Now, upon its invasion of Poland, the Soviet Union annexed eastern Poland including Vilna, and presented Lithuania a doomed offer it couldnt refuse. Rav Aharon addressed the crowd and then Rav Dachowitz announced that for $12, one could cover the expenses of a student for a month. So he came back the next day, well prepared. 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. 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 1885 he was appointed rabbi of Maltch. However, the raison dtre of Lakewood is limud haTorah lishmah the study of Torah for its own sake. One of the great Torah builders of the next generation Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel is standing on the far right. Well, vos is zein nomen whats his name? Rav Mordechai asked. Rav Aharon was once in the midst of delivering a shiur in Kletzk during the snowy winter when the chimney became clogged. The Mizrachi leader and Warsaw-based lawyer Zorach Warhaftig, who enjoyed a close relationship with many leading roshei yeshivah including Rav Aharon and would later play a vital role in the rescue of yeshivah students and roshei yeshivah during the war years, recounted in his memoirs his conversation with Rav Aharon regarding one facet among others of his general opposition to Zionism: In my many conversations with Rav Aharon Kotler, similar to my ones with Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, I got the impression that they view the study of Torah and the love of Torah as an all-encompassing outlook. Rav Aharon successfully crossed the border into Poland and attempted to reestablish the yeshivah less than 40 miles away in Kletzk. The aron was carrying its bearer, the student aptly observed. At a memorial gathering held for Rav Reuven Grozovsky many years later, Rav Aharon Kotler rose to speak. While he reverted back to the prestigious Pines name later on in life, his son Arke would maintain the Kotler surname, and ensure that it would become a name enshrined with gold letters in the history of the Jewish nation. Those are my commentaries on the Talmud, he explained. Over the years, I had many discussions with Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik. He dedicated his life, night and day, to the building of Torah in America and by leadership of an organization called Chinuch Atzmai, Independent Torah Education, in Israel as well. On March 23, 1892, Lakewood was incorporated by an act of the New Jersey Legislature. One shoved Reb Berel to the side while the other grabbed the typewriter and a pile of papers. The Bund sought to organize the Jewish working class, and to remake Jewish identity as well, with Yiddish culture replacing religious observance. Fearful of these. 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. Rav Aharon contacted Irving Bunim and made plans to petition government officials in Washington to prevent this. He remained at his post as mashgiach of Kletzk through the onset of the Second World War, until he and his family were martyred along with most of the yeshivah students. 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. Rav Aharon shared his worldview with Irving Bunim, pointing to American history as proof. The reply was not long in coming; the telegram was delivered an hour before the onset of Shabbos: Yes. Perhaps Rav Aharons boldest project was undertaken in the last decade of his life, when he initiated the founding of Chinuch Atzmai in 1953. In order to build, create, and motivate a new generation, he could not look back, only forward; he had to kindle, then nurture a fire strong enough, bright enough, and enduring enough to illuminate the entire Torah world. By 1915, a secular Yiddish school was dedicated in town, and within four years the cheder was shuttered. Rav Aharon used to say, The acronym of Rosh Mesivta is RAM, which when reversed are the letters MAR, which means bitter. Dor-Shav (Dershowitz), Zecharia (2022). Torah education is being built, dinner is served and the ever present Mishna Berura never leaves his hand. Along with another young activist named Moshe Berger, the duo spent the entire night drafting a new dossier, after which Mike got on a 5:00 a.m. train to Washington and managed to find a sympathetic State Department official to send an authorization letter to the US Embassy in Moscow. 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.. ITwas the spring of 1941, and a small crowd gathered at a little shul on Clinton Street on the Lower East Side of New York. Tears would well up in his eyes. Early life. 