- Shmaryahu Yitzchak Bloch
Rabbi Shmaryahu Yitzchak Bloch (c.1862-1923) was a rabbi and
Talmud ist inRussia andEngland .There is very scant information about Rabbi Bloch's life. However, it is known that Rabbi Bloch served as rabbi of
Druskenik in Russia from 1884 until his emigration to England in 1888, and subsequently served as a rabbi in the communities ofSunderland ,Birmingham ,Stamford Hill andLeeds , where he died in December 1923 (Hebrew date: 7 Teves 5684).Rabbi Bloch was also an examiner for many years at the
Etz Chaim yeshiva inLondon . He gave an approbation to theSefer "Doresh Tov L'amo" authored by Rabbi Mordechai Tzvi Schwartz and published in London in 1917.Upon his sudden death, the
Jewish Chronicle wrote that Rabbi Bloch was a"Stauch champion of Orthdodoxy... Even his most casual acquaintance must have been struck by his love - nay, his passion - for the
Talmud . Possessed of a prodigious memory and of a zeal for study almost without a parallel, he acquired so accurate a knowledge of the whole of the Talmud and the glosses thereon that his "Bekius" [extensively wide knowledge] became proverbial. His mind was a veritable treasure-house of Rabbinic lore. No concordance was so reliable a guide. His piety was remarkable... he dug wells of learning wherever he sojourned... a pioneer in the establishment of Talmud Torah's and Yeshiboth."References
*Jewish Chronicle archival material
* [http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/pinkas_poland/pol8_00273.html "Druskieniki" - Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Poland]
* [http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=6390&hilite=8546d76f-5ead-4e68-b1ed-28d3c27b37c6 "Yakra d'Chayei", page 47]
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