(Her younger brother, Isidor Rayner was one of the first Jews elected to the US Senate.) So why does the rosh yeshivah attend these meetings? the driver asked. Despite his young age, there was great respect for him because of his brilliance and hasmadah, and thats why no one dared to go over to the illui to speak to him in learning. Because, first of all, it was too audacious to try to keep up with him in Torah. He arrived on September 10th, 1935 having left Europe from Cherbourg, France aboard the Majestic. Rav Aharon traveled by boat on his first trip there in 1945. In 1956, Rav Aharon enlisted Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik to serve as guest of honor at the Chinuch Atzmai dinner, (correctly) surmising that his presence and endorsement would draw a large, diverse audience of supporters. Despite the burgeoning vacation industry, it lacked the typical big-city distractions. He could spend a whole day running around for Klal Yisrael, but his life was coming back to the Gemara., Rav Chaim Leib Epstein, Rosh Yeshivah of Zichron Meilech, remembers Rav Aharon preparing for the trip to Lakewood after a tiring week in New York. Rav Mendel didn't have his own honor in mind, however, nor the prestige of the . He told them unapologetically, Our task is to cause Torah to flourish, and Rav Aharon cannot be rebbi for students of a lower caliber. (Photo from the 1947 Torah Umesorah convention in Cleveland). The official questioned Rav Aharon, Whom did you save out of Theresienstadt? Almost from its inception, Rav Aharon was supportive of and active within the Agudas Yisrael political party in Poland. Rabbi Aharon Kotler " Rosh Yeshivah, Beth Medrash Govoha, Lakewood, New Jersey Date of Death: Thu. Rav Noach Bornstein, later one of the great students of the Brisker Rav, studied in Kletsk before transferring to Mir. 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. By the time Rav Aharon passed away, there were hundreds of talmidim, and they were beginning to have a major impact on Torah education in America. Like most devout Jews in visa, Rav Shneur Zalman struggled to protect his children from the winds of change sweeping Eastern European Jewish youth. TORCH: Torah Weekly Another was in New York, and they were his students in the art of activism, initiative, responsibility, and leadership. His son is the great posek, Rav Dovid Cohen, rav of Gvul Yaavetz in Brooklyn. When the couple arrived and heard that the rosh yeshivah and his rebbetzin slept on straw mattresses, Rav Schorr and his rebbetzin gave their mattresses to the rosh yeshivah instead. In a 1928 letter to the askanim in the field engaged in the pushke operation, Rav Aharon and his fellow roshei yeshivah of the Vaad Hapoel laid down precise instructions: Our experience shows us that if the pushkes are emptied more frequently, then donations are more frequent and at regular intervals. 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. Not only would I give up my position, I would sacrifice my life to save my fellow Jews.. He was excitable. Rav Shmaryahu Schulman once related a humorous incident. vw golf door lock problems. Little is known about the time Rav Aharon spent at Knesses Beis Yitzchak, but the presence of the young student caused a stir in Slabodka, so much so that a plan was eventually put into motion to try and bring him to the Alters yeshivah, Knesses Yisrael. Rav Aharons message was clear. A day that lives in infamy in the annals of the yeshivah world. From Lakewood To Yeshiva University: An Interview With Rabbi Aaron Years later he heard that this child had somehow ended up in America and opened a yeshivah. [He presented] complicated mathematical problems that would be hard for a licensed engineer to solve, and the Sislovitzer resolved them in no time. Must leave Moscow within 24 hours. Rav Grossnass relates, Rav Isser Zalman left the room a half hour or forty-five minutes later, and I myself heard him saying, I wouldnt stay in Radin if I was paid all the money in the world, absolutely not! It turned out that the Chofetz Chaim had told him, I envy you. In Lakewood, Torah iz di beste sechoirah is not a lullaby to put a child to sleep. Prior to Pesach of 1905, Rav Aharon journeyed to Minsk and joined a kibbutz of older talmidim at the Katzovisheh (Butchers) Shul. All other creatures cannot fly. Rav Aharons shiurim gained renown during the Kletzk era, and he came to be known as a great charif, a