The Rogatchover Gaon הרוגצ'ובר
Rabbi Yosef Rosen, rabbi of the Hasidic community of Dvinsk, master of the Rambam
In his responsa the Rogatchover drew on the Babylonian and the Jerusalem Talmud, on the Rambam and on the rishonim. He did not cite the acharonim and did not bring the Shulchan Aruch: every question he took apart from the source itself. The Rambam he called his teacher. His works all bear one name, Tzafnat Pane'ach, after Yosef's Egyptian name: on the Rambam, on the Torah, on the Talmud, with responsa and nearly three hundred halakhic letters besides. His answers are reckoned in the tens of thousands.
From 5649 and for nearly fifty years he was rabbi of the Hasidic community of Dvinsk—while the rabbi of the mitnagdic community in the same city was the Ohr Sameach. The two greatest masters of the Rambam of their generation served at once in one town, each for his own community. How closely they dealt with one another the sources tell differently, and the question is unsettled. The Rogatchover died in Vienna after an unsuccessful operation; he is buried in Dvinsk.
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Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- “Tzafnat Pane'ach” on the Rambam — his chief work, an analysis of the Mishneh Torah
- “Tzafnat Pane'ach” on the Torah and the Talmud — the same method applied to the Chumash and the tractates
- “Mikhtevei Torah” — two hundred and ninety halakhic letters
Basis: documents and evidence.