rav aharon kotler's sister rav aharon kotler's sister

The creation of a farm settlement project, where the time of these men could be divided between tilling the soil and the continuation of their studies, would be a step forward in giving them a certain degree of independence and security. In November 1954, Rav Aharon delivered a eulogy at the massive funeral of Harry Herskowitz, a devoted layman for whom he had great respect. Sighet native David Weiss (Halivni) survived the war and arrived in America as an orphan, where he became a student of Rav Yitzchok Hutner at Chaim Berlin. He commissioned Rav Reuven Grozovsky with the unenviable task of censoring Rav Aharons mail. The rosh yeshivah! With his trusted associates Irving & Amos Bunim at a Torah Umesorah dinner in 1956. Another organizer of the New York event was a former Slutzk talmid named Zadok Kapner, a brilliant scholar who had become a successful physician but was still said to be one of the greatest Talmudic minds in America. "The Rosh Yeshiva shared with me that a Rav called his Zeide, Reb Aharon Kotler, in 1945. Rabbi Nathan Baruch, Mrs. Chaya Baumwolspiner, Rabbi Eliyahu Beane, Rabbi Asher Bergman, Rabbi Yaakov Bender, Yisroel Besser, Rabbi Amos Bunim, Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Rabbi Henoch Cohen, Rabbi Yitzchok Dershowitz, Rabbi Dov Eliach, Rabbi Shimon Finkelman, Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox, Shimon Glick, Mrs. Devora Gliksman, Dr. Alex Grobman, Professor William Helmreich, Chaya Sarah Herman, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, Rabbi Shimon Hirsch, Rabbi Alexander Hoffman, Rabbi Nosson Kamenetsky, Rabbi Yitzchok Kasnett, Rabbi Dov Katz, Dr. Bentzion Klibansky, Rabbi Moshe Kolodny, The Kotler family, Dr. David Kranzler, Rebbetzin Danielle Leibowitz, Rabbi Nachman Levovitz, Rabbi Aharon Lopiansky, Rabbi Shlomo Lorincz, Reb Shimon Mendlowitz, Symcha Nadborny, The Neuberger family, Rabbi Alter Pekier, Rabbi Yechiel Perr, Rabbi Shaul Robinson, Yonasan Rosenblum, Rabbi Chaim Shlomo Rosenthal, Rabbi Leib Rotkin, Simcha Schecter, Rabbi Marvin Schick, Rabbi Shmaryahu Schulman, Rabbi Gavriel Schuster, Rabbi Nosson Sherman, Rabbi Aaron Sorasky, Zorach Warhaftig, Baruch Wenger, Zev Wolfson, Dov Wolowitz, Rabbi Boruch Ber Yoffe, Pinkas Kletzk, Pinkas Kobryn, Pinkas Slutzk, (Originally featured in Torchbearer, Rav Aharon Kotler Tribute, Issue 941), Even though six decades have passed, the brilliant shiurim and maamarim of Rav Aharon are speaking to a new generation. In this capacity he maintained a very active correspondence with the two tireless administrators of the Vaad HaYeshivos in Vilna Rav Yosef Shub and Rav Aharon Berek. Rav Reuven decided to ensure that Arke would be protected by bringing him to Slabodka where the great educator, the Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, could take him under his wing. Colleges and Universities by Universities, by Level and Attendance Status, Fall 2018", "11 things to know about Lakewood amid fraud sweep", "New Jersey Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather", "Lakewood's Orthodox population keeps growing. It was Rav Aharon, who immediately initiated rapid-fire questioning regarding the situation on the ground there. The Vishker Illui, Rav Yaakov Safsel, was one of the great young prodigies of the Lithuanian Torah world at the turn of the century. He had recently met withAgudath Harabonim emissary Dr. Samuel Schmidt in Yanova, Lithuania, wherehis yeshivah had relocated. The White Plains group sent a delegation led by Rav Mordechai Yaffe to meet with Rav Aharon. Yet, as is evident from a speech he delivered at a family simchah of Mr. Wolfsons just weeks before his passing, Rav Aharon, in his wisdom, saw his young charges potential to make a continuing and unprecedented impact and encouraged him to do even more: The plan was, G-d forbid, for a totally different type of education to take hold (in Israel), which would undermine the very existence of a life according to Torah values. The travails of the months Rav Aharon spent on the road are evident in letters he wrote during this time. All these Yidden wanted to save the yeshivah money, or to expedite the construction so that the building would be completed even faster but most of all, everyone wanted some portion in this effort. Bunim suggested Lakewood, New Jersey, since it