By By M. Samsonowitz

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

When young Rav Avigdor was yet 17 years old, he spoke in English before a crowd of a 1000 worshippers before Kol Nidrei services after the congregation's rav had spoken in Yiddish. He avidly attended and listened to the Yiddish droshos of the distinguished rabbonim in Baltimore. Rav Gifter once told Rav Miller's son, "The zchus of my learning Torah is due to your father. It was he who encouraged me to go study in Europe." The six years he spent in the Slabodka yeshiva were the turning point in his life. It was in these years that he incubated in the Slabodka philosophy of gadlus ha'odom and tikkun hamidos which laid the groundwork for his Torah worldview and teachings.

His diligence in Torah study in the Slabodka yeshiva was legendary. He would sit and learn gemora for hours at end. His shirt sleeves were worn out from the many hours he pored over his studies at his shtender in the yeshiva. He also spent many hours avidly going over the Chovos Halevovos, the classic mussar text which was his lifelong article of faith.

In 1935, he married his life partner for sixty-six years, Ethel Lessin, the daughter of Rav Yaakov Moshe Lessin, rav of Neishtat and later the mashgiach ruchani of Yeshivas Rabbenu Yitzchok Elchonon in New York.

Returning to the United States at the age of 30 in 1939, the young man would spend the following 63 years of his life refining his unique educational techniques and disseminating his views which emphasized non-ending Torah study, constant contemplation on Hashem and His works, and fierce dedication to a Torah way of life.

Rabbinical Appointment in Chelsea

The first rabbinical position which Rav Avigdor accepted was in an Orthodox synagogue in Chelsea, Massachusetts. This small Jewish community was mired in the same difficult throes as other American Jewish communities during that time - the younger generation was ignorant, disaffected and in the process of rapid assimilation. Getting them interested in Judaism was easy.

Rav Miller asked around: Is there anyone who has a son who wants to learn?

He was introduced to a young Jewish man who was working as a butcher.

Feeling the young man had potential, Rav Miller commenced to study Torah with him. After a while, the young man quit his job and came to study full-time with Rav Miller. With time, the young man married and became a Jewish teacher in a yeshiva in Boston.

One success story in an entire Jewish community! Rav Miller knew that Torah study and only Torah study could maintain Judaism. It was necessary to found a Jewish school where children would be imbued with Judaism from their earliest years. He mounted a campaign to found a Jewish day school with the assistance of his father-in-law, Rav Yaakov Moshe Lessin. The fierce opposition of the supporters of the afternoon Talmud Torahs had to be surmounted, but finally he succeeded. The school opened its doors and congregants began to send their children to study in it.

In the meantime, Rav Miller had the pressing problem of his own children's education. His oldest son had reached school age, but, well aware of the atmosphere of the public schools, Rav Miller had procured for his son a special exemption from school. His son studied his English studies privately with a tutor and Rav Miller taught him his Jewish studies. The lad had to show up in the public schools twice a year to take evaluation tests. It was not a preferred arrangement, and Rav Miller feared that what happened to the children of other rabbonim would happen to his own. He began to think seriously of moving to a larger Jewish population center.

The dedication ceremony of the school's new building was held in 1944. Rav Miller had decided to invite the distinguished rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Chaim Berlin, Rav Yitzchak Hutner, to speak at the event. Rav Hutner had studied many years in Slabodka, and was famous as a preeminent Slabodka graduate.

Before Rav Miller could call Rav Hutner, though, Rav Hutner called him. To his great surprise and joy, Rav Miller was offered to take the job as mashgiach of Yeshivas Rabeinu Chaim Berlin. This would give him the chance to move to New York where vibrant Jewish education was available for his children. He jumped at it.

The day following the school's dedication, Rav Miller told his baalebatim that he was leaving for New York. The upset was great, but no amount of pleading could get him to change his mind.

However, he did not leave the congregation without guidance. He called his earlier disciple who was teaching in Boston to take over the school. This man made it a great success, and used it as a springboard to engage in kiruv activities throughout the Jewish community. One or two busloads of youths from Chelsea starting coming to Camp Aguda on scholarship every summer. From that initial contact, many went on to Yeshivas Torah Vodaas and other yeshivos. The eventual result was that entire families remained religious, faithful Jews. Today, these youths who remained religious due to Rav Miller' s efforts in Chelsea have hundreds of descendants who are firmly placed in the religious world.

Rav Miller was later to say that if he had just remained in Chelsea and not gone to New York, that alone would have been his ticket to the World to Come.

A Rav in Young Israel

The Millers moved to East Flatbush and Rabbi Miller took up his position in Yeshivas Rabeinu Chaim Berlin. Shortly after he arrived, he was invited by the Young Israel of Rugby to be their unofficial rav. The shul, located at East 49 street in Brooklyn, was a modest building that didn't even had a sign on it. It had 150 seats for men and 70 for women.

In 1946-47 Rav Miller given the official appointment. What attracted the congregants to him initially was that he was a learned scholar, he spoke English very well, and he happened to be living right there.

Members of Young Israel in those days were a group of outstanding idealists that were Torah heroes of their time. It was these people who created the original religious centers in New York and out of town, and it was they who campaigned to influence Jewish storeowners to close their shops on Shabbos, which was an formidable trial in those days.

They offered a vibrant Jewish environment, social activities, spirited davening and youth groups for Jewish youths attending public schools and young adults in the work force.

Rav Miller's congregation soon discovered that their rabbi was unlike any other rabbi they had before. The first thing he demanded was complete decorum in shul. Chattering in shul was common in those times, and most people were laboring under the impression that a shul was supposed to double as a social hall.

Talking during prayers would not be countenanced in Rav Miller's shul, period. Rav Miller's princely demeanor and piercing eye immediately conveyed to his congregants that there was no room for negotiating on this demand in the Young Israel of Rugby throughout chazaras hashatz and the Torah reading, the only sound that could be heard in shul was an insuppressible cough. If your eyes were closed, you could almost think no one was there.

The only youth who were permitted to come to shul were those who could sit next to their fathers and daven without disturbing others.

Non-congregation members who came to the shul to attend bar mitzvas quickly discovered that no one dare tamper with the rules. Anyone who dared break the decorum was sent out of the shul.

The Young Israel of Rugby shul became famous for its impressive attendance on Shabbos which was always full. Neither storm nor sleet could keep the congregants from attending shul.

Raising Religious Standards

How does one take a group of simple, good Jews to whom keeping Shabbos, kashrus and going to shul was the ultimate in Yiddishkeit -- and make them into bnei Torah? Rav Miller carefully laid his plans.

First Rav Miller consolidated his position in the shul. Once he found a group of congregants in the shul who listened to him and appreciated his challenge to strive for higher spiritual achievements, he proceeded on to the next step.

He challenged them to fine-tune their observance of Judaism. He was instrumental in founding the mikvah in East Flatbush and convinced many families to start observing family purity laws. He helped found the Shmiras Shabbos organization to try and get Jews to close their stores on Shabbos.

He kept educating his congregants about the fine points of Jewish law. It was a revelation to most that they couldn't carry their housekeys and handkerchiefs on Shabbos to shul. None of the women covered their hair and none of the men had beards. Slowly Rav Miller introduced their importance.

More than anything else, he spoke to his congregants about the importance of Torah study. He introduced Shabbos morning speeches before Mussaf before they became popular in other shuls. He spoke about the Torah section of the week, the various mitzvos, how to conduct one's life and the importance of Torah. Not only did he speak about it but he prodded you to do something about it.

