RABBI TZVI HIRSCH ROSENBAUM, (ADMUR KRETCHNEV-SIGHET-JERUSALEM), zt”l (1919 – 2016) was born in his grandfather’s home in the town of Sighet, located in Romania’s Marmuresh Region, to HaRav Nisan Chaim, the eldest son of the Admor, HaRav Eliezer Zeev of Kretchinev.

Recognizing his exceptional abilities his grandfather sent the boy to study under the town’s leading melamdim. From a young age he formed a close bond with his grandfather and looked to him as his rebbe and his main wellspring of Torah and yir’oh.

At the age of 13 he went to study at Yeshivas Ohr Torah in Stanislav under HaRav Dovid Halevy Ish Horowitz, the av beis din of Stanislav and author of Imrei Dovid.

In the winter of 1937 he traveled to the city of Satmar, not far from Sighet, where he learned under his uncle, HaRav Meir Dayan. While there he received semichoh from the Gavad of Riskeve and other gedolei Yisroel and formed ties with the Gavad of Satmar, HaRav Yoel Teitelbaum.

In (1944) the Nazis entered Sighet and took away his grandfather, the Admor of Kretchinev, and all of the members of the household, putting them on a train to Auschwitz, where Rabbi Rosenbaum continued to be moser nefesh to adhere to Torah and mitzvot.. Every Shabbos night he would make Kiddush on bread before hundreds of Jews and he made extraordinary efforts to keep the mitzvah of tefillin. He had a pair of tefillin he kept hidden and would lend them to other Jews who wanted to lay tefillin early in the morning before reporting to work. Through a series of miracles he managed to get a kitchen job, which allowed him to avoid non-kosher foods. On several occasions he was caught trying to smuggle food to his fellow Jews.

After his release from captivity, he immediately set about mending the brokenhearted. Hundreds of young men gathered around him. On 28 Tammuz they were released and taken to a place near Paris where he began to disseminate Torah and heal the wounds of Holocaust refugees.

On 28 Tammuz 5705 (1945) he arrived in Eretz Yisroel leading a group of young men. The next year he married the daughter of his uncle, the Admor of Nadvorna, who was still in Romania.

With the encouragement of the Admor of Belz HaRav Aharon, and his brother, the Rov of Bilgorei, he opened his first beis medrash in his home in Botei Ungarin and prayers were held there daily. After the wedding he continued giving shiurim to the group of young men who had come with him to Eretz Yisroel. During this period he renewed his ties with the Satmar Rov, the author of Vayoel Moshe, who was living in Jerusalem at the time, as well as with the gavad of the Eida Chareidis, HaRav Reuven Zelig Bengis, with the Imrei Emes of Gur and with HaRav Aharon Roth of Shomrei Emunim.

In 1947, he joined his Chassidim in Haifa and the North, making his home in Kfar Ata. He went on to build a housing complex for Kretchinev Chassidim, a girls’ school and other communal institutions. In 1975 he built his beis medrash in Bnei Brak and in 1980 built another beis medrash in Jerusalem on Rechov Avinoam Yellin.

Rabbi Gerzi first met the Rebbe in London on one of his trips, and was then connected to Rabbi Rosenbaum though Rabbi Singer. In the three years of Rabbi Gerzi being in touch with the Rebbe he received many practical teaching to do with Mochin Degadlus, a constant refocusing of one’s awareness of Hashem using a specific hanhaga he had been taught by Rav Binyamin Perlstein, a student of the the Munkatscher Rav and his father-in-law the Komarno Rebbe,. Rabbi Rosenbaum taught Rabbi Gerzi the Torah and practices he had learned, as well as many Chabad teachings. He inspired Rabbi Gerzi to always find new ways and practices to grow, using the physical in service of the spiritual, and to prioritize d’veykus to Hashem.

The Krechnover Rebbe imparted in me the power of stories, handed down from generation to generation, including a number of practices. The time that I spent with him definitely gave me a much deeper appreciation for tradition and keeping the tradition that was passed down, through the art of stories.