By D. Sofer

This article originally appeared in Yated Neeman, Monsey NY. and is reprinted here with their permission

Rav Meir Chodosh was a talmid muvhak of the Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. Often, the two would discuss the Alter's deep belief in gadlus ha'adam, the greatness of man.

"Man," the Alter would explain, "is the crown of creation. His soul is hewn from Hashem's Throne of Glory, and has unlimited potential. When man is aware of his lofty stature, new vistas open before him, and his ambition to achieve greatness in Torah intensifies. Yeshiva students must not be content with mediocrity. They must strive for perfection." Rav Meir internalized these teachings and, years later, sought to convey them to his own talmidim. He succeeded - and not just by sharing them in his writings, discourses and shiurim, but also by bringing them to life through personal example.

A rebbi in Yeshivas Ateres Yisroel, which Rav Meir was instrumental in founding, once related how three weeks before Rav Meir's passing, a group of high school students who were unsure whether to go onto a yeshiva gedola or hesder yeshiva, visited the Chevron Yeshiva.

"In the yard," the rebbi recalled, "they noticed that the door to an apartment was open. Peeking inside, they saw an elderly Jew deeply engrossed in his studies, oblivious to the people around him.

"The students asked who he was, and were told that he was the 91-year-old mashgiach of the yeshiva, whose mind could not be diverted from his studies. The students found this hard to believe, and they decided to take turns watching him.

"During the two hours in which they observed him, the mashgiach did not lift his eyes from his sefer," the rebbi concluded. "Then and there, the high school students decided to enroll in yeshiva gedolas, instead of in hesder yeshivos."

HIS LIFE

Rav Meir Chodosh was born on 27 Shevat, 5658, in the Lithuanian city of Paritch. His father, Rav Ben Tzion, and his mother, Machla, were very pious people whose primary concern was providing their children with a genuine Torah education.

Since Rav Ben Tzion often had to be away from home, the burden of attending to the children's chinuch fell on his wife. Although the family was poor, she hired a private melamed to teach her children. The family sometimes went hungry, but the melamed always got paid.

When Rav Meir was 10, his mother sent him to study under Rav Pesach Pruskin in Shkolv, since Paritch had no yeshiva of its own. A year-and-a-half later, Rav Meir returned home to Paritch and began to study with his older cousin, Leibele Lebowitz, a student at the Slabodka Yeshiva. Leibele, however, soon returned to yeshiva, and Rav Meir was left without a chavrusa.

On his next visit home, Leibele took the young Rav Meir back with him to Slabodka, hoping to register him in the yeshiva. However, Slabodka's mashgiach, Rav Ber Hirsch Heller, refused to accept him because of his age.

Rav Meir, though, wasn't crushed by this rejection. He decided to remain in Slabodka and prove to the yeshiva's staff that he was worthy of becoming a full-fledged student.

But since he hadn't been accepted into the yeshiva, Rav Meir had no place to sleep or eat. This, however, did not deter him. He slept in the hallway of a home owned by a Kovno resident, and he subsisted on a loaf of bread he had brought from home, plus a small piece of herring that he bought with the pocket money his mother had given him. When he finished the loaf of bread, he bought stale bread with the remainder of his pocket money.

Despite these hardships, he studied with outstanding hasmada in the yeshiva. In fact, just three weeks after he came to Slabodka, he managed to learn in depth until Daf 28 in Masechta Kiddushin.

Word of his accomplishment soon reached the mashgiach. He decided to test Rav Meir, and soon accepted him into the yeshiva despite his young age. Once Rav Meir was a full-fledged student, the yeshiva allotted him one of the highest stipends.

In his first zeman in the yeshiva, Rav Meir passed the demanding "pin test." In this test, a pin was jabbed into a Gemara at random and the student being tested was told which word it had pierced on one of the pages. Then he had to recall the words the pin had pierced on subsequent pages.

It was during his years in Slabodka that Rav Meir became the Alter's close disciple and confidant. Their relationship lasted for 17 years, until the Alter's passing in 1927. It is said that Rav Meir not only absorbed the Alter's teachings, but also resembled him in all of his traits and manners.

RETURN TO PARITCH

After two years in Slabodka, Rav Meir returned to Paritch to visit his mother. During that period, his father, Rav Ben Tzion, had gone to America in an effort to earn a livelihood. Unable to bear the loneliness and separation from his family, Rav Ben Tzion asked his family to join him there. But Rav Meir and his brother, Rav Dovid, were both in Slabodka at the time, and their roshei yeshiva rejected the idea.

After a while, however, Rav Ben Tzion again pleaded with his family to come to America. When he promised to enable his sons to continue their Torah studies, the roshei yeshiva sadly acquiesced. Just then, World War Two II broke out and Rav Meir's mother tragically died, curtailing the family's plans to move to America.

Later, Rav Ben Tzion said that he was happy that his sons hadn't come to America, where their progress in Torah would likely have been impeded.

Rav Ben Tzion himself remained strong in mitzva observance in America, and never desecrated Shabbos there, despite the many hardships he endured.

YESHIVA IN FLIGHT

During the war, the Slabodka Yeshiva moved to Minsk, and Rav Meir and Rav Dovid joined it there. Soon, many other Eastern European yeshivos also fled to Minsk, among them Brisk, Radin, Volozhin, Mir, Kelm and Kaminetz.

In Minsk, many youngsters were attracted to Zionism and other secular ideologies. Rav Meir and a number of friends tried to devise a way to counteract this trend. They soon found that the only to do so was by strengthening their own Torah study. To achieve this goal, they formed a daily study group whose members took turn delivering chaburos. This group studied 20 pages of Gemara a week.

When the Bolsheviks gained control of Minsk, they began to harass the yeshiva students. As a result, Slabodka's roshei yeshiva decided to move the yeshiva to Krementchug, a Jewish city in the Ukraine.

When a peace treaty was finally signed between the warring countries, the yeshiva was permitted to cross the border and return to Slabodka.

Only two students remained behind - the Chodosh brothers. Their sister, Gronia, had contracted typhus, and was to be married in a few weeks, and they couldn't leave her.

The two bothers remained in Krementchug until after Gronia's wedding, and then returned to Slabodka, crossing the border illegally.

RETURN TO SLABODKA

Back in Slabodka, the yeshiva burgeoned, especially since there was no longer a draft threat looming over its students' heads.

During this time, the yeshiva was headed by the Alter, and its mashgichim were Rav Avraham Grodzinski and Rav Ber Hirsch Heller. Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Moshe Finkel and Rav Reuven Grozovsky were among its students.

However, this golden era did not last for long. The Lithuanian government soon cancelled the draft exemptions for the yeshiva students.

Some students wanted to go to Eretz Yisroel in order to avoid the draft, but the Alter opposed sending them to Eretz Yisroel alone, since there were no yeshivos suitable for them there.

It was then suggested that the yeshiva's staff and students go to Eretz Yisroel as a group and open a new yeshiva there in the Slabodka spirit.

That suggestion was accepted, and Rav Avraham Grodzinski set out for Eretz Yisroel, where he opened the Knesses Yisroel Yeshiva in Chevron. Later, at the Alter's request, Rav Grodzinski returned to Slabodka, and in 5685, the Alter, accompanied by Rav Meir and the final group of students still living in Europe, set out for the already established yeshiva in Chevron.

The yeshiva in Chevron flourished, and Rav Meir became the Alter's right hand. In 5686, he married Tzivia Leah Hutner, the daughter of Rav Naftali Menachem Hutner. She had come to Eretz Yisroel alone, and lived in the home of her uncle, Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Chevron Yeshiva.

After the Alter's petira in 5687, Rav Meir remained in the yeshiva, overseeing its students' spiritual growth, together with Rav Yehuda Leib Chasman.

THE ARAB MASSACRE

This tranquil period, however, was cut short by the Arab massacre of Chevron 's Jews on Shabbos morning, 16 Av, 5689.

The Thursday prior to the massacre, as Rebbetzin Chodosh and a friend were on their way to the market, they heard an Arab whispering, "They're buying food for Shabbos, but don't know that they won't be here for Shabbos. Arabs from Yerushalayim are on their way here and will put an end to them."

The rebbetzin quickly returned home and suggested to her husband that they spend Shabbos in Yerushalayim. But Rav Meir replied, "If it's so dangerous, how can we leave the students alone? We have to warn Chevron's Jews of the situation."

The two quickly told the head of Chevron's Jewish community, Dan Slonim, about what the rebbetzin had heard. But he was not alarmed. Chevron's Arabs, he assured them, were friendly with local Jewish residents and wouldn't permit Arabs from Yerushalayim to harm them.

Unfortunately, he was wrong. That Friday, trucks filled with Arabs from Yerushalayim arrived in Chevron. They quickly succeeded in inciting Chevron' s Arabs to massacre the Jews.

Dan Slonim tried desperately to ward off the rioters and to save his fellow Jews, ordering them to remain in their homes. Since Chevron's Arabs were guarding his house, he announced that whoever wished to take refuge there was welcome. The yeshiva students were then told to leave the yeshiva, with some going to Dan Slonim's home, and others to the Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein's home.

Early Shabbos morning, a number of Dan Slonim's Arab friends offered to take him to a safe place. But he refused to abandon the Jews who had assembled in his home, among them Rav Meir and his wife.

Later that morning, however, the Arabs attacked the Slonim home, murdering nearly all of its occupants. Rav Meir and Tzivia, who managed to remain alive, threw themselves on the bodies of the victims, and lay completely still. Assuming that they too were dead, the Arabs left them alone.