One of Rav Miller's first and closest disciples recounts how he met Rav Miller as a young boy just after his bar mitzva.

"After hearing Rav Miller speak for 20 minutes," Mordechai recalls, "I felt like I was being introduced to the Ribono Shel Olam for the first time in my life." After many years under Rav Miller's tutelage, Mordechai eventually made aliya and is today a prominent mashgiach in an Israeli yeshiva.

Those of Rav Miller's congregants who wanted to grow under the rav's care, rallied around him and accepted his direction unquestioningly and devotedly. Other members were not as enthusiastic, but they had high regard for Rav Miller's position in the Chaim Berlin Yeshiva and they respected him. Those who preferred to remain in spiritual hibernation and mothball their Yiddishkeit were increasingly uncomfortable until they drew their own conclusions and left.

Rav Miller was unrelenting regarding those members who he felt were withholding the progress of the rest. Such members would often ridicule or disparage the increase in religiosity of the other members. When new members turned out to be troublemakers, he implemented what he wryly called "a membership drive" -- a campaign to drive out members who were detrimental to the others. He would tell them unmincingly, "If you don't learn, you're not a good Jew." He would hammer awa, "The best thing you can do for your kids is learn. If you don't open a sefer in your house, you're not a good Jew."

This was not a popular stance in those days. Since there were 20-30 other synagogues in the vicinity where the congregants didn't get this kind of censure, recalcitrant members left. The devoted followers of the Rav remained the element in the shul with the upper hand.

Although the Young Israel of Rugby was gradually becoming the most religious shul in the neighborhood, only Rebetzin Miller and one other lady wore a sheitel. But within 5 years of Rav Miller being there, at least half if not more of the women were wearing sheitlach. He hammered away at how a Jewish woman has to dress modestly. Although beards were looked down upon at the time, and some of his congregants ran their own businesses or had other visible high positions, many began to grow beards because of the rav's influence.

One Sukkos Rav Miller stood up right before Hallel and taught everyone how to shake a lulav and esrog. He went up to each congregant and made sure he knew how to do it. He also explained why they have to take the Arba minim, and why they turn to four directions.

To get the congregants to build their own sukkos, Rav Miller announced that he would personally visit anyone who put up a sukka. Within two years he had to retract that promise because there were too many sukkahs to visit.

When the Six Day War broke out, a huge quarrel broke out in the shul. Some of the members wanted to collect money and send it to Israel to help support the struggling State. Rav Miller, though, said they should send the money to yeshivos since the huge sums of money being spent for the war effort will reduce the money going to yeshivos. A fierce shul battle resulted in one of the largest membership "drives" that had ever taken place in the shul, but the Rav won out. The shul ended up sending large donations to the biggest Israeli yeshivas such as Ponevezh and Mir.

Significant sums of money were also set aside for the poor of Israel.

The secret of Rav Miller's success in his shul was that he made his baalebatim into his students. Once Rav Miller became their "rebbe", he never had a problem.

When Rav Miller established a 3-man presidium composed of his close followers who ran the shul contingent upon his approval, all controversy in the shul came to an end. The shul members did not hold meetings since everyone accepted the authority and decisions of the rav. When he wanted to raise the mechitza in his shul, Rav Miller simply told the president, and the next week it was done. When the presidium decided on a certain measure, they first sought the rav's approval and then went about implementing it.

Li'shem Shomayim

The congregants accepted the rav's autocratic rule because they knew everything he did was for the sake of Heaven, and all of his decisions emanated from selfless considerations.

This was most evident in how Rav Miller related to money. He refused to take a penny from anyone. Any money which was forced on him he gave to charity.

The shul only charged a $36 membership fee and $25 for seats during the High Holidays. These low fees of course couldn't cover more than a minimal rabbi' s salary, but Rav Miller refused to take more. He claimed that his salary covered his needs. The membership funds basically went for the upkeep of the shul and for advertising the rav's shiurim. Every time a new shiur opened, the shul advertised it in the NY Jewish papers.

When the shul moved to its new location, Rav Miller lived in the apartment on the floor above the shul. Since the shul was paying for his phone, gas, repairs and other sundry expenses, he didn't want to hear about a salary raise. To the contrary, he insisted on deducting $50 from his monthly salary since the shul had just undergone heavy expenses and he didn't want to add to the burden. Once the shul was on more solid footing, however, he refused to accept the money he had foregone. He even refused to take money for selling chometz, a universal custom of expressing appreciation to a Rav. When people would press him to accept money, he would tell them to give it to the shul.

Although membership fees were very low, the congregants gave lavishly to support Torah causes. The shul had a pushka where many congregants dropped some money before they began davening. One day after davening, Rav Miller went to the bima, placed his hand on the pushka and said, "This pushka pumps blood into the veins of the Jewish nation." After that dramatic declaration, the money began to pour in. During the year the proceeds were collected and sent to the five largest yeshivos in Israel -- Mir, Slabodka, Ponevezh, Chevron and Kamenitz.

The rav had his own fund for poor Kollel families in Eretz Yisroel, and the shul also held appeals during the year for American yeshivos. Funds were not collected for any other institutions, because he felt all the other shuls give to them and the yeshivos were not sufficiently supported.

The Groundbreaking Gemora Shiur

The year 1967 was the turning point in the shul. After speaking years on end about the importance of Torah study, Rav Miller had finally convinced 13 of his congregants to start a class in beginning Gemora one night a week. They chose the chapter of Shnayim Ochzim. The most you could say about those first 13 students was that they could daven from a Hebrew siddur.

Since they were unacquainted with Talmudic study, Rav Miller made them write down the lines of the gemora in a notebook, leaving spaces to fill in the explanation of the gemora in the future. Rav Miller read the text correctly to the students, while they filled in the vowels. The students had to review the Hebrew text tens of times until they knew it fluently. Then Rav Miller explained the meaning of each word and phrase and the students had to write the explanations in between the lines of the gemora. The students then had to repeat the explanation until they knew it perfectly.

In this way Rav Miller painstakingly advanced with his students learning a few lines of gemora at a time until by the end of the year, his students knew a small quantity of gemora perfectly.

It was painstaking, tedious work. Most of the students were in their 40's and one man was even 65. It was no small accomplishment to break into gemora study at this age, with all the new concepts and difficult language it involved. However, at the end of that year, the 13 men were proficient in the material that had been taught.

At the end of the year, Rav Miller gave a farher to each student. Each student came to Rav Miller's home and Rav Miller tested him on the entire year's material. Rav Miller pulled out his own gemora and asked the student to explain passages. You weren't allowed to bring your own notes.

When the questions had been answered to his satisfaction, Rav Miller congratulated the students. The thirteen men surged with the thrill of accomplishment!

When that year ended, Rav Miller announced that the coming year, the group would learn a whole chapter of gemora -- Perek Hamafkid! However, to do so successfully, it would be necessary to meet two nights a week.

Feeling a rush of confidence and achievement, the men acquiesced to the new arrangement. Again the Rav had his students write the text out and vowelize it, and then he explained the meaning meticulously. Then the students had to practice reading the text again and again until they had it perfect. Then they had to explain the meaning to each other chavrusa-style. The process involved continuous review until every student knew it almost by heart.

The tape recorder had just been invented and it was drafted to help in the project. Rav Miller installed outlets all around the shiur room so his students could plug in their tape recorders, record the shiur, and then go home and review it some more. It gave the men the opportunity to hear the shiur again as if Rav Miller was his private chavrusa. The students glowed with their newfound literacy.

"We knew the perek perfectly," says one of these students. "We could explain it as well as a bochur in a yeshiva."

