HaRav Avrohom zt"l was born in 5562 (1802) in Pressburg. His
father, R' Yehudah zt"l, was a descendant of the Chavos
Yoir.
In his youth, Reb Avrohom left home to learn under the gaon,
Reb Mordechai Banet, rov of Nicholsburg and with HaRav Aharon Suditz,
zt"l, rov of Serdeheli. Later he learned under Maran the Chasam
Sofer, in the famous Yeshiva Gedoloh of Pressburg.
He was given semichoh by the Chasam Sofer, who wrote, ". . .
and Hashem is with him, as halochoh is as he says."
When he became of age, he married Rebbetzin Esther, o"h,
daughter of the wealthy Reb Meir Loshitz z"l, who was known to
be well-acquainted with the royal family. Through his connections with
the Emperor and his ministers he did much on behalf of Klal
Yisroel.
Reb Avrohom lived close to his father-in-law. While his wife ran the
household, he founded a yeshiva where he taught many
talmidim.
After a few years he was appointed dayan in Nitra. Twenty years
later he gave up this post and returned to Pressburg. There he became
close to all of the city's greats, and his home was open to guests and
talmidei chachomim.
Together with the Ksav Sofer, then rov of Pressburg, he founded the
Talmud Torah Yesodei HaTorah, which functioned until the days of World
War II.
Reb Avrohom kept up a correspondence with the gedolim of his
time throughout the world as his brother, Reb Moshe Leib writes, "Many
are the gedolei hador of Poland, Germany and Russia, who send
their letters to him."
In the year 5631 (1871) his sefer Sheilos Uteshuvos Ben Yehudah
came out with the warm approbations of the leaders of the time, the
Ksav Sofer, HaRav Yosef Shaul Nathansohn and the Gaon Reb Itzele
Peterburger who, in a moving letter, attested to Reb Avrohom's
wonderful attributes.
He merited to bring up a distinguished family, sons, sons- in-law and
grandchildren, with whom he learned together personally.
At about the age of seventy-five, on Shabbos Parshas Vayeiroh
17 Marcheshvon, his soul left him in purity. His levaya took
place on Sunday and he was buried in the new cemetery in Pressburg, in
the Chelkas HaRabbonim close to the Ksav Sofer, zt"l.
Not long before his petiroh he was busy with the finishing
touches of his second sefer, Shoshanas Avrohom Al HaTorah. He
even began writing his hakdomoh to the sefer, but never
managed to finish it.
In 5756/1996, the sefer was finally published with additional
pieces from his handwritten manuscripts. Further chiddushim,
including the second volume of Sheilos Uteshuvos Ben Yehudah
still exist in the original manuscript, waiting to be revealed to the
Torah world.
***
There was a great stir in the city of Pressburg. The holy Chasam Sofer
and his beis din were preparing for a case involving a
chalitzah. The famous courtroom was full of people, pushing and
jostling, curious to see this rare occurrence.
Among the teeming crowd were two small boys, R' Avrohom Rosenbaum,
aged seven at the time, and his brother, R' Moshe. Even at this tender
age, the two understood that the rarity of this mitzvah made it a
momentous occasion.
Suddenly, the Chasam Sofer called out to his talmidim, "Make
way for the two dayanim." Everyone turned to see the two
dayanim who earned the special attention of the Chasam Sofer
himself, but to their astonishment they saw only the two little
boys.
Reb Avrohom would later tell his family, "I knew that I would never
serve as a rov, but a dayan I would be, for the Chasam Sofer
crowned me with dayonus at the age of seven."
In fact he shunned the rabbonus and generally the limelight.
He was glad when, after getting married, his wife and father-in-law
cared for his physical needs and livelihood. Even when the latter was
niftar, his wife continued to manage affairs. Thus Reb Avrohom
could open a yeshiva to which many talmidim flocked, despite
the fact that Reb Avrohom was then not even 30 years of age.
After some years parnossoh became difficult and R' Avrohom was
forced to accept a post as dayan in Nitra. For twenty years he
stood at the helm, not only as dayan, but caring for all the
affairs of the city and its Jews and doing much in the area of
peacemaking between Yidden.
"When Rabbeinu was about fifty years old," recounts HaRav Azriel
Rosenbaum, shlita, one of the roshei yeshiva of
Gateshead, in the introduction to the recent edition of the sefer
Shoshanas Avrohom al HaTorah, "he dreamt one night of the number
that would win in that week's lottery. In those days the system was
that according to the money invested by all those who bought tickets
they determined the value of the prize if a number was a winner." If
one bought a more expensive ticket, he would get a bigger winning
prize.
Reb Avrohom was unsure as to whether his dream was true or not, so he
bought a lottery ticket without putting in too much money. Sure
enough, his number was a winner and the dayan won a substantial
amount of money. After a few days, he again dreamt of the winning
number of the lottery. This time he invested more capital and won a
greater amount.
Subsequently he had a third dream with the next winning number, but
after the digits he saw the word "sof" — end. He
understood that this was the last time he was being shown from heaven
the winning ticket.
This time he bought his ticket with a huge amount of money and upon
winning became extremely wealthy. Immediately he left his position as
dayan in Nitra and returned to his beloved hometown, Pressburg,
the city full of chachomim and sofrim.
HaRav Avrohom Leitch Rosenbaum, ztvk"l