2 Kislev · Yahrzeit
Yahrzeit/Hillula of Rabbi Aharon Kotler – Lakewood Yeshiva
Rabbi Aharon Kotler (1891–1962) was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Lithuania and later in the United States, where he founded Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood Township, New Jersey.
Kotler was born in Svisloch, Russian Empire (present-day Belarus) in 1891. He was orphaned at the age of 10 and was raised by his uncle, Rabbi Yitzchok Pinnes, the Dayan of Minsk.
He studied at the Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania under the "Alter of Slabodka," Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, and Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein. He later joined his father-in-law, Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer, in leading the Slutsk Yeshiva.
World War II and the Move to the United States
After World War I, the yeshiva relocated from Slutsk to Kletsk in Belarus. With the outbreak of World War II, Kotler and the yeshiva moved to Vilna, which at that time was the main refuge for most yeshivas from the occupied territories.
Kotler urged the yeshiva to remain in Vilna despite the approaching Nazis. Most of his students were murdered by the Nazis. Some did not heed him and fled to China.
He was brought to America on April 10, 1941, by the Vaad Hatzalah rescue organization and led it during the Holocaust. He first settled on the Upper West Side of New York, and in 1949 moved to the Boro Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.
In 1943, Kotler founded Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, with 15 students. By the time of his death in 1962, the yeshiva had grown to 250 students. He was succeeded as Rosh Yeshiva by his son, Rabbi Shneur Kotler.
As of 2011, Beth Medrash Govoha has been under the leadership of his grandson, Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, together with three of his grandsons, Rabbi Yerucham Olshin, Rabbi Yisroel Neuman, and Rabbi Dovid Schustal.
By 2019, the yeshiva had grown into the largest institution of its kind in America, with 6,715 students — 2,748 full-time students and 3,967 with kollel status — while the surrounding Lakewood community supports a network of more than 100 other yeshivas and approximately 200 synagogues, encompassing over 66,000 people.
A committed anti-Zionist, Kotler also helped establish Chinuch Atzmai, an independent network of religious schools in Israel, and served as chairman of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel. He headed the rabbinic administrative board of Torah Umesorah and served on the presidium of the Agudas HaRabbonim of the United States and Canada.
After the passing of his father-in-law, Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer, he inherited his father-in-law's position as Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Etz Chaim in Jerusalem. He held this position while continuing to live in America and visiting Jerusalem from time to time. Today, his grandson, Rabbi Zevulun Schwartzman, heads the kollel located at Yeshivas Etz Chaim.
Kotler passed away at a medical center in New York on November 29, 1962. The funeral service at Congregation Sons of Israel Kalvarie on the Lower East Side of Manhattan drew 25,000 mourners, with 200 New York City Police Department officers assigned to duty.
In an atmosphere reminiscent of Yom Kippur, eulogies were delivered by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and the leader of the Satmar Chassidim, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum. After the funeral, Kotler's body was taken to Idlewild Airport to be flown to Israel, accompanied by two dozen of his students. Upon arrival in Israel, the plane carrying Kotler's casket was met at the airport by a crowd of 5,000 people. Traffic in Jerusalem was halted by a crowd of 30,000 people who lined the route of the procession carrying his body from the airport to Yeshivas Etz Chaim, where thousands of mourners from across Israel came to pay their respects before his burial at Har HaMenuchot.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
(Translated from Tzadikim.com)