One such person was Rav Aharon Kotler, zt'l, 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. The incredibly successful dinner was lionized in a documentary produced by the grandchildren of Irving Bunim entitled, An Unprecedented Gathering in Support of Torah, the highlight of which is the keynote address of Rav Soloveitchik: When I look at Rav Aharon or listen to his words as they flow forth impatiently, rapidly when I feel his presence, I feel bound by a sense of achrayus and am reminded of Gedolei Yisrael. The boy obligingly goes inside and listens, not understanding a single word. And I was young. At the time of his arrival, the United States was considered a Torah wilderness-meaning that there were few yeshivot (learning centers) and only a . It was not until after one oclock in the morning that Rav Aharon returned home. It is with this understanding, and for this purpose, that I am asking for your support.. On October 8, Rav Aharon traveled to Vilna to consult with Rav Chaim Ozer and other roshei yeshivah. Rav Hillel Bishko played an integral role in the kollels founding. Unfortunately, almost all were murdered by the Nazis and their local collaborators. But what sustains the Jewish world is Torah., 1957 Agudath Harabbonim Convention in Rockaway Park (counterclockwise from bottom center): Rav Chaim Tzvi Kruger, Rav Avraham Yaffen, Rosh Yeshivas Novardok, Rav Meir Cohen, Rav Pinchas Teitz, Rav Dovid Lifshitz, Rav Eliezer Silver, Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Simcha Elberg, Rav Shimon Morduchovitz and Rav Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman. Rav Aharon contacted Irving Bunim and made plans to petition government officials in Washington to prevent this. The Torah community in America had a general and we were his army.. I could not break out of what sounded to me like a harangue against secular study. A rush to Vilna commenced, as thousands of refugees clogged the roads in desperation. However, the raison dtre of Lakewood is limud haTorah lishmah the study of Torah for its own sake. 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. The rest, approximately 80, will be given to us by the Vaad HaYeshivos, as they promised that they would be ready right after the holiday. At the bottom of the letter Rav Aharon adds a note saying, Perhaps the bookstore will accept a note from the Vaad promising payment shortly., Rav Aharons approach to communal leadership was the same as his approach to Torah study: the establishment of firm principles, broadness of scope and a most detailed conclusion. Menucha Frank instead married Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein. This time, he planned to ask the little genius such a hard mathematical klutz kasha that he would gape in confusion. The Yevsektsiya rightly recognized that Yiddishkeit could never coexist with Communism, and therefore aimed to destroy all institutions representing nationalism, culture and especially religion, from the traditional cheder and its melamed to the yeshivah and its dean. His grandson Rav Yaakov Eliezer Schwartzman explained it as follows. The Yeshiva grew tremendously under his direction. Of course, he did not attend. [Yet] Government policy prohibited the payment of ransom to the enemy. Can you imagine, he said, his voice choked with emotion, what our downtrodden brothers in the (DP) camps think of such absurd luxury when they are still struggling to pull together all the broken pieces of their shattered lives? The silence from the audience rang louder than any verbal response. When he reached the punchline Arke Sislovitzer, Rav Aharon Kotler! He served as the Mashgiach of Beth Medrash Govoha for a half-century before his passing in 1998. Even while seeing success at Slabodka, there were constant pressures from family members as well as the Jewish street to conform to the pressures of modernity. Fifty years later, almost to the day, at Mr. Wolfsons levayah, the rosh yeshivah Rav Malkiel Kotler, declared, The relationship between my grandfather and Reb Zev was that of a father to his son. Some 45 of the good bochurim were left behind however to be on the watch as it were and it was only about three weeks ago when the Soviets requisitioned their building where they remained on the mishmar and studied until the last minute. Rav Aharon at a town meeting in Kletzk (second row, third from left). This former Union army veteran whose obituary claims that he had done more to benefit Lakewood than any other man was not, in fact, interested in nurturing religious life. Birth of Rabbi Shneur Kotler, RY BMG-Lakewood, Birth of Rebbetzin Sara Pesha Schwartzman. (An interesting anecdote was related by Rav Aryeh Leib Grossnass. That wide-lens view accompanied him throughout his life, marking him not only as the Rosh Yeshivah who transformed Americas relationship with Torah learning, but as the leader who burned with a constant urgency to rescue, restore, initiate, rally, and support the growth of Torah wherever Jews could be found. There were shuls for carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, milliners, water carriers, kehillah officials, and even rag-makers. Kotler was born Aharon Pines in visa, Russian Empire (historically Lithuania, now Belarus) in 1892.He was orphaned at the age of 10 and adopted by his uncle, Yitzchak Pines, a rabbinic judge in Minsk. There is a need for roshei yeshivos in this country and elsewhere and Lakewood will produce them. The donations are larger and the cause remains on their minds as a result as well.. Rav Isser Zalman told me that hed long been aware of young Ahrele Sislovitzer, the prodigy of Slabodka, and had hopes of becoming his father-in-law one day. Until the last day of his life, Reb Zev lived with a shlichus a mission that he learnt and felt from Rav Aharon.. My Blog rav aharon kotler's sister Rav Shneur Zalman was described as short, thin, and weak, traits that young Arke inherited. 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. This man is legally blind and hardly has any money to his name. He studied in the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania under Mrs. Frank agreed to donate $5,000 and help raise the remaining balance from wealthy friends. Arke (as he was known) was born into a family that traced its lineage back to the Megaleh Amukos and Rashi. But I persuaded him and persevered, visiting him five times until he was convinced.. I remember just one time; we were together in Romshishuk for vacation. Before the days of commercial airplane travel, urban dwellers looking to escape the cold winters in New York City would travel to Lakewood, where the temperatures were said to be, on average, more than ten degrees warmer. 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. 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. 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. Examinees would know the test went well if they were invited into his home for tea and cookies afterward. Soon after arriving, the speaker began to berate him. Nein! When this failed to produce the needed funds, Rav Aharon was forced to procure loans in order to complete the costs of the building. 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. 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. Rav Aharon chose Kletzk partly as a result of its proximity to the new border, but there was a historical impetus as well. He decided to consult with Rav Aharon who told him, Bshum oifen nisht! When he lost his money, he stopped hearing from all the rabbis who had solicited him for donations. Two months later, following a short stay in Minsk, the 11-year-old orphan was sent by his uncle Rav Yitzchak Pines to study in the yeshivah in Krinik, under the leadership of Rav Zalman Sender Kahana- Shapiro, whom the Pines family was acquainted with from Volozhin. His heart pulsed with joy as 25,000 strong rejoiced in lockstep. We created a basis for the continual support of the yeshivah last year, but now it isnt sufficient. You babble like a shaigetz!. He had recently met withAgudath Harabonim emissary Dr. Samuel Schmidt in Yanova, Lithuania, wherehis yeshivah had relocated. He sensed that he would have no choice but to embark on a journey overseas to the home of the largest and most prosperous Jewish community in the world the United States of America. He encouraged quick action, as he was concerned that the universal impression left by the Chofetz Chaims passing would quickly dissipate. But in the wake of the Holocaust, great Torah scholars were an endangered species. 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?. In fact a Kollel at Lakewood, N.J. has been established for this purpose. An issue was debated and Rav Aharon, not yet 40, stated his opinion. Rav Aharon immediately proved his leadership abilities. 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. 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.
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