Meshulam Gross

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This article is about Meshullam Fayish Tzvi Gross and his works, the Nachlas Tzvi and Ateres Tzvi. Ateres Tzvi can also refer to an earlier work by Tzvi Hirsh of Zidichov.

Meshulam Fayish Tzvi (Herman) Gross (or Grosz) (1863-1947) was a businessman, inventor and learned layman, author of two Sefarim of Torah novellae.

He was born in Debrecen, Hungary in 1863. Herman Grosz (as his name was then spelled) and his family soon moved to Nyirbator, where he was raised. His father, Reuven, was engaged in business, possibly as a breeder or trader of horses. As a young man, Meshullam reportedly was involved in “breaking” horses for his father.

It is not known which yeshivot he attended, although it is believed that much of his Torah learning was self acquired. In 1890 he married Leah Billiczer, daughter of Rabbi Amram Yishai Halevi Billiczer, Av Beth Din of Szerencs, Hungary and a descendant of a long line of rabbis. The family originally came from Spain and reportedly are descendants of Rabbi Isaiah Ben Abraham Halevi Horowitz, called Shelah HaKadosh, whose ancestry has been traced to Rashi and the Tanna Rabbi Yochanan Hasandlar.

1 Religious American businessman
2 Torah works
3 Inventions
4 External links

[edit] Religious American businessman

Herman Gross emigrated to the United States in 1893 and settled in New York’s Lower East Side. After World War I, the family moved to Boro Park, Brooklyn.

After engaging in a variety of business ventures, he settled in the women’s blouse business, which, after his retirement, was carried on by his sons into the 1950's. He viewed his business solely as a means of subsistence, for his true passion was Torah. He retired from business at a relatively young age to devote himself to Torah study and was supported by his sons.

He is remembered as sitting at his desk, in a book-lined study, with a “shivisi” sign in front of him and a number of sefarim opened before him. He rose many hours before dawn each day to learn and write. His handwriting was extremely careful and precise to the very end. He was attentive and meticulous to beautifying religious observance, and paid particular attention to the selection of an esrog, the purchase of a beautiful esrog box, and the decoration of his Succah, arguably one of the first in the country that had canvas walls. Although his son Moshe was the Chazan of a large orthodox Shul only a block away, he refrained from going there because the Torah was not read from a center Bimah.

[edit] Torah works

His two sefarim, Nachlas Tzvi and Ateres Tzvi contain original Torah thoughts on the Chumash. The profundity of his knowledge of Chumash, Navi, Talmud, and the early and late commentaries are readily apparent throughout. He combined an encyclopedic knowledge with an inventive and creative mind to develop highly original and novel interpretations of the chumash. A student of the Zohar, he had a weekly Chavrusa (learning partnership) to study Kabbalah with Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and he used this source liberally in his works.

His primary work the Nachlas Tzvi, although not widely known, includes approbations from exceptionally great and famous Torah luminaries, among them the aforementioned Lubavitcher Rebbe (who never gave approbations), Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky (Av Beth Din of the Edah Charedis of Jerusalem), a representative of the Satmar Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum (who was most impressed by the Sefer but had a rule that he didn't give approbations), Rabbi Nachum Wiedenfeld of Dombrova in Poland (the Tschebiner Rav's brother) and Rabbi Avraham Elyashiv (the father of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv).

[edit] Inventions

Although the fruits of his inventive mind and creativity are most manifest in his written works, they expressed themselves in other areas as well. He invented one of the first vending machines. For a penny it dispensed candy and a fortune card, and a monkey tipped his hat. He also developed a parve shortening made of coconut oil, and a device to keep food from burning. Patents were issued for many of his inventions. After World War II began, recognizing that lice was a serious problem for soldiers, he performed scientific experiments with mice, experimental and control groups, and developed a lice repellant which he offered to the Department of Defense; but they opted for DDT.

He died on September 20, 1947 (on the Jewish date 6th of Cheshvan 5708) and was buried alongside his cherished wife in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York. His great great grandchildren, representing the family’s fifth generation in the United States, carry on his tradition.

His family offers free copies of Nachlas Tzvi to anyone who commits to learning from it.