When asked how he was able to maintain his presence of mind under such circumstances, Rav Meir said, "I recited Viduy five times and believed that if Hashem wanted me to live, I would survive the riots, too."

AS MASHGIACH

After the massacre, the yeshiva moved to Yerushalayim, settling first in the Achva neighborhood, and then in Geula. During that period, Rav Meir served as the yeshiva's mashgiach alongside Rav Yehuda Leib Chasman.

Rav Meir's approach to his students was an outgrowth of his shared belief with his rebbi, the Alter, in the gadlus ha'adam. In his capacity as mashgiach, he maintained that since man is the crown of Creation, the way to encourage him to achieve perfection is not by belittling or rebuking him, but rather by uplifting him and encouraging him to realize his potential.

True to the Slabodka spirit, he viewed each student as the embodiment of the best in man, regarding his negative points as merely external features that still hadn't been uprooted. As a result, he found it difficult to expel recalcitrant students from the yeshiva, saying, "The sons of kings must not be rejected."

However, he also taught that in order to be a prince, one must cultivate noble character traits and live up to special ideals. One such ideal was that a person should always benefit those around him, particularly by being giving and generous.

Likewise, Rav Meir believed that if yeshiva students were princes, a yeshiva must not be related to as a regular institution, but rather as a sacred one, whose very walls absorb that sanctity. As a result, he disliked such terms as "to enter" the yeshiva or to be "accepted" into the yeshiva. A yeshiva, he said, isn't a mass of walls and windows through which one enters, but rather a place with which one must fuse and become part of its very stones.

Rav Meir also maintained that the yeshiva students should cultivate the trait of self-mastery, each according to his own personal style.

"A mashgiach," he would say, "lights the ovens. But the oven must continue to burn on its own."

He often repeated the Alter's maxim that one who is spoon-fed cannot become a baal mussar. In line with this teaching, Rav Meir didn't appoint a student to wake up the others for davening in the morning. Of course, he believed that it was important to fight the trait of laziness, but he also felt that the yeshiva students should feel compelled to wake up on time, on their own.

Once a week, Rav Meir held a vaad, or mussar discussion, in his home. Despite the fact that the vaad was an ongoing event, every week the students had to request that it be held. If they didn't, it simply wouldn't take place. Rav Meir didn't regard this demand as a matter of courtesy, but rather a means for training his students to pursue mussar, instead of receiving it on a silver platter.

MASTERFUL SHMUESSIM

Another highlight of Rav Meir's role as mashgiach was his shmuessim.

One of his students, Rav Amitai Shulman, recalled what took place every time Rav Meir gave a shmuess.

"There was no need to announce the shmuess," he began. "The hundreds of students of the Chevron Yeshiva in Yerushalayim knew that the moment the Mashgiach rose from his permanent seat in the yeshiva, his shmuess would begin.

"Within seconds the students would form a semicircle around the mashgiach, each one vying for a closer position, in order to catch the mashgiach's first words, which were generally uttered quietly and with intense concentration.

"But until those words were uttered, a heavy silence prevailed in the yeshiva's study hall, which usually rumbled with the sound of Torah.

"Hundreds of eyes remained fixed on Rav Meir, following his every gesture - all of which resembled those of the Alter. But the mashgiach would remain motionless, finding it difficult to hide his hesitation. Although he had had delivered shmuessim for nearly fifty years, he always felt that each shmuess was his first one.

"After a few moments of silence," Rav Shulman continued, "he would utter his first words, quite, calmly, and in a fatherly voice. In general, he would open his shmuess with a verse, and then bring midrashim on the same theme or present a dvar Torah which, on the surface, was difficult to understand. Then his voice would grow a bit stronger, although he still maintained his quiet tone.

"As he spoke, the links between the midrashim and the verses and how they related to the mishnayos and sayings of Chazal, became clear.

"He would remain still for three quarters of an hour to an hour. At the end of the shmuess, he would nod his head, and the students would disperse. Only Rav Meir would remain in his place, studying yet another halacha, answering questions, and gazing lovingly at his students.

"Moments later, Maariv would begin. At the end of the davening, Rav Meir would return to his seat in the mizrach, stirred by the spiritual strides his students were making.

"In these discourses," Rav Shulman concluded, "he would urge his students to constantly progress and to strive to reach the greatest heights. He would stress that remaining in one place it is forbidden, since every lapse in progress marks the beginning of a regression."

EXEMPLARY MIDDOS

Rav Meir invested boundless energy into helping his students improve their middos. He often told them, "Chayav adam lomar mosai yagiu ma'asai lema'asei avosai, Avraham Yitzchak v'Yaakov," "A person has to ask himself, 'When will my deeds reach the level of those of my forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov?'"

If the students wanted an example of one who had achieved this lofty level, they merely had to observe Rav Meir.

Once, a certain person publicly harassed him in an unspeakable manner. Years later, that man's son enrolled in Ateres Yisroel, where Rav Meir was serving as mashgiach. Rav Meir devoted particular attention to that boy to show that he held no grudge against the boy's father.

The extent to which Rav Meir would go to avoid offending others sometimes startled even his family.

Once, while he was hospitalized for a serious illness, his room was filled with visitors. A doctor entered the room to take a blood test. Rav Meir abruptly asked his guests to leave the room until the test was over. The guests were surprised at this uncharacteristic request, but quickly left.

Later, he explained his behavior to a family member. "That doctor has difficulty locating my veins. I didn't want the visitors to see him fumbling, because he might have been embarrassed. That is why I asked them to leave."

OPEN HOUSE

In addition to serving as the mashgiach of Chevron, Rav Meir founded Yeshivas Ateres Yisroel, along with his son-in-law Rav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi, and Yeshiva Or Elchonon, along with his son Rav Moshe Mordechai. He served as mashgiach in both of these yeshivos. He also founded the Chevron Yeshiva's famous kollel, Yeshivas Beis Midrash leTorah.

It is impossible to portray the relationships between Rav Meir and his thousands of students without describing his fatherly love for them. In all the yeshivos in which he served as mashgiach - Chevron, Ateres Yisroel and Or Elchonon - his apartment was located on the ground floor, near the yeshiva's main door, so that he would be near his students.

He gave the key to his private home to scores of students, explicitly telling them, "You can come inside whenever you want."

Twenty-four hours a day, a huge vat of boiling water was perched on the counter in his kitchen. Beside it was a can of coffee, tea bags and cookies. Throughout the day, students would enter his private apartment and refresh themselves with hot drinks, while those who stayed up studying until after midnight would stop off at his home for a drink before going to sleep.

On Erev Shabbos, Rebbetzin Tzivia Chodosh would prepare a huge pot of cholent, and dozens of portions of gefilte fish for the many students who invariably came to visit.

POWERS OF CONCENTRATION

Rav Meir's powers of concentration were immense. Students could enter his house, stand beside his table, and even make noise, but he wouldn't look up until he had completed the material he had undertaken to study at that time. Even on Simchas Torah, when his home bustled with activity, he would sit in his room, not lifting his eyes from his sefer until he had finished the portion he had planned to study.

His son, Rav Moshe Mordechai Chodosh, relates that his ability to concentrate served him well throughout the years.

"One time, in Paritch, he was caught without his identification card. Just as the soldiers were about to shoot, a commander who lived nearby looked out of his window. Impressed by Rav Meir's saintly appearance, he told them to leave him alone.

"As he faced those soldiers, he made a certain resolution, which he never revealed to anyone. In addition, he said that if he ever found himself in trouble, he would reflect on that resolution.

"[Years later,] as he lay on the corpses of the massacred Chevron students, he concentrated on that resolution, ignoring the chaos surrounding him."

HIS FINAL DAY

On Thursday afternoon, 28 Teves 5749, Rav Meir's daughter came to visit him. She asked him how he was feeling and he answered , "Boruch Hashem! Alive! (Chaim)" He then added, "Chaim! - Ein Kleinkeit! Chaim!" (Life! A trivial matter! Life!")

"We all know that for him "life" was the opportunity for additional mitzvos and Torah", explained his daughter.

Rav Meir was taken to the hospital Thursday night. At 2:30 a.m. he lost consciousness, and at 4:30, while surrounded by his family, he returned his pure soul to its Maker.

His levaya set out from the Or Elchonon Yeshiva and was attended by thousands. He was buried on Har Hazeisim, near the grave of the Alter of Slabodka, in the plot of the roshei yeshiva of Chevron.

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Introduction: A Vision of Slobodke

HaRav Meir Chodosh, one of the central figures in the yeshiva world in Eretz Yisroel for over half a century, was widely venerated as the senior mashgiach of the generation. A close disciple of the Alter of Slobodke, HaRav Chodosh, embodied the classic Slobodke approach to the study of Torah and of mussar, to character development and to life. He placed the imprint of the tradition which he faithfully transmitted upon the thousands of talmidim who grew and matured over the years in the Chevron Yeshiva and indirectly, upon the even larger numbers in the yeshivos that were founded by his family members and disciples.

To say that HaRav Chodosh was an embodiment of the Slobodke approach may seem to be an oversimplification. No system can be transplanted to a different country, to different times and to different generations and still be applied precisely as before; there has to be adaptation and modification. Yet, inasmuch as the Alter of Slobodke had expounded the fundamentals of his vision of man's innate greatness and the way in which man might realize his full spiritual potential, applying it to the yeshiva world of his day in prewar Eastern Europe, HaRav Chodosh did the same in the nascent yeshiva world of Eretz Yisroel after the war.

Though many of the external manifestations of the Alter's approach were the same as the Alter himself employed, the element of innovation lay in the application of the underlying concepts to what was and is, for all intents and purposes, a new world.

