By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com The pasuk in Mishei (14:1) tells us, “Chochmas nashim bansa Baisa – it is the wisdom of women that builds her house."
Remembering Rav Gedalia Dov Schwartz ztz”l
When putting pen to paper, I am challenged to properly express the greatness of Rav Gedalia Dov Schwartz, longtime rosh beis din at the Chicago Rabbinical Council (the cRc, where I am kashrus administrator) as well as at the Beth Din of America.
In interactions with him, he gave the impression of a European-born gadol, steeped in the great Lithuanian yeshivos. But the truth was that he finished public high school in Newark and graduated from RIETS with a French Prize.
So where did he come from, and how did he become a major talmid chacham who was intimately familiar with every nook and cranny of Torah?