He locked his arm with Rav Aharons arm and they walked through the door together. Toward the end of 1943, due to the dawning reality of the scope of the Final Solution, the Vaad expanded its rescue operations beyond yeshivah students and Torah scholars to the general rescue of European Jewry. Rav Beinush Finkel shared that on the day that Rav Noach left for Mir, Rav Aharon was absent from the yeshivah. A Western Union messenger handed him an emergency cable, which read: Came to American Embassy in Moscow to receive Emergency Visa. Rav Aharon loved these children. By the end of the month Warsaw capitulated, and Poland was divided between the two aggressors. Rav Aharon also managed to include an orphan girl who lived with them named Grunia Winograd on the visa registering her as an adopted daughter. It broke out this past eighth of Tammuz. The challenges continued, however, and prior to Rosh Hashanah he wrote to Rav Yisrael Rosenberg, president of the American Agudath Harabonim and a founder of the rabbinic aid organization Ezras Torah: You must have heard about the great fire that destroyed a third of Kletzk. In his landmark address, Morgenthau publicly expressed his admiration for Rav Aharons heroics alongside those of Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz and Irving Bunim. Some yeshivah buildings were damaged, prices of living quarters have risen, and in general everything became more expensive as a result. As time went on, however, and the security situation in Poland necessitated emigration, Rav Aharon often penned letters requesting certificates to Palestine on behalf of talmidim who requested his assistance. Rav Aharon Kotler was a man with a fiery passion for Torah and a deep love for his students. 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 Torah worlds First Family: A seudas mitzvah at the home of R. Aharon Kotler in America. Following a brief imprisonment by the Soviets, Rav Isser Zalman himself joined the yeshivah in Kletzk and resumed his former post as rosh yeshivah. Do not accept it; for neither artist nor camera can capture the fire in his eyes, the radiance on his face, the exhilaration of his presence. Local families belonging to the shul wouldtake responsibility for feeding the students and provided them with a modest monthly stipend. It was Rav Aharon, who immediately initiated rapid-fire questioning regarding the situation on the ground there. In a letter penned in Toledo, Ohio, he addresses a query on the subject of masneh al mah shekasuv baTorah, and apologizes because of the great exertion and due to the weakness of my health, as I caught a cold and cant elaborate., He continued: In Columbus, Ohio $130 dollars was collected; Yesterday evening, we came to Toledo, the rav here Rabbi Nechemia Katz (brother-in-law of Rav Moshe Feinstein) studied at our yeshivah in Slutzk, and of course he is trying to do everything possible He also wrote that he considered traveling to Cleveland for the coming Shabbos, but received word that representatives of the Slabodka yeshivah had preceded him. 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. His dual places of residence serve as a metaphor for this delicate attempt at equilibrium in his twin goals. When Rav Aharon insisted, Rav Katz immediately proposed a compromise. Rav Aharon once brought one of his grandsons along with him to a meeting with the Beis Yisrael of Gur. 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. He arrived on September 10th, 1935 having left Europe from Cherbourg, France aboard the Majestic. Tears would well up in his eyes. In November 1954, Rav Aharon delivered a eulogy at the massive funeral of Harry Herskowitz, a devoted layman for whom he had great respect. It was after the treaty was signed between the Bolsheviks and the Poles, placing Slutzk under Soviet control. 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. The older students would steal across the still-porous border led by the young and talented son-in-law of the rosh yeshivah, Rav Aharon Kotler. Please send me the ten dollars this year by mail., This is a fairly accurate picture of Orthodox Jewish life in the 1950s. Her descendants include the leadership of Chevron-Slabodka, Beth Medrash Govoha, Ner Israel, and other Torah institutions. Israeli Agudah politician Rabbi Shlomo Lorincz once asked a man whose lifestyle seemed different from Rav Aharons ideals why he was a donor to Beth Medrash Govoha. I was four or five or six years old. He was introduced to admirers who would become his loyal supporters. The faculty at Slutzk realized that the yeshivah would have to move away from Bolshevik sovereignty in order to continue operating, yet Rav Isser Zalman categorically refused to abandon his rabbinical responsibilities to his community. This duo was assisted by a local farmer-turned-real estate-agent named Menashe Rabinowitz, and the search commenced for a building to host the yeshivah. Reb Shmuel Teitzmaller, whose family owned the local construction firm that built the yeshivah, described this exuberance decades later in a Beth Medrash Govoha newsletter: You could see a simple laborer or one of the balabatim grab a free moment, run over to the construction site, grab a few bricks and hand it to a bricklayer. 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. True, his shiur consisted of cool logical analysis, but when he spoke, it was a fiery volcano. Partners in rescue: Rav Aharon with Rav Eliezer Silver and Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz, who tirelessly led the Vaad Hatzalah rescue attempts during the war years. 