Shmuel Rozovsky

Shmuel Rozovsky (1913–1979) was a rabbi known as a Talmudic lecturer at the Ponevezh Yeshiva located in Bnei Brak, Israel, and was counted amongst the great rabbis of his generation. He was known worldwide for his clarity in explaining complex Talmud topics.[1]

Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky with the Chazon Ish

He was born in Grodno to the town's Chief Rabbi, Michel Dovid Rozovsky and Sarah Pearl, daughter of Avraham Gelburd (the previous rabbi of Grodno [2]). At a very young age, he began studying under Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz in the yeshiva of Shimon Shkop[3] and eventually became considered one of the principal students of Shkop.

In 1935, after the death of his father, Rozovsky had to flee to Eretz Yisrael to escape being drafted into the Russian army. There he studied in the Lomzha Yeshivah in Petach Tikvah. In Eretz Yisrael, Rozovsky married the daughter of Tzvi Pesach Frank, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. Rozovsky eventually began to lecture in the Lomzha Yeshiva in Petach Tivkva alongside Moshe Shmuel Shapiro and Elazar Menachem Shach.[4] In 1944, he was asked by Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman to head the newly opened Ponovezh Yeshivah in Bnei Barak. Eventually, Dovid Povarsky and Elazar Shach also joined as co-Roshei Yeshiva there.

While being treated medically in a hospital in Boston, Rozovsky was said to have specifically asked for an audience with Joseph B. Soloveitchik.[5]

Despite his strong emphasis on Talmudic skills, Rozovsky also stressed personal perfection[6] and Mussar[7] as well as the need to study other facets of Torah including Chumash with the commentaries of Rashi and Nachmanides.