When the students' ability to absorb his instruction had increased, Rav Miller increased the night shiur from one hour to an hour and a half. At one point, when Rav Miller became ill, someone suggested that they cut the shiur back to an hour. But Rav Miller said, "Retreat? Never!" In addition to the study itself, the unvarying themes which he continued to pound into his congregants was the importance of Torah study and the respect due to Torah scholars. Derogatory terms and attitudes that had unwittingly seeped into their consciouses referring to Torah students as "bench-kvetchers" were eradicated at their root.

Mission Impossible: An Entire Mesechta

The students were jolted again when in the third year of their study group, the rav insisted that they would learn an entire mesechta! However, to do this, they would have to meet three nights a week -- and as if this wasn't enough, Sunday morning too. Rav Miller instituted a Sunday morning breakfast in shul so the men wouldn't have to go home for breakfast and face distractions that would prevent their return for the shiur.

Sunday afternoon was needed to review the material with chavrusas. With the time, the rav reserved study of the hardest chapters for those few hours of prime study time. From the gemora shiur being an interesting avocation, the students suddenly found themselves studying it as seriously. Because an entire group of congregants were involved, each one reinforced the other's resolve to carry on. They joined each other in reviewing the material through the week. An enormous amount of discipline was required not to let go and let numerous distractions interfere. But the group felt richly rewarded when at the end of that year they had finished their first mesechta.

Although it was becoming popular for religious families to go to the mountains in the summer, this was rare among the students of Rav Miller's gemora shiur. How could one leave the gemora shiur just to get away from the city heat to get fresh mountain air? After all, the rav said that the gemora shiur was more life-giving. One student remembers studying Chullin one summer. "We sweated through Ha'Or v'Harotev and Ailu Trefos," he fondly remembers. "And when he did Perek Chelek in depth, he invited the ladies to join us for the shiur."

Sometimes Rav Miller explained a complicated topic, and to be sure the students knew it, he would call on them to explain it. If a man would hesitate, the rav would tell him, "You have a good head and I know you can grasp this. Apparently, I didn't explain it well enough." He would then start again from beginning.

Besides explaining the meaning of the gemora itself, he utilized the study to convey important lessons in hashkafa and mussar.

"Rabbi Miller was so dynamic," explained Mr. S. "His enthusiasm was infectious. At first, we decided to join the gemora shiur more for him than for ourselves. It took a lot time from the family, and we had to give up many other things for it."

Family Chiding

It was not a simple thing to take away so much time from home and leisure, and devote it to the mindbreaking study of Talmud. Each of the men had parents, brothers and sisters who were rebuking them for neglecting their families.

"My family asked me disapprovingly 'What? Every night you leave your wife alone and go learn? What will she do if she needs to reach you?'" recalls one of the students. When Rav Miller's gemora shiur students helped support their married children in kolel, the family chiding changed to "What will your son do when he leaves Lakewood?"

But we were pleased too because R. Miller explained to us what a wonderful thing it is to have our husbands learn.

Not only would we get 50% of their reward, but they were learning l'shem shomayim, which was a very great mitzva. We were proud of our husbands. And at the shul's banquet which we held every year, every woman whose husband had attended the gemora shiur and had given Rav Miller a tape in which he explained a chapter of gemora by himself, received a big beautiful bouquet."

From the bima in shul on Shabbos, Rav Miller would frequently announce that so-and-so had completed studying an entire chapter or mesechta of gemora.

His constant praise and encouragement for those who would undertake to study gemora generated a jealousy for learning that infected the entire congregation.

When the third year of the gemora shiur finished with the great success of completing an entire mesechta, Rav Miller challenged the group to lift up their vistas. Now they were going to take on all of Shas! The men were stunned when they heard his words. A mere three years ago, they had been a bunch of ignorami -- and now they were going to finish all of the Talmud! It was mad! It was impossible! But they all resolved it was going to happen!

The group, which gradually grew to 40-50 students, persisted in their daily gemora studies. Finally, 14 years later, in 1984, the group finished Shas. This great event was celebrated with a gala siyum -- and the next day the group started Shas again. The gemora shiurim met altogether over 24 years with Rav Miller teaching up until the week of his passing, with many of the original students still participating. They finished Shas almost 3 times within this period.

Some of the students were dumbfounded when, after they finished studying 500 dafim, Rav Miller announced that from here on in they were to use the title of "Rabbi." "Any person who has studied this amount of gemora is deserving of this title," Rav Miller insisted. When the son of one such student was getting married, Rav Miller insisted that the invitation specify that "Rabbi" and Mrs. S. are honored to invite you...

Another congregation rabbi who had years before worked with Rav Miller in Yeshivas Rabeinu Chaim Berlin once commented, "I can bring people to my shul and make them shul Jews, but Rav Miller makes them into angels!"

Wide Range of Shiurim

The gemora shiurim going on in the Young Israel of Rugby was already more than what was available in almost every other shul. But Rav Miller was teaching far more than gemora shiurim. Over the years he developed a prolific program of studies that turned his shul into a virtual yeshiva.

On Friday night he gave shiurim in Chovos Halevovos, spending two winters over Shaar Habechina from which he only reluctantly agreed to move on. Before mincha on Shabbos, Rabbi Miller gave his famous Ein Yaakov shiur on Agadata for both men and women. Between mincha and maariv during the week, he ran a series on Orchos Tzadikim and Hilchos Tshuva of the Rambam. Gemora shiurim were running throughout Sunday and during every weekday morning and night. This was in addition to private study sessions through the day which he held with small groups of devoted students and private chavrusas.

The shul gradually opened gemora study sessions in the late morning, after shacharis, running from 9:30 until 11:00. Some of the participants were businessmen who chose to attend the morning shiurim and spend less hours at work. Some had to give up their vacations to attend.

One time, Rav Miller was beginning Mesechta Krisus one Shabbos morning. He announced to the congregation, "Don't miss another boat!" -- and the shul was filled for the shiur.

The congregants didn't realize themselves how they were changing due to the constant emphasis on Torah study. They became more meticulous in their observance. They adopted practices they hadn't known about or had thought were optional. They insisted on sending their children to better quality yeshivos. They junked their TVs, then their newspapers, and finally their radios. The changes took place not so much because of Rav Miller's exhortations but because the Torah's truth pierced their minds and everything else automatically followed.

Today, of the 175-190 families affiliated with the shul, there are none which doesn't have or didn't have a child who hasn't spent time in Kolel.

The only area in which congregants couldn't stop speaking was about the plethora of shiurim and the high level of studies going around the clock in the shul. Indeed, the spirit and excitement felt by the congregants about learning Torah came to expression when the shul moved in 1975 and renamed itself "Beis Yisroel Torah Center."

A member of the shul who joined in 1970 recalls, "I was looking for a shul where I would be challenged. I knew that if I joined Rav Miller's shul I would have to learn. But I had learned in yeshiva and I wanted to get back into it."

Rav Miller's Unceasing Torah and Avoda

Rav Miller's constant emphasis on his congregants' studying Talmud was a reflection of the far greater demands that he made of himself. Nothing he told people to do he hadn't done himself.

His devotion to gemora study was legendary. When he wasn't teaching his congregants or discharging any other rabbinical duties, he was inevitably studying himself, often into the late hours of the night. He not only hammered on endlessly about the primacy of learning, he was the prime example of this himself.

One of his most frequent sayings was the statement in the gemora: "Ashrei mi shebo lkan v'talmudo veyodo." -- Happy is the one who comes to the Next World proficient in his Jewish studies.