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. That same thinking likely prompted Rav Aharons decision not to attend the famous Rabbis March on Washington in October 1943. He stayed by his friend, Rabbi Kudensky of 6 Rutger Street in Manhattan. When Yeshivah Knesses Beis Yitzchak opened in Slabodka in 1898, Rav Zalman Sender was among those invited to become its rosh yeshivah (and according to one source, even spent a few days there). Rav Nachum Baruch was the president of the Lithuanian rabbinate and at one point the chairman of the Vaad HaYeshivos. He chaired the Rabbinical administration board of Torah Umesorah, and was on the presidium of the Agudas HaRabbonim of the U.S. and Canada. The Russian principal was astonished. Youre right, Rav Aharon responded. Upon their arrival at the train station in Baranovich, reports trickled in that a refugee crisis was brewing in Vilna, with overcrowding and food shortages. America. By 1915, a secular Yiddish school was dedicated in town, and within four years the cheder was shuttered. Without hesitating, Rav Aharon announced, Why dont we go study at the other yeshivah in town, (Knesses Beis Yitzchak)?. This man is legally blind and hardly has any money to his name. Decades later a similar issue arose in America, when Rav Aharon led a landmark 1956 ban against participation in mixed-denominational boards of rabbis. The main attraction in Lakewood remained its hotels, which by then numbered more than 100, many of which catered primarily to Jewish patrons. By 1924 the desperate financial straits of the yeshivos in the region led to the founding of one of the most unique organizations in the annals of the yeshivah world: the Vaad HaYeshivos. This made Beth Medrash Govoha a bridge of sorts, where the yeshivah tradition of Eastern Europe was handed over to a new generation of leaders and Torah scholars. He was soon followed by several others, and the appeal was a success. One of the students who accompanied Rav Aharon signaled that he was going to try and silence the provoker. In an article about the early history of Lakewood, BMG archivist Rabbi Moshe Rockove pointed out the irony that one who fought to end slavery in the South would seemingly pursue segregation in his own backyard by drawing a Jewish Mason-Dixon line in his own town.. Can a bird boast that it is able to fly to great heights? Following the passing of Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer in the fall of 1953, Rav Aharon actually succeeded his father-in-law as rosh yeshivah of Etz Chaim in Yerushalayim. The man looked up and asked, Mah hashaah what time is it?. 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. When Rav Aharon heard about it, he forbade the talmid from going along, saying, I forbid you from going! Let us begin our journey with some amazing stories about Rav Aharon Kotler zt"l. The rosh yeshiva was na'eh doresh and na'eh mekayeim, he practiced what he preached. 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. No such thing. Yisrael af al pi shechatu yisroel hu.. Arke (as he was known) was born into a family that traced its lineage back to the Megaleh Amukos and Rashi. The Gemara surely didnt mean to describe Rabban Shimon ben Gamliels physical prowess, rather his ability to simultaneously lead Klal Yisrael in eight different respects, without any one of these areas interfering with the other. The first months of Rav Aharons stay in Slabodka featured successive visits from great rabbinical leaders. During the course of his 11 months in the United States, Rav Aharon visited locations from Boston to Atlanta, New York to Nebraska. Rav Aharon very much enjoyed zemiros and while not personally blessed with a good voice, he would encourage his talmidim to sing for him, most famously Shlomo Carlebach and Rav Elyakim Getzel Rosenblatt. But in the wake of the Holocaust, great Torah scholars were an endangered species. If one is able to accomplish this much, he must do even more. Senior activists advised Rav Aharon that this plan was a fools errand. While their fellow Jews were suffering in Europe, there were no sweets or meat to be found, with the exception of Shabbos. As a newly bereft orphan, young Aharon Kotler was sent to study in the yeshivah in Krinik, under the tutelage of Rav Zalman Sender Kahana- Shapiro. Though the Lithuanian government was well aware that the Red Army tended to stay and even expand in any territory under their control, they conceded to the demands of the Soviets. Every passing day is an irrevocable loss to the success of the campaign.. The rosh yeshivah was alone, separated from his students albeit not for lack of trying to bring them to safety. 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. Dividing into three factions, the largest went to Salock in northern Lithuania, together with Rav Aharon himself. My Blog rav aharon kotler's sister Whether it was rescue work during the war, building Beth Medrash Govoha, the establishment of Chinuch Atzmai, Torah Umesorah, and almost every endeavor which Rav Aharon would participate and initiate towards the building of postwar Orthodoxy, hed do so with Irving Bunim at his side. Rav Aharon would occasionally remark, You know the shiur like you know Peking, China!When some of the Kletzker students fled to China during the war, theyd quip, Now at least we know China!). He served, along with Rav Shimon Shkop and Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, as one of the triumvirate of the Vaad Hapoel (executive board), which is quite astounding considering his relative age. Rav Aharon turned him down. And he (Zev) has a tremendous part in this accomplishment (to strengthen Chinuch Atzmai), through lobbying efforts and other means. His father-in-law, Rav Isser Zalman, attended the first Knessiah Gedolah in Vienna in 1923, and Rav Aharon himself attended and served in an active role during the crucial third Knessiah Gedolah in Marienbad in 1937. 