Title: The Rogatchover
By: Rabbi Yair Borochov
Orot Publishing
If you took all the biographies of the great Torah sages of the 20th century, most of the content and life stories would be the same. They were identified as geniuses in their youth, displayed incredible diligence in their studies, and spent the rest of their lives serving the Torah world.
The story of Rabbi Yosef Rosen (1858-1936), known as the Rogatchover Gaon, has such an account. But what was unique about the Rogatchover, and what puts him in a class by himself, is that his brilliance at a completely different level, as was often acknowledged.
In the aptly titled The Rogatchover (Orot Publishing), Rabbi Yair Borochov has written an absolutely fascinating biography of this exceptional scholar. The book has over 800 pictures and documents, some of which Borochov claims are printed in this work for the first time.
The book opens with Rav Shlomo Yosef Zevin’s observation of the Rogatchover. He writes that the Rogatchover was made of a completely different mold and material, and notes that no one was like him in his generation or in many generations before or after him.
It’s known that the Rogatchover had a photographic memory and remembered everything. He told Rav Pinchas Teitz that he remembered every moment of his life at the age of three. Yet photographic memories alone do not make for a Torah sage.
Borochov provides many examples of the Rogatchover’s brilliance. One particularly interesting one concerns a Midrash about the binding of Yitzchak which states that Avraham was a kohen gadol. Rav Mordechai Shmuel Krull asked him why it was necessary to appoint Avraham as a kohen gadol when a regular kohen is allowed to bring a korban?
The Rogatchover answered that if Avraham had slaughtered Yitzchak, he would have been an onen – which is an immediate relative of the deceased. An onen has that status from the moment they learn of their relative’s death until the end of the burial.
Since an onen is forbidden from doing the service, Avraham would not have been able to finish bringing Yitzchak as a sacrifice. He needed to be a kohen gadol, because a kohen gadol is allowed to bring a sacrifice when he is an onen.
One of the myths around the Rogatchover is that he never learned from the Achronim – the rabbis that lived from roughly the 16th century to the current time. The era of the Achronim commences with the writing of the Shulchan Aruch in 1563.
Rav Eliezer Nannes asked the Rogatchover how he could answer halachic questions if he did not learn the texts of the Achronim. To which the Rogatchover responded, “That is false! Test me on all of the Achronim printed around the Shulchan Aruch and its supplements and see whether or not I know them by heart.”
The Rogatchover’s tongue was legendary. He often used sharp language in his Torah discussions. Such that distinguished and great leaders could not escape his sharp tongue. Those who appreciated his greatness and brilliance, and most importantly, his good-heartedness, were not taken aback by his dismissive attitude towards those whom he believed made obvious mistakes.
But before the Rogatchover was famed for his brilliance, a few rabbis gathered to excommunicate him for his sharp expressions. They felt that his sharp expressions insulted Torah. But the Rebbe of Kopyst came to his rescue and sent those rabbis a message: “Beware of his burning coals.” From then on, they let the matter pass.
The only flaw in this otherwise immaculate book is its large font size, which creates almost double the number of pages needed. The consequence of that is that at nearly 700 pages, the book is quite heavy, which makes reading difficult at times. Hopefully, future editions will use a smaller font so as not to leave the reader with carpal tunnel syndrome.
Borochov has done an amazing job of bringing the fascinating and engaging story of The Rogatchover to the English-reading audience. As the book makes eminently clear, there was no one like Rabbi Yosef Rosen.