was out of town but not too far from New York. But Rav Aharon trusted the young activist who regularly drove him around and helped obtain appointments with donors. The administrator of Kletzk, Rav Shimon Goder, who would later serve as administrator in Torah Vodaath, had arrived in America three months prior and now joined Rav Aharon during his fundraising appeals. A very symbolic number indeed, as this was the exact number of students that had pioneered the launch of the Slutzk Yeshivah almost a half century earlier. Rav Aharon turned him down. He had just a handful of students at first, but he knew the yeshivah would grow. A controversy erupted over the return of a former rabbi to town. Rabbi Hayim of Volozhin, Rabbi Aharon Kotler, and the Remaking of an American Jewish Prophecy 88 ve American Jewish Archives Journal But Yoshor's decision to live in the United States, given his devo tion to the late sage of Radun, is somewhat curious. Believing that unity was crucial to rescue, Rav Aharon advised putting aside political and ideological differences and closing ranks among all Orthodox factions to further rescue activities. Rav Isser Zalman, who was a vaunted student of Rav Chaim Brisker and author of the Even Haezel, marveled at the logic of his son-in-law. Another talmid, who had been raised in relative comfort, once commented to Rav Aharon that he was having a hard time with the austere kollel lifestyle. But above all, he argued, there are plenty of people who go to college and so few people who go to yeshivah. Of course, he did not attend. Der Rebbe hot gegeiben ah brachah Say Amen, the Rebbe gave you a brachah!. Mrs. Bertha Rayner Frank was born in Baltimore in 1847 into a prestigious Jewish family of German origin. In 1904 Rav Chaim Rabinowitz departed for Telz and was replaced by the rav of Halusk and a prime student of Rav Chaim Brisker, Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz. On that day in Moscow, Nazi foreign minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov signed a non-aggression pact between the two regimes. Businesses were nationalized, expressions of nationalism were banned, and religious institutions and their leaders were targeted. Not for money, but just to say hello. To his left are his brothers-in-law, Rav Sheftel Kramer and Rabbi Pesach Frank. He was introduced to admirers who would become his loyal supporters. Now that you are with him, fulfill the final law of shlichim, and go to him and tell him, Rebbi I have fulfilled your bidding. Contents Address of Rav Aharon Kotler Chinuch Atzmai Dinner 1956 50th yartzheit of harav aharon kotler zt l lakewood Torah discussions filled the air, ideas debated, sugyos clarified. He recalled how the small group had been tasked by their general with holding the line, as he promised the imminent arrival of reinforcements. Other family members tried influencing him and even registered him in a religious haskalah school. A year later Rav Aharon complained that the system had failed to balance the yeshivahs budget and noted in a letter that his monthly bread budget amounted to $300. Though Rav Aharons name is most closely linked to Lakewood, the impact of his Torah trailblazing goes far beyond a single yeshivah. For that reason we must daven!. We cant even fix the building because the streets and markets are in the process of being rezoned. His stanzia (lodging place) was two blocks from the yeshivah, and the young teenager was often fearful to walk alone late at night. Their operatives held show trials and published newspapers exposing yeshivah students and teachers as counterrevolutionaries who were systematically poisoning the masses. Rav Aharon even encouraged talented yeshivah students to participate as well, and many of them were sent along with rabbanim on the road for the Chofetz Chaim Torah campaign. Husband of Rebbetzin Chana Peryl Kotler When Rav Chaim Brisker passed through town, he commented that Rav Aharon closely resembled his father Rav Shneur Zalman Pines, who had been Rav Chaimsstudent in Volozhin two decades prior. When the Telzer rosh yeshivah, Rav Eliezer Gordon, arrived for a Shabbos in Kovno, the students of both Slabodka yeshivos crossed the bridge and converged upon his hotel. He then asked Rav Aharon to locate five different passages in Talmud Yerushalmi and Rav Aharon knew them all, earning the right to be Rav