Rav Moshe Rosen

Early years

Rav Moshe Rosen zt"l was born in 1870 in Brańsk, in the Grodno region of Poland. His father, Rav Yehuda Aryeh, came from the Rosen family, which had produced many Torah scholars.

As a boy he learned in the local school in Brańsk, then in Bielsk Podlaski with Rav Aryeh Leib Yellin, and then in Raszyn with Rav Mordechai Gimpel Jaffe, before continuing to learn on his own. He grew close to the Rav of Brańsk, Rav Meir Shalom HaKohen, author of Milchemes Shalom, and he became known as a masmid, one who learns without stopping.

In 1893 he married Hinda, the daughter of Rav Hillel David Trivash. He learned in the Kovno Kollel and received semichah from Rav Yitzchok Elchonon Spektor and Rav Moshe Danishevsky, at the age of twenty.

Torah and leadership

In 1897 Rav Moshe became Rav of Chweidan (Kvėdarna) in Lithuania. He remained there until he left for America, despite offers from other communities. He worked actively for his community, rescuing people from forced labor and from labor on Shabbos, and he founded the Agudas HaRabbonim of Lithuania and stood at its head. He also contributed to the first three issues of his father-in-law's Torah journal, HaPisga. His first article there, titled Aruch LaNer, argued against an enlightened view of the miracle of Chanukah, and Rav Chaim Hezekiah Medini praised and analyzed his words.

The wife of the Chazon Ish, Rav Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, came from Chweidan, and the couple lived there after their marriage. Rav Moshe and the Chazon Ish became close and began to learn together. Rav Moshe held his younger study partner in such esteem that he considered himself the student, not the teacher. He would call on the Chazon Ish to join him on the beis din when serious matters required expert dayanim, and the two worked together on communal matters. Rav Moshe's daughter Leah helped the Chazon Ish's wife in her shop and her home.

The Chazon Ish's greatness was kept hidden from the public. When he began to give a Gemara shiur to the townspeople and Rav Moshe attended, people assumed the Rav had come to encourage the young man. When Rav Moshe published his first sefer, Divrei Soferim, he cited Rav Avrohom Yeshaya as the Chazon Ish, a name that nobody but Rav Moshe recognized at the time. Rav Moshe's meagre salary as a Rav could not cover the printing, so the Chazon Ish lent him part of his own dowry and told him not to worry. It was Rav Moshe who first told Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski about the hidden genius, Rav Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz.

Rav Moshe supported Zionism, unlike the Chazon Ish. A plan to print Maseches Keilim with three commentaries, those of the Chazon Ish, Rav Chaim Ozer and Rav Moshe, never came to be, because Rav Chaim Ozer was too busy with his other responsibilities. The Chazon Ish also proofread the volume of Nezer HaKodesh on Zevachim, but to soften his comments he wrote them in Rav Moshe's own style, so that they would seem to be Rav Moshe's corrections of himself. After the Chazon Ish left Chweidan, the two continued to write to each other on Torah topics.

Later in life, someone told Rav Moshe that the Chazon Ish could learn a hundred pages of Gemara in a day. Rav Moshe replied that he had not heard of that, but that he had seen him spend a hundred days on a single page of Gemara, and three months, fifteen hours a day, on the first perek of Mikvaos.

In 1928 Rav Moshe immigrated to the United States, where he became a Gemara instructor at Mesivta Torah Vodaath. After only a year he left the yeshiva to enter the rabbinate, serving as Rav of several congregations in Brooklyn over the next two decades, and in his final years he was Rav of Congregation Beth Medrash HaRav in Brooklyn. When he left Torah Vodaath, the students of the beis midrash left with him. When the beis midrash was reorganized in 1929, Rav Dovid Leibowitz, who had joined the faculty, became its Rosh Yeshiva. One of Rav Moshe's talmidim there was Rav Avrohom Yaakov Pam. He was reportedly offered a position at RIETS and declined it.

In America he worked for Mizrachi and the Jewish National Fund as an advocate of religious Zionism, and he was active on behalf of Ezras Torah and the Agudas HaRabbonim, later serving as its honorary president. He regularly raised funds to support the Chazon Ish, Rav Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik and institutions of Torah learning. During World War II he helped organize a Vaad Hatzalah to help Jews escape to America. He maintained correspondence with many of the leading Torah figures of his day, and his erudition and deep Torah insights were well known in Europe and throughout his years in America.

Teachings and seforim

Rav Moshe published several volumes of halachic studies and more than a dozen volumes of his Gemara commentary, Nezer HaKodesh, after which he is known. His grandson, Rav Hillel Litwack, published a pamphlet called Zichron Moshe, a collection of letters between Rav Moshe and leading Torah personalities of his time. Among them were Rav Yisroel Meir Kagan, Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, the Chazon Ish, Rav Elchonon Wasserman, Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz, the Rogatchover Gaon, Rav Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein and Rav Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Letters between Rav Moshe and Rav Moshe Soloveitchik and Rav Chaim Hezekiah Medini remain unpublished.

Later years and passing

Rav Moshe's wife Hinda passed away on Shushan Purim (March 12, 1952). Rav Moshe passed away in Tishrei 5718 (1957) in New York, at the age of 86. He was survived by a son and five daughters.

His passing came on a Friday during Sukkos. Rav Moshe Feinstein advised delaying the funeral until Sunday, in his honor, so that he would not be buried on Friday afternoon or on Motzei Shabbos. At the funeral he was eulogized by Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Avrohom Kalmanowitz, Rav Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, Rav Pinchas Mordechai Teitz and Rav Nissan Telushkin.

Legacy

Rav Moshe and Hinda had seven children, two of whom died young: Aba Yosef at fourteen and Shlomo at three. Their son Rav Chaim Rosen, husband of Ida, authored seven seforim: Bechori Chaim (five volumes), Ein Chaim (two volumes) and Be'er Chaim. Their daughters were Leah, wife of Shalom Litwack; Sara, wife of Yehuda Dov Gaz; Chayna Rosen; Frieda, wife of Avrohom Gutman-Dowertz; and Ester, wife of Chaim Krinsky.

In April 2019 his descendants republished the Nezer HaKodesh in five newly typeset volumes.