11 Adar · Yahrzeit

Rabbi Yosef Rosen of Dvinsk - the Rogatchover Gaon

Rabbi Yosef ben Fishel Rosen of Dvinsk (1936) - the Rogatchover Gaon - author of "Tzafnat Paneach." Yahrzeit - 11 Adar Resting place - Daugavpils, Lithuania Here is a description by eyewitnesses: "Of short stature, quick-moving, with a fine ascetic face and a head covered with gray locks down to his shoulders." "The rabbi never walked, only ran." He never had enough time. Never. Perhaps even now, in the World of Eternity, he still lacks the time to grasp the full infinity of the Creator and His Torah. Many years later, an elderly Jew, Reb Moshe, who in his youth had been a student of the Rogatchover, recalled a story he had heard in a lesson. In a certain shtetl a Jew died, leaving his three sons seventeen goats and a strange will: "Give half to the eldest, two-thirds of what remains to the middle son, two-thirds of what remains after that to the youngest, and the rest to charity." They puzzled over it every which way, but nothing worked out — halves and sixths of goats made no sense. So they went to the rabbi. "I don't know what your father wanted to teach you, but I will give you a goat from the charity fund." Now everything worked out at once: nine goats to the eldest, six to the middle son, two to the youngest, and one returned to the charity fund. How could this be — all seventeen goats accounted for, divided among the heirs exactly according to the will — when before it simply wouldn't work out? The Rogatchover fell silent and gazed at his students for a long while. "You, young people, study Torah — that is good, that is right. But do not think the result depends only on the effort you put in. Your efforts are the seventeen goats, but without the eighteenth nothing can be done with them. A gift from the Al-mighty is needed — understanding — and it is granted not for brilliant knowledge and deep analysis, but for simple, wholehearted fulfillment of the commandments. Be guileless with the Al-mighty — and then, wondrously, out of the most hopeless situation He will show you a simple, clear way out." The power of prayer arises the same way. It depends not on the art of meditation, knowledge of the text's structure, or even on the "kavanot" (the deep intentions) of the one praying, but on the wholeness of his life, the sincerity of his relationship with the One to Whom the prayers are addressed. Especially if, during prayer, a moment of genuine repentance — "teshuva" — arrives, one that transforms your entire reality. Yosef (called "Fishelevich" in Russia) Rozin was born in 1858 in the small Belarusian town of Rogachev, south of Mogilev. Today it is in Gomel Region; at the time it was Mogilev Province. The town lies where the Drut River flows into the Dnieper. In Belarusian, "rog" (horn) also means a "shoal," a "spit," a "point," or a "corner." Could it be from this "rog" that the sage derived his angular, ironic, at times even biting character? The coat of arms of the town of Rogachev resembles a shofar and an open book against a bright, sunny background. The "sun of Jewish scholarship" that rose in Dvinsk and still warms us today was born in this town. In the 19th century Jews made up about 60% of the population. One of the first Hasidic communities in Belarus arose here (although before the 19th century the territory of Belarus was called "Lita" in Yiddish, and the local Jews "Litvaks"). Rogachev was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt — its history was no bed of roses: wars, fires, Cossack raids... Interestingly, Rabbi Meir Simcha is not called "the Gaon of Baltrimantz," but rather "... of Dvinsk (Daugavpils)" — even though he led the town's "Litvak" community for about as long, and at roughly the same time, as the Rogatchover led the Hasidic community. Why, then, is one called by his birthplace and not by his more than 40 years of devoted service? Perhaps one explanation is that the Rogatchover Gaon had a fiery temperament, a rather sharp and stubborn character. It is described how he would enter his synagogue (the "Planover minyan"): he would wave off with a gesture those who rushed up to greet him, prayer would begin immediately, and if the chazzan moved too slowly he would scold him for wasting the congregation's time (this was a "shtibel" — a synagogue where one group of worshippers would follow another). In general, he answered greetings only in passing, barely noticing them. Those who came with questions — unless they were substantial — he might turn away sharply; his nickname became "I have no time." Those seeking a rabbinic blessing he would usually send to his friend, Rav Meir Simcha ("go to the Kohen"). And if someone dared, without being brilliantly prepared by the Gaon's standards — say, not knowing the Babylonian Talmud by heart — to ask him for rabbinic ordination ("semicha"), he might chase them out, stamping his feet after them. Therefore, although the townspeople loved and revered him beyond measure — for his vast knowledge, sharp mind, wisdom and gift of foresight, his incorruptibility and absolute honesty — it is said that "the