Katzs guest. Photos: BMG Archives, Agudah Archives, DMS Yeshiva Archives, Wolfson Family, Hoberman Family, Kamenetsky Family, National Library of Israel, US Dept of State, Prof. Chaim I. Waxman, YIVO, Torah Umesorah Archives, Chinuch Atzmai Archives, Perr Family, Golding Family, Bunim Family, TAJ Art and Judaica, Feivel Schneider, A child is playing outside a shul. Only you, Rav Aharon said, well understanding that a Torah revolution would never take hold in America if there was nobody willing to marry yeshivah bochurim and embrace a Torah lifestyle and all that came with it. The edited memorandum was then presented to David K. Niles, a Jewish advisor to President Roosevelt. Mrs. Golding also founded the yeshivahs sisterhood, galvanizing local women to support young men dedicated to Torah learning. We talk to a rabbi about why, and what it means. Following the founding of Torah Umesorah, he worked in lockstep with Dr. Joseph Kamenetsky, Rabbi Alexander Gross and Rabbi Bernard Goldenberg to found day schools in cities across America, making it clear that he was willing to sacrifice a day saying an intricate shiur on a sugya in Yevamos to ensure that a Jewish child in Minneapolis or Seattle would have the chance to learn the Alef-beis. Rav Shach would return home for the Yamim Tovim.) Rav Aharon intensified his efforts to obtain visas for the entire yeshivah and maintained an active correspondence with activists in the United States such as Rav Yisrael Rosenberg, and pursued any possible lead to save his students. There is a need for roshei yeshivos in this country and elsewhere and Lakewood will produce them. Still, Polands economy was mired in an even worse depression, and Rav Aharon hoped that Jewish hearts and wallets would open to their needy brothers abroad. Several years ago, we had the privilege of visiting Rav Yaakov Schiff, a son-in-law of the Brisker Rav and widely considered to be Rav Aharons prime talmid in Lakewood. The rabbonim at front, from right: Rav Yosef Leib Nenedik, Rav Aharon Kotler and Rav Nachum Baruch Ginzberg of Yanova. His face was beet-red with excitement and exertion. The yeshivah was in the process of welcoming a new rosh yeshivah, Rav Baruch Ber Leibowitz, whose shiurim would dominate the Lithuanian Torah landscape for the next 35 years. Rabbosai, from college there will never be a Rav Leib Malin, hed tell his students, many of whom faced down resistance from family and friends for studying in a backward institution. Our one consolation is the hope that I will be able to find some help.. Theyd passed the test with flying colors. The Alter cared for the neophyte as he would his own child, hosting him at his apartment adjacent to the yeshivah for Shabbos and Yom Yov meals alongside some of his closest older students. With the eventual formation of the War Refugee Board in January 1944, Rav Aharon and Irving Bunim were able to work with its head John Pehle on several rescue attempts. Avodah and gemils chasadim are important pillars of Jewish life, said Rav Aharon, citing Pirkei Avos. He agreed to sell his property at a discounted price. Local rabbanim occasionally delivered shiurim to the students, but otherwise these improvised yeshivos generally lacked formal structure and authority. We can find another maggid shiur, but someone who can build a Bais Yaakov? On Erev Rosh Hashanah 1937 Rav Aharon wrote to Mr. Cohen: With a deep sense of gratitude, I recall your love of Torah and generosity, and without taking into account your own dire straits, you donated a number of times more than you were able to. In Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, Rav Aharon found his kindred spirit, someone who possessed the fire and urge to change the trajectory of Yiddishkeit in the country. That was Tof-shin-yud-gimmel, through Tof-shin-yud-zayin [2], '53-'57, approximately. Soon the exhaust from the wood stove began to fill the beis medrash. Arke Sislovitzer is Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Mordechai told him. Last Friday marked the 54th yahrzeit of Rabbi Aaron Kotler, a leading Rosh Yeshiva in pre-WWII Europe who formed Lakewood's Beth Medrash Govoha in 1943. A simple peddler named Tzvi Moshe Cohen stood up and announced that he would pledge $12. Under the direction of Rav Chaim Ozer and several of the leading roshei yeshivah of the 1920s, the Vaad HaYeshivos oversaw a