Moshe Greenwald

Who was Moshe Greenwald?

Moshe Greenwald, also spelled Grunwald, was the Rav of Chust, Hungary and progenitor of the Puppa Hasidic dynasty through his five sons. He was also the author of Arugas Habosem, a book of responsa covering a wide breadth of halakhic issues.

He was the eldest son of Rabbi Amram Greenwald, one of the leading students of the Ksav Sofer. His father, not wanting to enter the rabbinate, married his wife on that condition.

Rabbi Moshe was one of a group of students of the Ksav Sofer who took on Hasidic customs. He was also a disciple of the second Belzer Rebbe, Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach.

Greenwald began his rabbinic career as the Rav and av beis din in Humenné, where he established a yeshiva. From there he accepted the rabbanut of Kleinwardein, Kisvárda in Hungarian and in 1887 he moved to Chust, Huszt in Hungarian where he also headed a yeshiva. Among his favorite students in Chust were Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, the future founder of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath.

Greenwald eschewed pilpul but advised his students to acquire breadth and depth in the study of Torah and Gemara.