[3] Altogether, Gurwicz learned in the Mir for eight years, after which he traveled to study under Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik (known as "the Brisker Rav").

[3] In 1932 Rabbi Elyah Lopian, then head of the Eitz Chaim yeshiva in London, came to Poland — then the Torah center of the world — with his eldest daughter, Liba, in the hopes of finding a suitable marriage partner for her.

[3] Father and daughter were favorably impressed with the young genius, and when the marriage terms were written up, it was agreed that Liba would leave London and live in Poland, where Rabbi Gurwicz would continue learning.

Liba, the eldest girl, wrote to her fiancé saying that she could not leave her father with the burden of caring for all the children on his own, and that if Leib wished to break the shidduch, she would understand.

Unsure of how to proceed, Rabbi Gurwicz traveled to the elder sage of the generation, the Chofetz Chaim, who was then 94 years old and in poor health.

Instead of giving a direct response to Gurwicz's question about whether to proceed with the shidduch, the Chofetz Chaim kept repeating a series of verses from the morning prayers, including "Blessed is He Who redeems and rescues".

[3] As a resident of England, Gurwicz was able to help his sister, brothers-in-law, and several friends obtain visas to leave Nazi-occupied Poland in 1940 by acting as their sponsor.

[7] Upon arriving in London, Gurwicz gave a shiur at his father-in-law's Etz Chaim Yeshiva; one of his students was Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, who received semicha from him.