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. He was exhausted, and told his Rebbetzin that he wanted to rest a while before leaving. The story is told that the Beis HaLevi asked the two youngsters which was a bigger lamdan. During the week, the longtime mashgiach Rav Nosson Wachtfogel ran the yeshivah. It was Rav Aharon, who immediately initiated rapid-fire questioning regarding the situation on the ground there. August 23, 1939 was one of the most significant dates in the history of the 20th century. He was introduced to admirers who would become his loyal supporters. Rav Aharon once brought one of his grandsons along with him to a meeting with the Beis Yisrael of Gur. Until the last day of his life, Reb Zev lived with a shlichus a mission that he learnt and felt from Rav Aharon.. The extent of Rav Aharons mesirus nefesh for Americas Torah future and the steep nature of that uphill battle are neatly encapsulated in a recollection shared by Rabbi Berel Wein. In 1914, following a nearly two-year engagement, 22-year-old Rav Aharon married Chana Perel Meltzer, daughter of Rav Isser Zalman and Rebbetzin Baila Hinda Meltzer. Pacing up and down in the little room, he quickly supplied the answers. Rav Aharon also delivered schmuessen during those years. One group was in Lakewood and included many students who would emerge as leading roshei yeshivah and builders of Torah. Named Chachmei Tzarfat after the great Rishonim who had once resided there, the yeshivah started with a group of DPs in Aix-Les-Baines. He considered the Vilna Gaon, an eighteenth century Torah genius of exceptional greatness, one of his spiritual mentors. Rav Aharon Kotler was one of the very few Torah giants who contributed mightily to the transformation of the face of American Jewry in the middle of the twentieth century from one of Torah ignorance and mourning over the Holocaust to significant progress in Torah knowledge and partial recovery from the tragedy of the Holocaust. His sefer Mekor Baruch garnered world-acclaim, specifically in the Torah community. The granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, died on Thursday at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, according to a spokesperson for the Kennedy family. Listen, said the man without the least bit of cynicism. On Monday, the first day of Chol Hamoed, Rav Aharon took a train east, spending the second part of Yom Tov with Rav Ephraim Epstein (a Vaad Hatzalah leader and the brother of Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein) in Chicago. For saving 24 rabbis from the Nazis, and with Rav Aharon Kotler s blessing, Joe Bonanno - the Mafia godfather - lived to 97 years old and died in bed. The name Pines was derived from the words, al pines by a miracle, marking a miraculous salvation that took place generations prior. Not only would I give up my position, I would sacrifice my life to save my fellow Jews.. There are about 230 students in this yeshivah, 40 of whom are still in Vilna. Another member of the Yad Hachazakah, Rabbi David Rackman, who would later become a rav and businessman in Albany, described the joy exuded by the Ridbaz when he entered the beis medrash: He would stand in the doorway virtually unseen and simply listen. It eventually became the light that disseminated Torah across France under the leadership of Rav Chaim Chaikin, and yet another initiative of Rav Aharon that wielded a monumental impact. Some yeshivah buildings were damaged, prices of living quarters have risen, and in general everything became more expensive as a result. She asked for nothing for herself, refusing to as much as buy a new dress when she saw that others around her were lacking. We discussed this issue at a recent meeting, and it was decided that due to the current distressing financial situation there is nothing that should be done to prevent them from doing so., The poverty they faced was on display in another letter to Rav Yosef Shub where Rav Aharon urged, to give on our account to the bochur, Chaim Yehonasan, 50 volumes of Gemara Kiddushin, which are needed urgently. There was no time or place fordistractions. During his trip to Europe, Rav Isser Zalman visited the Chofetz Chaim in Radin. Rav Aharon refused to enter until Rav Boruch Ber went first. Shortly after her marriage, she developed an illness that left her crippled. Havent seen one of these in a while.. Young Aharon was left alone, bereft of both parents in a volatile world. Rav Aharon would deliver two shiurim over the weekend, one on Friday night. It laid the groundwork for the establishment of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, and for a seismic change in Americas attitude toward Torah learning and living. Kennedy refused and was rude to the rabbi. The special guest of honor was Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, the former rosh yeshivah, who came all the way from Eretz Yisrael to savor his son-in-laws accomplishments in his stewardship of the yeshivah. He chose Lakewood, New Jersey, as the site for his new Yeshiva in America, because its location, far from the distractions of New York City, would enable his students to concentrate on their studies. Suffice it to say that Rav Aharon believed that the very future of Torah education in Israel was at stake and devoted all his energies to the establishment of an entirely new educational infrastructure from scratch. And since he has the ability, he must persevere! (When Rav Shach assumed a position at one of the Novardok branches and later at the Karlin yeshivah in Luninitz, his family remained in Kletzk. They too were martyred in 1941. 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. [9] Along with Rabbi Eliezer Silver , Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz and others, he worked day and night, using both private and government channels to try and save lives. The house of the rabbi shone with the splendor of(his son) the gaon. In the highly politicized atmosphere of interwar Polish Jewry, education like every other facet of communal life generally operated within a political affiliation with a specific party and political platform. The following day the two were called in to the rosh yeshivah, Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein, for their entrance exam. 