Signed Autograph by the Rosh Yeshivah of Ponovezh, the Gaon Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky, from his Youth. Grodno. Rare.

Signed Autograph by the Rosh Yeshivah of Ponovezh, the Gaon Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky, from his Youth. Grodno. Rare.

Notebook of Torah novellae on tractates: Gittin, Baba Kamma and various other matters. Densely handwritten and signed (in a foreign language) in the beautiful, clear script of the prodigious young man, Shmuel Rozovsky. The notebook was written during the period he studied under the gaon Rabbi Shimon Shkop in Grodno. Signed autograph of the Torah thoughts of one of the great rashei yeshivahs of the recent generation.

The gaon Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky wrote his name and address in a foreign language on the cover of the notebook. The novellae are written with Rabbi Rozovsky's characteristic clarity. As can be observed in this book of novellae before us, he was endowed with this special blessing of his famous clarity from youth. The novellae are written in complete systems, it is possible he wrote them as he heard them from his rabbis. At the beginning of each lesson, he wrote a title for that lesson, such as "Uncertainties of Ritual Impurities in Public Space and Uncertainties of Sotah," "Tznu'in," "A Convert's Inheritance from his Non-Jewish Father" and many more. Beside some of the lessons, he writes: "From the Gra"ch ztz"l." In a lesson entitled "On the topic of: He Gives it in her Hand," Rabbi Rozovsky relates the case of a get in Brisk, in which the husband placed the get in an envelope on the table, and the wife took it from the table, and how Rabbi Chaim ruled on the matter.

These are the initial writings of one who would later become head of the flagship yeshivah in the yeshivah world - 'Yeshivat Ponovezh.' The gaon Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky wrote little and most of his Torah was passed on to later generations in his disciples' writings [see his son's foreword to Shiurei Rabi Shmuel al Masechet Makkot]. Hence the rarity of this manuscript.

The gaon Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky [1913-1979] was the rosh yeshivah of Ponovezh. Since he was a young man, his name was praised in the whole yeshivah world, and while he was yet unmarried, he was appointed rosh yeshivah of Ponovezh, which is almost completely unheard of. He was the one who in fact formed the image of the "ben yeshivah" of our times, and he served as a bridge to bequeath the Torah of the Lithuanian yeshivahs from the generation before the Holocaust to the generation after. His Torah thoughts which appear in Shiurei Rabi Shmuel and Zichron Shmuel constitute, to this day, the basis of lessons delivered by rashei yeshivahs, many of whom are among his disciples.

[1] lined notebook, approximately 23 written pages, 20 cm; [1] notepad leaf written on both sides, 10 cm; fine condition. Aging stains. Jacket cover with a blemish in the corner, without damage to text.