A world renowned Maggid Shiur was R”L killed in an early morning crash in Staten Island.
Hagaon HaRav David Grossman ZATZAL from Los Angeles was tragically killed while driving in Staten Island.
The crash was reported to the NYPD at around 4:00AM on Monday morning on the West Shore Expressway northbound near Victory Boulevard.
The NYPD gave the following statement to YWN:
On Monday, February 5th, 2018 at approximately 3:58AM, police responded to a 911 call for a collision on the Westshore Expressway north of Wild Ave in the confines of the 121st Precinct.
Upon arrival, officers discovered a 72-year-old male operator unconscious and unresponsive with head trauma. EMS transported the male to Staten Island University Hospital where he was pronounced deceased. A preliminary investigation determined the 72-year-old operator of a 2017 Ford was apparently stopped on the right shoulder, partially blocking the right lane due to his disabled vehicle having a flat tire.
Subsequently, a 43-year-old female operator of a 2005 Honda was traveling northbound on the expressway when she struck the rear driver’s side of the Ford causing it to cross two northbound lanes of traffic coming to a final rest on the center median. The operator of the Honda was removed to Richmond County Medical Center for non-life threatening injuries. The NYPD’s Highway Collision Investigation Squad responded and conducting an investigation.
Chesed Shel Emes was on the scene.
In his younger years, Rav Dovid Grossman studied in the Beis Medrash program of the Yeshiva of Philadelphia for 4 years under the tutelage of Hagaon HaRav Elya Svei and Hagaon HaRav Shmuel Kamenetsky.
He then learned one Elul zman in a branch of the Novardok yeshiva in France.
In Eretz Yisroel, he joined the Yeshiva Mir in Jerusalem, where he became a Talmid of its Rosh Yeshiva, Hagaon HaRav Chaim Shmuelevitz ZATZAL.
In Yerushalayim, Rabbi Grossman developed a personal relationship with Hagaon HaRav Meir Soloveitchik, a son of the Brisker Rov.
It was in Israel where he met his wife, Rachel – who is the principal of Valley Torah High School’s girl division in Valley Village, California.
After returning to America, Rabbi Grossman learned in the Lakewood Kollel for approximately 7 years. He then went on to become one of the founding members of the Lakewood Kollel branch in Los Angeles (1975).
In 1981, he helped start Yeshiva Gedolah of Los Angeles where he served as the 12th grade Maggid shiur until 2008. Concurrently with position as lecturer at YGLA, he opened a Torah program for working young adults and college students, independent of the Yeshiva.
Rabbi Grossman was known around the globe for his daf yomi shiurim and his recordings on every page of the Talmud are widely distributed by many platforms of Shiurim including Kol Halashon, DafYomi.org, OU and many others. He was the first voice of the famed “Dial a Daf”.
His children are: Mrs Sara Fisher, Mrs Tzippy Rokowsky, Mrs. Efrat Privalsky, Reb Meir, Reb Avi, Reb Binyomin, Reb Moshe, Reb Chaim.