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. None waiting. The initial Sephardic immigrants to America in the 1700s built beautiful synagogues, he told Bunim. These factors made him more amenable to the idea of traveling to the United States on his own, sensing that he could perhaps facilitate the exit of the yeshivah from there, and expedite the process by breathing new life into rescue work. Daughter of Rabbi Aharon Kotler, Rosh Yeshivas Kletzk & Lakewood and Rebbetzin Chana Perl Kotler Ex-wife of Rabbi Dov Ber Schwartzman Mother of Private; . After losing a child in infancy, Rebbetzin Chana Perel gave birth to their son Chaim Shneur in 1918, followed by a daughter Sarah in 1921. True, his shiur consisted of cool logical analysis, but when he spoke, it was a fiery volcano. He decided to consult with Rav Aharon who told him, Bshum oifen nisht! 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. Birth of Rabbi Shneur Kotler, RY BMG-Lakewood, Birth of Rebbetzin Sara Pesha Schwartzman. In 1896 his wife Sarah Pesha passed away and he was left to raise his children alone. In Krinik, Rav Aharon joined a seasoned group of older students, but had no difficulty keeping up and even standing out with his quick mind and impressive diligence. [3] By the time of his death in 1962, the yeshiva had grown to 250 students. Arke (as he was known) was born into a family that traced its lineage back to the Megaleh Amukos and Rashi. Rav Moshe Zevulan Margolies (Ramaz) would spend the winter months in Lakewood during his later years. He surely noticed the hopelessness exuded by so many after the utter devastation of the Holocaust, and concluded that a singular, unshakeable focus on the future was the only path forward. One must know, as it is written in the Mesillas Yesharim, that a wise person for example has no right to be arrogant. Rav Aharons talmidim gained a privileged close-up view to the fiery genius who became the architect of Americas postwar Torah world. 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. Rav Aharon Kotler, the founding Rosh Yeshiva of Beis Medrash Gavoha in Lakewood, was a trailblazer of Torah Jewry after WWII. Yeshivos and Kollelim in Philadelphia, Long Beach, Scranton, Passaic, Stamford, Far Rockaway, St. Louis, Denver, Belle Harbor, Toronto, Boston, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, as well as several in Brooklyn and other locations throughout the world. In Poland, when there were many yeshivos, people would say, if you would like an approach full of life (lebedeigkeit) then go to Kletzk. Prior to delivering the shiur, Rav Aharon would review it with a few select talmidim. 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. Paradoxically, the passing of the Chofetz Chaim in Elul 1933 provided a new impetus for fundraising. Another contingent, headed by the mashgiach Rav Yosef Leib Nenedick, went to Doshad. Rav Aharon Kotler was a man with a fiery passion for Torah and a deep love for his students. If you lived it, you wouldnt feel the smoke!, Public speaking, however, didnt come naturally to Rav Aharon. Years later he heard that this child had somehow ended up in America and opened a yeshivah. For that reason we must daven!. Rav Moshe Leibel was a Gerrer chassid who survived the war in the occupied town of Aix-Les-Bains in Southern France where he posed as a doctor while serving as a mohel for the local population. Arke may have had a shining reputation, but his childhood was marred by tragedy and pain. Where are you from? Rav Mordechai went on. The Rav was a PhD from Berlin. But even as Rav Aharon continued guiding the Vaad, he also turned his attention to another project: a trailblazing yeshivah in America, now known as Americas Torah capital. Senior activists advised Rav Aharon that this plan was a fools errand. Dershowitz Family Saga. The knowledge, research and published words of the following distinguished individuals, both past and present, aided in the preparation of this article. Kotler died at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City on November 29, 1962. But above all, he argued, there are plenty of people who go to college and so few people who go to yeshivah. Rav Aharon Kotler, rosh yeshivah of the famous Kletzk yeshivah, had recently arrived in the United States, and theyd come to hear him speak as much out of pity and respect as out of ideology. Many of them were seasoned scholars, having spent nearly a decade in Mir, Kaminetz, Slabodka or Kelm. But the community didnt flourish. Rav Aharon wouldnt be deterred and climbed in through the window to hear the shiur. The last two decades of Rav Aharons life were marked by a balance between various leadership capacities in the worldwide Torah community and his efforts to mold Beth Medrash Govoha as a premier Torah institution. Not this shul and not any other shul I have much bigger plans for you!, Exiting the Chinuch Atzmai dinner in 1956 (right to left) Agudah MK Rabbi Menachem Porush, Rav Aharon, Zev Wolfson, Julius Klugman (to Mr. Wolfsons right in background), Zev Wolfson survived the Holocaust as a teenager in Asiatic Russia and arrived in America with his mother and brother in 1947. The early years of the yeshivah witnessed an interesting blend. 