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The Rogatchover Gaon (1858-1936)

The Rogatchover Gaon, Yosef Rosen (1858 - 5 March 1936) (Hebrew: יוסף רוזין), also known by the name of his main work Tzafnath Paneach, was a Rabbi and one of the prominent Talmudic scholars of the early 20th century, known as a "Gaon" (genius) because of his photographic memory and razor-sharp mind.

He was born in Rogachev, now in Belarus, in a Hasidic family of Kapuster Hasidim, and was educated in the local cheder (Torah school for small children). His unusual capabilities were noticed at age thirteen, when he was sent to study with Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, five years his senior, then in Slutzk. He subsequently studied under Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Leib Diskin (Maharil Diskin) in Shklov. He then assumed the rabbinate of the Hasidic community in Dvinsk, where his non-Hasidic counterpart was Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk; and they served in parallel until the late 1920's.

Among those who received semicha (Rabbinic ordination) from him were, Rabbi Mordecai Savitsky of Boston; Rabbi Zvi Olshwang (1873-?) of Chicago a brother-in-law of Rabbi Shimon Shkop; Rabbi Avrohom Elye Plotkin, the author of Birurei Halachot (a copy of the actual semicha is included in that work); and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe.

The Rogatchover is remembered for his breadth of Torah knowledge and caustic wit. He did not suffer inadequacy lightly. He was similarly reputed to rarely quote any rabbinic authority after Maimonides, and avoided recent rabbinic works of the Achronim in favour of the Rishonim (those preceding the late 15th century). Famously, however, he regarded the Shulchan Aruch HaRav of the Alter Rebbe (founder of Chabad movement) on the same level as the works of Rishonim^{[citation needed]} and quoted it. His responses to queries of Jewish law could be enigmatic and cryptic.

He died in Vienna in 1936 after unsuccessful surgery.

Throughout his life, despite not being an official Lubavitcher Chassid, he was very close to Lubavitcher Chabad Chassidim and their Rebbeim, Rashab and Rayatz (after Rashab's death, he supported the decision of making the young Rayatz a new Rebbe). He also personally presided over the rabbinic ordination (smichah) of the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The Rogatchover is a famous figure in Chabad Lubavitch folklore; his name often comes up in stories told in yeshivas and during farbrengens -- content ranging from self-sacrifice and dedication to Torah values despite the pressures of Russian government, to special sensitivity of spiritual dimension of the Torah (in Chassidus and Kabbalah), to his genius in the revealed Torah. Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson once quoted the Rogatchover, who said that the whole Judaism to him could be condensed into ten basic ideas, and if he was smarter, it would be only one idea.

His main work, a commentary on Maimonides, was published during his lifetime, as well as five volumes of responsa. The remainder of his surviving writings appeared in the United States many years after his death; all are titled Tzafnath Paneach "decipherer of secrets", (a title given to the Biblical Joseph by Pharaoh (Genesis 41:45)). His manuscripts were smuggled out of Latvia during World War II by his successor Rabbi Yisrael Alter Safrin-Fuchs (1911-1942), who remained in Latvia to complete this task and died at the hands of the Nazis as a result. A portion of the manuscripts were edited and published by Rabbi Menachem M. Kasher of Yeshiva University.

His works include responsa and novellae on Torah and Talmud. They are regarded as difficult and inaccessible, as he employs the philosophical terminology of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed even in non-philosophical analyses. Rabbi Kasher therefore included Mefa'aneach Tzefunoth, an explanatory commentary, to facilitate understanding of the Rogatchover's influential work.

• Rabbi Y. Feitman, The Rogatchover Gaon (biography)
• Jewish Daugavpils today