Boruch Ber Leibowitz

Reb Boruch Ber Leibowitz (1862 – November 17, 1939 (5 Kislev, 5700) (Hebrew: ברוך דוב (בער) לייבאוויץ) was a prominent student of Rav Chaim Brisker and was famed for his Talmudic lectures, particularly in that they were rooted styled in the method of his Rebbi, "Reb Chaim Brisker."

Reb Boruch Ber Leibowitz with his students

Rav Leibowitz, often referred to by the informal 'Reb Boruch Ber', was born in Slutsk and was known as a prodigy at a very young age. He was sent to learn in Volozhin yeshiva, where he quickly attached himself to his main teacher, Reb Chaim Brisker, striving to completely adopt his unique Talmudic approach, which was the foundation of the popular Brisker method.

He then married the daughter of Rav Abraham Isaac Zimmerman, whom he succeeded as Rav of Halusk. He also served as a pulpit Rav for other communities. In 1904 he was appointed head of the Kneseth Beis Yitzchak Yeshiva in Slobodka. During World War I Rav Boruch Ber had to leave Slabodka and relocated the yeshiva to Minsk and then to Kremenchug and Vilna. In 1926 he re-established the yeshiva in Kaminetz, where it continued to attract hundreds of students for the next 13 years. In 1939, shortly before his death, he fled with the yeshiva to a suburb of Vilna, hoping to escape from the Nazis and the communists. He is buried at the Zaretcha cemetery, Vilna. His grave was identified in 2012.

Notable descendants

His daughter married Reb Reuven Grozovsky who was Rosh HaYeshiva of Torah V'Das in Brooklyn and Bais Medrash Elyon in Monsey

Rav Boruch Bers' grandson, Reb Chaim Shlomo Leibowitz, was one of the most prominent talmudic authorities in Jerusalem, as well as one of the leading Rabbonim of the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak.


Rav Leibowitzs' granddaughter married Rav Yitzchok Scheiner.

Works
  • Birkas Shmuel (The Blessing of Shmuel), his magnum opus, named in memory of his father, HaRav Shmuel David Leibowitz. This work includes many otherwise unrecorded teachings of Reb Chaim Brisker as well as Reb Baruch Ber's novel understandings of Torah topics on the Talmud published from his manuscripts by his nephew and longtime student, Rav Chaim Shalom Leibowitz.
  • Shiurei Reb Baruch Ber (Lectures of Reb Boruch Ber) - recorded and published by his students.

References



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