Dovid Leibowitz

Rabbi Chaim Dovid Hakohen Leibowitz
Personal
Born	May 15, 1887 Wilno, Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania)
Died	December 4, 1941(1941-12-04) (aged 54) New York
Religion	Judaism
Nationality	American
Children	Henoch Leibowitz
Alma mater	Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael (Slabodka)
Jewish leader
Successor	Henoch Leibowitz
Position	Rosh yeshiva (dean)
Organisation	Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim
Began	1933
Ended	December 4, 1941

Dovid Leibowitz (May 15, 1887 – December 4, 1941) was a Russian-born American rabbi. A disciple of Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania, he went on to found Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim in the United States, where he served as rosh yeshiva (dean).

As a teenager Leibowitz studied in the Radin Yeshiva, where he held private study sessions with his great-uncle and founder of the yeshiva—Yisrael Meir Kagan—helping him to write the last volume of his Mishnah Berurah.^[1] He also studied there under Naftoli Trop. In 1908 Leibowitz transferred to the Slabodka yeshiva, where he studied under Nosson Tzvi Finkel. In 1915 Leibowitz succeeded his father-in-law as rabbi of Šalčininkai. After six years he returned to Slabodka as a founding member of the Slabodka kollel.

In January 1927, Leibowitz went to the United States as a fund-raiser for the kollel, and was invited to become the first rosh yeshiva (dean) of Mesivta Torah Vodaath.^[1] Among his students were Gedalia Schorr and Avraham Yaakov Pam. In 1933, Leibowitz founded the Rabbinical Seminary of America (RSA) in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. He did so after a dispute arose with Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz—head of Torah Vodaath—over the goals of Torah Vodaath, and consequent legal proceedings before a rabbinical court.^[2] Leibowitz served as RSA's first rosh yeshiva. The school, which later moved to Kew Gardens Hills, Queens is better known today as Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim, so named for Leibowitz's great-uncle, who was known as the "Chofetz Chaim".

Leibowitz died of a heart attack on Thursday December 4, 1941. His funeral was held on Sunday December 7, 1941. The yeshiva was headed for the following sixty-seven years by his only son, Henoch Leibowitz.

• Rabbi Leibowitz's gravestone