sharp and incisive thinker. He stayed by his friend, Rabbi Kudensky of 6 Rutger Street in Manhattan. Cemetery: Har HaMenuchos - Jerusalem Cemetery Details Kennedy refused and was rude to the rabbi. The match had been broken off, because the family mistakenly perceived that Rav Archik desired to engage in the family business rather than embarking on the expected rabbinical career. But in the wake of the Holocaust, great Torah scholars were an endangered species. Rav Aharon and his father-in-law once debated whether it was permissible for a short student to lend himself a taller appearance by inserting wooden slats in his shoes before meeting a potential shidduch prospect. A Plague on Their House? - Mishpacha Magazine One day, David was asked to drive Rav Aharon from his home in Boro Park to a wedding in Manhattan. At 29 he was the youngest of Polands interwar roshei yeshivah, and he had now entered the public sphere as a rosh yeshivah, educator, leader and builder. Mrs. Bertha Rayner Frank was born in Baltimore in 1847 into a prestigious Jewish family of German origin. Worked for her in 1967 when she was doing her PhD in political science and worked for the Albany legislature. When Rav Aharon would take a flight, the rebbetzin would fast until she was assured that he had arrived at his destination. The rabbinate in Slutzk was one of the most prestigious in the region, having previously been held by Rav Yossel Peimer (Slutzker); the Beis Halevi, Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik; and later Rav Yechezkel Abramsky. To appreciate this saga, we fast-forward a half-century to Tel Aviv, Israel: In the mid-50s, Rav Mordechai Shapiro, a talmid of Rav Aharon Kotler ztzl, traveled to Israel. 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. From year to year he grew in his brilliance, and now he is among the giants of the generation. Who are you to speak in the presence of gedolei hador? Rav Chaim Ozer retorted, Der yungerman darf men tzu heren vail der nexter dor vet zein oif zein pleitzis we must pay attention to what this young man has to say, because the next generation will rest on his shoulders!, This point is further reinforced by a story shared by Rav Aharon Lopiansky. Rav Aharon refused to enter until Rav Boruch Ber went first. Rav Aharon proudly wrote to Rav Yosef Shub of the Vaad HaYeshivos that aside from Mir and Radin, there is no yeshivah (in that region of Poland where most yeshivos were located) larger than ours.. America, Rav Mordechai Shapiro answered. Because of Mr. Herskowitzs position as the director of the IRS for the Southern District of Manhattan, Rav Aharon said, he invited many dignitaries from Washington and New York, some of whom werent Jewish, yet he wasnt ashamed to remind his fellow Jews of their obligation to support Torah. Incredibly, he halted the dancing until he had raised sufficient funds to keep Torah Vodaath open. Yankele Ochsenkrug, the proprietor said. In the seventies, he told me, "The talmidim I have now are much greater than those I've ever had in the past." He attributed this to Rav Aharon Kotler. After a few minutes, Rav Aharon proclaimed, You must open a yeshivah and send all the bills to my home address!. He was so short that he stood on a chair in order to be heard. He knew, however, that many had escaped to the Far East or had been arrested by the Soviets and deported to the Gulag, and he marshaled new energy to focus on saving these last remainders of Europes yeshivah world. Rav Aharon was a forward-thinking leader who sought to establish the Kletzk Yeshivah on sound financial footing. He told my father that he hoped to eventually have over a hundred students. Nosson Tzvi Finkel, and Moshe Mordechai Epstein. Rav Moshe Mordechai presented a section of the Ketzos Hachoshen and asked them to return with a challenge to the authors discourse which they succeeded in doing. He knew all too well how dangerous they could be. When Rav Aharon heard about it, he forbade the talmid from going along, saying, I forbid you from going! But Rav Aharon trusted the young activist who regularly drove him around and helped obtain appointments with donors. Rav Aharon immediately proved his leadership abilities. rav aharon kotler's sister By MIRIAM GOTTLIEB Change, especially drastic change . Perhaps there was something else at play here. One of the great Torah builders of the next generation Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel is standing on the far right. An Italian Mob Boss at the Lakewood Yeshiva Rabbi Shurin then added: Rav Isser Zalman shared something personal with me. He was soon followed by several others, and the appeal was a success. At a memorial gathering held for Rav Reuven Grozovsky many years later, Rav Aharon Kotler rose to speak. Following a quick stop in Cincinnati, he arrived at Penn Station on April 21, 1941. 