Because he was so preoccupied with his Jewish studies, he never took vacations, and didn't even attend weddings -- even of his own congregants. Even to his own grandchildren's weddings he only went for a short time, and even then only if they took place in New York. When he arrived to the affair, he held his coat in his hand and wouldn't check it in. People weren' t happy about this, but they understood his priorities. Because he was so consistent about it, they accepted it.

Although most of his hours were spent studying gemora, he invested many hours in studying the classic mussar seforim, particularly the Chovos Halevovos and the Mesilas Yesharim. This made him into an outstanding baal mussar, and his learning and davening were saturated with yiras shomayim.

A frequent saying of his was "People should think of Hashem all the time, even when they're davening."

He would say with great veneration, "Do you know what Torah is? Torah is a glimpse into the way Hakodesh Boruch Hu thinks."

Rav Miller had finished Shas numerous times, but he never spoke about himself. He was a tzadik nistar who concealed his personal accomplishments from the public and only revealed what he felt would inspire them to become better Jews themselves.

One of his guiding principles was: "Lo soguru mipnei ish -- fear no man."

He stated his viewpoints dauntlessly, even though many of them were unpopular at the time, particularly his censure of Zionism and society's race after materialism.

At many gatherings, he spoke about how a Jewish person should appear, and encouraged bnei Torah to grow beards and payos. "Distinguished demeanor is a gift from Hashem, and one does not shave Hashem's gift," he would say.

He was a man of deep emotion. At seuda shlishis time, at the close of Shabbos, those who davened with him saw him shed tears of longing and yearning for Hashem. He spoke to Hashem as a son supplicates his beloved father.

The Shul's Yarchei Kallah and Telephone Chavrusa Program

As if the revolution he had implemented in his shul wasn't enough, Rav Miller had big plans for disseminating Torah further afield. Four years after he had started his gemora shiur, he implemented the idea of Yarchei Kallah when it was unheard of in the US. After Labor Day, when hotels were generally empty, the shul arranged for 30-40 families to go away to a hotel. The men would learn in the morning and activities would be held for the women. The rav would lead nature hikes in the afternoon, in which he would expand on the miracles of the world Hashem had created. The men would resume their learning at night.

These special vacations not only tightened the families' ties to the shul, but became conduits for spiritual growth. By the second Yarchei Kallah, when word had spread through the mountains that Rav Miller was giving a hashkafa shiur, people came from all over to hear him.

Another original improvision that Rav Miller initiated was a telephone chavrusa program. His shul put advertisements in the Jewish newspaper offering to learn by phone with chavrusas. The study partners had to agree at a given hour that no family member would use their phones and it would be free for their study period. Dozens of young people begin learning Judaism this way. Some became so religious that they decided they wanted to learn Judaism more intensively and went to learn in yeshivas in Israel. If the telephone chavrusa had a hashkafa question, Rav Miller's congregant told him he would ask his rav and get back to him.

A young lady in the congregation married and went to live out west. She started such a program from Denver arranging for her friends to become chavrusas with the people who answered her offer for Jewish learning.

Once a year a breakfast was held in New York for all the chavrusas to meet and celebrate together. People came in from Upstate New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to meet their telephone chavrusas. At its peak, there were 40-50 pairs of chavrusas learning together.

Rav Miller pushed his congregants to engage in outreach work before the term was even invented. The shul would run advertisements encouraging Jews from outside to come learn or make their homes kosher. Congregants would distribute leaflets near the subways inviting people to enroll their children for bar mitzva lessons with the shul. A significant part of their efforts were directed to Russian Jewish immigrants. Rav Miller's students ran campaigns in which they gave out handbills to Russians inviting them to come to shul.

Shul Activism

It might seem that with all the learning going on in Rav Miller's shul, the shul congregants were a placid, passive lot or were too inwardly-directed to have time for activism. In fact, the opposite was true.

Rav Miller was a staunch independent and beholden to noone. He resolutely said what he felt was the honest view of Torah despite knowing it would invite attacks and condemnation. He was outspoken against evolution, Zionism, and the growing decadence in western society.

Although Rav Miller was not directly involved in politics, he always told his congregants who to vote for. Invariably, he supported the candidate who was conservative and moral since he felt the liberals were destroying the country. The only time he supported a Democratic candidate was when he was a conservative.

Once the city wanted to open shelters for the homeless in Brooklyn. Rav Miller felt that these shelters would be the destruction of the neighborhood. A meeting to prevent this from happening was held at Brooklyn College. Although Rav Miller on principle would not step foot in such a place, he rented buses, came with the entire congregation and lobbied against the measure in a meeting with city planners. His efforts were crowned with success and the city rescinded its plans.

Devoted to His Community

Aside for his indirect activism and non-stop shiurim, Rav Miller was a faithful shepherd to his flock, who was deeply involved in every aspect of his congregants' lives.

What school should I send the children to? What should I do with my problematic child? Should I let my son serve as counselor in this summer day camp? Should I invest in this real estate lot? Some hooligans are threatening my business if I don't pay protection money -- should I pay?

These were just a few of the many questions asked him by his congregants.

He engaged in marriage counselling when thorns sprouted in the relationships between husband and wife. In the 45 years in which Rav Miller led his congregation, only 2 divorces took place among his congregants. It was frequently due to his intervention that couples made up and harmony was restored.

Two years ago, a book was published of his advice for marital success and happiness.

He would call people aside and ask them what was going on in their life. He sensed by himself when something was troubling them. People knew they could call at any hour of the night and Rav Miller would invite them to come over on the spot.

One congregant recalls, "The only advice that the rav once gave me for my livelihood was to buy a certain piece of real estate. I thought to myself, 'What does he know about real estate!' and decided not to buy it. I regretted it because a short time later, the value of that lot tripled."

Although Rav Miller was a firm, unbending leader, he was warm and encouraging to his congregants.

Children had a special relationship with him. He showered them all the time with blessings and attention. The shul distributed candies to the children like in other shuls, but insisted that only children who could sit next to their fathers and daven properly could attend.

One congregant recalls taking his young children to daven shacharis in shul an entire week when his wife gave birth. The second day he came, Rav Miller gave each of them a gigantic lollipop. "I told the Rav that he needn't have troubled, because I would make sure they kept quiet. But Rav Miller replied, 'No, I got it for them because I like them.'"

He had an uncanny sense in grasping a situation. His advice was on target.

He would sometimes hear of two similar problematic situations but would give opposite advice because he felt the people in each of the cases had different needs.

Many years ago a group of his congregants received his approval to plan a visit to Israel where he would go along and be their "spiritual" tourguide.

The steering group quickly made arrangements with KLM, received a free hotel and car for Rav Miller, and arranged a cheap deal for all the others joining the tour. Right before they signed on the dotted line, the organizers approached Rav Miller to show him the itinerary and receive his approval.

He asked to see the list of those who were planning to go. After he looked it over, he told the organizer, "We can't go!"

The stunned organizers didn't comprehend his sudden opposition. But then he explained, "There are many people on this list who can't afford this trip and they're only going because I'm going. I know their financial problems -- they can't afford it." He cancelled the trip and never came to Israel until the day of his funeral.

The Holidays in Shul

Various celebrations were held in the shul throughout the year, but they were all inevitably connected to learning Torah in one way or another.

There were the Chanukah parties, particularly held in the early years of the shul, where a supply of luscious latkes kept streaming from the kitchen to the party table while the Rav feted his listeners with an inspirational talk on the eternity of Am Yisroel.

