On October 10, the Lithuanian government signed a mutual assistance treaty with the Soviets, in which Vilna and its environs would be returned to the country in exchange for Soviet military bases on its territory. 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. He was orphaned at the age of 10 and adopted by his uncle, Rabbi Yitzchak Pinnes, a Dayan in Minsk. True, there remain new fields to conquer, new struggles to overcome. He asked his close confidante, Mr. Stephen Klein, to oversee the organization, and he embarked on a relentless fundraising campaign. Rav Aharon once brought one of his grandsons along with him to a meeting with the Beis Yisrael of Gur. Must leave Moscow within 24 hours. The Rosh Yeshivah responded, ich kler, efsher iz dos atzlus Im thinking, maybe its just laziness!, At the wedding of Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski. He had a mind like the Rogatchover, Rav Shneur recalled his father saying. Aside from Vaad Hatzalah of the war and immediate postwar years, he served in a leadership capacity in the Agudath Harabonim and presided over the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Agudas Yisrael. This soon escalated into an organized resistance to the mussar movement known as the Pulmus Hamussar. Ultimately, the Alter departed from his yeshivah and established Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael. His flaming blue eyes bore into the souls of all present. When he lost his money, he stopped hearing from all the rabbis who had solicited him for donations. 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. 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. 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. So he hired a shadar an official fundraiser, who in the case of Kletzk kept a full 50 percent of all earnings (a typical arrangement at the time). He wasnt able to make it and Menashe Rabinowitz (who would later lead the Yamim Noraim davening at Beth Medrash Govoha) filled in for him at the event. But Rav Aharon trusted the young activist who regularly drove him around and helped obtain appointments with donors. Kotler died at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City on November 29, 1962. Eventually, the Epsteins made their presence known. 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. Yekusiel, zing. One day, a meshulach from Slabodka came to Slutsk and told Rav Isser Zalman about the young Aharon Kotler, describing him as the lion of the chaburah. At that point, Rav Isser Zalman realized that the secret was out, as the collector was likely singing Rav Aharons praises to anyone who would listen. The Jewish community of Lakewood invited the Rebbe to explore the possibilities of establishing his court there and hosted him for three months in the spring of 1940. They named it Beth Medrash Govoha. 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. Avodah and gemils chasadim are important pillars of Jewish life, said Rav Aharon, citing Pirkei Avos. He studied in the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania under Nosson Tzvi Finkel, and Moshe Mordechai Epstein.Subsequently, he joined his father-in-law, Isser Zalman Meltzer, to run the . Yet Rav Aharon still felt that his innumerable accomplishments didnt suffice. Rav Aharon would oftentimes make extended visits to Israel, during which he delivered regular shiurim at Etz Chaim. During the final decades of his life, Rav Aharon entered a phase of leadership that boggles the mind in terms of its scope and activism. By the end of 1907, construction was completed, and Congregation Sons of Israel opened. The Vishker Illui, Rav Yaakov Safsel, was one of the great young prodigies of the Lithuanian Torah world at the turn of the century. Without total submission to Torah learning, he said, without fundamental lomdus, toil and perseverance, Torah cannot takeroot in the individuals soul, cannot change hisbeing or essence. In his memoirs, visa resident David Lewis (later a leader in the Canadian Bund) described how soon after the onset of Shabbos, local youths would paste their leaflets to the door of the main shul in town, knowing that they couldnt be removed by the Shabbos-observant attendees. The rest,as they say, is history. Rebbetzin Chana Perel made the balancing act possible. 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. On occasion the Alter would accompany little Arke to his place of lodging. Another was in New York, and they were his students in the art of activism, initiative, responsibility, and leadership. With the onset of the worldwide financial crisis and the Great Depression in 1929, the yeshivos found themselves in ever more dire financial straits. Over the years, I had many discussions with Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik. Shortly after he arrived in New York, Rav Aharon attended a meeting of the Agudath Harabonim and declared, I am the father of sons who are wandering aimlessly from one place of exile to another, totally abandoned, forsaken. The wedding was celebrated on 8 Adar, 1914 in Slutzk. 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.. The rav of Kletzk, Rav Chaim Shimon Herensohn, is on Rav Aharons immediate right. I was four or five or six years old. 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. Arke (as he was known) was born into a family that traced its lineage back to the Megaleh Amukos and Rashi. Among the younger group, there were three younger bochurim [known to be exceptional], they were almost yingerlach (children): The Vishker Illui, Hershke Semiatytcher, and last but not least Arke Sislovitcher. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The setting and language may have been different, but he would bring the same fire and uncompromising vision to the task. Newly independent Lithuania bemoaned the loss of what they perceived to be their ancient capital, as they temporarily moved the capital to Kovno during the interwar period. Upon arrival in Moscow, Rav Aharon went to the American embassy to receive his travel papers, only to discover that a bureaucratic foul-up had occurred, and the visas had not yet arrived. An environment of materialism, the relative ease with which immigrants integrated, coupled with the desire for their children to succeed, were factors in this development. Havent seen one of these in a while.. And with that hed proceed with the shiur. There he persuaded Rav Aharon to return to Slabodka, and thus the future Torah leader was preserved. Rav Aharon pleaded with Schmidt to help arrangea transfer of the fragmented Lithuanian yeshivah world to the United States. Mrs. Golding also founded the yeshivahs sisterhood, galvanizing local women to support young men dedicated to Torah learning. Disappointed, the new Mafia chiefs bid farewell to Rav Shneur and left. In an interview conducted with the president of Lakewood's BMG, Rabbi Aharon Kotler, a myth and legend that has been well-entrenched in the chareidi world about famous Jewish composer and. His grandson Rav Yaakov Eliezer Schwartzman explained it as follows. College education was seen as a necessity, even among the small American yeshivah community of the 1940s. Not for money, but just to say hello. 