Commenting on two seemingly contradictory ma'amorei Chazal about Rabbi Eliezer, one which says that Rabbi Eliezer would say innovative teachings that had never been heard before, while in the other, Rabbi Eliezer himself attested that he never said anything that he had not heard from his teachers, HaRav Chaim Shmuelevitz zt'l, explained that a true talmid is not someone who simply repeats what he has been taught, but someone who can say what his rebbe would have said about a certain topic.

If he has assimilated his rebbe's teachings to the extent that he can work out how his rebbe would have approached a matter, he is a true talmid. He may say new things, but he draws them all from his rebbe. Even as an elderly man, when Rav Chodosh began a shmuess with the words, "Ehr flegt zogen, (He used to say)," he was referring to the Alter, whose image and inspiration never left him. HaRav Chodosh's fidelity to the Alter's teachings can be grasped from the following two anecdotes. The first took place very soon after the young Meir Paritscher's arrival in Slobodke, while the second happened many years later. Between the two of them, they illuminate what took place in the interim.

Arrival in Slobodke Meir Paritscher arrived in Slobodke before his bar mitzva. On Shabbos afternoons, the Alter would deliver a shmuess for the older bochurim, which the new arrival desperately wanted to hear, despite the problem of his age. He used to enter the yeshiva's library, which adjoined the room where the shmuess was delivered, and when it grew dark, he would stand at the back and listen, thinking that the Alter did not notice him.

When he spoke to the Alter at Succos however, the latter asked him to repeat what he'd heard during the Elul zeman, meaning in the Shabbos shmuessen that the Alter had seen him attend. Summing up the central idea of all the shmuessen in one succinct sentence of his own, the young bochur replied that, "The service of Hashem contained within one's interpersonal dealings is even greater than the service of Hashem that one does by serving Hashem directly." The Alter sharply rebuked him, "So, you've already become a savant and are formulating your own sayings! People will say that you're an heretic. You should stick to what Chazal say." The Alter then asked him to repeat only what he actually had heard him say in the shmuessen. He expressed his great satisfaction with his new talmid's second response. This experience left a deep impression upon the bochur and from that day on, he was very careful to repeat only what his rebbe had said, exactly as he heard him say it.

How He Would Behave The extent to which HaRav Chodosh absorbed the Alter's speech, thought and method over their years together is evident from the second incident, which took place many years later. A group of Chevron talmidim were sitting once with HaRav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt'l, another alumnus of Slobodke, who spent a long time describing the Alter and his teachings to them. Reb Yaakov even demonstrated the Alter's movements, his pronunciation, his manner of speech, his expression and his smile. When they left Reb Yaakov, the bochurim expressed their utter astonishment; Reb Yaakov's portrayal matched the mashgiach's appearance and manner precisely! Reb Yaakov himself also made a comment to this effect after meeting HaRav Chodosh on one of his visits to Eretz Yisroel.

And when someone remarked to Rav Dov Katz zt'l, another Slobodke alumnus, and author of the work Tenuas Hamussar, that, "When one closes one's eyes and listens to the mashgiach, one really thinks that the Alter is standing in front of us!" He responded, "As for me, even with my eyes open I see the Alter before me, in every respect!" To those at all acquainted with the Alter's approach and personality, the very idea of his educational outlook being replicated probably seems utterly incongruous.

Another close talmid, HaRav Yitzchok Yaakov Ruderman zt'l, rosh yeshiva of Ner Yisroel in Baltimore (on having occasion to defend his policy of nonintervention with a colleague's disciplining policy that differed radically from his own), recalled the following about the Alter. "The Alter taught that each person must be allowed to develop his own personality. If I force my opinions on someone else, he will lose his individuality. He will never realize his full potential. Instead, he'll become dispirited and will fade.

The Alter said that many stars were extinguished only because others tried to impose on them patterns of behavior that went against their own unique personalities. It is impossible to ask everybody to fit into the same pattern. A person must become what he himself truly is, not what others would like him to be." To employ this argument in the case of HaRav Chodosh however, and his apparent self-negation before the Alter's methods, would be missing the point.

The Alter's admonishment to his precocious young talmid that he concentrate upon repeating exactly what he had heard from his teachers was surely meant as a means of enabling him to direct his gifts of mind and character towards a constructive end, rather than to quash the development of his own individuality. It was the talmid who subsequently cleaved heart and soul to his rebbe, not the rebbe who forced his own stamp upon the talmid. As the later paragraphs will show, the Alter himself came to regard Meir Chodosh as a truly faithful embodiment and expositor of his teachings.

It should also be pointed out that the Alter's comments to bochurim were carefully directed. The Alter sized them up with great accuracy and foresight, and his subsequent dealings with them reflected these judgments, as illustrated here by two stories which Rav Chodosh would tell. An extremely gifted bochur once arrived in Slobodke, seeking admission to the yeshiva and bearing a letter of approbation from his rosh yeshiva.

After speaking with him, the Alter asked the bochur to leave the room and said to Rav Chodosh, "How can someone write such a letter about him, when he lacks elementary understanding?" "I didn't notice anything [untoward] about him," Rav Chodosh said. "Didn't you see how he licked the sugar from the table? He has no understanding!" And ultimately, nothing became of that bochur. On another occasion, another very gifted young bochur arrived in the yeshiva, and was assigned by the Alter to a va'ad of older bochurim.

Rav Chodosh was despatched to the Alter to register the older members' displeasure at the youngster's inclusion in their group. The Alter told his talmid, "This bochur has incredible potential and he will develop into a very great man." And so it was. The young genius grew to become one of the gedolei Yisroel. The vitality which the Alter's ideas had injected into his students thus yielded rich harvests in subsequent years, as each achieved greatness in his own way, each of them reflecting the brilliance of the Alter's illumination through his own soul. However, the voice and the message of the Alter himself continued to be heard from the lips of HaRav Meir Chodosh.

Years of Growth: From Slobodke to Chevron Rav Meir was born on the twenty-seventh of Shevat 5658 (1898) in Paritsch, a town in the vicinity of Minsk. When aged eleven, he travelled to learn in the yeshiva of Shklov, returning home after a year. He was taken to Slobodke several months before his bar mitzva by a cousin who was learning there. The mashgiach, HaRav Hirsch Heller zt'l was annoyed with the older bochur for having brought a mere child with him to the yeshiva.

Nevertheless, Meir remained and spent three weeks reviewing maseches Kiddushin in anticipation of the test which would determine whether or not he would be accepted to the yeshiva. At the test, the mashgiach was very impressed by the boy's exceptional abilities and he accepted him immediately. Rav Meir would say that because he was ashamed of his young age, he told nobody at the time he became bar mitzva.

When the mashgiach found out about this a few days later, he rebuked Meir for his silence and honored him with an aliya. It was not until some time after his arrival in Slobodke (how long is unclear), that he attained `full membership' status. Prior to this, he found accommodation at night in a shoemaker's workshop. Besides the use of his premises, in his later years Rav Meir would explain that he owed the shoemaker a debt of gratitude for making it necessary for him to develop his powers of concentration.

As the shoemaker was a poor man and had a large family to support, he had to work at his craft until late at night. The noise of his hammer banging and the sewing machine at work were enough to banish all sleep, but Meir trained himself to sleep there each night for as long as he needed to ensure that his head would be clear for learning the next day.

Throughout his life, he retained the ability to ignore all kinds of noise and tumult around him and concentrate solely upon what he was learning. The older bochurim were assigned a stipend from which they were able to meet their material needs. Despite his junior years, Meir was immediately allotted a stipend of one ruble, which was later raised to two rubles, quite an amount for his situation. He did not mention this to anyone however, for fear of arousing jealousy. Even for a bochur who received two rubles, living conditions were vastly different from those in today's yeshivos.

When HaRav Yitzchok Yaakov Ruderman zt'l, visited Eretz Yisroel, he called upon Rav Chodosh, with whom he had learned in Slobodke. In the course of their conversation, HaRav Ruderman pointed out that although bochurim complain about the conditions in yeshiva, things are far better today than they were then, when he remembered subsisting on a diet of bread and olives. Rav Chodosh commented that even that was only the lot of the fortunate few.

Rebbetzin Chodosh recalled her husband having told her that he used to buy a loaf of bread and keep it a day before eating it, for when the bread was older, it better satisfied the hunger. During his first zeman in Slobodke, Meir mastered Kiddushin, Bovo Basra and Shavuos. He liked describing how the "pastime" of bochurim then was the well known "pin test," where a pin was put through several pages of a gemora and the contestant's task was to recall the words that the pin pierced on subsequent pages after being told the word it pierced on the first page.

R' Meir's brother, HaRav Dovid Chodosh recalled that when they learned together, they agreed to cover twenty new blatt of gemora in a day, in addition to reviewing thirty that they had already learned. He said that Rav Meir had kept up the pace but that he had not been able to. Rav Dovid said that in those days, it had been expected that Meir would become a rosh yeshiva and he a mashgiach, whereas in the event, it was the other way around.

Rav Chodosh once related that on one occasion, HaRav Avrohom Grodzinsky zt'l, the mashgiach of Slobodke, spent seven hours discussing the topic of engaging in uninterrupted Torah thoughts with him. Following this talk, he said, he had indeed not removed his thoughts from Torah. Four months passed in this way until he was walking in the street when a great commotion erupted: a merchant had been caught trying to smuggle produce in his cart. Reb Meir looked on and after a moment checked himself.

