More than four decades after his passing, talmidim, assistants, and the American hosts of “everyone’s rosh yeshivah” share their personal memories of Rav Shmuel Rozovsky
It was a frigid morning in late January of 1978.
A throng of men stood together in the arrivals hall at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, eyes trained on the door. Suddenly, the doors swung open and a tall, dignified rabbi appeared. Instantly, the waiting crowd locked arms, began a celebratory tune, and began to dance toward him.
A weakened Rav Shmuel Rozovsky approached the joyous crowd with surprise in his eyes and waved them off, but they remained undeterred. The leader of the group, a veteran talmid, clasped Rav Shmuel’s hand warmly and whispered some words into his ear. Slowly, the great Ponevezher Rosh Yeshivah began to smile. He beckoned the group to a nearby seating area where they crowded around him in silence. No matter that he’d just concluded a grueling flight, no matter that his
The Battle for Life Itself By Shlomo Hoffman | February 10, 2021
Once Yankel Cohen started to learn, he became a bochur obsessed, falling under the Torah’s magic spell. Yet Reb Yankel didn’t travel alone on this lifelong adventure he took us all along for the ride
Photos: Naftolli Goldgrab, Family archives
W
hen he first came to Telshe yeshivah in 1951, he’d sneak out to the baseball stadium, but once Yankel Cohen started to learn, he became a bochur obsessed, falling under the Torah’s magic spell. Yet Reb Yankel didn’t travel alone on this lifelong adventure – he took us all along for the ride, and for the next 70 years, let us know that the treasure belonged to all of us