Reflections
Trailblazer in the Desert: Rav Aharon Kotler zt’l
Rav Aharon Kotler was the founder of the Torah world in America, and the undisputed leader of American religious Jewry
In Slabodka, Rav Aharon outshone himself with his tremendous diligence, his swift grasp and unusually sharp intellect. The Gaon Rav Meir Simcha haKohen of Dvinsk (the ‘Or Sameach’), was heard to say that Rav Aharon would be the future ‘Rabbi Akiva Eger’ of the generation.
The Ohr Sameach
Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer |
After the wedding Rav Aharon began to deliver Shiurim in Yeshivas Etz Chaim in Slutzk, at whose helm stood his illustrious father-in-law. He also assisted his father-in-law in leading the congregation and dealing with issues that arose in the community. In the year 5681 (1921), when he was twenty-nine, Rav Aharon was forced to escape from the Communists together with a considerable number of students. They arrived in the town of Kletzk and there Rav Aharon continued to deliver Shiurim to the eager young men. Eventually the Yeshiva grew and flourished there, until it became one of the greatest Yeshivos of its time – both in quantity and quality.
Shortly thereafter (in 5685 / 1925), Rav Aharon Kotler became one of the founders of the ‘Vaad haYeshivos’ – a committee set up to provide help and assistance to the Yeshiva world. This committee is in existence until today. Rav Aharon worked on this project side by side with luminaries such as the Chafetz Chaim, Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski of Vilna and Rav Elchanan Wasserman. In addition, Rav Aharon was a member of the famous ‘Moetzes Gedolei haTorah’ of Agudas Yisrael, and participated in its historic assemblies.
Rav Elchanan Wasserman
Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (right) [] |
After eleven months Rav Aharon Kotler returned to Europe, where he continued teaching Torah and delivering Shiurim which gained repute over the entire country. In the year 5701 (1941), after the outbreak of the Second World War, the Yeshiva wandered from Kletzk to Vilna which was still independent, and from there to Yanova – one of the suburbs of Vilna. Rav Aharon managed to flee to Japan, where he debated whether to immigrate to Palestine or travel to America. He decided to carry out a ‘Gorel haGra’ – (the lottery devised by the Vilna Gaon based on Pesukim in the Torah), and the verse that came up was from Sefer Shemos: “And Hashem told Aharon, go and meet Moshe in the desert”. Rav Aharon in his foresight interpreted this to indicate: And Hashem told Aharon Kotler, go to meet Rav Moshe Feinstein in the desert – the spiritual wilderness that typified the wastelands of America in those days. So it was, that Rav Aharon Kolter made his way from Japan to the bustling metropolis of New York.
In New York Rav Aharon Kotler immediately set to work with the ‘Vaad haHatzalah’, which had been formed by the leading Rabbanim of America for the purpose of saving as many Jews as possible from the Holocaust. From his position there he was able to assist his students who were scattered all over the world, from Uzbekistan until Shanghai, and even as far as Teheran, capital of Iran. Slowly a faint trickle of his former students from Kletzk arrived miraculously on American shores, at which point Rav Aharon decided to rebuild his Yeshiva. He chose the quiet town of Lakewood in New Jersey as an ideal location, since it was far from the bustling city life of New York, but near enough to be able to maintain contact with the larger Jewish community.
During that time Lakewood was known as a vacation resort. After Pesach of 5703 (1943), when Rav Aharon Kotler was fifty-one years of age, the Yeshiva of Lakewood opened its doors. Its original name was ‘Beth Medrash of Higher Study in America’, but the name evolved over the years into the well-known and beloved ‘Lakewood Yeshiva’. The kernel of the Yeshiva consisted of students and young married men who had been students of Rav Aharon in Kletzk, and who wished to continue their studies on foreign shores. Rav Aharon’s goal was to revive the old flavor of Kletzk and Slutzk, and to give birth to a new era in the Yeshiva movement in America. He wished to produce distinguished Torah scholars, great in Torah knowledge and fear of Heaven, who would in turn light up the landscape of Jewish America and influence their brethren with their piety and scholarliness.
And so it was – the will of Hashem prevailed, and Rav Aharon’s ambitious enterprise bore fruit. His Yeshiva became the father of Yeshivos in America – it was a Yeshiva that produced ‘Roshei Yeshiva’. The revolution that Rav Aharon Kotler implemented in America is awesome. There in the American melting pot, which screams materialism and worldly pleasures, there were barely those who believed in the success of any type of Yeshiva, even one which taught secular subjects alongside Torah study. Never did they dream of the success of a pure and holy Yeshiva, where Torah alone is taught in all its beauty with no distracting external studies. But Rav Aharon with his tireless zest and endless resourcefulness proved that the verse “…So that the Torah not be forgotten from the mouths of your children”, could be said about America too. At the end of his life, the Yeshiva numbered almost two hundred students.
Another area in which Rav Aharon Kotler invested his entire heart and soul was the founding of the ‘Chinuch Atzmai’ in Eretz Yisrael – an educational body that deals with the schooling of thousands of children. There are those who claim that he devoted himself more to the Chinuch Atzmai than to his own Yeshiva. Rav Aharon took no regard for his honor or his time, when it came to amassing funds for the Chinuch Atzmai.
Rav Aharon was also heavily involved in the Agudas Yisrael movement, and whenever there was an election campaign in Eretz Yisrael, Rav Aharon would travel there in order to impress upon the people the importance of a religious vote. Rav Aharon would say that Election Day is more critical than Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana, since in the Days of Awe we are judged for only one year whereas Election Day sets the tone for the coming four years – and the losses that can accumulate in those four years cannot be recouped even in twenty years. (In the words of the tzaddik himself: Election Day is the day of judgement for generations to come.)
Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz [צלם] |
At the end of his life, Rav Aharon Kotler lay sick and weak in bed. At one point he lost consciousness for a while, and from then on had to be fed intravenously. As a result his mouth became painfully dry and he could barely speak. But the doctors did not allow him to taste a morsel, not even a drop of water. One day a junior doctor came by and said that he would allow the Tzaddik to suck a candy, which would relieve some of the pain. The student who was taking care of Rav Aharon at the time was elated and told the news to Rav Aharon. But Rav Aharon answered him with great exertion: Wait, I wish to keep this candy for Shabbos. That was not Friday, nor Thursday… it was still Wednesday. In the meantime a senior doctor came by to examine Rav Aharon, and after the test declared that had he tasted the candy, he would have been in danger of death…
Rav Aharon Kotler passed away at the age of seventy-one, on the 2nd of Kislev 5723 (1962). His place at the helm of the Yeshiva was filled by his son, Rav Schneur Zalman Kotler. Today the Yeshiva is led by the Tzaddik’s grandson, Rav Aryeh Malkiel Kotler, along with three other Roshei Yeshiva who assist him in this mammoth task. Lakewood Yeshiva is considered the largest Yeshiva in American, and perhaps even in the entire world. There are over five-thousand students and young married men who learn in countless study halls, keeping the torch of Torah blazing strong in these turbulent times preceding the arrival of Mashiach.
Beis Midrash Hagadol-Lakewood Yeshiva [צלם] |