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R. Shneur Zalman son of R. Avraham Hirshowitz

Kuldīga / Goldingen

Born on 16 Nisan 5578 (22 April 1818)1) in Vilna.

He was a close relative of the Lubavitcher Rebbes and was named after the Alter Rebbe, author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch.2)

He served as rabbi in Rogova.3)

In 5611 he was accepted as rabbi here4) and served for more than fifty years, until his passing on 3 Sivan 56645) (17 May 1904).

A distinguished student of R. Yitzchak of Volozhin and student of R. Yisrael Salanter. He printed and published the book Even Yisrael, sermons and novellae of his teacher, and appended to it the book Even Bochan, responsa and sermons of his own (Warsaw 5643).

He composed the Gilayon Alfas printed in the Vilna Shas,6) and also printed were his glosses on Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim (no date or place of printing indicated).

In the responsa Ateret Yitzchak (Jerusalem 5685, sections 24–27) he engages in halakhic exchange with him. Responsa to him were also printed in the responsa Zekher Yehoseph, section 41; She'elot uTeshuvot Sho'el uMeshiv, vol. 1, section 3; Chemdot Shaul, Yoreh De'ah, section 1; She'erit Yosef, section 38. It is possible that the responsum in the responsa Meshiv Davar, vol. 4, section 66, “a responsum to the great rabbi of Goldingen,” is also addressed to him.

Approbations from him: Magen HaTalmud (Warsaw 5662), Sha'ar Shimon (Vilna 5662), Karnei Tzvi, vol. 1 (Warsaw 5643).

His biography in the booklet Rabbi Shneur Zalman Hirshowitz — His Glosses on the Shas (Jerusalem 5711).

Text of his tombstone:

Here lies \
the mighty one of Torah, a cedar among cedars; \
righteous, great in his faith. \
Gaon of Israel — \
at the risk of his soul he fought \
for the holy customs of […], \
to withstand \
those who rose against them, \
smashing them like new vessels. \
This is our father and grandfather, \
the Rabbi, the Gaon, the sharp and renowned scholar, \
our master Shneur Zalman \
son of R. Avraham \
Hirshowitz, of blessed and holy memory — \
author of the Gilayon HaAlfas \
and Even Bochan, \
and much in writing. \
He sat on the rabbinical throne \
of the holy congregation of Goldingen for fifty-three years, \
until he was called to the heavenly yeshiva \
at age eighty-seven, on Wednesday, \
three days of the month of Sivan, 5664. May his soul be bound in the bond of life.

Latvia and Rabbis

1)
Also in his letter printed in the monthly HaPeles (year 5664, part 1) from 2 Va'etchanan 5659, he writes “and by God's grace I am in my eighty-second year.” By that reckoning he passed away at age 86, but according to the tombstone inscription below, which states he passed away at age 87, it follows he was born in 5577. Moshe Tzinowitz writes in his book Etz Chaim, p. 430, that he was born in 5581, but from the tombstone inscription this is clearly an error.
2)
In the book HaTzetzaim (Jerusalem 5750), p. 471, a family tradition is cited that he was a descendant of the Alter Rebbe author of the Tanya.
3)
In his biography in the booklet Rabbi Shneur Zalman Hirshowitz, it is written that for a time he was rabbi in Bauska, but this does not appear in other sources.
4)
R. Avitzinsky writes in Di Geshikhte that approximately in 5613 he was accepted here as rabbi. But also according to the tombstone inscription below — that he served here in the rabbinate for 53 years — one must say he was accepted as rabbi in 5611.
5)
He is signed as official rabbi in the registration books of the Shavlan community from the month of Marcheshvan 5638 until Tevet 5652 (October 1877 – end of 1891), and in the Frauenburg community in the years 1875–1878 and in the year 1902.
6)
See also in the introduction to the Vilna Shas, p. 499.