Ateres Tzvi redirects here. It can also refer to an earlier work by Tzvi Hirsh of Zidichov

Tzvi Hirsh of Zidichov

Tzvi Hirsh Eichenstein also known as Hirsh Zydaczower, , was famous Hasidic Rebbe, a noted Talmudist, Kabbalist and author of novellae on Torah and Responsa...

Meshulam Fayish Tzvi (Herman) Gross or Grosz (1863–1947) was a businessman, inventor and learned layman, author of two sefarim

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 ....

of Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

 novellae, Nachlas Tzvi and Ateres Tzvi.

Early life

Herman Grosz (as his name was then spelled) was born in Debrecen

Debrecen

Debrecen , is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar county.- Name :...

, Hungary in 1863. Soon after, his family moved to Nyírbátor

Nyírbátor

Nyírbátor /ˈɲiːɾbaːtoɾ/ is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. With its historic atmosphere, this city is known for its 15th- and 16th-century ecclesiastic and secular built heritage and for the family of the former landowners, the Báthory...

, where he was raised. His father, Reuven, was engaged in business, possibly as a breeder

Horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

 or trader of horses. As a young man, Meshulam reportedly was involved in "breaking" horses for his father.

It is not known which yeshiva

Yeshiva

Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

s he attended, although it is believed that much of his Torah learning was self acquired. In 1890 he married Leah Billiczer, daughter of Rabbi Amram Yishai Halevi Billiczer, Av Beth Din of Szerencs

Szerencs

Szerencs is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary. It lies away from Miskolc.-History:Szerencs was first mentioned in the Middle Ages. In the 15th century it was already a town, its owners were the Rákóczi family...

, Hungary and a descendant of a long line of rabbis. The family originally came from Spain and reportedly were descendants of Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz

Isaiah Horowitz

Isaiah Horowitz, , also known as the Shelah ha-Kadosh after the title of his best-known work, was a prominent Levite rabbi and mystic.-Biography:...

 (the Shelah HaKadosh, whose ancestry has been traced to Rashi

Rashi

Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...

 and Rabbi Yochanan Hasandlar

Yochanan Hasandlar

Johanan HaSandlar was one of the main students of Rabbi Akiva and a contemporary of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. He is one of the tannaim whose teachings are quoted in the Mishnah...

.

Religious American businessman

Gross emigrated to the United States in 1893 and settled in New York’s Lower East Side

Lower East Side

The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....

. After World War I, the family moved to Borough Park, Brooklyn

Borough Park, Brooklyn

Borough Park , is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City in the United States....

.

After engaging in a variety of business ventures, he settled in the women’s blouse business, which, after his retirement, was carried on by his sons into the 1950s. He viewed his business solely as a means of subsistence, for his true passion was Torah. He retired from business at a relatively young age to devote himself to Torah study

Torah study

Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...

 and was supported by his sons.

He is remembered as sitting at his desk, in a book-lined study, with a “shivisi” sign in front of him and a number of sefarim opened before him. He rose many hours before dawn each day to learn and write. He was attentive and meticulous to beautifying religious observance, and paid particular attention to the selection of an etrog

Etrog

Etrog refers to the yellow citron or Citrus medica used by Jews on the week-long holiday of Sukkot.While in modern Hebrew this is the name for any variety of citron, its English usage applies to those varieties and specimens used as one of the Four Species...

, the purchase of a beautiful etrog box, and the decoration of his sukkah

Sukkah

A sukkah is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated with autumnal, harvest or Judaic themes...

, arguably one of the first in the country that had canvas walls. Although his son Moshe was the chazan

Hazzan

A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...

 of a large Orthodox

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

 synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 only a block away, he refrained from going there because the Torah was not read from a central bimah

Bimah

A bimah A bimah A bimah (among Ashkenazim, derived from Hebrew בּמה , almemar (from Arabic al-minbar) or tebah (among Sephardim) is the elevated area or platform in a Jewish synagogue which is intended to serve the place where the person reading aloud from the Torah stands during the Torah reading...

.

Torah works

His two sefarim, Nachlas Tzvi and Ateres Tzvi, contain original Torah thoughts on the Chumash. The profundity of his knowledge of Chumash, Navi

Nevi'im

Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...

, 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....

, Rishonim

Rishonim

"Rishon" redirects here. For the preon model in particle physics, see Harari Rishon Model. For the Israeli town, see Rishon LeZion.Rishonim were the leading Rabbis and Poskim who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulkhan Arukh and...

 and Acharonim

Acharonim

Acharonim is a term used in Jewish law and history, to signify the leading rabbis and poskim living from roughly the 16th century to the present....

 are readily apparent throughout. He combined an encyclopedic knowledge with an inventive and creative mind to develop highly original and novel interpretations of the Chumash. A student of the Zohar

Zohar

The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...

, he had a weekly chavrusa (learning partnership) to study Kabbalah

Kabbalah

Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...

 with Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher

Chabad

Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...

 Rebbe

Rebbe

Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...

, and he used this source liberally in his works.

His primary work, Nachlas Tzvi, although not widely known, includes approbations from exceptionally great and famous Torah luminaries, among the Lubavitcher Rebbe (who never gave approbations); Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, Av Beth Din of the Edah HaChareidis of Jerusalem and a representative of the Satmar

Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)

Satmar is a Hasidic movement comprising mostly Hungarian and Romanian Hasidic Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants. It was founded and led by the late Hungarian-born Grand Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum , who was the rabbi of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary...

 Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum

Joel Teitelbaum

Joel Teitelbaum, known as Reb Yoelish or the Satmar Rav , was a prominent Hungarian Hasidic rebbe and Talmudic scholar. He was probably the best known Haredi opponent of all forms of modern political Zionism...

 (who was most impressed by the sefer but had a rule that he didn't give approbations), Rabbi Nachum Wiedenfeld of Dombrova, Poland (brother of the Tchebiner Rav) and Rabbi Avrohom Elyashiv

Avrohom Elyashiv

Rabbi Avrohom Elyashiv was the Av Beis Din of the city of Gomel and son-in-law of the famous kabbalist, Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, author of the Leshem Shevo V’Achlamah. He was also the father of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv...

 (father of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv).

Inventions

He invented one of the first vending machines. For a penny it dispensed candy and a fortune card, and a monkey tipped his hat. He also developed a parve shortening made of coconut oil

Coconut oil

Coconut oil is an edible oil extracted from the kernel or meat of matured coconuts harvested from the coconut palm . Throughout the tropical world, it has provided the primary source of fat in the diets of millions of people for generations. It has various applications in food, medicine, and industry...

, and a device to keep food from burning. Patents were issued for many of his inventions. After World War II began, recognizing that lice was a serious problem for soldiers, he performed scientific experiments with mice, experimental and control groups, and developed a lice repellent which he offered to the Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

; they opted, instead, for DDT

DDT

DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....

.

He died on September 20, 1947 (6 Cheshvan

Cheshvan

Marcheshvan , sometimes shortened to Cheshvan , is the second month of the civil year and the eighth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew...

 5708) and was buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York.

His family offers free copies of Nachlas Tzvi to anyone who commits to learning from it.

External links

• Sefer Nachlas Tzvi online