Dovid Leibowitz

Rabbi Chaim Dovid Leibowitz ZT"L
Predecessor	None
Successor	Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz
Personal details
Born	1889 Dzyatlava, Belarus
Died	December 5, 1941(1941-12-05) (aged 52) New York
Nationality	American

Dovid Leibowitz (1889-1941) was a leading rabbi and disciple of prewar Europe's Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania who went on to found the Rabbinical Seminary of America (which is also known as "Yeshiva Rabeinu Yisroel Meir Hakohen" or Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen) as its first Rosh yeshiva (dean) in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, New York. The Rabbinical Seminary of America was named after his great-uncle rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan who was also well known as the "Chofetz Chaim". His son, rabbi Henoch Leibowitz, led the yeshiva until his death in 2008.

In his youth he was known as "Reb Dovid Warshawer". As a teenager, he studied in the Radin Yeshiva, where he held private study sessions with his great-uncle - the founder of the Radin Yeshiva, the Chofetz Chaim for 12 hours a day, and helped write the last volume of the Mishnah Berurah;^[1] he also learned there under Rabbi Naftoli Trop.

In 1908, Rabbi Leibowitz transferred to the Slabodka yeshiva, where he learned under the Alter of Slabodka, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel. In 1915, Rabbi Leibowitz succeeded his father-in-law as rabbi of Šalčininkai. After six years, however, he returned to Slobodka as a founding member of the Slabodka Kollel.

In 1926, Rabbi Leibowitz came to the United States as a fund-raiser for the kollel and was invited to become the first^[1] rosh yeshiva of Mesivta Torah Vodaath. Among his students were Rabbi Gedalia Schorr and Rabbi Avrohom Pam. In 1933, Rabbi Leibowitz founded Yeshivas Rabbenu Yisrael Meir Hacohen, named after his great uncle. (The Yeshiva is better known today as the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva or the Rabbinical Seminary of America now located in Kew Gardens Hills, New York.) There he transplanted to the United States his unique style of Talmud study as well as the Slabodka school of Musar.

On Friday December 5, 1941 Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz died of a massive heart attack. Because his death was on a Friday, the funeral was held on Sunday December 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor Day) as to provide proper respect for the deceased. The yeshiva was headed for the following sixty-seven years by his only son, Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz who died on April 15, 2008 due to natural causes.

The yeshiva is now headed by two of Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz's disciples, Rabbi Dovid Harris and Rabbi Akiva Grunblatt.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} *Ginzberg, R. Aryeh Zev (2009-04). "A Builder of Torah". Chazaq. http://www.chazaq.org/storage/File/april.exe. Retrieved 2009-04-12. 

External links

• Rabbi Leibowitz's gravestone

Persondata
Name	Leibowitz, Dovid
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1889-0-0
Place of birth	Dzyatlava, Belarus
Date of death	December 5, 1941
Place of death	New York