah leaders across Hungary and Slovakia. It was in this yeshiva that R' Ahron Mordechai heard and transmitted the oral traditions about the Pri Tzaddik recorded in the new edition of that sefer (fn. 24). The neighborhood of Kiryat Unsdorf in Jerusalem is named in his memory.
Biography of Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman זצ"ל הי"ד — Family Record
A comprehensive biography of Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman, Av Beis Din of Kiskunfélegyháza, compiled from primary sources including Hungarian press records, communal documents, survivor testimonies, and rabbinic literature. Covers his youth in Balassagyarmat, studies by the Be'er Shmuel of Unsdorf, rabbinate in Bilke, Ricse, and Kiskunfélegyháza, his role as President of the Orthodox Bureau in Ungvár, his relationship with Adolph Zukor, and his martyrdom on י' תמוז תש"ד.
Marriage Certificate — Ármin Lieberman & Fáni Beilus · Kántorjánosi, 1905
Official Hungarian marriage certificate of Ármin Lieberman (son of Barnak Lieberman and Fani Gulienplan) and Fáni Beilus, married on March 15, 1905 in Kántorjánosi, Szatmár, Hungary. Primary civil record documenting the marriage of Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman and Rebbetzin Frumit.
Alei Zikaron — Issue 54 · The Ricse Entry
Alei Zikaron, issue 54, p. 72. The Ricse (ריצ'ע) entry records that on Kislev 5687, almost all the chief rabbis of the Bodrogkeresztúr district gathered in Ricse as R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman (Armin), rabbi of Bilke, was being installed as rabbi — noted also as successor to the chief rabbi of Verbőc, Reb Shmuel Gross, who was the son-in-law of the holy Reb Shayale of Kerestir (R' Yeshaya Steiner, 1851–1925), one of the most beloved tzaddikim of Hungarian Chassidus, whose kever in Bodrogkeresztúr draws tens of thousands of visitors each year. The installation ceremony was held in the synagogue courtyard with community leaders and regional government representatives present. (Source: Zsidó Újság, issue 14, 6 Nissan 5687, p. 5)
History of the Jews in Carpathian Russia, pp. 160–170. Names R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman as a rabbinic official connected to Pressburg (Bratislava) within the Agudas HaKehillos — the autonomous Orthodox organization of Carpathian Jewry. Records his involvement in the organizational deliberations of 1932, conducted in the presence of the Minchas Elazar of Munkács and R' Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky of Chust. Published in Otzar HaChochma.
"A holokauszt Kiskunfélegyházán" — Kun Zsuzsanna
Academic article published in Belvedere journal (2005, Vol. XVII, No. 7–8) documenting the Jewish community of Kiskunfélegyháza and the Holocaust. Records the Jewish Council proposal listing Liebermann Ármin főrabbi (R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman), his beating by gendarmerie commander Zöldi Márton on the day of deportation (15 June 1944), and the fate of the 985 deportees sent to Auschwitz. Based on survivor testimonies and municipal archive records.
Bács-Kiskun County Archive Records — Jewish Council Documents
Municipal administrative files of Kiskunfélegyháza (BKMÖL-Kf. V.175.b and VI.3), including the April–June 1944 records of Jewish Council formation, census of 352 Jewish families, ghetto regulations, and deportation orders. Liebermann Ármin főrabbi named in file 13000/1944.
Yad Vashem Encyclopedia of the Ghettos — Kecskemét (Entry #974)
The Yad Vashem Ghettos Encyclopedia entry for Kecskemét documents the city's Jewish community (1,346 Jews in 1941), the establishment of its ghetto on 30 May 1944, and its role as the regional deportation center at the copper match factory. More than 5,400 Jews from multiple counties were held on the bare factory floor before deportation. Two transports to Auschwitz departed 25 and 27 June 1944. Before the second transport, approximately 70 people poisoned themselves — most died. The Kiskunfélegyháza Jews (including Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman הי"ד) passed through this facility.
Yad Vashem Encyclopedia of the Ghettos — Kiskunfélegyháza (Entry #945)
The Yad Vashem online Encyclopedia of the Ghettos During the Holocaust includes a dedicated entry for the Kiskunfélegyháza ghetto (entry #945), documenting its establishment, conditions, and the deportation of its Jewish population in 1944. The encyclopedia, edited by Guy Miron and published by Yad Vashem, covers over 1,100 ghettos across Nazi-occupied Europe and is the most authoritative scholarly reference on the subject.
Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora — Community Record E.422
Tel Aviv, Israel. Records the Kiskunfélegyháza Jewish community, confirms founding dates and deportation data: 985 Jews deported 25 June 1944 to Auschwitz; 90% gassed on arrival; 97 survivors returned.
Matzeivah (Gravestone) of Reb Boruch Lieberman — Balassagyarmat
The inscription on the gravestone of Reb Boruch Lieberman in Balassagyarmat (Hungary), recording his passing on 22 Nissan. Transcribed and preserved in the family genealogical record.
Matzeivah of R' Naftali Herzka Lieberman — Balassagyarmat
Gravestone of R' Naftali Herzka Lieberman, buried in Balassagyarmat. The inscription mentions his son R' Moshe Ahron Mordechai Lieberman. Transcribed in the family record.
Sefer Girtza Dinukta — R' Shlomo Lieberman
A Torah work authored by R' Shlomo Lieberman, son of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman, and brother of R' Naftali Herzka. A published sefer connecting our family to the world of Torah scholarship.
Letter of Praise for R' Ahron Mordechai — Gaon of Münkacs
A letter of approbation written by the Gaon of Münkacs (Munkács) praising R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman, who studied under him and received his ordination. Referenced in the published genealogical record.