The posuk, `This one came to dwell and he has begun to judge . . . " suddenly came into his mind and he realized -- he was not to allow his thoughts to be diverted from Torah! After learning in Slobodke for two and a half years, Meir returned to Paritsch to visit his mother.

During the visit, she passed away. His father was away in America at that time. The First World War broke out, bringing with it bitter troubles for Eastern European Jewry. The burden of responsibility for his brother and sister (who at the time of Rev Meir's petirah ten years ago was still living in Leningrad), fell upon Meir's shoulders. Because of the war, Knesses Yisroel was exiled to nearby Minsk and Meir was nonetheless able to rejoin it. He then travelled with the yeshiva to Kremenchug, in the Ukraine.

Although the yeshiva endured many hardships and dangers during this period, the memory of those days remained among Slobodke alumni as a time of spiritual growth and flourish. It is said that Kremenchug acted as a refining crucible for the Slobodke yeshiva in the same way that Shanghai was later to do for Mir. At the war's end, Rav Meir remained on in Kremenchug after the yeshiva had returned to Slobodke, in order to arrange his sister's marriage.

During this time, Rev Meir learned together with HaRav Boruch Ber Leibowitz zt'l, whose yeshiva, Knesses Beis Yitzchok had also been exiled to Kremenchug because of the war. Reb Boruch Ber prepared his shiurim on Yevomos with Rav Meir and during that period, the two of them also experienced some of the hardest times the yeshiva world had ever known (due to the Russian Civil War which raged on until 1921).

His Closeness to the Alter The deep impression made upon Rav Meir by the Alter's admonition that he repeat faithfully what he heard his teachers say, led him to attach himself to the Alter heart and soul. HaRav Yechezkel Sarna zt'l, (a son-in-law of HaRav Moshe Mordechai Epstein, who headed the Chevron Yeshiva in Yerushalayim) likened Rav Chodosh's closeness to his great rebbe to the closeness of Yehoshua bin Nun to Moshe Rabbenu.

The Alter reciprocated the attachment and in time, R' Meir grew to become his confidante and his emissary in running the yeshiva. At one time, the two had a chavrusa to learn Tur together. As a bochur, Reb Meir once accompanied the Alter on a yom tov visit to HaRav Alexander Moshe Lapidus zt'l, rav of Rasein. A discussion got underway over whether, in an argument between a chorif (a sharp witted scholar) and a boki (one who possesses very wide knowledge) over a matter of pure conjecture to which no proof could be adduced from Shas, preference was to be given to the ideas of the former or the latter.

Reb Meir pointed out that a conclusive proof to this question could be brought from Tosafos on Eruvin 40 (beginning, Ada'atah deculhu). The Alter regarded Reb Meir as a prime specimen of the traits he sought to develop in his yeshiva. HaRav Zevulun Graz zt'l, who served as av beis din of Rechovot, related that a month after he had arrived to learn in Slobodke, the Alter came over to him and asked him, "Have you seen Slobodke?" "Yes, I have," Reb Zevulun replied, somewhat baffled. "And have you met unzereh (our own)?" the Alter continued. Reb Zevulun gave the Alter a look of puzzlement. To whom was he referring? The Alter said, "Have you spent time with Reb Meir?" as much as to say, "If not, then you haven't seen Slobodke!"

A Seed for the Future: Early Years in Eretz Yisroel In the summer of 5685 (1925), Rav Meir accompanied the Alter on the journey to Eretz Yisroel, to join the yeshiva which had been founded a year earlier in Chevron. He waited to travel with the last group that left, so as to remain at the side of the Alter, who said that he wanted to defer his trip until after Rosh Hashanah, so that he could pray for their success before they set out. Meir Chodosh was regarded as one of the most distinguished bochurim in the yeshiva and he even delivered his own va'adim.

HaRav S. Greineman related that the Chazon Ish asked to see the notes he wrote of the first va'ad which Reb Meir delivered. After perusing them, the Chazon Ish remarked that a great mashgiach was developing before them. Following a shmuess from the Alter, the beis hamedrash would buzz with discussion as the bochurim gathered in groups to debate what they had heard. In the middle, the largest and choicest group would gather around Reb Meir.

Those who learned in Chevron said that the yeshiva was run by three of the older bochurim: Meir Chodosh, Berel Yanover (Rav Dov Zochovsky) and Yitzchok Meir Patziner (Rav Yitzchok Meir ben Menachem) zt'l. Reb Meir was one of the two bochurim who reported regularly to the Alter on the progress of the bochurim. The Alter only wanted to hear about the good points of each bochur; this sufficed to inform him of their general progress. In Chevron, Reb Meir had a chavrusa with Yitzchok Meir Patziner, in which they learned Nego'im and Oholos, two of the hardest masechtos in Seder Taharos, in all of which Rav Meir was very fluent. When, as mashgiach of Chevron, he spied a bochur who belonged to a group that was learning Oholos leaving the yeshiva's library, he asked him which sefer he had.

Upon hearing that it was one of the commentaries of the later acharonim on those masechtos, he remarked, "We did not need to use [such] a sefer; we were able to manage without it." He repeated this position on other occasions: in his time, they had not found it necessary to use the seforim of the recent acharonim, for they had discovered the major points for deliberation and discussion in the course of their own learning. In 5688 (1928), the year before the tragic pogrom in Chevron, Rav Chodosh married Rebbetzin Tzvia Leah, daughter of HaRav Naftoli Hutner zt'l, rav of Eishishok, who had made her own way to Eretz Yisroel. She had been living in the home of her uncle, HaRav Moshe Mordechai Epstein zt'l, the rosh yeshiva.

After his marriage, Rev Meir was appointed as a maggid shiur in the yeshiva and served as one of the spiritual overseers, alongside HaRav Yehuda Leib Chasman zt'l. After HaRav Chasman's petirah, he was appointed mashgiach. During the Chevron riot in Av 5689 (1929), Rav and Rebbetzin Chodosh took refuge in the home of Rav Eliezer Don Slonim.

Their lives were miraculously saved when they hid beneath the bloodstained bodies of murdered Jews. The Arab marauders assumed that they too, were dead and left them alone. Following the Chevron massacre, the yeshiva relocated to Yerushalayim. Rav Meir would relate that after the move there were some who told him that there were those who did not regard the newcomers favorably. Indeed, the yeshiva had not settled initially in Yerushalayim because of the great contrast between the dress and manner of the bochurim and the way of the life of the old yishuv. Amongst them were some of Yerushalayim's greatest sages, such as HaRav Alfandri zt'l, and HaRav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld zt'l.

"The truth was precisely the opposite!" Rav Chodosh would maintain. "They would stand up for every Chevroner who came in to see them." On yomim tovim, Rav Meir would go with a large group of distinguished talmidei chachomim to visit HaRav Isser Zalman Meltzer zt'l and halacha and agadah would be debated, with Reb Meir posing questions and resolving them.

When the visitors left, one of the great roshei yeshiva who was present said that Rav Meir had spoken better than any of them. Several years after the yeshiva moved, Rav Meir was offered a position as rosh yeshiva of a new yeshiva in Warsaw, which HaRav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel zt'l (the rosh yeshiva of Mir and a son of the Alter of Slobodke), intended to establish. Rebbetzin Chodosh was firmly opposed to this plan.

When she travelled around that time to Poland to visit her parents, the Chofetz Chaim zt'l, passed away and she went to his levaya. Following the levaya, she was called to come to the Chofetz Chaim's home, where she found a gathering of all the geonim of Poland and Lithuania, presided over by HaRav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky zt'l. HaRav Mishkovsky zt'l, rav of Kriniki and one of Reb Chaim Ozer's confidants asked her to retract her opposition to her husband's departure for Poland. She, however, reiterated her position and would not agree. Years later, following the churban which befell European Jewry, the rav of Kriniki, who managed to escape, took up residence next to the yeshiva. He commented to the rebbetzin, "You were right, not we. You bested us." End of Part I

 

His influence as the mashgiach par excellence, who produced tens of thousands of students, will forever be felt.

Part II

Keeping Watch The task with which each individual is charged is to survey and to supervise the Gan Eden that he carries within himself, in order to ensure that the seductive serpent does not steal its way in. -- R' Meir Chodosh zt'l Each man stands at the threshold of a palace, of a Gan Eden that he carries within himself. He builds it out of his own intellect, understanding and emotions. Within its confines, he can realize the innate greatness that his Creator implanted within him, rising above his own ego and desires, subjugating his will and growing to the heights he was intended to reach.

Although on the one hand, external factors -- an array of character traits and shifting feelings, and the ever changing circumstances of life -- all exert their influence upon him, they, in and of themselves, do not play a decisive role. On the other hand though, constant vigilance must be maintained to ensure that insidious inner forces -- personal desires, pride, pettiness and narrowness -- do not infiltrate this inner sanctum, contracting its boundless heights and limitless vistas to the short, puny distances that are all that a stunted personality can contemplate.

Man must therefore constantly patrol the Gan Eden within himself, to ensure that neither the alluring aspect of the material world, nor the mirage of self aggrandizement gain a foothold, luring him to sacrifice his true greatness for the sake of their temporary pleasures and temporal prestige.

This was the picture of man which HaRav Meir Chodosh projected with both his speech and his silences, with both the greatest of his deeds and the slightest of his movements. They all bespoke deliberation, forethought and contemplation. The control which he maintained over himself was not the result of a dry, lifeless restraint that represses feeling and spontaneity. It was rather the means by which he resolved the myriad components of different situations and their attendant claims for recognition, into a perfectly balanced response, thereby revealing him as one who had fully attained the stature and greatness for which he and his fellow men were intended. Before he began a shmuess, Reb Meir's fingers would drum upon his shtender as his eyes traversed the faces before him, his fixed expression gently moving from one face to another.

