Aryeh Ze'ev Gurwicz was an influential Orthodox rabbi and Talmudic scholar.
21 Facts About Leib Gurwicz
2.
Leib Gurwicz was the son-in-law of Rabbi Elyah Lopian and best known as Rosh Yeshiva of the Gateshead Yeshiva in Gateshead, England, where he taught for over 30 years.
3.
Leib Gurwicz studied at various yeshivas in Lithuania and Poland before moving to England to get married in 1932.
4.
Leib Gurwicz was born Aryeh Ze'ev Kushelevsky in the small town of Moletai, Russian empire, where his father, Rabbi Moshe Aharon Kushelevsky served as rabbi.
5.
Leib Gurwicz's mother was a direct descendant of the Vilna Gaon.
6.
Leib Gurwicz's brother was Rabbi Eliyahu Kushelevsky, who later served as av beis din of Beersheba.
7.
Leib Gurwicz sneaked across the border into Lithuania and went to learn at the Vilkomir yeshiva ketana, where he proved himself to be a diligent and capable student.
8.
Leib Gurwicz stayed on in the Baranovich Yeshiva and paid off his debt to the student who had forged his passport by agreeing to learn the Ketzos HaChoshen with him for a year.
9.
Altogether, Rabbi Leib Gurwicz learned in the Mir for eight years, after which he traveled to study under Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik.
10.
The Brisker Rav valued his student highly and said of him: "Reb Leib Gurwicz knows how to learn".
11.
Father and daughter were favorably impressed with the young genius, and when the marriage terms were written up, it was agreed that Liba would leave London and live in Poland, where Rabbi Leib Gurwicz would continue learning.
12.
Liba, the eldest girl, wrote to her fiance saying that she could not leave her father with the burden of caring for all the children on his own, and that if Leib Gurwicz wished to break the shidduch, she would understand.
13.
Unsure of how to proceed, Rabbi Leib Gurwicz traveled to the elder sage of the generation, the Chofetz Chaim, who was then 94 years old and in poor health.
14.
Rabbi Leib Gurwicz understood this as a message that he should go ahead and marry Liba Lopian and move to England.
15.
Leib Gurwicz's bride insisted that they use the presents and money they received for their wedding to pay for a ticket for his father to join them at the wedding in England; it was the first time father and son had met since Rabbi Gurwicz had left home at age 13.
16.
Leib Gurwicz served as the Rav of the Great Garden Street Synagogue in the East End.
17.
Rabbi Leib Gurwicz was accepted to the staff and began teaching the highest shiur.
18.
Leib Gurwicz served as the chairman of the World Agudath Israel.
19.
Leib Gurwicz was married to his second wife, Malka Isbee, for nearly four years, until his death in 1982.
20.
Rabbi Leib Gurwicz suffered a stroke on 20 October 1982 and died later that day.
21.
Leib Gurwicz was succeeded as rosh yeshiva by his son, Avrohom Gurwicz.