fundraising and distribution apparatus that attempted to somewhat alleviate the burden sustained by each individual institution. After another deadlocked meeting, a frustrated Rav Hutner told his driver that many of these conferences were not the best use of his time, with endless discussion and little accomplished. If you lived it, you wouldnt feel the smoke!, Public speaking, however, didnt come naturally to Rav Aharon. How ridiculous!! Now the entire landscape has changed. It was therefore decided to split the yeshivah. Following a brief imprisonment by the Soviets, Rav Isser Zalman himself joined the yeshivah in Kletzk and resumed his former post as rosh yeshivah. The Mir rosh yeshivah, Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, understood that if Rav Aharon was exerting such energy to retrieve Rav Noach, then he must be worth keeping, and so argued that he already belonged to Mir. Rav Aharon shared his worldview with Irving Bunim, pointing to American history as proof. To save a soul let alone to save Klal Yisrael it is truly a tremendous zechus! "It's a curse," Ted's wife Joan tells her sister-in-law Jackie Kennedy, the fresh widow of JFK, who was assassinated the year before. At an emergency fundraising meeting, he put it in approximately these words: I dont want you to misunderstand me; I dont want to mislead you. While the Kotler name carries with it a glorious history, Reb Aaron is a student of his mother, nee Rischel Friedman. It was a short winter day, and as sunset approached there was still no resolution to the contentious issue under discussion. It was after the treaty was signed between the Bolsheviks and the Poles, placing Slutzk under Soviet control. On December 7, 1941, at the funeral of Rav Dovid Leibowitz, Rav Aharon spotted Mr. Cohen out of the corner of his eye and once again thanked him profusely for his selfless act. Hashem grants a person the zechus to be able to accomplish, and he has special abilities; he witnessed a special Hashgachah Min Hashamayim to be successful, because now it is possible to achieve success. Rav Aharon Kotler, the founding Rosh Yeshiva of Beis Medrash Gavoha in Lakewood, was a trailblazer of Torah Jewry after WWII. And act he did, with a fiery resolve that ignited a growing cadre of talmidim, activists, and supporters to act as well. John Pehle, Hon. Thousands of straying children came home in his merit they returned to the Torah, they became Shabbos observant, they adorn Tefillin, they are occupied with Torah study, and they are building homes of Torah. The image engraved in ones memory is more accurate than any photographic or artistic rendition. And he (Zev) has a tremendous part in this accomplishment (to strengthen Chinuch Atzmai), through lobbying efforts and other means. The main attraction in Lakewood remained its hotels, which by then numbered more than 100, many of which catered primarily to Jewish patrons. I met Rav Aharon Kotler in 1953 when I accompanied my father on a visit to Rabbi Kotlers then-very small yeshivah in Lakewood, New Jersey. The Vaad HaYeshivos decided to honor its founder with the writing of a sefer Torah in his memory, with the proceeds going toward the support of its affiliate institutions. Most of the 2,000 Jewish residents in visa worked at local tanneries, which dominated the local economy. With the founding of Slutzk Yeshiva in 1897, the Alter dispatched Rav Isser Zalman to be its rosh yeshivah, leaving Rav Moshe Mordechai the sole rosh yeshivah of Slabodka. Rav Aharon Kotler was a man with a fiery passion for Torah and a deep love for his students. Unfortunately, almost all were murdered by the Nazis and their local collaborators. This man has a butler who works until then, but after eight hell open the door himself, and hopefully once he sees us, hell let us in!, Once Rav Aharon concluded a rather unsuccessful day of fundraising by telling his driver Velvel Pearl with a half-smile, Dont tell anyone how little money was raised; no one will want to become a rosh yeshivah.. Still, Rav Isser Zalman told me, He didnt say a word, or ever let on anything to that effect, and set out to make sure things went smoothly. Thus was the greatness of Rav Moshe Mordechai.. Worked for her in 1967 when she was doing her PhD in political science and worked for the Albany legislature. One of the rebbeim alongside Rav Aharon was his close friend