He bore an air of nobility about him that was reminiscent of Slobodke. When he began speaking, his delivery was tranquil, orderly, and punctuated with long silences. His message was carefully built up, each new point adding to the one before, like bricks being carefully positioned in a new wall. Even the construction of the individual sentences was planned.

The movements he made as he spoke were controlled, even forced -- every aspect of the shmuess was clearly the product of a great deal of thought. If Reb Meir waved an arm in the course of a shmuess, the bochurim sought some concealed explanation for it. He never raised his voice nor altered the way he enunciated his words. Thought and careful deliberation were the essence of his being. They were his guides whether he was surrounded by an admiring throng or alone with his thoughts; whether the occasion was one of joy or of sorrow. He was not devoid of emotion; but he kept his emotions under complete control. Reb Meir even had talmidim of many years who expressed surprise to hear that he did display emotion at times. This too, had its place, as befit the circumstances.

Reb Meir would weep as he prayed Shemonah Esrei, and would sing hauntingly while he learned. Then it was possible to glimpse the powerful feelings that churned within him. During the period of the Mandate, it was not unknown to find British soldiers standing outside Reb Meir's room, mesmerized by the melody of longing that emanated from within as Reb Meir sang while he learned. But when he spoke in yeshiva, he was all tranquility and calmness.

His knuckles might whiten as he gripped the shtender but no surges of emotion were allowed to intrude as he transmitted the fundamentals of Slobodke mussar to new generations. His pain upon hearing about the sorrows of the generation, or the demise of gedolei Yisroel r'l, was sharp and real. His own feelings were used to help others, even then. The only occasions upon which he agreed to speak publicly were hespedim, when he reasoned that the sound of his choking sobs that often made it hard for him to speak, would make a powerful impression upon the listeners. When he was told about the tragic deaths of Mrs. Weiss and her three young sons R'l (just a few months before his passing) he wept bitterly five separate times, once over each of the children, once for the mother and once more for the father's anguish.

On one occasion, he came to comfort a family that had lost a young mother of many children R'l. After spending time with her husband and sons, he went to where her bereaved mother was sitting. He entered quietly and stood for a few moments in silence. Then he opened his mouth to try to say something and suddenly burst out in uncontrollable weeping and left.

The mourner later commented that the visit of the mashgiach's had been the most uplifting experience of her life. It was Tisha B'Av night in Chevron Yeshiva. Megilas Eichoh was being read from the steps in front of the Aron Hakodesh, so that everyone might hear. Afterwards, one of the roshei hayeshiva approached the mashgiach and pointed out that Eichah is supposed to be read in an undertone, not loudly. Reb Meir responded that while the megilla was to be read quietly, it was quite acceptable to cry out loud.

To Rise above the Occasion Simchas Torah was always celebrated in Chevron Yeshiva with great rejoicing. Crowds of joyous bochurim would throng the mashgiach's home, filling it with rousing song. Yet Reb Meir would sit there, amid the festivities, earnestly contemplating the yoke which Torah places upon man. He was alive to the message of the day, yet unaffected by the outburst of emotion that ebbed and flowed all around him. He gave all his concentration to his thoughts. Talmidim would enter Reb Meir's room -- there was no point in knocking first -- and try to divert his attention from the thoughts he was wrapped in. A bochur might cough loudly, even at the height of summer, or scrape a chair on the floor but Reb Meir continued to give all his attention to the sefer in front of him.

Once a chavrusa had to leave the room for a few moments, and on his return, he found Reb Meir explaining the topic to his empty chair. When the rebbetzin once had to interrupt him, she tried to do so by moving the sefer from side to side and up and down. But Reb Meir's head just followed the sefer, whichever way it moved! A sefer that changes position is no justification for interrupting learning! There was even one occasion when a bochur entered the mashgiach's room while he was learning in order to take his photograph. He snapped several shots and the flash went off each time, yet the mashgiach did not lift his eyes from the gemora! It was not mere intellect that determined these reactions, or absence of them. Neither did they signify that he was cut off from his surroundings chas vesholom.

Reb Meir's most immediate environment was his inner Gan Eden. That was where his responses were determined. Insufficient reasons for breaking his concentration, whether they took the form of a roomful of dancers, the scraping of a chair or a moving sefer, simply did not budge him. So great was the power of his concentration that he did not realize that his attention was being sought; the disturbances on their own could not shake him. He would describe how HaRav Avrohom Grodzinsky zt'l, Hy'd, spoke to him once at great length about maintaining uninterrupted Torah thoughts for extended periods of time.

Developing this ability stood him in good stead throughout his life. He worked to ensure that all his thoughts, that every single mental activity, could be accounted for. In so doing, he gained control over his personality under all circumstances. When a talmid who was engaged to be married complained to him that the myriad things he had to see to were laying waste to the spiritual boundaries which he maintained for himself, Reb Meir told him, "Right now you are a chosson. After your wedding comes the first year of marriage, with its own particular demands.

With Heaven's help, children will arrive, who will need bringing up . . . [and what of] troubles and illness? My friend, life is such that one has to be in command of oneself! One has to rise above the circumstances!" Reb Meir would continually urge talmidim to be tested on what they had learned. Besides the direct benefits of marshaling their knowledge, if one knows that one will be tested it heightens the awareness that one is not free to come and go as one pleases, even if one's life is dedicated to Torah learning and one's personality is protected from excesses by involvement in Torah. A bochur had to realize that acceptance of the yoke of Torah is a matter of life and death, even after he has satisfied himself that he is learning!

The Art of Interpersonal Dealings The time was two a.m. The members of Reb Meir's household were resting but the light still shone in the mashgiach's room. The elderly Reb Meir had already spent several hours in the company of his visitor, a distinguished looking Torah scholar who sat on, calmly discussing his ideas and insights with his host, who was to rise for a new day in a few more hours. Reb Meir was giving the man his full concentration. A warm smile rested on his face and he listened to every word with evident enjoyment.

Whatever else he might have wanted to be doing was far from his thoughts, as was any tiredness he may have been feeling. When the visitor, a warm hearted and understanding man, was asked the next day how he had allowed himself to rob the mashgiach of his sleep and his energies, he responded in amazement, "Rob him?! Cholila! I saw his beaming eyes and the look of pleasure on his face and I overcame my own tiredness to give the rebbe some enjoyment!" One of the most often traversed areas of the inner Gan Eden is the one which governs relations with one's fellow men.

Learning to subdue one's own immediate distractions and maintain a pleasant countenance toward other people was a subject to which Reb Meir devoted much of his own and his pupils' attention. Whatever inner struggles a person is undergoing, they ought not to become the burden of those around him. "A man who walks around in public with a beclouded face," Reb Meir would quote the Alter as saying, "is a public hazard!" Even while one of the mashgiach's own sons was undergoing a difficult operation, a talmid who came to speak to him was received cordially. The talmid stayed on for a long time, but Reb Meir in no way hurried him or hinted that he was under pressure just then.

One of the most often repeated recollections of Reb Meir, mentioned by tens of talmidim among them men who have since developed into great Torah scholars, was his beaming countenance, the highlight of which was the smile that was always visible upon his face. Every greeting, even a simple "Good morning" or "Gutt Shabbos," was accompanied by that broad, warming smile. During the days of shiva, when many of the talmidim who visited relived their memories of the mashgiach, there was one formula that was heard over and over again, in almost the same words: "The mashgiach was a benevolent father.

He loved everyone as though they were a part of himself. And yet, with me he shared a special friendship . . . " The different aspects of interacting pleasantly with others were discussed by Reb Meir at length. Once, for over six months, he delivered a va'ad that was devoted to the topic of calm, gentle speech. These va'adim had three sections: speaking softly, speaking slowly and calmly and finding pleasant things to say. A ben Torah who aspired to the standards of Slobodke had to rework the way he spoke so as to make his words more pleasant to the listener.

On many occasions, talmidim saw Reb Meir open his mouth as though to say something, only to close it again quickly. After some further internal reworking, he would actually speak, and what he said was a pleasure to hear. He had an unusual way of reacting to a bochur's late arrival at a va'ad which he held in his home.

It serves as a wonderful example of the way in which he trained his talmidim to adapt in their speech. He would observe, "You've come late. Without a doubt you must be extremely occupied . . . and it must be a sacrifice on your part to take the trouble to come despite everything! Be glad of that! We are happy that you have joined us!"

Good Will To a group that was discussing the trait of anger with him, he once pointed out that, "It is not the trait of anger that needs working on, but the trait of good will. Once a person's anger is aroused it is too late to work on it. However, if one maintains good will and sees things in a positive light, one will never reach the point of getting angry."

The main thing to watch, he would say, was to speak in a calm frame of mind. This would automatically lead to the desired type of speech. If one was troubled, one's speech tended to tumble out. Why was it, he asked, that people spoke harshly? Because of the feeling that otherwise, nobody would listen. Chazal commented regarding this, "Rather the reproach of the fathers, than the humility of the sons." The posuk (Bereishis 31:36), tells us, "Yaakov's anger flared and he quarreled with Lavan." What was the extent of Yaakov Ovinu's entire quarrel? "What is my sin and my shortcoming, that you have rushed after me?" He did not make demands; he was defending himself! If he would have verbally attacked Lavan, who knows what the consequences might have been? In the event, they were able to speak to each other.

At the beginning of this section, we mentioned that interpersonal relations were an oft traversed part of the inner Gan Eden and this should be stressed once more. Their correction and perfection was part of the work to be done as man strives to attain his true greatness -- a part whose importance cannot be overestimated, a part which he never ceased mentioning, yet still a part. Being drawn too far out of oneself by contact with others negated the thrust of Reb Meir's teachings.

When a smile and conversation were called for, they ought to be forthcoming unstintingly but in training talmidim, in showing them the greatness for which man was destined, silence also played an important role. Reb Meir once said, "We learned much from the Alter's shmuessen and from the things he said but we learned still more from what he did not say, from his silences." As proof of how silence itself is instructive, he would adduce the extensive Torah writings that have been based on things which Rishonim omitted from their works.

Besides serving as a means of conveying instruction, silence is also necessary for proper assimilation of what has been heard from others. The silences in the course of his own shmuessen were intended to allow the listeners to think through what they had just heard in their own minds. "I heard instructive things, wonderful speeches," he once commented. "Pearls of speech come out of ploni's mouth -- absolutely amazing! -- Ober tzum schweigen kumt dos nisht (It doesn't come close to silence)." And indeed, it was only because he was so firmly ensconced within his inner Gan Eden, in the silent contemplation of understanding and self knowledge, that he was able to offer the fitting response to each individual situation, whenever and however it arose. In his later years, Reb Meir would spend Pesach at the home of his son Rav Yosef.

The house would hum with activity, as crowds of talmidim came to pay the mashgiach their respects over the days of the festival. Naturally, they shared with him divrei Torah concerning the halachos of Pesach. One year, a visitor posed a very difficult question. Reb Meir thought it over for a while and then, his face beaming, produced a very satisfying answer. That same day, a while later, another visitor asked the very same question. Reb Meir listened to him and nodded in acknowledgement of the difficulty. "An eizener kushya!" he agreed. He contemplated the matter again for a while, examining several answers, until he produced his original answer again. The scene repeated itself that day many times.

The question was presented by each visitor in his own way, but it was the same question. And each time, Reb Meir listened eagerly, praised the question and left the visitor feeling wonderful after a fruitful discussion with the mashgiach. Since the person sitting opposite him was posing the question for the first time, it was, for all intents and purposes, the first time for Reb Meir too.

Family members relate that at the Knessia Gedola that was held in Yerushalayim in 5741, just after Reb Meir had risen from his place on the dais in order to leave the gathering, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to take his leave of the venerable neighbor who had been sitting next to him. He turned around, went back to his place and sat down again. He felt unable to go back, simply offer a parting blessing and leave again immediately. It would be obvious that he had forgotten to say good-bye the first time.

He therefore remained seated for a further period and only after a while did he rise again, part warmly from his neighbor, and hurry on to the obligations which awaited him outside. Talmidim recall a fervent expression of his which remains engraved upon their hearts: "In the study halls of mussar, the mere mention of the words `bein odom lechavero' was enough to kindle a flaming fire!"

Be a Blessing! "Concerning the posuk (Bereishis 27:34), `And he shouted a very great and bitter shout,' our Teachers tell us that Yaakov's descendants suffered in the times of Mordechai, on account of Eisov's pain: `and he went out into the city and cried a great and bitter cry' (Esther 4:1). And should you ask, wasn't Yaakov obligated to obey his mother? And don't Chazal tell us that ruach hakodesh rested upon her when she commanded her younger son to take two kid goats? All that is certainly true! Yaakov fulfilled his duty completely! Yet [there was one respect in which he could not help being deficient], he was not being a blessing to all around him!" -- Reb Meir Chodosh One of things which Reb Meir constantly demanded from his talmidim was, `Be a blessing!' Though Hashem told Avrohom Ovinu (Bereishis 12:2), `and I will bless you,' He added this injunction.

A person must see to it that at all times and under all circumstances, he is bringing blessing to his surroundings. One has to get into the habit of being a geber, a giver. On the posuk (Bereishis 33:18), `And he encamped before the city,' Chazal (Shabbos 33) tell us that Yaakov Ovinu introduced currency (money) for the inhabitants of the area. Although after his great victory over Eisov's mal'ach, Yaakov Ovinu was leading a nomadic existence and was burdened with the care of his family and property, he still found it important to provide a currency for the people of Shechem.

They lacked a currency there, Yaakov Ovinu had the means to rectify the situation, and the trait of wanting to give something to others did the rest. A yearly event in Reb Meir's family was Machaneh Bnei Torah, whose aim is to influence pupils of the National Religious yeshiva high school network to enroll in yeshivos kedoshos. There were many occasions when Reb Meir was asked not to attend the camp, among the reasons was that it was not quite the setting for a mashgiach of his seniority and standing.

Reb Meir brushed aside such arguments saying that he had not come to this world for honor and if there was any way in which his attendance could help, he would go. HaRav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi, Reb Meir's son-in-law and rosh yeshiva of Ateres Yisroel, related that one year one of the campers, who had not been among the camp's most assiduous learners, gave up going on one of the trips, explaining, "I can't take my eyes off that princely figure, who sits for hours on end by the shtender, without lifting his eyes from the gemora."

This boy said that he had decided to join a yeshiva kedoshah as a result of what he had seen in the mashgiach. A closet was once delivered to Reb Meir's house. The porter who carried it inside sat down next to the elderly mashgiach and began recounting a string of curious stories. Reb Meir's son heard the man's tales and tried to put an end to the encounter but the mashgiach signaled to him to leave the man alone. When the porter had left, he explained that having his stories listened to was all that the man had in his life. When it was in his power to bestow a favor on his fellow man, he seized the opportunity.

A Giant Canvas On several occasions he related how as a young bochur he had once accompanied the Alter on a trip to Berlin. They went to visit the Seridei Eish, HaRav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg zt'l, who asked the Alter, "Talmidim from Yeshivas Slobodke come to visit Berlin and when I ask them to repeat our teacher's shmuessen and teachings, they can only repeat a few. Yet I know that your honor guides others with his words day and night! How can it be [that there is so little they can say over]?" "I asked the Alter for permission to reply to the gaon," Reb Meir would relate, "And I told him, `When, in the course of his review, a bochur cites Chazal's statement that the mal'ochim who serve Hashem wanted to proclaim `Kodosh' before Odom Horishon, and the bochur says this as though it were something very simple and self evident, that's only because he's heard a great number of shmuessen, which have properly implanted this realization within him. The bochurim are therefore not really repeating a single shmuess, but are displaying the influence of a number of shmuessen.' He was pleased with this reply and I carried on, asking him whether the [Slobodke] bochurim that visited him were similar to bochurim from other yeshivos.

He answered, `Indeed not -- they make a special impression.' I told him, `That's it. That is the result of the shmuessen they have heard.' What one heard in Reb Meir's shmuessen varied from individual to individual, according to the listener's character and spiritual level. There were neither emotional outbursts nor dazzling flashes of sophistry. There was great depth and the lucid presentation of basic concepts but these too were concealed beneath a broad mantle of simplicity and humility.

In his shmuessen Reb Meir was building attitudes and outlook. He was erecting an entire edifice of thought and feeling, by its nature work that progresses slowly and methodically, beginning with the foundations and paying continual attention to detail. Mussar thought was far too important a matter to him to be relegated to the level of mere verbal pyrotechnics or bursts of nervous excitement. Whenever a new talmid began attending shmuessen, he would grope in the dark for some frame of reference. He would hear pesukim repeated, would catch seemingly random ideas here and there and would not know what to make of it. After a year or two, he would find that the shmuessen were having a cumulative effect. He would notice the new patterns of thought that they had instilled in him. Somehow, somewhere along the line, something of the mashgiach's soul had become his own.

This was not a process that could take place in fits and starts. It required continual and continuous attention. There could be no `stocking up' on the inspiration and coming back when one felt like more. Whoever needed that type of experience had to look elsewhere. Full exposure to the richness of Reb Meir's character and vision, which could only be attained over a long period of time, revealed that the whole was much, much more than the sum of the individual parts. In fact, this was the process through which the mashgiach had succeeded in absorbing so much of the Alter's essence.

They had been inseparable for twenty years. Reb Meir's entire approach was founded upon absorbing from one's rebbe, as a prerequisite for independent progress. The fact that this or that detail may not seem to fit was not a reason to reject or refute. A young talmid once interrupted a shmuess with a question on what was being said. Reb Meir was taken aback and sharply instructed him to wait until the shmuess was over.

Having finished, he said to the talmid, "A yeshiva represents an entire edifice, planned down to the smallest detail . . . and in a yeshiva, one doesn't ask questions in the middle of shmuessen!" Besides his deliberate preservation of many of the Alter's original formulations of his teachings, Reb Meir also strongly supported Yiddish as the language in which shmuessen were delivered. So it had been in Slobodke and so it continued in Chevron.

When he was once asked how it could be that Yiddish could get closer to the inner meaning of Torah than loshon hakodesh, Reb Meir replied simply that, "Knesses Yisroel is the creation of the Alter. Reb Nosson Tzvi spoke in Yiddish!" When more time had passed and circumstances forced him to switch to Hebrew, it was an extremely difficult step for him to take. There was a bochur who stopped going in to hear the shiur. The mashgiach of course did not take him to task over it. (He generally refrained from upbraiding bochurim on the spot; he always waited for some suitable opportunity to mention things by the way.) But once, when they happened to be travelling on the bus together to Hadassah Hospital, Reb Meir asked him why he wasn't going to the shiur.

The bochur replied that there was nothing to hear there. Reb Meir asked him to repeat something the maggid shiur had said and the bochur did so, adding that there was nothing noteworthy in it. Reb Meir began to argue with him, telling him that the maggid shiur's intention had been such and such, and that when he said this he was referring to a further matter . . . until finally the bochur said, "It's all very well, but it is the mashgiach who said all this, not the maggid shiur." Reb Meir responded, "And what about the maggid shiur's mode of expression?"

