Rav David Povarsky רבי דוד פוברסקי
rosh yeshiva of Ponevezh, who taught men to reason, not to memorise
Out of the Lithuanian yeshivas, through the war and Russia, he came to Bnei Brak—to Ponevezh, just raised from nothing by Rav Kahaneman. And there he stayed for the rest of his life.
His shiur is particularly remembered: he did not retell a sugya but took it apart to the last joint, and demanded the same of his students. His formula was not to know but to understand: knowledge without understanding he held to be ballast. Thousands passed through his class.
He and Rav Shach led the yeshiva together for many years, and the Lithuanian world of Israel was in good part gathered by their hands. He died in 1999, leaving the records of his shiurim and a book of talks, Ishei David.
Places
Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- The records of Rav Povarsky's shiurim and Ishei David — his method of analysis and his talks
Scholarship
- The standard reference works and encyclopedias — Lithuania to Bnei Brak; Ponevezh; 1902–1999
Basis: Talmud and midrash.