Rav Elazar Shach, who had married a niece of Rav Isser Zalman. Examinees would know the test went well if they were invited into his home for tea and cookies afterward. At one meeting, Rav Ruderman introduced Rav Aharon as one of the geniuses of our times, a rosh yeshivah for outstanding pupils. The man leaned toward Rav Ruderman and requested to speak with him privately. Rav Aharon passed away in 1962, and her husband Reb Shneur became Rosh Yeshiva. This was presumably partly due to his not having founded Beth Medrash Govoha and therefore not having the right to compare it to Kletzk but there was a subliminal message as well. The knowledge, research and published words of the following distinguished individuals, both past and present, aided in the preparation of this article. Over the years, I had many discussions with Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik. With the onset of the worldwide financial crisis and the Great Depression in 1929, the yeshivos found themselves in ever more dire financial straits. The NKVD agent began to berate him. He was brought to America on April 10, 1941 by the Vaad Hatzalah rescue organization, and guided it during The Holocaust. In From Kletzk to Siberia, Rabbi Alter Pekier writes: On Erev Shabbos, November 8, 1940 the yeshivahs faithful secretary Reb Berel Starobin was typing Rav Aharons chiddushim when agents of the NKVD burst in and began conducting a search. Rav Aharon turned to his most trusted associate, Irving Bunim, and asked him to help find an ideal location for the yeshivah. All other creatures cannot fly. When Rav Aharon insisted, Rav Katz immediately proposed a compromise. The city of Vilna and its environs had been incorporated into the Second Polish Republic after World War I. He probably couldnt. At a stop in Egypt, Rav Aharon encountered rampant assimilation there and attempted to open a yeshivah. They too were martyred in 1941. It is being maintained largely through the efforts of a limited number of people. Following World War I, the Lakewood Township embarked on the construction of a memorial to local soldiers who had perished, inviting famed cantor Yossele Rosenblatt to sing Kel Malei at the consecration. Rav Mendel didn't have his own honor in mind, however, nor the prestige of the . They obviously spoke Hebrew and, at least then, scarcely understood any Yiddish. One of his childhood friends later reminisced in the towns Yizkor (memorial) book: I would visit the house of the rabbi as a friend of the delightful child Arke (today Rav Aharon Kotler). Utilizing the emergency visa obtained for him by the Vaad Hatzalah, he, his wife, and daughter received their Soviet exit visas and departed Lithuania for Moscow on February 7, 1941. Staff knows nothing about it. Later it would be renamed the Vaad Hatzalah. By Rabbi Yair Hoffman This Shabbos will mark the 53rd yartzeit of Rav Aharon Kotler zt"l. Below is part one of a short biography. The House. Even as the yeshivahs deficit grew, the mashgiach, Rav Chatzkel Levenstein believed that the yeshivah needed its own building, and a building campaign was initiated. You, Mr. Kaufman, were one of the great supporters of Torah, when you leave This World, that simchah will be given to you.. Zeirei Agudath Israel leader Mike Tress was sitting at his Shabbos table in Williamsburg on Friday night when his doorbell rang. In Lakewood, however, he began delivering them on a regular basis. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. There is a need for effective teachers and for the right kind of rabbis and Lakewood will produce these too. As the Jewish Socialist party, the Bund, began to make inroads in the region, workers began to organize and demand better salaries and working conditions. Once again, the growing yeshivah of Kletzk was left in the able hands of Rav Aharon. I was four or five or six years old. Rav Aharon was so moved by this act of mesirus nefesh that he jumped up from behind the table to where Mr. Cohen stood. Yekusiel, sing.. A few days later he cabled his family to leave Kletzk immediately together with the entire yeshivah body and administration and head toward Vilna. He told my father that he hoped to eventually have over a hundred students. Arke was extolled for his sharp answers to the teachers questions., Another visa resident recalled that the whole town marveled at how the Ravs little