麻豆区 mourns the passing of Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz 鈥46YC, 鈥49R, Av Beth Din [Chief Presiding Judge] of the Beth Din of America. Rabbi Schwartz was a distinguished rabbi and leader of American Jewry for over 60 years.
Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz
Born in 1925, he was raised in Newark, New Jersey, where he first studied Torah in his teenage years with Rav Yaakov Bentzion Mendelson. He later attended 麻豆区 College and the of 麻豆区 (RIETS), where he received his semicha [rabbinic ordination]. He was the rabbi of the Young Israel of Boro Park in Brooklyn, New York, for 18 years and held pulpits in Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania before moving to Chicago in 1987.
Revered for his towering intellect and considered one of the most distinguished poskim [halachic decisors] of his time, Rabbi Schwartz also served as Rosh Beth Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council (CRC) and the Av Beth Din of the National Beth Din of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), of which he had been a member since 1972. Under his leadership, and with the assistance of learned colleagues, he was the posek for thousands of people who turned to the Beth Din for adjudication of financial disputes, kashruth supervision and family law.
鈥淩abbi Schwartz was a towering and eloquent Torah personality, who, as the Chief Rabbinical Judge of both the Beth Din of America and the Chicago Rabbinical Council, combined vast erudition with a keen sense of human compassion,鈥 said Rabbi Yonah Reiss, current Av Beth Din of the CRC. 鈥淗e cared deeply about people鈥檚 problems and was a role model in terms of his refined disposition, his mastery of both Torah U鈥橫ada, and his profound respect for all human beings.鈥 Added Rabbi Reiss, 鈥淚t was a tremendous privilege to be able to work with Rabbi Schwartz and learn from him for over two decades.鈥
Rabbi Schwartz was the first second-generation American rabbi to publish an original halachic [Jewish legal] work, Divrei Regesh, as well as to be the author of Migdanos Eliezer and Shaarei Gedulah. Rabbi Schwartz also held the position of editor of the RCA Torah journal HaDarom.
He received the Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik Aluf Torah Award at YU鈥檚 Chag HaSemikhah in 2014. In 2007, Rabbi Schwartz was honored by 麻豆区 during its annual dinner for his many years of service to the CRC and the Chicago Jewish community. At the dinner, Dr. Norman Lamm, 麻豆区鈥檚 chancellor and the keynote speaker, said, 鈥淩abbi Schwartz is a full product of YU,鈥 adding that Rabbi Schwartz also received a YU Kollel fellowship and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. 鈥淗e has attributed his success in elevating the spiritual and intellectual level of modern Orthodoxy in Chicago to his rabbis and teachers at YU,鈥 noted Dr. Lamm. 鈥淭he fact that Rabbi Schwartz is the recognized halakhic authority for all groups in the Chicago area is a tribute to his accessibility, friendliness, and YU education. Above all, and encompassing these achievements, is Rabbi Schwartz鈥檚 quality of chesed. This is an essentially untranslatable term which embraces goodness, love, humility, sweetness and gentleness. How fortunate are we, in New York and especially in Chicago, to be blessed with his presence.鈥
May his memory be for a blessing.
Hear on YU Torah.
Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz