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. 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. He has pored over historical accounts of life in Shanghai during the war to appreciate the deprivation and mesirus nefesh his mother experienced and which is so much a part of her persona. Shortly after her marriage, she developed an illness that left her crippled. True, there remain new fields to conquer, new struggles to overcome. For a time, Jews were actually forbidden from staying in the two Lakewood hotels he built. The older student who was accompanying them quickly slipped away and reported what hed heard to the Alter, who beamed with pride. During one bein hazmanim intersession, Rav Aharon had the opportunity to speak in learning with Rav Meir Simchah of Dvinsk (the Ohr Sameach), who was taken with Rav Aharon and implored his teachers, Take care of young Aharon, he has potential to emerge as a Rabbi Akiva Eiger of the generation.. He became the son-in-law of Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, another great Talmid Chacham, and they had mutual respect to a high degree. 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. ", "To Save A World: Rav Aharon Kotler's Endless Activism", "25,000 MOURNERS AT Rabbi Aharon KOTLER'S RITES; Crowd Pays Tribute to Rabbi at East Side Synagogue", "30,000 March in Funeral Of Rabbi Aharon Kotler in Israel", With Fire In His Eyes: The Burning Mission of Rav Aharon Kotler, Jewish History Soundbites Podcast on Rabbi Aharon Kotler, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aharon_Kotler&oldid=1151408446, People from Lakewood Township, New Jersey, Articles having different image on Wikidata and Wikipedia, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2012, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Rabbi Gedalia Schorr (born 1910), Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Vodaas, Rabbi Leib Heyman, Rav Beis Knesses HaGra, Jerusalem Israel, This page was last edited on 23 April 2023, at 21:38. Rabbi Perr is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Derech Ayson, Far Rockaway, NY. With great trepidation, Rav Aharon walked to the local headquarters. When I talk about Rav Aaron and mibeis abba, I dont mean just his scholarship, his Torah, but the qualities of a gadol, the warmth and other great middos. Such was an encounter withRav Aharon Kotler. When Rav Aharon insisted, Rav Katz immediately proposed a compromise. Rav Shach would return home for the Yamim Tovim.) Her descendants include the leadership of Chevron-Slabodka, Beth Medrash Govoha, Ner Israel, and other Torah institutions. Some of Americas wealthiest businessmen such as the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Goulds, and other titans of industry built mansions on large estates. Apparently, he was studying two different masechtos in depth, simultaneously. You wont do well there, there are many apikorsim there. When the bochur made it clear that he still planned on utilizing the certificate obtained on his behalf by Rav Isser Zalman, Rav Aharon asked him to leave the yeshivah. He therefore has a tremendous obligation. PDF 86 ve American Jewish Archives Journal He gave lie to the myth of the cold Litvak, the fire of his great soul manifesting itself in his personality as in his words and deeds Hillel Seidman. Many of the more than 100 shuls in Minsk belonged to the various workers guilds common to urban life at the turn of the century. Rav Aharon devoted the discussion exclusively to the great need to produce great talmidei chachamim: He hammered at the topic that studying Torah is more important than going to college, that the subjects taught in college are inferior in moral content, intellectual rigor, and elevation of spirit. Torah education is being built, dinner is served and the ever present Mishna Berura never leaves his hand. His heart pulsed with joy as 25,000 strong rejoiced in lockstep. At the wedding of Rav Shmuel Yitzchak Herman: Lower row: Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Yaakov Safsel (Vishker Illui), Rav Shmuel Yitzchak Herman, Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz. While the best and brightest of Torah Vodaath and RJJ emerged as the core American talmidim of Rav Aharon, some Kletzk survivors who had spent the war years in the Soviet Union or Shanghai were there for stints as well. Historian Dr. David Kranzler writes of the somber atmosphere that filled the Kotler home during the war years. This noble endeavor created a framework for laborers and merchants to benefit from a Torah environment, replete with batei medrash and shiurim in every locale. Rav Aharon at a town meeting in Kletzk (second row, third from left). When Rav Aharon noticed, he said to the student, Let him speak, perhaps hes right.. Second, because no one had the heart to tear the illui away from his Gemara, which he lapped up with hasmadah like a thirsty person from a spring of water. I cant answer, Rav Zalman Sender replied. John Pehle, Hon. Though his pleas generally didnt find a receptive audience, he and other rescue activists did manage to find an ally in the form of Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. Irving Bunim shared Rav Aharons role in awakening a sleeping giant in his memoirs: I recall when our great rebbe called on Secretary Henry Morgenthau. Rav Aharons efforts ultimately made a deep imprint upon American Jewry. The Va'ad Hatzalah brought Rabbi Kotler out of Nazi controlled Europe, where he had been a highly regarded scholar and the head of the Yeshiva in Kletsk. In marrying into the Meltzer/Frank family Rav Aharon merited a wife who had grown up in a home steeped in Torah, and solidified a connection with a family that was influential in the Torah landscape over the last century. As is traditional in chassidic circles, the Gerrer Rebbe offered the little boy an apple, which he declined saying he wasnt hungry. At that time Vaad Hatzalah had one million dollars ready for transfer, to be used as barter for Jewish captives who were held in the claws of the accursed German murderers. The bulk of the yeshivos were in Polands Kresy region in the east, which fell under the jurisdiction of the Soviets. On October 28, 1939, the Red Army withdrew from Vilna, and the next day the Lithuanians staged a military parade through the city center. They came with a value of avodahtefillah. He had recently met withAgudath Harabonim emissary Dr. Samuel Schmidt in Yanova, Lithuania, wherehis yeshivah had relocated. Despite not having understood, that image is engraved in my mind for eternity.. 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. They were then instructed to wait for the Alter to return from Kelm where he had spent Yom Tov with his family. Until the last day of his life, Reb Zev lived with a shlichus a mission that he learnt and felt from Rav Aharon.. He was orphaned at the age of 10 and adopted by his uncle, Rabbi Yitzchak Pinnes, a Dayan in Minsk. Take the Friday night train. The stunned students reluctantly obliged, and following a hasty kiddush in the train station, boarded the Vilna-bound train and arrived there Shabbos morning. They were all excited and willing to sacrifice We would work from morning till night in the long summer days and not feel at all tired.. The initial Sephardic immigrants to America in the 1700s built beautiful synagogues, he told Bunim. While their fellow Jews were suffering in Europe, there were no sweets or meat to be found, with the exception of Shabbos. Rav Isser Zalman described to me how he rose from his chair, donned his peltz (fur coat), and informed his rebbetzin, Baila Hinda, I must go finalize the shidduch immediately. He traveled to Slabodka and asked his brother-in-law Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein to arrange the match. Back in Slutzk, the remnants of the yeshivah were forced underground, and many talmidim, seeing no future under Soviet rule, crossed the border to Kletzk. Yosef Chaim Shneur Kotler (1918 - 24 June 1982) was an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha (also known as the Lakewood Yeshiva) in Lakewood, New Jersey from 1962 to 1982. In Slabodka there was something of a caste system, with older students rarely acknowledging their junior counterparts, let alone conversing with them. Rabbi Henoch Cohen, who served as Chinuch Atzmais North American director for nearly a half century, related a shocking episode. Just weeks after Rav Aharon was born, a small township in central New Jersey received its charter. 