Schwartzman was born in Elul 1921 in Nevel, Soviet Union, to Rabbi Yehoshua Zev Schwartzman, a graduate of the Slabodka yeshiva.[3] In the 1930s, his family fled from Soviet Russia and immigrated to Tel Aviv, where his father was a rabbi. Schwartzman studied at Yeshivas Bais Yosef Novardok under Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, known as the Steipler Gaon.[1] In 1933, at age 12, he transferred to the Hebron Yeshiva in the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem[3] His mother descended from a prominent Lubavitcher family. He was named after his maternal grandfather's brother, Dovber HaYitzchoki, who was the father of Reb Zalman Moishe HaYitzchaki, a devoted follower of the Rebbe Rashab.
Rabbi Aharon Kotler, rosh yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha (the Lakewood Yeshiva), chose him as a son-in-law after visiting Israel.[1] In 1946 Schwartzman moved to the United States to marry Rabbi Kotler's daughter and began studying at the Lakewood Yeshiva, where he led chaburas (small-group learning sessions).[3] The marriage ended in a contentious divorce.
In the mid-1950s,[1] as part of Lakewood Yeshiva's effort to establish out-of-town yeshivas, Schwartzman and Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky were sent to head the new Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia.[4] In 1955 Schwartzman left to open his yeshiva in Israel and was replaced as rosh yeshiva by Rabbi Elya Svei.[5] From 1961 to 1962, he was a maggid shiur (lecturer) at Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin.[3]
Israeli rosh yeshiva
Schwartzman moved back to Israel in the early 1960s. He established a yeshiva in Ramat HaSharon,[1] and in 1965 founded Yeshiva Maron Tzion in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Jerusalem, which evolved into Yeshivat Bais HaTalmud, now located in Sanhedria Murhevet.[3] In addition to lecturing, he traveled abroad frequently to raise funds for the yeshiva.[1]
Schwartzman was involved in the Israeli baal teshuva movement. In the early 1970s, he co-founded the first yeshiva for baalei teshuva, Shema Yisrael, with Rabbis Mendel Weinbach, Nota Schiller, and Noach Weinberg. After this yeshiva evolved into Ohr Somayach yeshiva, Schwartzman continued as a rosh yeshiva.[3] Schwartzman died on 7 November 2011 (10 Cheshvan 5772) and was buried at the Jewish Cemetery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.[2]
Family
With his first wife, Schwartzman had three sons and three daughters. With his second wife, Yehudis Moller,[3] whom he married in 1962,[6] he had another son and five daughters. His eldest son, Rabbi Yaakov Eliezer Schwartzman, who is also Kotler's eldest grandson,[7] is the rosh yeshiva of Lakewood East in Jerusalem.[8] His second son, Rabbi Zvulun Schwartzman, heads the kollel in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and his third son, Rabbi Isser Zalman Schwartzman, is a maggid shiur at Yeshivas Hadera in Modiin Ilit.[3] Two of his sons-in-law, Rabbi Yeruchem Olshin and Rabbi Yisroel Neuman, are roshei yeshiva at the Lakewood Yeshiva in America.[3][9]
^Freund, Rabbi Tuvia. "'There is a Future for Torah in America': A roundtable discussion of Hagaon Harav Aharon Kotler's accomplishments and legacy, with the roshei yeshivah and administrators of Bais Medrash Govoha". Hamodia Magazine, 15 November 2012, pp. 8–11.
