The long and distinguished rabbinical career of Rabbi Gedaliah Dov Schwartz took him to pulpits large and small, and brought him the distinction of concurrently heading the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) and the Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc), all of which brought him countless challenges. Throughout them all, the rabbi, who passed away this month at the age of 95, took the high road, remaining true to his convictions yet always treating everyone with dignity and respect.
A Torah scholar of the highest order, he was remembered by family, rabbinic colleagues, congregants and students for having virtually every element of Torah scholarship, even relatively obscure works, at his mental fingertips. More often than not, a near-verbatim quote from memory would be accompanied by biographical details of the book’s author and other relevant tidbits.
Born in January of 1925 in Newark, N.J., Gedaliah Dov Schartz was the eldest of three sons born to Avrohom and Pearl Schwartz.
Avrohom Schwartz was a dyed-in-the-wool Litvak, whose own father had studied in the great yeshivah in Volozhin. A baker by trade, he was conscripted into the Russian Army during World War I. Taken by the Germans as a POW, he became the personal baker to Leopold, Crown Prince of Wurttemberg.
Upon immigrating to the United States following his discharge, Avrohom Schwartz married Pearl Sher, the American-born daughter of immigrants from Dzikov, deep in the heart of Chassidic Poland. Raised in a Depression-era home devoted to Torah scholarship and mitzvah observance, young Gedaliah attended public school since the Chabad day school in Newark did not open until he was a teen. He received his Jewish education at the after-school Talmud Torah in the Bais Medrash Hagadol of Newark, founded by the chief rabbi of Newark, Yaakov Ben Zion HaKohen Mendelson.
He went on to study privately with Rabbi Mendelson—two hours a day of Talmud, Jewish law and ethics. A vice president of Agudas Chasidei Chabad (the umbrella organization of Chabad in America) Rabbi Mendelson was a brilliant Talmudist and fearless activist, who taught his young protégé by example until his untimely passing in 1941.
The impression of his tutor remained with him for the rest of his life. Decades later, attending the wedding of a Chabad colleague, he remarked that the tunes sung were familiar to him from his time with Rabbi Mendelson.
Similarly, shortly after his arrival in Chicago, he gave a Shabbat afternoon lecture in which he discussed the various forms of love for G‑d a person can experience. To make his point, he pulled out a pocket volume and read the pertinent lines from Tanya, the foundational work of Chabad philosophy, which he apparently had also studied with Rabbi Mendelson.
In 1942, he graduated from South Side High School with an award in chemistry and the Latin Prize. He finished second in his grade and would have been first if not for points lost for not attending on Jewish holidays.
At the age of 17, he enrolled in what would become Yeshiva University, where he studied from many learned educators, notably Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes (the Lomzher rav), Rabbi Dovid Lifshitz (the Suvalker rav) and Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik. In 1950, he met and married Shoshana Poupko, the daughter of Rabbi Eliezer Poupko (the Velizher rav) of Philadelphia.
A Blessing by the Rebbe Actualized
His first pulpit was in Providence, R.I., where he remained until it was decided that the congregation would remove the mechitza, the traditional barrier between men and women, in the sanctuary. He then took a position in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., which ended after differences of opinion developed between the rabbi and the congregants, who wanted their spiritual leader to speak less about Judaism and more about current events. The family then relocated to Englishtown, N.J., where they remained until a rabbinic position opened up in Philadelphia.
As in all of his positions, Rabbi Schwartz taught an array of Torah classes, in Yiddish and English, to students of all ages and levels of education. He also threw himself into the practical side of rabbinics, supervising the production of kosher food, overseeing divorce proceedings and providing guidance on an array of questions.
A linguist by training and education, his grasp of many languages, including Greek and the Romance languages, came in handy both in understanding obscure Talmudic references, but also in determining how to transcribe English names and locations in divorce documents.
In 1968, he was invited to take up the prestigious pulpit at Young Israel of Boro Park, where he found a large and learned congregation. He remained there until the community of Chicago called him to lead the Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc), which he did in 1987.
Shortly thereafter, the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) began their search for a new head for the Beth Din of America. In 1991, he was installed as the head of the Beth Din of America. Shortly thereafter, in February of 1992, he passed by the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—requesting his blessing.
After the rabbi introduced himself as a son-in-law of the Velizher rav, the Rebbe blessed him with a long life of continued services (yaarich yamim al mamlachto)—a blessing that was richly actualized, as he remained active for the duration of his nearly 95 years of life.
Under his tenure, the cRc upgraded many of its standards; as a result, Chabad rabbis joined its ranks. According to Rabbi Sholem Fishbane, Kashrus administrator of the cRc, “This contributed toward the raising of the ramah (‘level’) of the organization.”
‘He Was Always Seen Learning’
A fearless leader, with clearly defined positions on Torah matters, Rabbi Schwartz made it a point to maintain personal connections with people with whom he disagreed, never letting issues get between people. And when he needed to chide someone, he would do so gently, never making the person feel ashamed, guilty or accused.
Rabbi Yosef Schanowitz, director of North Suburban Lubavitch Chabad and an officer of the cRc, recalls that Rabbi Schawartz was always seen learning. “I once parked at the bakery on Friday afternoon and saw Rabbi Schwartz sitting in the driver’s seat engrossed in Torah study as his wife shopped,” recalls Schanowitz. “I once met him waiting for a bris to begin, and he was involved in a Hebrew book, diligently reviewing the weekly Torah portion with the Targum (Aramaic translation). He was a great scholar, who must have read these passages hundreds of times, but he read them again with his full concentration, careful not to interrupt with conversation.”
Rabbi Yosef Posner, director of Lubavitch Chabad of Skokie, who has served in several positions at the cRc, recalls how the rabbi was able to diffuse even the most complicated situations. He cites one incident where a couple came to Rabbi Schwartz for divorce. At that time, the husband was living as a woman. Yet with sensitivity and respect, the rabbi, who was then deep into his 80s, managed to conduct the divorce according to tradition without causing the husband to feel slighted or the rabbi needing to deviate from standard procedure.
Rabbi Schwartz continued to serve well into his 90s. Even after a stroke robbed him of his mobility and clarity of speech, the bedridden rabbi continued to provide guidance, hoping to get back to his office, a living embodiment of the Rebbe’s blessing decades before.
Predeceased by his first wife, Rabbi Gedaliah Dov Schwartz is survived by his wife, Chana Sarah Schwartz, and children Avraham Yeshaya Schwartz, Rivka Leah Goldman and Chaim Schwartz.
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