Gedalia Dov Schwartz Explained

Honorific-Prefix:Rabbi
Gedalia Dov Schwartz
Rosh Beth Din
Began:1991
Birth Name:Gedalia Dov Schwartz
Birth Date:1925 1, mf=y
Birth Place:Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Death Place:Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality:American
Denomination:Orthodox
Residence:Chicago, Illinois
Parents:Avraham
Children:Avraham Yishaya
Rivka Leah
Chaim Heschel
Occupation:Rabbi, posek, scholar
Semicha:Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Gedalia Dov Schwartz (January 24, 1925[1] — December 9, 2020[2]) was an eminent American Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and posek (halakhic authority) who lived in Chicago, Illinois. From 1991 to 2013, when he gave his position as Av Beth Din to Rabbi Yona Reiss, he was the av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) of both the Beth Din of America and the Chicago Rabbinical Council[3] (cRc)[4] as well as the rosh beth din (chief presiding judge) of the National Beth Din of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA).[5] He was also editor of HaDarom, the RCA Torah journal.

Biography

Schwartz was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, where he first studied Torah in his teenage years with Rabbi Yaakov Benzion Mendelson.[6] He was a graduate of Yeshiva College and the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, where he received his rabbinic ordination. Following this ordination, he received a fellowship in the Institute of Advanced Rabbinic Research of Yeshiva University. Later he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Rabbi Schwartz was honored with the Harav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik Aluf Torah Award, RIETS highest honor, at Yeshiva University's Chag Haseemicha convocation on March 23, 2014.[7]

Before coming to Chicago in 1987,[8] Schwartz was the rabbi of the Young Israel of Boro Park for 18 years, having earlier held pulpits in Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.[9] He was a past president of the Mizrachi of Rhode Island and the RCA Philadelphia Region.

Family

His father's name was Avraham. He married Shoshana Poupko[10] (d. 2009), with whom he had two sons and a daughter.[11] Their daughter, Rivka Leah, was married to the late Rabbi Yehoshua Goldman, who directed the Vaad HoIr of Cincinnati. In 2010, Schwartz married his surviving wife, Chana Sarah.

Positions

Rabbi Schwartz's opinion was frequently sought by both Jewish and secular sources on issues such as conversion to Judaism,[12] halakhic prenuptial agreements,[13] kashering items for Passover,[14] child abuse,[15] and tattoos.[16] In 2002 he was appointed as the head of a three-judge panel which examined cases of agunahs from the September 11 attacks,[17] using DNA testing of post-mortem remains to verify the death of their husbands and allow them to remarry.[18]

Halakhic works

"Rabbi Schwartz was the first second-generation American rabbi to publish an original halachic [Jewish legal] work":[19]

Articles

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Multi-Honors for Rabbi Schwartz . October 12, 2007 . Chicago Jewish News . January 6, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110927085656/http://www.chicagojewishnews.com/story.htm?sid=5&id=251249 . September 27, 2011 . mdy .
  2. News: Chicago: Levaya of Hagaon HaRav Gedalia Dov Schwartz ZATZAL, Rosh Av Bais Din cRc . Yeshiva World . December 9, 2020 . mdy .
  3. Web site: Staff Biographies . . 2010 . January 6, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101121003517/http://www.bethdin.org/staff-bio.asp . November 21, 2010 .
  4. Web site: cRc Beth Din . .. led by Rabbi .. Schwartz.
  5. Web site: Chancellor Norman Lamm Pays Tribute to Av Beth Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council . https://web.archive.org/web/20110721035154/http://spider.mc.yu.edu/news/articles/article.cfm?id=101462 . dead . July 21, 2011 . November 9, 2007 . January 6, 2011 . Yeshiva University News .
  6. Yeshiva University -- RIETS Chag HaSemikhah 2014. 2014-03-25. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/OULLC651YMw . 2021-12-15 . live. 1:44:30. 2016-12-14 . (Remarks by Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz. describing childhood preparation for RIETS:) I never went to Yeshiva before... in Newark, NJ, there was no such thing as a day school, or a post-high school, or anything of that sort. But I was fortunate to have a great Rav, a mechaber of seforim (Rabbi and author), Rav Mendelson, ZL, who was my personal teacher for years. So I was a bit prepared to enter the Yeshiva..
  7. Web site: Yeshiva University News » Chag HaSemikhah 5774 . 2014-03-28 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140304131558/http://blogs.yu.edu/news/2014/02/12/chag-hasemikhah-5774/ . March 4, 2014 . mdy-all .
  8. Web site: Chicago Rabbinical Council to honor Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz. September 18, 2007 . January 6, 2011 . Jewish United Fund.
  9. CORRECTION: he was in Chicago 1987 onwards. "Previously" is a mistake in the cited article. See: Web site: Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, Av Beth Din . BethDin.org . July 11, 2018 . July 26, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190726014125/https://bethdin.org/rabbi-gedalia-dov-schwartzav-beth-din/ . dead .
  10. Web site: The Year in Review . Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc) . in memory of Rebbetzin. Shoshana Schwartz a”h, the first wife of our Rosh Beth Din, Rabbi. Gedaliah Dov Schwartz..
  11. Web site: Rebbetzin Shoshana Schwartz a"h . Bernstein . Dovid. May 6, 2009 . January 6, 2011 . matzav.com.
  12. Web site: RCA Conversions to be Recognized by Israeli Chief Rabbinate . . February 20, 2008 . January 6, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110726135506/http://www.halakhicconversion.org/articles/article8.html . July 26, 2011 . dead . mdy-all .
  13. Web site: Rabbinic Endorsements . 2010 . January 6, 2011 . Beth Din of America . https://web.archive.org/web/20110728161537/http://theprenup.org/rabbinic.html . July 28, 2011 . dead .
  14. Web site: Chicago Rabbinical Council's Guidelines to Kashering Counter tops and Stovetops for Pesach. 2005 . Chicago Rabbinical Council . January 6, 2011.
  15. Web site: Participate in National Jewish Child Abuse Prevention Week, October 17th -24th . Busch . Alan . October 20, 2010 . triblocal.com . January 6, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110726123814/http://triblocal.com/skokie/community/stories/2010/10/participate-in-national-jewish-child-abuse-prevention-week-october-17th-24th/ . July 26, 2011 . dead . mdy-all .
  16. Web site: Tattoo Myths and Misconceptions . . Shellenbarger . Sue . October 13, 2010 . January 6, 2011.
  17. Web site: At Ground Zero, rabbis are trying to free the widows . Pfeffer . Anshel . September 13, 2002 . January 6, 2011 . .
  18. Web site: Rabbis and Halacha Grapple With Advances in DNA Technology . Nussbaum Cohen . Debra . August 11, 2010 . January 6, 2011 . The Jewish Daily Forward.
  19. Web site: HaRav Gedalia Dov Schwartz zt"l. Laura Berlinger . December 14, 2020.
  20. Web site: Comments on the New York State 'Get Law' . Jewish Law. January 6, 2011.
  21. Web site: Journal of Jewish Music and Liturgy . 1990 . January 6, 2011 . yutorah.org .

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