Shmuel Rozovsky - Biography

Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky (1913–1979) is known as a Talmudic lecturer at Ponevezh Yeshiva and is counted amongst the great rabbis of his generation. During his heyday, Reb Shmuel was known as the king of the yeshivah world. Hundreds attended his lectures. He is known worldwide for his clarity in explaining complex Talmud topics.[1]

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

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

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

Despite his strong emphasis on Talmudic skills, Rav Shmuel 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.

Methodology

Students

• Rabbi Asher Arielli of Yeshivas Mir is a student of Rabbi Rozovsky
• Rabbi Binyomin Moskovits, who started Midrash Shmuel Yeshiva in Sha'arei Hesed, Jerusalem, named after Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky.
• Rabbi Ephraim Kirshenbaum, Rav of Beis Medrash Pnei Shmuel, Ramat Beit Shemesh

Works

• Chiddushei Rabbi Shmuel
• Shiurei Rabbi Shmuel
• Zichron Shmuel