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. From the start, it was clear that there was little support among potential donors for what was seen as an extreme concept. 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. Rav Shach would return home for the Yamim Tovim.) Rav Aharon himself was personally involved in commissioning the sefer Torah; he hired a resident of Kletzk, a reliable sofer named Yechezkel Peikuss, to write the Sefer Torah, which was completed in time for the Chofetz Chaims second yahrtzeit in 1935. Cemetery: Har HaMenuchos - Jerusalem Cemetery Details Vilna was to be transferred from Soviet-occupied eastern Poland to independent and neutral Lithuania. One of the Torah giants of prewar Europe, Rav Mottel Pogromansky, once asked someone to call Rav Aharon on his behalf. In November 1954, Rav Aharon delivered a eulogy at the massive funeral of Harry Herskowitz, a devoted layman for whom he had great respect. We talk to a rabbi about why, and what it means. There were plenty of scientists and engineers. He understood that the future of the Torah world lay in the United States. The rest,as they say, is history. American rabbi; founder of Beth Medrash Govoha, World War II and move to the United States, "Rabbi Aaron Kotler Dead at 71; Jersey Rabbinical School Dean", "Enrollment in the N.J. After the war, he walked to Bratislava with an older cousin. He was right. 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. Though its focus was always financial, the Vaad ventured into other areas of yeshivah and even communal activity, including printing seforim, placement of applicants, and publishing its own newspaper. A third group of older bochurim went to Duksht. Now the entire landscape has changed. May Hashem consider it a great tzedakah.. The interwar years saw steady growth of the Jewish population in Lakewood and its environs, including several Jewish chicken farmers in the 1920s. Niles contacted General Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied Forces in Europe. The travails of the months Rav Aharon spent on the road are evident in letters he wrote during this time. In fact, I heard from Reb Zev understood from him that all of his activities were the bidding of Rav Aharon. When he stepped off the platform in midtown Manhattan on that fine spring day, few knew that the Torah landscape of America was about to be transformed forever. They even locked the doors and incapacitated his waiting automobile to try and prevent his departure. As he gazed out from his place of honor, he could not help but notice that the endless sea of roshei yeshivah, roshei chaburah and rabbanim sitting alongside him easily outnumbered the entire sum of the postwar Olam HaTorah. Following his daring escape from Nazi occupied Poland, he sought out a place to reestablish the Chassidic court of Lubavitch. Ich hobnoch a sach oiftzitohn far Torah I still have much to accomplish for Torah!. Several had even gotten married in Europe. 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. During the course of his 11 months in the United States, Rav Aharon visited locations from Boston to Atlanta, New York to Nebraska. He was orphaned at the age of 10 and adopted by his uncle, Yitzchak Pines, a rabbinic judge in Minsk. In the shiur it was just like Lakewood; there was basically nothing external. For a time, Jews were actually forbidden from staying in the two Lakewood hotels he built. Rav Aharon at a town meeting in Kletzk (second row, third from left). After one Shabbos afternoon where they were interrupted several times by gawkers, one student (currently a rosh yeshivah) started flailing his arms like an animal in a zoo until it dawned on the onlookers that perhaps it was inappropriate to be staring as such. His greatest initial success was to unify the various factions of American Orthodoxy around the mission of rescuing the Eastern European Torah world. Despite not having understood, that image is engraved in my mind for eternity.. Funding during this time was provided by both the Joint Distribution Committee, as well as a new organization established at Rav Chaim Ozers request to assist the refugee yeshivos continue to function. How ridiculous!! Reminiscing in Pinkas Slutzk, Rabbi Moshe Yissachar Goldberg, later a rav in New Orleans, described the painful scene: That winter day when the yeshivah was exiled from Slutzk to Kletzk is well preserved in my memory. How important it is to realize that this is the work of one man. Most of the students left until just a small group remained. His schedule included delivering a daily blatt shiur and the semichah shiur, where he readied scores of budding scholars for the rabbinate. Reb Zev, according to the laws governing shlichim, you were in fact the messenger of Rav Aharon. It was after the treaty was signed between the Bolsheviks and the Poles, placing Slutzk under Soviet control. 