Dov Schwartzman , also called
Berel Schwartzman, was a
Haredi Jewish rabbi and
rosh yeshiva (dean) of
Bais Hatalmud, which he founded in the
Sanhedria Murhevet neighborhood of
Jerusalem and led for over 40 years died he was 90..
[1][2] He also founded and led the
Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia together with Rabbi
Shmuel Kamenetzky, and co-founded the first yeshiva in Israel for
baalei teshuva (returnees to the faith). He taught and influenced tens of thousands of students,
[3] many of whom received
semicha (rabbinic ordination) from him and went on to lead their own communities.
[2] He was renowned as a
Talmudic genius and was conversant in all areas of
Torah and
Kabbalah.
(1921 – 7 November 2011)
Early life
Schwartzman was born in
Elul 1921 in
Nevel, Russia to Rabbi Yehoshua Zev Schwartzman, a graduate of the
Slabodka yeshiva.
[3] In the 1930s, his family escaped Communist Russia and immigrated to
Tel Aviv, where his father served as a Rav. Schwartzman enrolled in Yeshivas Bais Yosef Novardok and learned under Rabbi
Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, the Steipler Gaon.
[1] In 1933, at age 12, he transferred to the
Hebron Yeshiva in the
Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem, where his
hasmadah (diligence) was evident and widely admired.
[3]
During one period, he would study for 40 hours at a time. He would
begin learning on Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. and continue straight
through till Monday night, with short breaks for prayers and eating. He
would sleep on Tuesday night, and then rise early on Wednesday for
another 40-hour stretch. His roommate in the yeshiva, Rabbi
Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, never saw him in the room, since Schwartzman would come in after Lefkowitz was sleeping and leave before he awoke.
[1]
Rabbi
Aharon Kotler, rosh yeshiva of
Beth Medrash Govoha (the Lakewood Yeshiva), chose him as a son-in-law after visiting Israel and witnessing Schwartzman's genius and diligence.
[1] In 1946 Schwartzman came to America to marry Rabbi Kotler's daughter and began learning at the Lakewood Yeshiva, where he led
chaburas (small-group learning sessions).
[3]
In the mid-1950s,
[1]
as part of Lakewood Yeshiva's effort to establish out-of-town yeshivas,
Schwartzman and Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky were sent to head the new
Talmudic Yeshiva of Philadelphia. In 1955 Schwartzman departed to open
his yeshiva in Israel and was replaced as rosh yeshiva by Rabbi
Elya Svei.
[4] From 1961 to 1962 he was a
maggid shiur (lecturer) at
Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin.
[3]
Israeli rosh yeshiva
Schwartzman moved back to Israel in the early 1960s. He established a yeshiva in
Ramat HaSharon,
[1] and in 1965 founded Yeshiva Maron Tzion in the
Bayit Vegan
neighborhood of Jerusalem, which evolved into Yeshivat Bais HaTalmud,
now located in Sanhedria Murhevet; Bais HaTalmud now includes a
yeshiva ketana,
yeshiva gedola, and
kollel.
[3] In addition to delivering a daily
blatt shiur (lecture on two pages of
Gemara) and a weekly
shiur klali (lecture to the entire yeshiva), he traveled abroad frequently to raise funds for the yeshiva's upkeep.
[1]
His lifelong dedication to
Torah study
produced a scholar who was completely at home in the breadth and depth
of Judaism's holy works. He was fluent in the works of the
Maharal and had a thorough mastery of Jewish philosophical works,
Hasidic thought, and
Kabbalah. His
shiurim were known for their depth and clarity. In his Gemara
shiurim, he presented the
pshat
(simple understanding of the text) in such a way that it was clear this
was indeed the only meaning. He was also known for his Friday-night
shiur in the yeshiva on
Mizmor Shiur L'Yom HaShabbat, which presented a different explanation each week of
Psalm 92.
He enlivened his students with his excitement for learning, and also
endeared them with his paternal concern for their needs and his pleasant
and humble personality.
[1][3]
Schwartzman was one of the fathers of the Israeli
baal teshuva movement. In the early 1970s, he co-founded the first yeshiva for
baalei teshuva, Shema Yisrael, with Rabbi
Mendel Weinbach, Rabbi
Nota Schiller, and Rabbi
Noach Weinberg. After this yeshiva evolved into
Ohr Somayach yeshiva, Schwartzman continued on as a rosh yeshiva, delivering
shiurim and guiding the staff in establishing policies for the new and untested field of
baal teshuva education.
[3]
Final years
Schwartzman's health worsened in his last years, forcing him to give up his duties as rosh yeshiva of Beis HaTalmud.
[1] He died on 7 November 2011 (10
Cheshvan 5772) and was buried on the
Mount of Olives.
[2]
Family
With his first wife, Schwartzman had three sons and three daughters.
With his second wife, Yehudis Moller, daughter of Rabbi Meir Moller of
Paris,
[3]
he had another son and five daughters. His sons and sons-in-law are
Torah scholars and educators in Israel and America. His eldest, Rabbi
Yaakov Eliezer Schwartzman, who is also the eldest grandson of Rabbi Kotler,
[5] is the rosh yeshiva of
Lakewood East in Jerusalem.
[6] His second son, Rabbi Zevulun Schwartzman, heads the kollel in the
Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and his third son, Rabbi Isser Zalman Schwartzman, is a
maggid shiur at Yeshivas Hadera in
Modiin Ilit.
[3] Two of his sons-in-law, Rabbi
Yeruchem Olshin and Rabbi
Yisroel Neuman, are roshei yeshiva at the Lakewood Yeshiva in America.
[3][7]
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