The shul organized its own groups to bake matzos for Pesach. Of course, the shul was in its element on Shavuos night. The majority of the shul's congregants stayed up the entire night to daven. It was one of the rare times when the shul divided into two different minyanim. The vasikin minyan that morning was large, and the second minyan, composed of those who weren't able to study through the night, was very sparse.

Rav Miller spoke extensively to the congregants on Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippur. He reminded them every year that on Rosh Hashona, all the appointments are made with the undertakers.

Yom Kippur was an all day affair in shul. The small break between mussaf and mincha did not allow the congregants to go home, and they davened intensely throughout the day. One congregant believes that Rav Miller's shul was the only shul in New York in 1973 that didn't know a war had broken out on Yom Kippur until they came home after the fast.

One congregant recalls, "On Yom Kippur before Neilah, Rav Miller studied Yonah with his congregation. Once he explained that just as the sailors threw everything overboard, it was up to us to throw away the superfluities of our lives. His explanations were so fascinating, we all regretted him stopping to begin Neilah."

On Simchas Torah, before he would let his congregants begin dancing, Rav Miller insisted that they sit down and learn gemora. Only after you study, he insisted, can you by rights dance with the Torah.

His First Book

The hashkafa shiurim Rav Miller had given his yeshiva students in Yeshivas Rabeinu Chaim Berlin and the energetic efforts he had invested to imbue his own congregation with Torah attitudes had been percolating in his mind. The idea began to take shape to write a book explaining the proper Torah hashkafa to today's Orthodox Jew.

At first he thought of writing a sefer in Hebrew, but was advised that since there is nothing in English, he should write his book in English.

Until then, Rav Miller had only written sporadic articles, although he was an accomplished and experienced speaker with an excellent vocabulary and powerful delivery.

He began writing 'Rejoice O Youth' in 1963. In 1964, when Yeshivas Chaim Berlin moved to Far Rockaway, Rav Miller decided to resign and devote himself full time to his congregation and his writing.

When he finished writing the book in 1965, he didn't have the $2,000 required to publish it. He contacted a well known Jewish publisher in New York and showed him the book. The publisher offered to print and distribute the book if Rav Miller would take out a few passages objectionable to most modern Orthodox Jews, such as the critical passages about Zionism. Rav Miller rejected his offer and instead borrowed $200 from ten different people. He published his book privately, printing 2,000 copies of the first edition.

His book made an immediate impact, and was sold out within a short time. Rav Miller was able to repay his loans within 8 weeks.

The book brought a flood of letters and telephone calls from searching Jews all over the world.

'Rejoice O Youth' dealt with all the issues that religious Jews were struggling with in those days. Religious Jews mumbled about how they believed that G-d created the world, but most were reluctant to openly deny the theory of evolution, which was a sacred belief to educated people.

Rav Miller hacked at the theory of evolution in his book at length, showing how its fallacy was only outdone by the blind, biased trust of the science community in it. Then he took apart the Bible critics. He demonstrated the dark side and intellectual paucity of the eastern religions, psychology, Islam, Catholic and Protestant Christianity, Zionism, and Communism. He explained the phenomenon of anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and the self-hating of assimilated Jews. He spoke scathingly about the emptiness of contemporary society. He spoke about the futility of technology. His explanations were compelling and sarcastic. As you progressed through the book, you couldn't help but burst out in laughter at the idiocy of many common beliefs.

He was a master at devising terms which mocked those who possessed wrong views, and unmasking the veneer of respectability from them. Evolutionists were "theorists"; inventors of other religions, Bible critics, Reform, Maskilim, and Zionists were "falsifiers" "substituters" "imitators" "idolaters" and "usurpers". He explained simply and easily the falseness underlying all these ideologies.

After showing how contemporary dogmas were baloney, he then described numerous beautiful phenomenon in the world while stressing how G-d had created all this to give us a beautiful life. He imbued you with positive feelings towards Hashem and challenged you to build a personal relationship with Him. He told you were capable of greatness, happiness and a life of deep meaning.

His writings were sprinkled with new terms which you never had heard of before: True Knowledge, real Awareness of Hashem, thinking about Hashem, the "truly great".

He spoke about the past and present greatness of the Jewish nation, and the great potential that every Jew has in him. He emphasized the importance of isolating ourselves from the negative influences all around, striving to fulfill our national mission, the love that Hashem possesses for faithful Jews, the importance of serving Hashem with enthusiasm, of obtaining character perfection, trusting in Hashem, how a Jewish home should run, the role of a Jewish mother, and preparing for the Afterlife.

After reading his book, you not only felt you had gained a unique Torah hashkafa, but generally felt reinforced in your belief in Torah, Hashem, and the wisdom of Judaism.

Other Books

'Rejoice O Youth' was just the beginning of his prolific writing. He continued over the following 25 years to write another 13 books, each of which was an inspiring masterpiece.

Another two hashkafa books "Sing You Righteous" and "Awake My Glory" (1980) continued to discuss the worldview of a religious Jew and delved more deeply into many of the issues mentioned in 'Rejoice O Youth'.

He wrote a commentary on chumash based on pshat which was stunningly original. 'The Beginning' on Breishis was published in 1967, 'A Nation is Born' on Shmos in 1992, 'Kingdom of Cohanim' on Vayikra in 1994, 'Journey Into Greatness' on Bamidbar in 1998, and the last volume Fortunate Nation on Devorim was published a mere two months before his death in March of this year.

He wrote a history trilogy which corrected numerous errors in Jewish history promulgated by secular and other historians who were ignorant of the Talmud and other ancient Jewish writings. 'Behold a People' (published in 1967) covered Jewish history until the Destruction of the First Temple, 'Torah Nation' (1972) covered it until the Destruction of the Second Temple, and 'Exalted People' (1984) covered it until the period of the Gaonim around 1000 C.E.

His commentary on the Siddur called "Praise My Soul" was published in 1982.

Rav Miller's books remain popular guideposts for the religious community until today. His 'Rejoice O Youth' has undergone 9 printings, and has been translated into Russian, Spanish, French and Hebrew. He allowed his books to be translated for free, and as with the English editions, insisted that the price be low so that they would be accessible to everyone. 'Behold a People' and 'Praise My Soul' have each been printed 4 times.

His disciple who was involved in printing his books once went into a seforim store to buy a book. He saw the clerk trying to convince a woman to buy 'Rejoice O Youth'. He asked the clerk if he knew who wrote the book and the young man said he didn't know.

How the Thursday Night Shiur Began

Although Rav Miller's accomplishments between his wide variety of shiurim, shul life and writings were already well known, his fame spread through the world in the wake of his famous Thursday night shiur.

Mordechai, who had been searching for a mentor and found it in Rav Miller, described his droshos as "An emotional and intellectual experience. It was a masterpiece delivery which combined idealism with avodas Hashem. You felt he was speaking to Hashem."

Mordechai had always yearned to capture Rav Miller on tape but since he only addressed the congregation on Shabbos, he was unable to do it. However, Rav Miller did give a short shiur in the late summer nights between mincha and maariv on Chovos Halevovos which lasted 20 minutes. Mordechai implored Rav Miller to allow him to tape the shiur.

It was no simple feat. Compact tape recorders were unknown and the tape recorders of that early period were based on reels which slowly wound around. The machine was heavy and large, and cumbersome to transport. Mordechai asked his father's friend if he could borrow the reel machine, and he brought it to shul. Finally, he recorded Rav Miller for the first time.

His disappointment was huge when Rav Miller approached him afterwards and insisted that he erase the reel. Rav Miller felt he had spoken too sharply against a certain group, and not want it to remain on record.