Two Sides of the Same Coin It was primarily through the Alter of Slobodke that mussar took firm root in the yeshiva world. Besides the numerous Torah institutions which he founded in prewar Eastern Europe, the Alter trained a handful of outstanding talmidim whom Heaven led to America and Eretz Yisroel, to rebuild the yeshivos there.

While almost all, but not all, of them became roshei yeshiva, every single one was a godol beTorah. It was no accident that the heritage of Slobodke found its expression through these men. Gadlus ho'odom and gadlus beTorah are inseparable. The former came to remind man of the greatness he could attain, but without the latter there could be no growth. Reb Meir was a paramount example of this.

As a bochur, he was one of the best in the yeshiva. He studied together with Reb Boruch Ber; together they prepared the latter's shiurim on Yevomos. Even as mashgiach, he delivered intricate chaburos on the topics that were being studied in the yeshiva. He would regularly enter the beis hamedrash during seder and contribute a thought provoking kushya of his own to the heated debates that were underway. His question would pass from one talmid to another, prompting discussion and attempted answers. Some would make their way to Reb Meir's home to offer their solutions. And even during periods when his duties as mashgiach took up large amounts of his time, his intense application to learning and his refusal, under any circumstances, to forgo the regular sedorim that he set for himself, were powerful examples to his talmidim.

The Alter was shocked when he discovered that there were those who claimed that scholarship in Slobodke had suffered on account of the yeshiva's mussar regimen. He regarded the accusation leveled by the opponents of mussar -- that its study facilitated ignorance finding a place within the walls of the beis hamedrash -- as nothing short of a crime. Such a charge was a cruel blow to the nobility of the Slobodke character.

The Alter heaped praises upon one of the opponents of the mussar system, after the latter visited Slobodke and spoke highly of the standard of Torah learning there. The Alter considered this visitor, if not quite a `seeker' or a man of ambition, as being, at least, the possessor of an open mind. Besides the well known kollel of HaRav Yitzchok Elchonon Spektor zt'l, there was a second kollel in Kovno for a number of years, which the Alter established. The standard and intensity of the learning there was exceptional.

Among the members were great Torah scholars, some who had served as rabbonim and disseminators of Torah, such as the Divrei Yechezkel, and HaRav Dovid Rappaport, a maggid shiur in Baranovitch. HaRav Rappaport's second sefer, Mikdash Dovid, which earned him great praise, was written in the setting of this kollel. It was said in Slobodke that the difference between the Alter's Kovno kollel and other kollelim was the same as the difference between the Tzemach Dovid (HaRav Rappaport's earlier sefer) and the Mikdash Dovid.

When Reb Meir paid a visit to this kollel, and witnessed the fire and the vigor of the learning there, he was troubled by a question, which he put to the Alter a number of times. There was full application to learning, lomdus and pilpul, but where was the mussar? "You have opened a kollel for mussar, yet, though one sees gedolei Yisroel there, one doesn't witness toil in mussar. All one sees is greatness in Torah . . . " And the Alter would reply cryptically, "Can't you see it?" repeating these words several times.

Reb Meir would say that at first, he did not understand what the Alter was telling him but that after a time, he realized what his answer was. Mussar was intended to transform its students and in so doing, it also transformed their progress in Torah. The Alter was telling him that mussar's highest goal was to transform man into a talmid chochom, into a repository for Torah. Toiling and laboring in Torah was the very embodiment of mussar! Toiling in Torah was the highest expression of the elevated mindset which Slobodke sought to cultivate. Reb Meir would argue that a person who had learned Shas was the only really fitting subject to receive mussar instruction. Without Shas, there were no raw materials, nothing to work with. "There is," Reb Meir would say, "no one to talk to."

To the same extent that he conveyed Slobodke's vision of man's innate greatness and intrinsic worth, Reb Meir adjured his talmidim to apply themselves to learning, advised them how to learn, prodded them to achieve complete clarity in what they learned, to review and to test themselves and to make sure that they retained their learning.

Whenever he spoke about the former, he spoke about the latter. They were not separate topics that he just happened to mention together; they were one and the same. True greatness, in Torah and in character, can only develop together, hand in hand. That is the only way to reach the Gan Eden that each person carries within himself.

Conclusion For at least four generations, the Alter's teachings have been widely absorbed through many different channels. In both words and deeds, each of his talmidim exemplified the greatness that he cultivated within them, in their own individual ways. Today the Alter's influence has spread and diversified to the point where it has taken on very different forms, while still remaining, in essence, directly attributable to him. In this respect too, HaRav Meir Chodosh was like the Alter. His influence upon generations of bochurim, many of whom today are passing on the ideas which they received from him to their own talmidim, continues to grow and to spread. Few, if any, of today's yeshiva bochurim knew him. Yet even those who had no direct connection with him ought to be aware of the debt they, and the Torah world in Eretz Yisroel owe him.

 

Exceedingly special Famous Rabbis

please select The Ben Ish Chai Yarzheit 13th Elul Reb Chaim Vital Yarzheit 30th Nissan Rabbi Yonosson ( Yonatan ) Ben Uziel, Targum Yonosson in Amuka 26th Sivan The Rebbe Reb Yehonossan Eibeshitz, Author of Yaaros Devash 21st Elul Reb Eliezer Gordon , Telzer Rosh Yeshiva , Yarzheit 4th Adar 1 The Sassover Rebbe , Rabbi Simcha Rubin, Yarzheit 10th Sivan The Manchester Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Yidel Segal, Yarzheit 22nd Shevat The Shaages Arye and Shvus Yaakov , METZ The Chofetz Chaim - Reb Yisroel Meir Kagan 24th Elul Rabbi Akiva Eiger , Yarzheit 13th Tishrei The Chassam Sofer - חתם סוֹפר Rabbi Moshe Sofer , Yarzheit 25th Tishrei Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum - First Satmar Rebbe , Yarzheit 28th Tammuz Reb Meir Shapiro yarzheit 7th Cheshvan Reb Yankele Leizer of Pshevorsk

Famous Chassidish Rebbes

please select The Baal Shem Tov Yarzheit 6th Sivan The Gerer Rebbe - Rabbi Yisroel Alter Yarzheit 2nd Adar Rabbi Chaim Meir Hager Vizhnitzer Rebbe Yarzheit 9th Nissan The Kopyczynitzer Rebbe: Reb Moshe Mordechai Heschel 17th Nissan The Novominsker Rebbe: Rabbi Nochum Mordechai Perlow 9th Elul Reb Yaakov Yitzchak of P'shischa Yarzheit 19th Tishrei The Satmar Rebbe Yarzheit 26th Av The Sefas Emes Yarzheit 5th Shevat Rav Meir Shapiro Yarzheit 7th Cheshvan Reb Meier Shapiro (JO) (article 2) Yarzheit 7th Cheshvan Rabbi Dov Ber Beidenfeld The Tshebiner Rebbe Yarzheit 4th Cheshvan Reb Menachem Ziemba Yarzheit 19th Nissan Reb Yankel Leizer Reb Itzikel Gewirczman

Chassidish Rebbes are mainly Polish Rabbis whom focused on serving God through love, happiness and kindness.