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. 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. Vaad operative Rabbi Nathan Baruch would never forget his first encounter with Rav Aharon. Sensing the detrimental effect a steady correspondence with his sister might have on his potential growth, the Alter initiated a dramatic step. Slutzk was one of the few yeshivos that didnt endure exile during World War I, and continued to function in its original location under trying conditions of war and the subsequent Bolshevik Revolution and Civil War. 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. Daughter of Rabbi Aharon Kotler, Rosh Yeshivas Kletzk & Lakewood and Rebbetzin Chana Perl Kotler Ex-wife of Rabbi Dov Ber Schwartzman Mother of Private; . 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. They also began to open small hotels that were marketed as kosher to cater to Jewish clientele. One of the Torah giants of prewar Europe, Rav Mottel Pogromansky, once asked someone to call Rav Aharon on his behalf. Thanking him profusely, he blessed him with nachas and greatness in Torah from his children. 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. That historic talk articulated Rav Aharons ideology, mission, and contagious energy. 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. Another day school, a yeshivah gedolah, kollelim that dotted the fruited plains. 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.. During his trip to Europe, Rav Isser Zalman visited the Chofetz Chaim in Radin. Eventually Rav Aharon made it to Vladivostok, and after a short stint in Kobe, Japan boarded a steamer headed for San Francisco. In order to generate publicity that would enhance fundraising prospects, Rav Aharon conceived the idea of a grand opening ceremony. To his right is Rav Sheftels mechutan, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Schuchatowitz. (His son Rav Shneur had already departed for Palestine using a certificate received from his grandfather Rav Isser Zalman.). Rabbi Alter Pekier is as at right. On August 3, Lithuania was formally incorporated into the Soviet Union. Rav Aharon returned home prior to Elul of 1936 with a feeling of satisfaction, knowing he had saved the yeshivah in Kletzk from potential closure and could pay up its debts. 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. 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. To that end, pushkes were distributed to shuls and private homes, a publicity campaign was launched to encourage the public to donate in the local pushkes, and gabbaim were hired to oversee operations in each locality and empty the pushkes at regular intervals. 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. 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. Once again, the growing yeshivah of Kletzk was left in the able hands of Rav Aharon. If one is able to accomplish this much, he must do even more. Rav Aharon in conversation with Rav Elchonon Wasserman and Rav Moshe Blau at the 3rd Knessiah Gedolah in Marienbad in 1937. For more than 20 years prior to his arrival in America, Rav Aharon Kotler was one of the leaders of Torah Jewry in Europe, standing alongside fellow gedolim a generation older than he. Rav Simcha Wasserman, a student of Rav Aharon in Kletzk, had arrived in the US and during this period assisted his rosh yeshivah with rescue activities. 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. One shoved Reb Berel to the side while the other grabbed the typewriter and a pile of papers. In sheer desperation, some yeshivos decentralized by engaging in local fundraising in Poland, which was against the regulations of the Vaad HaYeshivos. There was also a family connection as Rav Isser Zalmans ancestors had previously been rabbanim of the town. Rav Chatzkels daughter, Rebbetzin Zlata Ginsburg, recalled the exuberance of the Kletzk townspeople when they learned of this exciting development. There are about 230 students in this yeshivah, 40 of whom are still in Vilna. John Pehle, Hon. But I persuaded him and persevered, visiting him five times until he was convinced.. Rav Aharon at a town meeting in Kletzk (second row, third from left). The man looked up and asked, Mah hashaah what time is it?. 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. Her condition had her spending a considerable amount of time in Atlantic City, but when in 1906 one of the hotels she frequented refused to accommodate her niece, telling her that Jews were not desired as guests, she decided to make Lakewood her preferred destination. The following day the two were called in to the rosh yeshivah, Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein, for their entrance exam. [3] He was succeeded by his son, Rabbi Shneur Kotler, as rosh yeshiva. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky stood up, walked over to Rav Mordechai and said, I was the second child., Rav Aharon as a student in Slabodka, seated second from left. 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. 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. One by one, both men and women came forward with donations: money, bracelets, rings, silver pieces, gold pieces just as during the building of the Mishkan, they offered whatever they had, and they didnt stop there. Following a brief imprisonment by the Soviets, Rav Isser Zalman himself joined the yeshivah in Kletzk and resumed his former post as rosh yeshivah. 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. Rav Aharon successfully crossed the border into Poland and attempted to reestablish the yeshivah less than 40 miles away in Kletzk. Rav Boruch Ber wouldnt hear of it. , during the height of World War II, Rav Aharon Kotler, founder of the Lakewood Yeshiva, learned that several young Polish rabbinical students were detained in Italy. Hundreds of eyes shifted their gaze towards Arke Sislovitzer. One of the great Torah builders of the next generation Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel is standing on the far right. The story of Rav Aharons shidduch was shared by famed journalist Rabbi Aaron Ben-Zion Shurin, who heard it from Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer while studying in Eretz Yisrael in the 1940s. It says smach Zevulun btzeisecha. Simchah can only be achieved in this world if the person grows in Torah. 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. With his arrival in Slabodka, he enjoyed a . How ridiculous!! Ultimately, Rav Aharon's students opened day schools, yeshivos and kollelim around the world. (Nearly a century later, these two illustrious families came together once again when Rav Moshe Mordechais great-grandson, Rav Yosef Chevroni current rosh yeshivah of Chevron-Slabodka married Sarah Bakst, a great-granddaughter of Rav Archik. 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.