Rabbi Shmaryahu Yitzchak Bloch (ca. 1862 – 1923) was a rabbi and Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

ist in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

There is very scant information about Rabbi Bloch's life. However, it is known that Rabbi Bloch served as rabbi of Druskenik in Russia from 1884 until his emigration to England in 1888, and subsequently served as a rabbi in the communities of Sunderland, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, Stamford Hill

Stamford Hill

Stamford Hill is a place in the north of the London Borough of Hackney, England, near the border with Haringey. It is home to Europe's largest Hasidic Jewish and Adeni Jewish community.Stamford Hill is NNE of Charing Cross.-History:...

 and Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, where he died in December 1923 (Hebrew date:

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar , or Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances. It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the appropriate public reading of Torah portions, yahrzeits , and daily Psalm reading, among many ceremonial uses...

 7 Teves 5684).

Rabbi Bloch was also an examiner for many years at the Etz Chaim

Etz Chaim

Etz Chaim Center for Jewish Learning is an Orthodox Jewish organization designed to reach out to secular and non-Orthodox Jews in the hopes of bring them into the Baal teshuva Movement . It is under the direction of...

 yeshiva

Yeshiva

Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. He gave an approbation to the Sefer Doresh Tov L'amo authored by Rabbi Mordechai Tzvi Schwartz and published in London in 1917.

Upon his sudden death, the Jewish Chronicle wrote that Rabbi Bloch was a

"Staunch champion of Orthdodoxy... Even his most casual acquaintance must have been struck by his love - nay, his passion - for the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

. Possessed of a prodigious memory and of a zeal for study almost without parallel, he acquired so accurate a knowledge of the whole of the Talmud and the glosses thereon that his Bekius [extensively wide knowledge] became proverbial. His mind was a veritable treasure-house of Rabbinic lore. No concordance was so reliable a guide. His piety was remarkable... he dug wells of learning wherever he sojourned... a pioneer in the establishment of Talmud Torah's and Yeshiboth."