Famous Rabbis

please select The Aderes: Rav Eliyahu Dovid Rabinowitz - Te'imim (YN) Yarzheit 3rd Adar The Baba Sali, Rav Yisroel Abuchatzeira ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 4th Shevat Alter of Slobodke by his talmid HaRav Meir Chodosh (DD) Yarzheit 29th Shevat Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 20th Adar Rav Meir Ashkenazi zt'l - The Rav of Shanghai - Yarzheit 26th Av 1954 Rav Zelig Reuven Bengis ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 7th Sivan Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim ben Eliyahu , The Ben Ish Chai . Yarzheit 13th Elul Rabbi Aharon Yoseif Baksht (JO) Yarzheit 16th Tammuz HaRav Simcha Ziskind Broide zt"l (DD) Yarzheit 19th Nissan The Chasam Sofer (YN) Yarzheit 25th Tishrei The Chofetz Chaim , Reb Yisroel Meir Kagan Yarzheit 24th Elul The "Chofetz Chaim" (JO) Yarzheit 24th Elul The Chofetz Chaim Comes to Vienna (JO) Yarzheit 24th Elul Memories of the Chofetz Chaim (DD) Yarzheit 24th Elul The Chazon Ish (JO) Yarzheit 15th Cheshvan The Chida, Rav Chaim Yosef David Azulai ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 11th Adar The Chida (DD) Yarzheit 11th Adar A Mashgiach Par Excellence Rav Meir Halevi Chodosh, ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 28th Teves Dr. Leo Deutschlander (JO) Yarzheit 9th Av HaRav Yehoshua Leib Diskin (DD) Yarzheit 29th Teves Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler (JMR) Yarzheit 24th Teves HaRav Yehoshua Leib Diskin (DD) Yarzheit 29th Teves The Rebbe Reb Yehonossan Eibeshitz, Author of Yaaros Devash . Yarzheit 21st Elul Rav Meir Zvi Ehrentreu Z"TL (YN) Yarzheit 6th Elul Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein (YN) Yarzheit 10th Kislev Rabbi Avraham Abba Freedman (YN) Shraga and Golda Frank (JO Rav Binyomin Beinush Finkel of Mir ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 18th Shevat Rav Yisroel Yaakov Fisher (YN Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, The Telzer Rosh Yeshiva . Yarzheit 4th Adar Rabbi Moshe Yitzchok Gerwirczman (JO) Yarzheit 10th Tishrei Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzensky (JO) Yarzheit 5th Av HaRav Gifter ZT"L - Rosh Yeshiva Telz USA Yarzheit 16th Sivan Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner yarzheit 23rd Tishrei Rav Tzvi Grossbard (YN) Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (YN) Yarzheit 27th Teves Rav Yosef Yoizel Horowitz ZT"L The Alter of Novardok (YN) Yarzheit 17th Kislev Rav Yitzchak Hutner (Jewish Action) with photos Yarzheit 20th Kislev Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz zt"l (JO) HaRav Avrohom Tzvi Hirsch Kamai zt'l, Hy'd, (DD) Yarzheit 18th Cheshvan Rabbi Avrohom Karp , yarzheit 19th of Elul The Kaf HaChaim (YN) Reb Yaakov Chaim Sofer, Yarzheit 9th Sivan Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky (DD) Yarzheit 29th Adar Kelme - An Uprooted Tree Reb Dovid Kronglas (JO) Rabbi Yoseif Kahaneman The Ponevezer Rov (JO) Yarzheit 20th Elul HaRav Chaim Kreiswirth, zt"l, on his first Yahrtzeit (DD) Yarzheit Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook (WMM) with photos from the world Mizrachi Website Yarzheit 3rd Elul A Letter by Rav Kook Yarzheit 3rd Elul Rav Kook's Mission to America Rav Moshe Landynski zt"l (YN) Yarzheit 18th Adar Reb Baruch Ber Lebowitz (JO) Yarzheit 5th Kislev Rav Alexander Moshe Lapidus ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 10th Adar HaRav Yechezkel Levenstein Zt'l, (DD) Yarzheit 18th Adar Rav Yerucham Levovitz, zt"l (YN) Yarzheit 18th Sivan Reb Yisrael Yaakov Lubchansky (JO The Maharam (YN) Yarzheit 4th Adar The Maharsha (YN) Yarzheit 5th Kislev The Marharshal (YN) Yarzheit 12th Kislev Remembrances of Mir Yeshiva The MeAm Loez (JO) Rabbi Yaakov Culi , Yarzheit 19th Av Rav Chaim Chizkiya Medini (The Sdei Chemed) Yarzheit 24th Kislev Rav Avigdor Miller ZT"L (YN). Yarzheit 17th Nissan Rabbi Avigdor Miller (JO) with photos . Yarzheit 17th Nissan Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT"L Yarzheit 17th Nissan The Shoel Umeishiv -R' Yosef Shaul Natansohn (DD) Yarzheit 26th Adar The Netziv Reb Natoli Yehuda Zvi Berlin ( Bar - Ilan ) Yarzheit 28th Av The Noda B'Yehuda (YN) Reb Yechezkel Halevi Landau, Yarzheit 17th Iyar The World of Novaradok (JO) HaRav Yehuda Leib Nekritz (DD) Yazrheit 27th Sivan The Or Sameach (YN) Reb Meir Simcha Hakohen of Dvinsk , Yarzheit 4th Elul The Ponevezher Rabbonim: HaRav Itzele Ponevezher , Yarzheit 21st Adar 1 Reb Pesach Puskin (JO) Yarzheit 11th Cheshvan The Rambam (YN) Reb Moshe ben Maimon , Yarzheit 20th Teves The Rif: (YN) Reb Yitzchak AlFasi , Yarzheit 10th Iyar HaRav Yitzchok Isaac Halevi Rabinowitz, zt'l Author Of Doros Horishonim The Rogatchover (JO) Yarzheit 11th Adar 1 Reb Meshulam Roth yarzheit 16th Kislev Rabbi Yehoshua Zelig Ruch (JG), the Lomza Rosh Hayeshiva Rav Yechezkel of Sarna (YN) Yarzheit 6th Elul Reb Meir Shapiro yarzheit 7th Cheshvan The Maharam Schick - Reb Moshe Schick , Yarzheit 1st Shevat Reb Yehuda Zev Segal ZT"L,The Manchester Rosh Yeshiva Yarzheit 22nd Shevat The Brisker Legacy The Soleveitchik Family (JO) Remembering Reb Chaim Brisker - Reb Chaim Soleveitchik (JO) Yarzheit 21st Av Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik [Beis Haleivi] (YN) Yarzheit 4th Iyar Rav Aharon Soleveitchik yarzheit 18th tishrei Rav Zalman Sorotzkin ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 9th Tammuz Rav Yitzchok Elchonon Spector ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 21st Adar HaRav Yechezkel Sarna Part I (DD) Yarzheit 29th Shevat Reb Moshe Schwab (JO) HaRav Shmuel Hillel Shenker zt'l (DD) Yarzheit 27th Teves Rav Yitzchok Eizek Sher (YN) Yarzheit 10th Shevat The Shloh Hakodosh (DD) Yarzheit 11th Nissan Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmulevitz (JO) Yarzheit 3rd Teves Rabbi Michel Dovid Slapobersky (JG) Yarzheit 10th Tishrei Rav Elozar Schach (YN) Yarzheit 16th Cheshvan Rav Elozar Schach (YN) by Rav Mordechai Kamenetsky Rav Elazar Menachem Man Schach ZT"L (JOL) yarzheit 16th Cheshvan Rav Avraham Shaag ZT"L (YN) The Steipler Gaon, Zt'l (DD) Yarzheit 25th Av Rav Teitz , Yarzheit 4th Teves Reb Elchonon Wasserman (JO) Yarzheit 13th Tammuz HaRav Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss, the Minchas Yitzchok zt'l (DD) Yarzheit 11th Sivan Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl (JO) Yarzheit 6th Kislev

Famous Sefardic Rabbis

Rabbis who originally came from Mediterranean countries like Spain , North Africa, Italy and the Middle East like Israel, Syria, Yemen and Iraq . The Name "Sefard" is the hebrew word for Spain - hence Sefardic jews originated from Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, who fled to North Africa and even as far as South America with Columbus .

please select The Baba Sali, Rav Yisroel Abuchatzeira ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 4th Shevat The Ben Ish Chai Yarzheit 13th Elul The Chida, Rav Chaim Yosef David Azulai ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 11th Adar The Chida (DD) Yarzheit 11th Adar The Kaf HaChaim (YN) Reb Yaakov Chaim Sofer, Yarzheit 9th Sivan The MeAm Loez (JO) Rabbi Yaakov Culi , Yarzheit 19th Av Rav Chaim Chizkiya Medini (The Sdei Chemed) Yarzheit 24th Kislev The Rambam (YN) Reb Moshe ben Maimon , Yarzheit 20th Teves The Rif: (YN) Reb Yitzchak AlFasi , Yarzheit 10th Iyar

Famous Rabbis - Baalei Mussar

Baalei Mussar Rabbis who believed in strict self control and discipline in the service to GOD

please select Rabbi Segal Manchester Rosh Yeshiva 22nd Shevat Rabbi Gordon Telzer Rosh Yeshiva 5th Adar 1 The Alter of Slobodke by his talmid HaRav Meir Chodosh (DD) Yarzheit 29th Shevat Rabbi Aharon Yoseif Baksht (JO) Yarzheit 16th Tammuz HaRav Simcha Ziskind Broide zt"l (DD) Yarzheit 19th Nissan Rav Meir Halevi Chodosh, ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 28th Teves Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler (JMR) Yarzheit 24th Teves Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein (YN) Yarzheit 10th Kislev Shraga and Golda Frank (JO) HaRav Gifter ZT"L - Rosh Yeshiva Telz USA Yarzheit 16th Sivan Rav Yosef Yoizel Horowitz ZT"L The Alter of Novardok (YN) Yarzheit 17th Kislev Rav Yitzchak Hutner (Jewish Action) with photos Yarzheit 20th Kislev Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky (DD) Yarzheit 29th Adar Reb Dovid Kronglas (JO) Kelme - An Uprooted Tree Rav Alexander Moshe Lapidus ZT"L (YN) Yarzheit 10th Adar HaRav Yechezkel Levenstein Zt'l, (DD) Yarzheit 18th Adar Rav Yerucham Levovitz, zt"l (YN) Yarzheit 18th Sivan Reb Yisrael Yaakov Lubchansky (JO) Rav Avigdor Miller ZT"L (YN). Yarzheit 17th Nissan Rabbi Avigdor Miller (JO) with photos . Yarzheit 17th Nissan In the Words of Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT"L Yarzheit 17th Nissan The World of Novaradok (JO) HaRav Yehuda Leib Nekritz (DD) Yazrheit 27th Sivan Rabbi Yehoshua Zelig Ruch (JG), the Lomza Rosh Hayeshiva HaRav Yechezkel Sarna Part I (DD) Yarzheit 29th Shevat Reb Moshe Schwab (JO) HaRav Shmuel Hillel Shenker zt'l (DD) Yarzheit 27th Teves Rav Yitzchok Eizek Sher (YN) Yarzheit 10th Shevat The Shloh Hakodosh (DD) Yarzheit 11th Nissan Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmulevitz (JO) Yarzheit 3rd Teves Rabbi Michel Dovid Slapobersky (JG) Yarzheit 10th Tishrei

Famous Rabbis Yarzheit's

A complete list of famous Rabbis and Rebbes Yarzheit's - Anniversary of passing from this world .

Please click on any of the Jewish months below to see the "yarzheit's" of famous rabbis .

Nissan   Iyar   Sivan   Tammuz   Av   Elul   Tishrei   Cheshvan   Kislev   Teves   Shevat   Adar