It was a tremendous disappointment for Mordechai, who reluctantly gave him the reel. As a consolation prize, Rav Miller arranged a special shiur during the week for a few close students in the shul who were attending yeshivos. This shiur became the first Rav Miller tape in existence.

Rav Miller told Mordechai, "Don't worry. Some day there will be miles and miles of tapes of me." This was before cassettes had been created, and before people even thought of listening to tapes. At the time it sounded fanciful, and didn't make sense. But it was true.

Another development in 1967 turned out to be a major milestone in Rav Miller 's life.

It began with a young Sephardi man in his 20's who was trying to imbue his life with more Judaism. Pinchos used to daven with Sephardim in the nearby Shaarei Tziyon shul. During the 60's, there was a major influx of Sephardim from Syria and Egypt to New York since Nasser had been making life uncomfortable for the Jews in the Middle East. They established their own community in Flatbush around the Shaarei Tziyon synagogue.

Pinchos didn't know how to read well, and he had a friend who he used to daven next to, help him out. If the friend wasn't there, Pinchos felt too uncomfortable to daven alone. He decided to switch to a minyan where the praying was slower so he would have an easier time keeping pace with the prayers.

Someone told him to try the nearby Mirrer Yeshiva where the davening was slower.

After five months of davening in the yeshiva, Pinchos was feeling frustrated. Although he was able to more or less keep up with the minyan, he wanted to feel close to Hashem. He felt he wasn't making progress in becoming a better Jew. His tefillos still took much effort, and he didn't know what else to do.

That day, he was finishing his lengthy prayers after everyone else had finished. Suddenly, he got an idea.

Pinchos prayed silently to Hashem, "Give me a sign that You're listening to me! Could you do something small, like lifting this chair? No, I take that back. I realize I can't ask for such a thing. But wait! I have an idea.

There's a schoolyard of boys playing ball outside. You know what. Lifting the chair is too much of a miracle to ask, but what about if a ball breaks a window of the beis hamidrash? I'll know it's a sign and the others will think its an accident. What about that, Hashem?" Pinchos waited several long minutes, but no ball came through the window. He felt disappointed and discouraged.

But suddenly there was a tap on the arm. It was a little boy who was telling Pinchos something in Yiddish. Pinchos told the little kid that he doesn't know Yiddish and he should say it in English. So the boy told him that Rav Shraga Moshe Kalmanowitz wants him to come over. Pinchos saw a man with a white beard sitting in a chair near the aron hakodesh. He had no idea who he was. But he went over to him.

The two began to speak and Rav Kalmanowitz discovered that Pinchos was a member of the Sephardic community nearby. He asked Pinchos if he would like to start a shiur for himself and his friends.

It sounded good. "Yes, why not?" Rav Kalmanowitz told him that he has an eloquent speaker, who is well versed in science and the contemporary world. Pinchos was agreeable. He imagined it would be a diplomaed Orthodox professor or scientist.

He received Rav Miller's telephone number from Rav Kalmanowitz, phoned Rav Miller and arranged for him to speak that Thursday night in the large Shaarei Tziyon shul. He specifically asked permission from his rabbi in Shaarei Tzion at Rav Miller's request. Pinchos assured Rav Miller that he would take him after the shiur to his home in East Flatbush which was 25 minutes away.

On the appointed day, Pinchos saw a rabbi with a big black coat, big hat and beard walking up. The first feeling that flooded him was "What did I do to my friends! Here comes a typical 'Vuzvuz' (pejorative term for a religious Ashkenazic Jew)!" Pinchos and his friends were all young with it guys in their 20's, and they related disdainfully to rabbis who they considered relics of less progressive times -- despite the fact that they themselves all observed Shabbos. The twenty boys had grown up together since first grade and were best friends. They had only agreed to come because of their friendship with Pinchos.

When Rav Miller walked in, their disappointment was huge. One of the boys let loose a wisecrack, "My name is Chita and it means 'wheat'."

Rav Miller answered him sharply, "My name is Miller and a miller crushes wheat."

Rav Miller's sharp comment silenced the boys, but he knew not for long.

He asked the boys, "Do you want to talk about Rambam or the Knicks?" The youths were taken aback at the question.

The young men preferred to hear about the Knicks instead of the boring talk they imagined the rabbi would give.

Rav Miller stunned them when he delivered a five-minute speech on the Knicks ' latest moves and scores. Pinchos didn't know how to digest this strange phenomenon.

After five minutes, the rav moved on to the Rambam. The audience sat with their mouths open throughout the speech. They were surprised to see how articulate the rav was. They totally unexpected what they heard from him. Finally, after an hour of speaking, the rav finished the shiur. Pinchos drove Rav Miller home.

On the way, he asked him, "Rabbi, tell me truth! How did you know about the Knicks?"

Rav Miller mentioned that he had taken the garbage out for his wife, and noticed a corner of the newspaper sticking out of the bin. When he pushed the scrap of newspaper back in, he saw it was a piece on the Knicks. That's how he had become an expert on the Knicks.

Pinchos soon discovered that Rav Miller was an expert on any topic you asked him about. Rav Miller was an avid reader and could speedread. He possessed encyclopedic knowledge because he retained everything he saw. Whatever you asked him to speak about, he could hold forth on with ease.

The Uniqueness of the Thursday Night Shiur

The Sephardic youths returned for the following ten weeks, and then the class moved to a classroom in the Mirrer Yeshiva. Word got out and then several Ashkenazic boys joined the shiur from the yeshiva itself. The shiur grew. Soon there were 40-50 boys crowding into the classroom and not enough room for all. It was clear that another solution would have to be found.

Everyone found it incomprehensible how Rav Miller could talk to Ashkenazic youths learning in yeshiva and young modern Sephardi adults in the workforce, and each felt he was addressing their most important questions and doubts.

Thirty four years later, after Rav Miller's levaya, Pinchos mentioned to Rav Miller's grandson. "I had asked Hashem to lift a chair or make a ball go through the window to show me He was listening and that He really was there. But Hashem decided to answer me differently. He told me, 'I'll send you one man in my universe who can show you Who I am.' That man was Rav Miller. Over the past 30 years, Rav Miller not only taught me to know there is a Hashem, but I feel it as clearly as my own existence."

What was so special about Rav Miller's shiurim? For one, he fearlessly spoke out on every topic you could think of. Although his recurrent themes were about seeing Hashem in nature and how every creation testifies to its creator, he talked about everything under the sun. Bringing up a Jewish child. Obtaining fear of Hashem. Recognizing when the yetzer hora is moving things. Shmiras Haloshon. Utilizing one's free will. A man' s greatness. What is Chesed. It's difficult to be a disbeliever. Benefits of misfortune. The Afterlife. Everything happens because of the Jews. Reply to missionaries. Tshuva is a Gift.

Rav Miller spoke about the wonderful world which Hashem had created. He brought the puff-ball of the dandelion to class and explained all the wisdom inherent in the lowly weed. His students sat there agog, and realized for the first time that only G-d could have made this creation. He did the same with apples, oranges, ragweed, flowers and even humble creations that most people hadn't given a thought to.

He talked about loving Hashem. "Who is the one you have to love like yourself?" he asked his audience. It is Hashem. He became excited when describing how Hashem feeds all his creations. He explained how the entire process from egg to adult chicken was just a six week process. This quick process enabled the world's population to be fed.

A thousand people sometimes attended his shiur. He would unaffectedly say to them, "I want you all to say, "I love you Hashem!" They would get up and say it too. He not only made you say how you loved Hashem, he made you feel it too.