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. During his years in Slabodka, Rav Aharon continued to grow in learning, while also integrating the mussar lessons of the Alter. Rav Archik had once been engaged to one of the Frank daughters. A few minutes later the Rebbetzin entered the bedroom only to find the Rosh Yeshivah sitting on his bed. The Lomza rosh yeshivah, Rav Yechiel Mordechai Gordon, was stranded in the US during the war, and he was hired to serve as rosh kollel. Brother of Malka Pines and Dvora Czerbuchowski. But the community didnt flourish. (While its unclear what became of his son Moshe, thankfully, his younger daughter Devorah was spared from this plague.). 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. A week later the Wehrmacht invaded Poland from the west, while on September 17 the Red Army invaded from the east. [3] He was succeeded by his son, Rabbi Shneur Kotler, as rosh yeshiva. 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 Aharon led the efforts of the Vaad Hatzalah to assist those who could manage to immigrate to the United States, and more often to send aid packages and financial assistance to the exiles in Siberia; Kazakhstan; Shanghai, China; and other remote places of dispersion. Letters to Mrs. Necha Golding in the years following the trip beg her to follow up on pledges from others that went unpaid. 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. It was therefore decided to split the yeshivah. He derided the value of secular knowledge by minimizing its achievement. Its simply not worth it for me to stay here and miss out on such blessings.), The Chanukas Habayis in Kletzk was an impressive event that enhanced the yeshivahs prestige. Back in 1897, a portion of the Slabodka student body revolted against the Alter of Slabodkas educational approach. How ridiculous!! Rav Mendel Krawiec, later rosh yeshivah of RJJ, recalled arriving for his entrance exam in Rav Aharons home in Kletzk: The three-room apartment was sparsely furnished and was packed with yeshivah students who had come for their daily meal. Aharon Kotler (February 2, 1892 November 29, 1962) was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Lithuania and the United States; the latter being where he founded Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood Township, New Jersey. Kotler was born Aharon Pines[1][2] in visa, Russian Empire (historically Lithuania, now Belarus) in 1892. Rav Yaakov, who wasnt prone to hyperbole, later recalled his mothers reaction upon meeting his friend: Who is this boy? When Rav Aharon got on the line, the caller respectfully referred to him as Kletzker rosh yeshivah. Rav Mottel exclaimed, Kletzker rosh yeshivah? Those are my commentaries on the Talmud, he explained. Once again, the growing yeshivah of Kletzk was left in the able hands of Rav Aharon. As is traditional in chassidic circles, the Gerrer Rebbe offered the little boy an apple, which he declined saying he wasnt hungry. Menucha Frank instead married Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein. There he persuaded Rav Aharon to return to Slabodka, and thus the future Torah leader was preserved. Rebbetzin Baila Hindas father was Reb Shraga Feivel Frank, a student and devoted supporter of Rav Yisroel Salanter. He examined the two boys with his piercing eyes. ), At the behest of the Ridbaz, Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer led a group of 14 students from Slabodka to open a yeshivah in Slutzk. With his trusted associates Irving & Amos Bunim at a Torah Umesorah dinner in 1956. sister. When the Ridbaz left Slutzk in 1903, the townspeople pressured Rav Isser Zalman to succeed him, and serve in the double capacity of communal rabbi and rosh yeshivah. Other versions attribute the curse to Rav Yosef . When they arrived at the Kotler home, the Rebbetzin told them that the Rosh Yeshivah would be arriving late from a trip to Chicago, but if they wished, they could wait. Tell him, perhaps he is afraid of losing his post; he should be mindful that the life of one single Jew is valued higher than his entire prominent position., Morgenthau indignantly replied, What did he say?, Afraid of embarrassing him, I generally conveyed there comes a time in a Jews life the Rebbi cut me off and said, Nein nein Bunim, zugt em vus ich hub gizugt tell him what I said!, When he heard the translation, Morgenthau put his head down for a long time. Following his daring escape from Nazi occupied Poland, he sought out a place to reestablish the Chassidic court of Lubavitch. Nein! A talmid of Volozhin, Slabodka and Kelm, Rav Archik served as rabbi of many cities over the course of his long career, including Siemiatycze, Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad), Shadova, Poltava, Suvalk, Lomza, and Shavli, and a few others. Even then, he displayed a sense of concern and responsibility for the wider Torah world, taking initiative and accepting burdens far beyond his own yeshivah. Tens of thousands of Jewish children learn due to his energy and in his merit. Henry Morgenthau Jr., Hon.

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