townspeople never grew close to him." There was a saying that he was "a better rabbi for angels than for mortals." The Rav seemed to live not in Dvinsk but on "planet Torah." Or "somewhere over there," in Rogachev. But perhaps the reason is simply that a strong, close-knit community had formed in Rogachev, and those who came from it continued to feel a close connection to their birthplace. Did you know that it was Hasidim from Rogachev who, in 1810, revived the Jewish quarter of Hebron after a 250-year gap? Yosef's mother was the granddaughter of Rav Gershon, one of the closest students of the founder of Chabad, the Alter Rebbe, while his father, Rav Fishel, was a Hasid of Kopys, a branch of Chabad. When the boy was five or six, his father took him to be blessed by his own teacher, the Tzemach Tzedek (1789-1866), the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, an outstanding halachic authority. The sage blessed the boy to become a great master of Torah, and as they parted added, "You should study the tractate Nazir thoroughly." On the way home the child kept pressing his father: "Why Nazir — I should study the whole Talmud!?" Later he concluded that the teacher had probably been hinting that he should become a "nazir" — dedicating himself entirely to lofty matters and distancing himself from the mundane. Some say the rabbi's long hair signified that he had taken on nezirut; others say he simply cut it no more than once or twice a year, so as not to be pulled away from his studies. The boy displayed brilliant abilities already in childhood; by the age of 10 he had surpassed all the teachers in the district and began studying on his own, guided by his father. The next stage — after his bar mitzvah, his father sent him to Slutsk to study under the head of the community, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik ("the Beit HaLevi"). There, for a year, his chavruta (study partner) was the Rav's son, Chaim Brisker, five years his senior. Imagine — a 13-year-old boy studying as an equal with an 18-year-old genius of logical analysis! The next step was Shklov, the yeshiva of Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin (the Maharil Diskin). All those named are among the greatest sages of the Jewish people of recent centuries and, incidentally, "Litvaks." Perhaps this reflects the influence of the Tzemach Tzedek, who put enormous effort into ending the rift in the nation between the "Mitnagdim" and the "Hasidim." Then, still in Shklov, came study under the Hasidic mentor Yehuda Leib of Kopys, which made the Rogatchover a true Chabad Hasid. The Rogatchover usually finished his prayers among the first and hurried back to his study of Torah, which he pondered day and night; almost all his thoughts were of it. (It is not my place to compare sages, but it seems to me I have met only one person like this: Rav Avraham Shor — here, in Brooklyn. Even among the true servants of the Creator, such a thing is rare.) Witnesses relate that the Rogatchover could write two letters on different subjects simultaneously with both hands, while at the same time looking into a volume of the Talmud. Time! Remarkably, as if in contrast to all this, the Rogatchover was an open, kindly person who was deeply involved in communal affairs. He supported the needy, using his enormous authority, and gave daily classes at the yeshiva. Toward the young he was warmly indulgent: "everyone can live in their own way and believe in G-d according to their own views." Truth and sincerity mattered more to him than details of dress and ritual — so long, of course, as they did not cross into a violation of the commandments. He proved his tolerance in practice: his son-in-law was the "Litvak" Rav Aba David. The ultimate conclusion of everyone who wrote about this sharp, sharp-tongued, ironic and impatient man was: "he was an utterly charming personality who left an unforgettable impression on everyone who saw him." Christians, on the one hand, nicknamed him "the mad rabbi" (always running somewhere, framed by a mane of thick hair down to his shoulders), while on the other hand they preferred to settle their disputes with Jews before him, as "the real rabbi," relying entirely on his wisdom and impartiality. In 1925 a conference of the rabbis of Latvia gathered at his initiative, adopting important decisions on strengthening children's Torah education. A fund called "Keren Chinuch" was established to support religious educational institutions; at the Rogatchover's proposal, every community was obligated to maintain its own religious schools, and it was proposed, for this purpose, to tax every Jew 1 lat a year (roughly 75 already-inflated wartime tsarist rubles). However, this project was never realized due to technical obstacles. Rav Yosef offered his views on political matters, in particular on elections in Latvia, and of course faced criticism for it ("what do these rabbis understand?!"). Shortly before his death in 1936, relying on Torah-based logic, he predicted the inevitability of a great war: "the situation of the Jews now is not good... when all the nations are so