One close disciple who listened to hundreds of his Thursday night shiurim explained the impact they had on him: "There is no question that due to him, my emuna of Hashem is clear. As sure as I see myself, I see Hashem."

He emanated love for all Jews and even non-Jews to a certain degree. He was a universal Jewish solvent. There was no difference in his love and reverence for different Jewish communities. He frequently praised the Sephardic community for their reverence to their Torah sages and saw virtue in all of them.

Another theme he spoke about frequently in his Thursday night shiur was concern and respect for one's fellow man. If you blow your horn late at night to call someone to come out, he said you were a robber, because you were depriving the neighbors of sleep. If you're going to selichos early and talking with your friends and making noise, better you shouldn't go. He bid his listeners that if they pass a vegetable store and a piece of fruit fell onto the floor - they should pick it up no less than if it was a million dollars. The fruit was equivalent to the man's money, and since a Jew has to be concerned for his fellow man, he has to make sure his possessions were safe from injury.

If you pass a home, Rav Miller averred, you can see from the outside whether someone lives there or not. If the windows are broken and the house is dirty and unkempt, no one is home. But if the house is in good shape and there's a clean, orderly garden, you know someone is living there. In the same way, the orderly and meaningful arrangement of the world testified to Hashem's creation and management of it. He spoke about one after the other phenomenon in the world, and kept showing you how they were just imprints of G-d's genius touch.

He also spoke extensively on themes from Tenach, like the purpose of exile, the Avos, the downfall of Korach, the lessons to be derived from Scriptural personalities, and Jewish holidays. The shiur was usually an hour long, but no less interesting was the half hour at the end when Rav Miller took questions from the audience on anything they wanted to ask.

Pinchos was mesmerized. He felt the rabbi had opened his eyes. Instead of satisfying him, though, it made him feel even more thirsty. He asked Rav Miller if he could meet him privately. He thought he was being pushed off when the rabbi invited him to join him for his 7:15 walk in the morning. But Pinchos went and was rewarded with riveting discussions about life and a person's role in the world. The two would walk along the sidewalk and Rav Miller would point out wonders Hashem had created just for their pleasure.

Pinchos gazed at these commonplace miracles, seeing them for the first time. "You cannot see electricity," Rav Miller told him, "but you know that it's there because if you stick your finger into the socket, you'll get a shock. That's how we have to understand Hashem's presence. Whatever we look at shows us that He's there."

When his own congregants heard about the riveting Thursday night shiur, they too wanted to attend. But Rav Miller insisted that they keep to their gemora study at night.

Rav Miller on Tape

When the Thursday night shiur still numbered 50 boys, two brothers who were regular attendees made plans to continue their yeshiva studies in Israel.

They asked Pinchos to tape the class and their parents would pick it up every Friday from him and send it to them in Israel. Pinchos was glad to do it.

Then a short time later, someone else asked Pinchos for a copy. After that, the requests rapidly multiplied. Finally there was no way out but to buy a special reel machine that recorded the rabbi and copied his speech onto cassettes.

Rav Miller tapes began to reach the wide public in 1972.

The shiur continued to grow and finally was moved to the Sephardic Institute at 511 Avenue R. At that point, 100-150 people were coming a week.

One strange phenomenon that many of those who attended his shiur reported was that each felt Rav Miller was specifically speaking to him. Many times listeners told their friends "How did the Rav know what was happening to me? How did he know I was having problems with my boss?"

The shiur moved to the Achiezer shul when the Sephardic Institute burnt down. The number of attendees continued to grow. They reached 300 and at one point zoomed up to 1000.

At the same time, Pinchos's tape production was burgeoning. At first, he needed two copying machines, then he bought another one. He had to draft his children to help produce and send out all the tapes every week throughout New York and the U.S. He sent a tape to a French lady who translated the contents to another 300 women. Tapes were sent to rabbis in South Africa who lectured their congregations on the themes Rav Miller propounded and started tape libraries for the benefit of their congregants.

The tape production of Rav Miller's lectures was finally streamlined and done professionally.

From 1967 to 2001, over 2,500 tapes were produced of Rav Miller's Thursday night shiurim -- in addition to numerous other shiurim which he gave on gemora and mussar. Hundreds of thousands of tapes were sold whose impact on people's lives was immeasurable. It should be noted that although today, listening to cassette recordings of famous speakers is a common phenomenon in the Torah community, Rav Miller was the first whose shiurim were publicly disseminated.

The Shul Moves

The neighborhood in East Flatbush had been deteriorating for several years. Things came to a head in 1975, when Rav Miller together with the congregation decided to move the congregation to Ocean Parkway near the Mir Yeshiva. It was an unavoidable step for the congregation, but fortunately, it also gave Rav Miller a wider purview in his efforts to disseminate Torah.

A house was bought at 1821 Ocean Parkway, a mere half block from the Mir Yeshiva. The building was renovated into a shul with 190 seats for men and 100 seats for ladies. Forty families of Rav Miller's most dedicated congregants made the move together with him. It was decided to change the name of shul from Young Israel of Rugby Park to Beis Yisroel Torah Center, although here too, there was no sign on the outside advertising the new house of worship.

During that year there was an exodus of Syrian Jews to Deal, a sprawling suburban town in New Jersey. Real estate plummeted its lowest for the first time in many years. Rav Miller encouraged his congregants to buy homes as close to the Mir Yeshiva as possible.

The following year, there was another exodus of Syrian Jews from Deal to Ocean Parkway, after many who had moved missed New York. Prices of houses rocketed, but by then, Rav Miller's congregants were all living in the neighborhood. Divine providence had lowered prices just that year so Rav Miller could bring his congregation to a new neighborhood where their Torah study and spiritual growth was given a new impetus.

Now the Thursday night shiur was held in Rav Miller's own shul. His own congregants could enjoy hearing the shiur, since Rav Miller decided to repeat it again Shabbos afternoon.

Now that Rav Miller's own congregation was within reach, many Sephardim who had faithfully attended his shiurim decided to join the shul.

With the time, between 15-20% of the shul's membership was Sephardic, with the rest comprising Ashkenazim. The shul had an interesting mix of second and third-generation Americans formed from young new families and old-timers who had been with Rav Miller for 25 years. Despite the differences in minhagim and background, the shul was united under Rav Miller's leadership and a commitment to Torah study.

Changes were also taking place in the Thursday night shiur. From having an exclusive Sephardic and Litvish audience, slowly chassidim from Williamsburg, Monroe and Boro Park began to attend. At various times, up to half the audience was chassidic. A packed van would travel in from Mt. Kisco too. Modern Orthodox listeners and baalei tshuva dotted the audience. The whole spectrum of Torah Jewry was present, and everyone felt he was talking to them.

The fame which the Thursday night shiur brought Rav Miller, had an impact on his shul. It became a matter of pride to be a member of Rav Miller's shul. Eventually, his shul prided itself on being a unique congregation composed of Sephardim, Litvaks and Chassidim. What bound them all was their reverence for Rav Miller and their dedication to Torah study.

Later Years

In 1983, Rav Miller's son Rav Shmuel opened his yeshiva and Rav Miller began to give discourses and vaadim to the students. The yeshiva's name was a take-off of the shul "Beis Yisroel."

In retrospect, the rav's multifold activities were incredible, especially when one considered his age. He was 57 when he wrote his first book. He was almost 60 years old when he began to teach his congregants gemora in 1967.

He was 65 when his first tapes began to spread throughout the Jewish world. His public works began to soar at a time when most people are beginning to wind down. His greatist accomplishments over the past 30 years took place when he was in his 60's, 70's and 80's - and remained unabated until his death at the age of 93.