boy could recite all of Tanach by heart., FRIENDS FOR LIFE: From their joint youth in Slabodka, through their common experience as talmidim of Slabodka, their traversing the Atlantic and eventually assuming positions in the rebuilding of the postwar Torah world, Rav Reuven Grozovsky with Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky & Rav Aharon shared destiny and leadership. [8], Upon the death of his father-in-law, he inherited his father-in-law's position of rosh yeshiva of Etz Chaim Yeshiva of Jerusalem. As is traditional in chassidic circles, the Gerrer Rebbe offered the little boy an apple, which he declined saying he wasnt hungry. His flaming blue eyes bore into the souls of all present. When Mr. Rabinowitz approached a potential seller, Matthew J. Sullivan, with a lowball offer to buy 617 6th Street on the yeshivahs behalf, Sullivan recalled that his interlocutor had sung beautifully at the memorial event two decades earlier and was impressed that he was refraining from charging the accepted realtors fee. [1] During his tenure, he developed the Lithuanian -style, Haredi but non- Hasidic yeshiva into the largest post-graduate Torah institution in the world. While Rav Aharon regularly attended shiurim of Rav Boruch Ber, he also considered himself a talmid of Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein, whose shiurim he attended as well. Rather, it is the clarion call that brought a revolution to Americas yeshivah world. The Sislovitzer paced up and down the room, lhavdil like a Slabodka bochur with a difficult question in the Gemara, spun his thumb and readily solved the difficult mathematical problem. Upon hearing that neurologists believe that people have access to only a fraction of their brains potential, he declared to his student Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox, They never knew Rav Aharon Kotler; every brain cell was full of brilliance!. There is a need for baleabatim-talmidei chachamim (scholarly laymen) and Lakewood will send them forth. A secret clause of the agreement was the division of Poland. However, he hired the cab driver with one condition: The cab driver had to pick up anyone on the road that was also travelling there. One shoved Reb Berel to the side while the other grabbed the typewriter and a pile of papers. Rav Noach himself was questioned as to his preference to which he responded softly that had he wanted to stay in Kletzk, he never would have come to Mir. There were threethat led Klal Yisrael the Chofetz Chaim,. Crossing the border wasnt just an escape from the anti-religious communists to the safety of Poland. The mashgiach, Rav Nosson Meir Wachtfogel (pictured with current rosh yeshivah Rav Malkiel Kotler) was a product of Mir, Kaminetz and Kelm, and was among the founders of the White Plains Kollel. Other rabbis are (from 1. to r.) middle row: 7th, Shaul Goldman, Brooklyn; 9th, Shmuel Maslow, Brooklyn; 12th, Leib Polak, Denver; top row: 1st, Yaakov Zaretzky, Bnei Brak; 5th, Rav Shneur Kotler, 8th, Alter Pekier. Donate. Community leaders in Maltch feared losing their rav, and offered to establish a yeshivah for him in town. Most important was a partnership initiated with Mr. Irving Bunim, who was to emerge as Rav Aharons closest confidante for the next three decades. Rav Aharon was overcome with stage fright because of the presence of one one unfamiliar person, so acute was his shyness. Rav Aharon contacted Irving Bunim and made plans to petition government officials in Washington to prevent this. Thousands of yungeleit sit and learn all day with hasmadah and zeal championed by supporters, fellow bnei Torah who vie for the opportunity to contribute eye-popping sums to their heroes. True, his shiur consisted of cool logical analysis, but when he spoke, it was a fiery volcano. If a student interrupted, he would yell at him, Du redst vie a shikere Turk! Just weeks after Rav Aharon was born, a small township in central New Jersey received its charter. [3], After World War I, the yeshivah moved from Slutsk to Kletsk in Belarus. Rav Aharon once brought one of his grandsons along with him to a meeting with the Beis Yisrael of Gur. When the Nazis enacted a law in Germany during the 1930s banning traditional shechitah, Rav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg of Berlin wrote to halachic decisors of the time to elicit their opinions