Chaim Ozer Grodzinski
Encyclopedia
Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (1863 – 9 August 1940) was a pre-eminent Av beis din (rabbinical judge), posek
(halakhic authority), and Talmud
ic scholar in Vilnius
, Lithuania
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During his 55 years of community service, he was recognized as the leading posek and spiritual guide of his generation, fielding halakhic
queries from all parts of the world and being consulted on every Jewish communal issue. He played an instrumental role in preserving Lithuanian yeshivas during the Communist era
, and saved the yeshivas of Poland and Russia during the Nazi
invasion of Poland in 1939, when he arranged for these yeshivas to relocate to Lithuanian cities.
5623 (1863) in Iwye, Belarus
, a small town near Vilnius. His father, Rabbi David Shlomo Grodzinski, was Rav of Iwye for over 40 years, and his grandfather was also Rav of the town for 40 years before that.
From infancy, Chaim Ozer was weak and sickly. However, he was gifted with a tremendous memory, never forgetting anything he had ever read or heard. He was also a deep thinker who developed clear explanations for every Torah topic he studied. At the age of 9, he was tested by Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, who asked the boy a question in halakha along with his own answer. Chaim Ozer refuted the Rav's thesis and cited a different one from the sources, astounding the Rav.
When he was 12 years old, his father sent him to learn with the peirushim, a group of the finest Lithuanian Torah scholars assembled in Eishyshok. Chaim Ozer celebrated his bar mitzvah there. He declined to deliver the usual bar mitzvah pilpul
, but demonstrated his fluency in the Ketzos Hachoshen and the Nesivos Hamishpat
by asking his guests to recite a few words from these seforim
and he continued for them, quoting entire pages word for word and clearly explaining each topic.
At the age of 15, he decided to learn at the Volozhin yeshiva
. Despite his young age, he was accepted into Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik
's shiur and became his close disciple for the rest of the latter's life.
By the age of 20, when he passed through Vilnius, his fame preceded him. Both Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Grodnenski — the leading Rav of Vilna and the son-in-law of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter — and Rabbi Elinke Levinsohn of Kretinga desired the young Torah prodigy for their own son-in-law. The two went to Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor
of Kovno to decide which family would merit this honor. After hearing each one's position, Rabbi Spector asked to meet Rabbi Chaim Ozer, and spoke at length with him on various Torah topics. Afterward, Rabbi Spector told the two prospective fathers-in-law: "The truth is that if I had a daughter to marry off, I would take him and leave you both out in the cold. Since I have no such daughter, however, I have decided in favor of the Rav of Vilna".
Two years after his marriage, Rabbi Chaim Ozer's father-in-law died and the community of Vilnius asked him to take his place. Thus he became the leading Rav of Vilna at the age of 22. He was immediately accepted by all the older rabbis. When people remarked, "But he's so young for such a lofty position," Rabbi Chaim Ozer humorously replied, "Don't worry, it's only a temporary blemish. I'll get over it with time". Any lingering doubts about his fitness for the position were put to rest when Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and rabbi Alexander Moshe Lapidos came to the city and first went to call on the Rav of Vilna, Rabbi Chaim Ozer.
He did not have his own yeshiva per se, but assisted in the management of the Rameilles Yeshiva of Vilnius. He also established a kibbutz (group) of elite young Torah scholars, all known as iluyim (prodigies), and gave them profound shiurim on the most obscure Talmud topics. His students became future Torah leaders; they included Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky, Rabbi Eliezer Silver
, Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes
, and Rabbi Reuven Katz.
With the death of Rabbi Yitzchak Elchonon Spector in 1896, Rabbi Chaim Ozer became the undisputed leader of European Jewry. He was consulted regularly in the fight for traditional Torah education in the Russian empire and to counteract the ban against shechitah (ritual slaughter) of kosher meat. Eventually his influence was so strong that no Rav or shochet could be appointed anywhere in Poland or Russia without his consent. Thanks to his phenomenal memory, he remembered names of people and places from all over the world, making him a valuable resource when communities far and wide sought to appoint a new Rav or rosh yeshiva.