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. To save a soul let alone to save Klal Yisrael it is truly a tremendous zechus! Rav Isser Zalman also exerted pressure on him to depart, writing to him urgently, Lama atem yoshvim al har goesh kazeh Why are you sitting on top of a volcano?. Rav Yechiel Mordechai Gordon of the Lomza Yeshivah was traveling to Detroit, as it was already scheduled for him earlier, therefore I dont know yet where we will be for Pesach.. The mans father, a wealthy philanthropist who supported a plethora of causes including Beth Medrash Govoha, experienced a financial reversal. As they entered the beis medrash, it was clear they were uncomfortable with what they saw. I have increased Torah among the Jewish People. He supported thousands of Torah students; they study Torah due to his efforts. Just weeks after Rav Aharons arrival in Americaon Erev Pesach of 1941, the Nazis invaded Soviet-occupied Lithuania andbrought an end to the golden age of Torah study in Eastern Europe. The titular head of the Vaad HaYeshivos during this fraught period was the aging Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, who carried the Jewish People as a whole and felt a special sense of responsibility towards yeshivah students in particular. The Shechinah shines from him!. His nusach for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur became popular as well. He also suggested that Rav Shlomo Heiman deliver an occasional shiur klali and be consulted for his opinion on matters related to the yeshivah. Rav Aharons talmidim gained a privileged close-up view to the fiery genius who became the architect of Americas postwar Torah world. It didnt have the appearance of a private residence. The house of the rabbi shone with the splendor of(his son) the gaon. Despite a deep fear of flying, Rav Aharon flew often to Israel throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. Following his daring escape from Nazi occupied Poland, he sought out a place to reestablish the Chassidic court of Lubavitch. A few months later, he departed and was replaced by the Chofetz Chaims son-in-law Rav Mendel Zaks, who soon departed after a short time for Montreal, where he reunited with his mother-in-law, who arrived along with her son and a small nucleus of yeshivah students who fortuitously received Canadian visas. (An interesting anecdote was related by Rav Aryeh Leib Grossnass. This second group included people like Irving Bunim and his son Amos, Stephen Klein, Samuel Feuerstein and his son Moses, Mike Tress, Rabbi Moshe Sherer, Marvin Schick, Zev Wolfson, Rabbi Henoch Cohen, Julius Klugman, Ernst Bodenheimer and others. Rav Aharons focus on his studies was such that he regularly forgot to eat his meals. Vaad operative Rabbi Nathan Baruch would never forget his first encounter with Rav Aharon. The Vaad Hatzalah had been able to procure limited above-quota visas designated for clergy, and Rav Aharon was offered one. In advance of his arrival, The Morgen Journal profiled the Kletzker rosh yeshivah: Rav Aharon was already known in his youthful years in Slabodka as the Sislovitzer Illui. Chassidic lore has it that Slutzk was condemned after the town mistreated the Baal Shem Tov.). There was also a family connection as Rav Isser Zalmans ancestors had previously been rabbanim of the town. In the middle of the wedding, shells were fired, a large explosion was heard and the room went dark. Following the 1951 passing of his father-in-law Rav Zelig Fortman (a student of Rav Isser Zalman at Slutzk), Rabbi Moshe Sherer was offered to succeed him as rabbi of the prestigious Congregation Knesseth Israel (the White Shul) in Far Rockaway. This put them into a precarious situation, as seminaries of religious instruction were viewed by the atheist communist authorities as hotbeds of counterrevolutionary activity and ran the risk of being forcibly shut or even of arrest and deportation. At first, he was reluctant, claiming that it was a resort where people came for pleasure and vanity, and not fit for a spiritual center. And with that hed proceed with the shiur. Hashem gave him certain strengths and abilities and when one sees results, one cannot let anything stand in the way, and must do whatever is possible to uphold the generation and fight for Yiddishkeit. Rav Aharon stopped talking and looked out the window, to the right and to the left.