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.. (This building still stands and is fully functional today known as the old shul. The congregation eventually built a newer location on the corner of 6th and Madison.). Rav Shneur Zalman was described as short, thin, and weak, traits that young Arke inherited. When he reached the punchline Arke Sislovitzer, Rav Aharon Kotler! When he was criticized for meeting with the leading Reform Rabbi Stephen Wise, Rav Aharon famously declared, Id work with the Pope himself, if it would help save the fingernail of one Jewish child., Rav Aharon was once berated publicly by an official from a secular organization that likewise engaged in rescue work. On occasion the Alter would accompany little Arke to his place of lodging. Once the boy arrived, it was Rav Aharon who caused the transformation, | Torchbearer: Rav Aharon Kotler Supplement |, Rav Aharon Kotler inspired a Torah revolution on three continents but thats just part of the story. 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. The departure of Rav Bishko soon after the yeshivah opened compounded the financial strain. Prior to World War I the student body of the yeshivah had grown to more than 200, and Rav Isser Zalman embarked on a building campaign among Russias Jewish financial elite, culminating in the dedication of a building in 1912. Rav Aharon chose Kletzk partly as a result of its proximity to the new border, but there was a historical impetus as well. Local families belonging to the shul wouldtake responsibility for feeding the students and provided them with a modest monthly stipend. Once again, the growing yeshivah of Kletzk was left in the able hands of Rav Aharon. The man looked up and asked, Mah hashaah what time is it?. [10] A committed anti-Zionist,[11] Kotler also helped establish Chinuch Atzmai, the independent religious school system in Israel, and was the chairman of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel. Rav Aharon would oftentimes make extended visits to Israel, during which he delivered regular shiurim at Etz Chaim. But mere ceremony was a foreign concept to Rav Aharon. See CONTACT page for details. 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. Mrs. Bertha Rayner Frank was born in Baltimore in 1847 into a prestigious Jewish family of German origin. Rav Aharon attended Moetzes meetings in Israel too, where his opinion was sought on weighty matters involving Israeli elections and politics, leading Rav Leizer Silver to joke at an Agudah Convention that world Jewry had a new kind of leader, a transatlantic rosh yeshivah.. 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. (Rav Shneurs full name was actually Yosef Chaim Shneur. He once officiated at the wedding of his talmid Rav Alter Yitzchok Dershowitz in Yerushalayim near the then-Jordanian border. A sense of hopelessness permeated the atmosphere, and he felt that it needed an injection of new energy and motivation in order to galvanize the organization. Rav Aharon was proud of his wifes comprehensive knowledge of Tanach and would often pose an intricate question to her, smiling when she provided not just one, but two satisfactory answers. "Look at the things that have happened. Following Rav Reuven Grozovskys incapacitation in 1952, Rav Aharon assumed the role of chairman of the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Agudath Yisrael of America. 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. What he said was magnificent. Sinister as his motivations may have been, Bradshaw arranged the donation of a plot of land, on the other side of the tracks, at the intersection of Park Avenue and Fourth Street for a synagogue. It is being maintained largely through the efforts of a limited number of people. Franks Family Reunion: Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein (second from left) on a visit to America. He sought out Arke out of concern for the potential adverse influence of the modern movements sweeping through Minsk. 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. Among his students were his brilliant son Rav Avrohom Dov Ber Kahana- Shapiro (the Dvar Avraham), Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, Rav Yecheskel Sarna, Rav Avrohom Yaffen, Rav Isser Yehudah Unterman, and Rav Yehuda Levenberg (later rosh yeshivah of New Haven). When they felt themselves beginning to suffocate, one of them told Rav Aharon they couldnt remain any longer. 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. 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.. In these efforts he was quite successful, and his charisma, sense of urgency, and boundless energy motivated others as well. 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. [3] At first, he settled in New York City's Upper West Side, and in 1949, he moved to the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. You know what? Rav Aharon Kotler, ZTL FIRST TRIP TO AMERICA Rav Aharon came to the United States in 1935 to raise funds for the Yeshiva. When the Alter acceded to the Ridbazs request and established a yeshivah in Slutzk, it was at great personal cost to his own yeshivah. The outbreak of World War II in Europe sent dozens of North American yeshivah students fleeing back home.
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