So much had already been said or written about Dr. Fred Rosner, z”l by the time the shloshim was commemorated this week, with much consistent and impressive repetition by so many different people, yet I am confident that the following will not have been said by anyone until now.
Decades before I began my hobby of writing about the Daf Yomi and current events, I had a hobby of serving as the editor of the Yeshiva College Alumni Bulletin in the 1970s and a sub-hobby of reviewing books, mostly sent to me by Ktav.
One was a book by Dr. Fred Rosner. But I also had a “sub-sub hobby” of showing a draft of my review to every author to give him or her an opportunity to suggest revisions or corrections before publication. (Better before than after.) Most authors ignored my offer or just wrote “Thank you,” but Dr. Rosner was so punctilious that he actually was the only author to take my offer seriously enough to object to one of my statements in my overall favorable review, and to engage in a written pre-pre-Internet exchange of views with me, which resulted in a compromise acceptable to him, and another reason for me to appreciate this incredibly creative and meticulous person!
