Manuscript of Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky – Novellae on Tractate PESACHIM – Bnei Brak, 1950s

R. Shmuel ...

Manuscript of Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky – Novellae on Tractate PESACHIM – Bnei Brak, 1950s

R. Shmuel Rozovsky (1913-1979) was the son of R. Michel David Rozovsky, a rabbi in Grodno (1869-1935). He studied under R. Shimon Shkop in the Shaar HaTorah yeshiva in Grodno (his hometown), in the Mir yeshiva in Poland and in the Lomza yeshiva in Petach Tikva. He was the son-in-law of R. Tzvi Pesach Frank, rabbi of Jerusalem. He served as lecturer in the Lomza yeshiva even before he got married. In Kislev 1943 he moved over with his disciples to the newly founded Ponovezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak, and was the first lecturer in the Ponovezh yeshiva. His lectures were the focal point of the Ponovezh yeshiva, where he gave over the Torah of the Lithuanian yeshivot to the new generation in Eretz Israel. His impact on the Torah world in our times was highly significant, and until this day the lectures in most yeshivot are based on the principles and approaches of R. Shmuel, which he absorbed from his teachers in the Grodno yeshiva and in the yeshivot in Lithuania. Already in his lifetime, his lectures were published based on his students' notes, which were photocopied and printed in various stencil editions. After his passing, his novellae and lectures were rearranged by his descendants and leading disciples, and published in Chidushei Rabbi Shmuel, Shiurei Rabbi Shmuel and Zichron Shmuel. When compiling these books, they used mostly the notes which his disciples took during the lectures, referring only minimally to R. Shmuel's own manuscripts, since he wrote very little of his own notes. Thus, most of his teachings were transmitted through his disciples' records.