on whether German Jewry could rely on a leniency to stun the animals prior to shechitah. The Yeshiva grew tremendously under his direction. The Shechinah shines from him!. Rav Shimon Shkop replaced him in Maltch in both capacities. (Her younger brother, Isidor Rayner was one of the first Jews elected to the US Senate.) There is something within him which compels me to say, as Yosef said about Yehudah, Hes mibeis abba. Something in Rav Aharon speaks as I would imagine my great-grandfather Rav Yoshe Ber Brisker once spoke. The tremendous zechusim (merits) that you have, is something that you receive reward for in this world. Youre speaking like an inebriated Turk! i.e., youre incomprehensible. There was, however, a problem. A few minutes later the Rebbetzin entered the bedroom only to find the Rosh Yeshivah sitting on his bed. Today, his grandson, Rabbi Zevulun Schwartzman, heads a kollel located at Etz Chaim Yeshiva. Why do you write such nonsense? Well, vos is zein nomen whats his name? Rav Mordechai asked. He therefore has a tremendous obligation. vw golf door lock problems. Local families belonging to the shul wouldtake responsibility for feeding the students and provided them with a modest monthly stipend. Herbert Tenzer at the December 1945 Vaad Hatzalah Dinner. When Rav Aharon visited America in 1935, he observed with sorrow that Baltimore was the only city outside of New York that contained a proper Jewish Day School. Rav Zelig Epstein, rosh yeshivah of Shaar HaTorah, once made a late-night appointment (as was common) with Rav Aharon to discuss an important matter. They came with a value of avodahtefillah. Rav Yaakov Teitelbaum, leader of the Zeirei Agudah in prewar Vienna and later the rav of Adas Yereim in Kew Gardens, told of a rabbinic gathering in Europe attended by Rav Chaim Ozer. I cant refuse a bona fide talmid chacham!. The news of Volozhins closure spread quickly as students returned home to their respective cities and villages, among them the town of visa (Sislovitz), located 250 kilometers from Volozhin in Grodno Province, where a respected alumnus of the yeshivah, a rav named Rav Shneur Zalman Pines, was hosting a bris for his son, whom he named Aharon. Rabbi Aharon Kotler shlita, his family, and some of the older students loaded their belongings onto a wagon and they themselves walked on foot, their heads bent and their hearts heavy.. He encouraged him to forge ahead with the plan. In sheer desperation, some yeshivos decentralized by engaging in local fundraising in Poland, which was against the regulations of the Vaad HaYeshivos. The world will yet survive without another one. It was also a symbolic and no less daring personal crossing for Rav Aharon. [5] while the surrounding Lakewood community supports a network of more than 100 other yeshivas[6] and approximately 200 synagogues[7] for an Orthodox population estimated at more than 66,000. He took strong stances on many contemporary issues in both the US and Israel, and elicited anger from supporters with his vocal protests against Israels draft law for women as well as the ensuing proposal of Sherut Leumi. This is his story. Geni requires JavaScript! Rav Aharon Leib Steinman, who studied in Kletzk for a short time, described how Rav Aharon would move from one concept to another with lightning speed, requiring 100 percent focus in order to keep pace. A bird looks around and sees that it was created with wings, thereby it knows that it was endowed with special powers to be able to fly. He relished the opportunity to meet the aging Rav Dovidl (Karliner) Friedman. "Personal Experiences with Great Rabbis of My Generation". And I want everybody here to know that here is a man who supported Torah when very few people were willing to support Torah, and therefore I consider him a chacham bfanav, and Im going to deliver a hesped.. It was a desperate time for Jewry in general, but most certainly for the outnumbered and outgunned Orthodox Jewish community.. In a letter to the Brisker Rav, he describes Mr. Wolfson in glowing terms, and in one addressed to Rav Zalman Sorotzkin, he uses the biblical term Lemichyah shelacho Hashem sent him as the sustainer. He finishes by writing, His suggestions seemed farfetched in my eyes, but I did not ignore them because I know that the perpetuation of the Torah depends on miracles, and his plans came to complete fruition..