[2] At the time of his birth, his grandfather, Rabbi Avrohom Bornsztain, later known as the Avnei Nezer, was serving as Rav of Nasielsk.

[3] Young Dovid was taught privately by Rabbi Yitzchak Shlomo Lieberman of Ozorkow, but his primary teacher during his childhood was his grandfather, the Avnei Nezer.

From him he learned both the revealed and hidden Torah, along with the Avnei Nezer's unique methodology for understanding the commentary of the Jewish sages, which formed the Hasidut of Sochatchov.

During his time in Vishgorod, he established a yeshiva patterned after the learning style of Sochatchover Hasidut,[4] where hundreds of young men studied.

[4] In addition to his duties as Rebbe and rosh yeshiva, he was an active member of Agudath Israel and the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah.

On his first trip, which he took with his brother Chanoch Henoch, he put a down payment on a plot of land south of Ramle with the intention of starting a Hasidic settlement.

[6] On Rosh Hashana 1939 the Nazis invaded Łódź — then home to the second-largest Jewish community in Europe — and proceeded to snatch men off the streets for forced labor.

Additionally, almost all of the Rebbe's many manuscripts were destroyed, save for a few pages containing chidushim (new Torah thoughts) on the Passover Haggadah.

These pages were later published as Chasdei Dovid together with the ninth volume of Shem Mishmuel, his father's work, which deals with the Haggadah.

[1] The mantle of leadership of the Sochatchover Hasidim passed to his brother, Rabbi Chanoch Henoch, who had established a beth midrash in Bayit Vegan, Israel.