Rabbi Moshe Rosenstain ( 1881–1940) was an

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

in pre-World War II Eastern Europe. He served as

mashgiach ruchani A mashgiach ruchani (; pl., ''mashgichim ruchani'im''), sometimes mashgiach for short, is a spiritual supervisor or guide. They are usually a rabbi who has an official position within a yeshiva and is responsible for the non-academic areas of yesh ...

in the

Lomza Yeshiva The Lomza Yeshiva () was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Łomża, Poland, founded by Rabbi Eliezer Bentzion Shulevitz in 1883. Rabbi Yechiel Mordechai Gordon served as the yeshiva's rosh yeshiva for many years, and Rabbi Moshe Rosenstain served as t ...

in Poland.

Early life

Rabbi Rosenstain was born in Uzvent,

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

in 1881. As a teenage student, he studied in the Telshe Yeshiva under Rabbi Shimon Shkop. Rabbi Rosenshtain's mother was the shadchan (matchmaker) between their next door neighbor and R' Yerucham Levovitz, who would later become the

mashgiach A mashgiach (, "supervisor"; , ''mashgichim'') or mashgicha (pl. ''mashgichot'') is a Jew who supervises the kashrut status of a kosher establishment. Mashgichim may supervise any type of food service establishment, including slaughterhouses ...

in the Mir Yeshiva. At age nineteen, Moshe came home from yeshiva for

Pesach Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

and met R' Yerucham, with whom he became very close to in the ensuing weeks and months. R' Yerucham was a major baal mussar (literally "master of ethics," here referring to someone who studies ethical works intensely and works tirelessly in self-improvement), a product of the Kelm Talmud Torah, and shared

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

thoughts with Moshe. Three years later, Rabbi Levovitz brought him to learn in the Kelm Talmud Torah. He grew to become a major teacher of mussar.

Lomza Yeshiva

In 1912, Rabbi Rosenstain was appointed

of the

in Poland, a position he held for the rest of his life. His saintliness and integrity in the yeshiva was part of what made it unique. In fact, he fasted for thirty years, eating only at night after completing

maariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'', or ''Arbit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or at night. It consists primarily of the evening '' Shema'' and ''Amidah''. The service will often begin with two ...

, and on Shabbos and holidays. He walked down the aisle between the shtenders in the yeshiva's '' beis midrash'' (study hall) for hours, and the Lomza yeshiva's beis midrash was exceedingly long. He explained, "It takes me many hours of thinking to come up with one pure thought." Rabbi Rosenstain slept in the yeshiva's dormitory during the week. He was also very involved in helping his students when the Polish government wanted to draft yeshiva students. His '' sefarim'', Yesodei Hadas and Ahavas Meisharim, contain transcripts of his ''mussar'' talks. He died the day before

in 1940, at the age of 59.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenstain, Moshe Mashgiach ruchani 1881 births 1959 deaths Musar movement Polish Haredi rabbis Rabbis from Lomza 20th-century Polish rabbis