12 Facts About Joseph Rosen

Joseph Rosen known as the Rogatchover Gaon and Tzofnath Paneach, was an Ashkenazi rabbi and one of the most prominent talmudic scholars of the early 20th-century.

Joseph Rosen has been described as the foremost Talmudic genius of his time.

Joseph Rosen is estimated to have written some 50,000 responsa, making him the most prolific responsa-writer in Jewish history.

Joseph Rosen was born in Rogachov, now Belarus, into a Hasidic family of Chabad-Kapust Hasidim, and was educated in the local cheder.

Joseph Rosen subsequently studied under Yehoshua Leib Diskin in Shklov.

Joseph Rosen is remembered for his breadth of Torah knowledge and caustic wit.

Joseph Rosen was similarly reputed to rarely quote any rabbinic authority post-Maimonides, and avoided recent rabbinic works of the Acharonim in favour of the Rishonim.

Joseph Rosen died in Vienna in 1936 at the Vienna Sanitorium and his body was sent to Dvinsk for burial.

Joseph Rosen was a noted Talmudic scholar and published a number of his works on the Talmud and Maimonides.

Joseph Rosen's manuscripts were smuggled out of Latvia in the form of micro photographs sent via mail to the Safern family in the Bronx at the outbreak of World War II by his successor, Yisrael Alter Safern-Fuchs, who remained in Latvia to complete this task, and his daughter Rachel Citron, who had come to Dvinsk from the Land of Israel to help preserve her father's manuscripts.

Joseph Rosen's works include responsa and novellae on Torah and Talmud.

Joseph Rosen authored a number of works on Jewish law, some of which were published in his lifetime.