Both the communities of Jerusalem and St. Petersburg offered him the position of chief rabbi
, but he declined, saying that he was needed desperately where he was. In gratitude for his dedication, the Jewish community of Vilnius wanted to name him the official chief rabbi of Vilnius, but he refused this honor, too, saying that he had not come to change the city's long-standing tradition not to have a central rav. When the community offered him a pay raise instead, he agreed, on condition that all the other rabbis in Vilnius would receive one, too.
Rabbi Chaim Ozer was an extremely dedicated public servant. When his daughter lay in the hospital on the verge of death, he ran to his office to answer all the halakhic correspondence waiting on his desk, since he knew that he would not be able to research and answer these pressing questions during the week of shivah.
5700). His death was part of a triple blow to world Jewry, as Rabbi Shimon Shkop, rosh yeshiva of the Grodno yeshiva, died on 22 October 1939 and Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz, rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Kaminetz, died on 17 November 1939. All three Torah leaders left an orphaned generation to deal with the upheaval that followed the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.
Posek
Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive or in those situations where no halakhic precedent exists....
(halakhic authority), and Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ic scholar in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During his 55 years of community service, he was recognized as the leading posek and spiritual guide of his generation, fielding halakhic
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
queries from all parts of the world and being consulted on every Jewish communal issue. He played an instrumental role in preserving Lithuanian yeshivas during the Communist era
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and saved the yeshivas of Poland and Russia during the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
invasion of Poland in 1939, when he arranged for these yeshivas to relocate to Lithuanian cities.
Early years
Grodzinski was born on 9 ElulElul
Elul is the twelfth month of the Jewish civil year and the sixth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a summer month of 29 days...
5623 (1863) in Iwye, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, a small town near Vilnius. His father, Rabbi David Shlomo Grodzinski, was Rav of Iwye for over 40 years, and his grandfather was also Rav of the town for 40 years before that.
From infancy, Chaim Ozer was weak and sickly. However, he was gifted with a tremendous memory, never forgetting anything he had ever read or heard. He was also a deep thinker who developed clear explanations for every Torah topic he studied. At the age of 9, he was tested by Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, who asked the boy a question in halakha along with his own answer. Chaim Ozer refuted the Rav's thesis and cited a different one from the sources, astounding the Rav.
When he was 12 years old, his father sent him to learn with the peirushim, a group of the finest Lithuanian Torah scholars assembled in Eishyshok. Chaim Ozer celebrated his bar mitzvah there. He declined to deliver the usual bar mitzvah pilpul
Pilpul
Pilpul refers to a method of studying the Talmud through intense textual analysis in attempts to either explain conceptual differences between various halakhic rulings or to reconcile any apparent contradictions presented from various readings of different texts.Pilpul has entered English as a...
, but demonstrated his fluency in the Ketzos Hachoshen and the Nesivos Hamishpat
Yaakov Lorberbaum
Yaakov ben Moshe Lorberbaum of Lissa was a Rabbi and Posek...
by asking his guests to recite a few words from these seforim
Sefer (Hebrew)
Sefer in simple Hebrew is a word that means any kind of "book" It is derived from the same Hebrew root-word as sofer , sifriyah and safrut ....
and he continued for them, quoting entire pages word for word and clearly explaining each topic.
At the age of 15, he decided to learn at the Volozhin yeshiva
Volozhin yeshiva
The Volozhin Yeshiva, also known as Etz Chaim Yeshiva, was a prestigious Lithuanian yeshiva located in the town of Volozhin, Russia, . It was founded by Rabbi Chaim Itzkovitz, a student of the famed Vilna Gaon, and trained several generations of scholars, rabbis, and leaders...
. Despite his young age, he was accepted into Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik
Chaim Soloveitchik
Chaim Soloveitchik , also known as Reb Chaim Brisker, was a rabbi and Talmudic scholar credited as the founder of the popular Brisker approach to Talmudic study within Judaism. He was born in Volozhin in 1853, where his father, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik served as a lecturer in the famous...
's shiur and became his close disciple for the rest of the latter's life.
