Belarusian rabbi (1862–1939)
Boruch Ber Leibowitz (Yiddish: ברוך בער לייבאוויץ Hebrew: רב ברוך דוב ליבוביץ, romanized: Boruch Dov Libovitz; 1862 – November 17, 1939[1][a], known as Reb Boruch Ber, was a rabbi famed for his Talmudic lectures, particularly in that they were rooted styled in the method of his teacher Chaim Soloveitchik. He is known for leading Yeshivas Knesses Beis Yitzchak in Slabodka and Kaminetz.
Biography
Boruch Dov Leibowitz 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, Chaim Soloveitchik,[3] striving to completely adopt his unique Talmudic approach, which was the foundation of the popular Brisker method.
He then married the daughter of Abraham Isaac Zimmerman, whom he succeeded as rabbi of Halusk. He also served as a pulpit rabbi for other communities. In 1904 he was appointed head of the Kneseth Beis Yitzchak Yeshiva in Slobodka.[4] During World War I Leibowitz had to leave Slabodka and relocated the yeshiva to Minsk and then to Kremenchug[5] and Vilna. In 1926 he re-established the yeshiva in Kaminetz,[6] where it continued to attract hundreds of students for the next 13 years.
In May of 1928, Rav Boruch Ber traveled to America together with his son in law Reb Reuven Grozovsky to raise funds for his Yeshiva. New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker presented Rav Boruch Ber with a symbolic key to the city. “Rabbi Leibowitz disproves Darwin’s Theory of Evolution,” exclaimed the Mayor.[7] “Only a God could have created such a person!” While in the US, he visited cities from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to Detroit and Boston as well as smaller Jewish enclaves such as Albany, NY and Harrisburg, PA. He also delivered a Shiur at the national convention of the Agudath Harabanim in Belmar, NJ[8] and at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary[9]
In 1939, shortly before his death, he fled with the yeshiva to a suburb of Vilna,[10][11] hoping to escape from the Nazis and the communists. He is buried at the Zaretcha cemetery, Vilna. His grave was identified in 2012.[12]
Children and Notable Relatives
His daughter married Reb Reuven Grozovsky,[13] who was rosh hayeshiva of Torah Vodaath in Brooklyn and Bais Medrash Elyon in Monsey
His nephew was Talmudical Rabbi Chaim Zimmerman of the Hebrew Theological College.
Rabbi Leibowitz's granddaughter (Rabbi Bernstein's daughter) married Rabbi Yitzchok Scheiner.