isolated and so hostile to one another... I simply see no other way." After his studies in Shklov, the Rogatchover married Rachel, daughter of the wealthy Warsaw businessman Gurfinkel — "a pretty, well-bred and superbly educated" woman who devoted many years to helping the poor; in particular, she became head of "Hachnasat Kallah," a society that assisted brides. The couple spent eight years in Warsaw, where Yosef studied day and night, including "secular" subjects necessary for the understanding of Torah. In 1889 he was chosen as rabbi of the Hasidic community of Dvinsk. At first, because of his youth and difficult character, some of the older Hasidim did not want to accept him as their pastor, but his worldwide scholarly fame and penetrating mind quickly set everything in its place. What struck visitors immediately was that the Rogatchover answered questions and solved problems with incredible speed. His phenomenal memory was well known, but according to Rav Meir Simcha, the secret was not the memory but the Rogatchover's tremendous capacity for work — and the fact that he was engaged with Torah constantly, with no breaks whatsoever in his study. The Rav went through material so quickly and so deeply — all the more so since so much would instantly surface on the screen of his memory — that it looked as though the Rogatchover were studying the very topic raised for the first time, right then and there. Rav Avraham Miller, one of the few Torah sages who survived the Soviet regime, described how the Rogatchover studied. "When I was still quite young, my friends and I would admire how the Rogatchover studied. On a huge table, of the kind found in the banquet halls of old castles, twenty or thirty books were laid out around its perimeter, and the Rogatchover would walk in circles around the table, reading them all at once." He continued studying Torah even on the mournful day of Tisha B'Av, when this (aside from reading about the tragedies) is forbidden. "I will gladly accept the punishment for studying Torah on this day — Torah is worth it!" And he would quote the Jerusalem Talmud: "If a person burns with Torah, then it is permitted." The Rogatchover himself, and later his posthumous publishers, titled all his books "Tzafnat Paneach" (Revealer of Secrets) — the name Pharaoh gave to his namesake Yosef, who prophetically interpreted the dreams about Egypt's future. His favorite was the Rambam — the author himself published five volumes of commentary on his main code, the Mishneh Torah. Here is a comment typical of his uncompromising mind: "No one knows how to study Gemara properly. The Rambam knew — he really knew how to study Talmud well. — But what about Rabbi Akiva Eiger, what about the Vilna Gaon?!.. — The Vilna Gaon was a man of all-around knowledge; he absorbed everything into himself. But that is not enough to study Gemara. In a shtetl near where I lived there was a melamed, a little rebele. He wore a shabby hat and knew how to study Gemara a thousand times better than the Vilna Gaon" (this about the man who checked, edited, and cleared the text of the Babylonian Talmud of its accumulated errors!). It was likely his love for the Rambam that drew the Rogatchover close to his Dvinsk colleague Rav Meir Simcha, whose only work published in his lifetime, "Or Sameach," is likewise devoted to analyzing the Mishneh Torah. The Rogatchover left for St. Petersburg in 1914, when Dvinsk found itself on the front line. He was chosen as Chief Rabbi of the capital and remained in that post until 1924, helping his fellow Jews survive the tragedies of those years. In early 1925 he managed to return to Dvinsk and once again lead the town's Hasidim. Chabad Hasidim relate that he was close to the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Rayatz, and that the Rebbe may have received his rabbinic ordination from him. In 1935, ailing, the Rogatchover had to travel to Vienna, but the operation was unsuccessful and he was overcome by severe pain. His wife and children went around the synagogues of Vienna, urging Jews to ask the Gaon difficult questions — for while he pondered them, the pain would release its hold on the sage. The Rogatchover died on 11 Adar (March 5) 1936. After a contest with other claimants, the honor of burying the genius went to Dvinsk — he was laid to rest between the grave of the "Or Sameach" and the remains of 25 Torah scrolls burned in a fire. His rabbinic seat was inherited by his beloved student Yisrael Alter Fuchs, who, together with the teacher's daughter Rachel Zitron, published some of his works. Much remains in manuscript to this day. Both publishers perished in the Holocaust. The Rogatchover is alive today — just as the Torah is alive, the Torah that was his essence, his daily life, his beloved. Just as the Jewish people are alive. (Author: Arye Yudasin, https://evreimir.com/175408/otkryvayushhij-tajnoe-ili-istoriya-o-semnadtsati-kozochkah/) May the merit of the Tzadik protect Am Yisrael!

Source: https://silatehilim.com/en/events/11-адара-йорцайт-рабби-йосеф-розен-из-дв/

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