By the age of 20, when he passed through Vilnius, his fame preceded him. Both Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Grodnenski — the leading Rav of Vilna and the son-in-law of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter — and Rabbi Elinke Levinsohn of Kretinga desired the young Torah prodigy for their own son-in-law. The two went to Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor
Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor
Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor was a Russian rabbi, Posek and Talmudic sage of the 19th century.- Early struggles :...
of Kovno to decide which family would merit this honor. After hearing each one's position, Rabbi Spector asked to meet Rabbi Chaim Ozer, and spoke at length with him on various Torah topics. Afterward, Rabbi Spector told the two prospective fathers-in-law: "The truth is that if I had a daughter to marry off, I would take him and leave you both out in the cold. Since I have no such daughter, however, I have decided in favor of the Rav of Vilna".
Two years after his marriage, Rabbi Chaim Ozer's father-in-law died and the community of Vilnius asked him to take his place. Thus he became the leading Rav of Vilna at the age of 22. He was immediately accepted by all the older rabbis. When people remarked, "But he's so young for such a lofty position," Rabbi Chaim Ozer humorously replied, "Don't worry, it's only a temporary blemish. I'll get over it with time". Any lingering doubts about his fitness for the position were put to rest when Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and rabbi Alexander Moshe Lapidos came to the city and first went to call on the Rav of Vilna, Rabbi Chaim Ozer.
Leadership
Rabbi Chaim Ozer dedicated his life to world Jewry for the next 55 years. In addition to his communal work, he maintained a strict schedule of Torah learning, producing his monumental, three-volume work Achiezer even as he was fully involved in communal affairs.He did not have his own yeshiva per se, but assisted in the management of the Rameilles Yeshiva of Vilnius. He also established a kibbutz (group) of elite young Torah scholars, all known as iluyim (prodigies), and gave them profound shiurim on the most obscure Talmud topics. His students became future Torah leaders; they included Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky, Rabbi Eliezer Silver
Eliezer Silver
Rabbi Eliezer Silver was the President of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the U.S. and Canada and among American Jewry's foremost religious leaders...
, Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes
Moshe Shatzkes
Moshe Shatzkes was a renowned rabbi, Talmudic scholar and noted genius, commonly known as the "Lomzshe/Łomża Rov". He was one of the pre-eminent Roshei Yeshiva and one of the greatest rabbis in all of Poland...
, and Rabbi Reuven Katz.
With the death of Rabbi Yitzchak Elchonon Spector in 1896, Rabbi Chaim Ozer became the undisputed leader of European Jewry. He was consulted regularly in the fight for traditional Torah education in the Russian empire and to counteract the ban against shechitah (ritual slaughter) of kosher meat. Eventually his influence was so strong that no Rav or shochet could be appointed anywhere in Poland or Russia without his consent. Thanks to his phenomenal memory, he remembered names of people and places from all over the world, making him a valuable resource when communities far and wide sought to appoint a new Rav or rosh yeshiva.
Both the communities of Jerusalem and St. Petersburg offered him the position of chief rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
, but he declined, saying that he was needed desperately where he was. In gratitude for his dedication, the Jewish community of Vilnius wanted to name him the official chief rabbi of Vilnius, but he refused this honor, too, saying that he had not come to change the city's long-standing tradition not to have a central rav. When the community offered him a pay raise instead, he agreed, on condition that all the other rabbis in Vilnius would receive one, too.
Rabbi Chaim Ozer was an extremely dedicated public servant. When his daughter lay in the hospital on the verge of death, he ran to his office to answer all the halakhic correspondence waiting on his desk, since he knew that he would not be able to research and answer these pressing questions during the week of shivah.
Final years
Rabbi Chaim Ozer succumbed to cancer on 9 August 1940 (5 AvAv
Av is the eleventh month of the civil year and the fifth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. The name is Babylonian in origin and appeared in the Talmud around the 3rd century. This is the only month which is not named in the Bible. It is a summer month of 30 days...
5700). His death was part of a triple blow to world Jewry, as Rabbi Shimon Shkop, rosh yeshiva of the Grodno yeshiva, died on 22 October 1939 and Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz, rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Kaminetz, died on 17 November 1939. All three Torah leaders left an orphaned generation to deal with the upheaval that followed the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.