Family collection

Sharin Family

Rav Chaim Sharin, mekubal and author of the Divrei Chaim - the line of Rav Zalman Sorotzkin’s mother, and a tradition that reaches back toward the Maharal of Prague.

What is established

Rav Zalman Sorotzkin of Lutzk’s mother was Hiena (חיענא), daughter of Rav Chaim Sharin, mekubal and author of the Divrei Chaim on chumash, who was the father-in-law of Rav Bentzion Sorotzkin, rav of Zakharina. The chain runs Rav Pinchos → Rav Dovid → Rav Avrohom Yoel, Av Beis Din of Zakharina → Rav Chaim → Hiena, matching the family tree printed in the kovetz Sheva Simchos.

Rav Yoel Sharin, the Illui of Poltava (Zvhil), belongs to the family as a cousin - not as Rav Chaim’s father, a correction the family issued after research had merged the two. Among the choicest talmidim of Volozhin, a talmid of the Netziv and Rav Chaim Soloveitchik, founder of yeshivos in Zvhil and Poltava; niftar 11 Menachem Av 5687 / 1927 in Warsaw and buried near his two teachers. He was probably named for Rav Chaim’s father, his own zeide R’ Yoel.

The family holds a tradition of descent from Reb Leib Sarah’s through the Sharin line; his matzeiva names his father as of the seed of the Maharal of Prague, and the Maharal descent is kept in the lineage. The Sharin-to-Reb-Leib-Sarah’s link itself is still tradition, undocumented.

Open questions

Still being checked

The Illui’s exact degree of relation - probably grandson, nephew or great-nephew of Rav Chaim’s line; his stamp reads his father’s name beginning with yud, not Rav Chaim.
The Illui’s birth year: 1871 per a captioned portrait, 1862 per an auction description.
Rav Chaim’s preface names a Chiena bas Rav Pinchos as his mother - how that sits with the Pinchos → Dovid chain.
The paper said to document Rav Eliezer Gordon’s descent from the Shach - a claim the family wants chased.

From the archive

Pictures

Portraits and prints of the Sharin line. See also the full Pictures collection.

Rav Chaim Sharin

Rav Chaim Sharin, author of Divrei Chaim. Photo from the Walkin family, 2016.

Rav Chaim Sharin - original photographic print

The old photographic print of Rav Chaim Sharin, two complementary exposures.

2 images

Rav Chaim Sharin - portrait painting

Painting of Rav Chaim Sharin by Elozer Dovid Gluck, the family painter.

Framed portraits in a relative’s album

Rav Chaim Sharin (left). The portrait on the right is labeled “Zeideh Horav Yoel Sharon” in the album; the family has reviewed it and the label is a misidentification.

Rav Yoel Sharin, the Illui of Poltava

The Illui of Poltava (Zvhil) - portrait and stamp, composite from the Tiferet auction catalog (sale 20).