This could only partially be attributed to his vigilance about health. He carefully watched his health and made it an unassailable practice to eat healthy and walk every day for an hour and a half. When he reached old age, he slowed this down to an hour, but still faithfully maintained this exercise period. Indeed, throughout his life, he was hardly ever sick. His good state of health was also due to the exceptional care which his wife Ethel lavished on him and her efforts to ensure that the rav was not inundated by community work.

When he was in his late 80's, Rav Miller had to have a heart valve replaced. He asked the surgical team if they weren't afraid to operate on a person close to 90. The doctors told him they weren't afraid to operate on him since he was a healthy person. "Age is not a determining factor as far as you're concerned," they assured him. He had the surgery done and within a few weeks was back to his regular activities.

He conveyed the importance of taking care of their health to his congregants too. When a congregant brought his daughter for a blessing before she went to study in Gateshead, Rav Miller told her pointedly, "Eat three good meals a day, get plenty of sleep, and watch out for English germs."

Rav Miller's mental and physical capacities remained strong and lucid until the end. He mentioned shortly before his passing that his earliest memories go back to when he was two. His exceptional memory never failed him.

Final Illness

Rav Miller reached his 93rd birthday brimming with plans to publish more books. In March he published the final book to his commentary on chumash. He was preparing three volumes on Aggados of Shas. He was working on three volumes on the Holocaust. He had prepared outlines to finish his history series. He had taped shiurim on Shaarei Teshuva, Mesilas Yesharim, Chovos Halevovos, and Pirkei Avos which he was thinking of putting into written form, including 83, 1 1/2 hour tapes of shiurim he had given on Mesilas Yesharim. He had 49 tapes on Perek Chelek of Sanhedrin. He prayed often asking for Hashem to give him more years so he could continue to disseminate Torah and inspiration for Torah living to the public.

A few weeks before Pesach, he was diagnosed with a benign form of leukemia. The shul began to recite Tehilim throughout the day. His congregants were relieved to see that Rav Miller, although weakened, could still carry his daily load. The congregants kept away except for emergencies, since they knew that the rav needed to rest.

Pesach passed in high spirits. Rav Miller felt well enough to give a shiur on the seventh day of Pesach.

After praying mincha intensely at his shul on Wednesday, April 18, a great weakness overcame him and he was hospitalized. His family attended him around the clock.

The doctors optimistically thought that they could discharge him by the following Sunday, and his congregation eagerly anticipated his return. But the following day, he grew progressively weaker. Despite his precarious state, he was calm and reposed. The Next World had been such a concrete concept to him throughout his life that he faced death with the same calmness that one faces stepping through a door.

On that day, his wife and children came to receive his final blessing. His oldest son Eliezer spent two hours talking with him privately that day.

Rav Miller told him not to cry when he goes, because he had a good life. He instructed him where to find the deed to the grave which he purchased in Har Hazeisim, and where he could find a letter he had written to the family.

And then Rav Miller began to review all the kindnesses which Hashem had done for him throughout his life. He recalled his good fortune to have left Baltimore to attend yeshiva in New York, his arrival in Slabodka in 1932, studying under Rav Eizik Sher and Rav Avraham Grodzinski, and the fact he was able to leave Chelsea for New York to be the mashgiach in Chaim Berlin.

He mentioned the Chovos Halevovos, which had been his guidebook through life. He told his son, "If you want to be happy, learn Chovos Halevovos. And if you want to be really happy, learn on top of that Mesilas Yesharim."

The hospital ward filled with followers and family as word spread that the rav's situation was serious. Hatzala members who were present called the Chevra Kadisha. The waiting room was also full of people reciting Tehillim, many of them Satmar chassidim who had been among his most fervent followers. More than a minyan of men were present in the room with him, including his children and a nephew.

Darkness had descended and several hours slowly ticked by. Rav Miller mentioned that an overwhelming weakness was overcoming him. He then recited Kriyas Shema slowly, word by word, thinking deeply of each word's meaning. Then he counted Sefira. He asked for a drink of water and recited a blessing over it. Then he recited Borei Nefoshos with great concentration. "Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the Universe, Creator of numerous living things and what they lack. Everything he has created is in order to sustain the life of every being. Blessed is the Life of the Universe." This common prayer summed up in a few short words what had been the focus of Rav Miller' s life.

A short time after midnight his soul departed. The date was 27 Nissan, 5761 (April 20, 2001).

Funeral and Eulogies

The levaya was delayed until Sunday because the aron could not be transported to Israel before Shabbos. For two days around the clock, the congregants in the shul organized watches of people saying Tehillim next to the aron at the funeral home.

The levaya started from his shul, the Beis Yisroel Torah Center, at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, 29 Nissan (April 22). Rav Miller had rarely left the close environment of his shul and shiurim. 30,000 people were standing outside the shul to pay their final respects to Rav Miller. Admirers of Rav Miller flew in from Detroit and St. Louis. Hookups were made to the Mirrer Yeshiva and the Achiezer Sephardic shul a block down on Ocean Parkway.

Hespedim were delivered by Rav Shmuel Birnbaum, the rosh yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva in the United States; Rav Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg, rosh yeshiva of Torah Or; the Novominsker Rebbe; Rav Yosef Rosenblum, rosh yeshiva of Shaarei Yosher; two of Rav Miller's sons-in-law, Rav Elchonon Brog, maggid shiur in the Yeshiva Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin and Rav Yerucham Lishinsky, maggid shiur in the Mirrer yeshiva; Rav Miller's son, Rav Shmuel Miller, rosh yeshiva of Beis Yisroel yeshiva; and Rav E. Raful of the New York Syrian community.

Rav Miller's aron was then accompanied by his two sons, a son-in-law and two grandsons to Eretz Yisroel.

In Eretz Yisroel

An enormous levaya with an estimated 25,000 in attendance was held the following day in Yerushalayim, starting out from the Mir Yeshiva.

The first hesped was delivered by the Mir rosh yeshiva, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, who lamented the great loss the Torah community is suffering by the passing of such a great man and educator. He asked the deceased to go up before the Heavenly Throne and beg for divine assistance to prevent the Torah community from being affected by the decadent atmosphere widespread in the world.

Rav Miller's son-in-law, Rav Herschel Kenarek, mentioned the great merit he had in being close to his father-in-law for the past thirty years.

"There was nothing he did without thinking through it carefully." He spoke about Rav Miller's extreme joy of living and his gratitude to Hashem for life.

Rav Moshe Sternbuch, called out: "A great Torah prince has fallen in Israel. People returned to Judaism because of his tapes. He merited to have true Torah views... When Moshe Rabbenu passed away, Hashem lamented: "Who can take the place of this one who feared G-d?" The same may be said about the deceased. It is a good sign when one dies on Shabbos eve, for it indicates that throughout his life he prepared himself for his departure to the World to Come."

Rav Boruch Rosenberg, rosh yeshiva Slabodka in Bnei Brak said: "We are standing before the aron of a great man. Can we assess his greatness? He was a great servant of Hashem. He did not waste even one moment of his life. When one wanted to meet him, it was impossible to find time, even for urgent issues. For decades, he has brought multitudes to merit in a remarkable manner. I don't know if anyone was as great as he in how he influenced the public to virtue. He influenced hundreds and perhaps thousands of Jews to draw closer to their Father in heaven. His success was unprecedented. A person will return to Judaism only if he is told the absolute truth: that there is a Master to the universe. And that is precisely what he did his entire life."

His son, Rav Shmuel, rosh yeshivas Beis Yisroel, eulogized him: "He taught many and influenced many to study Torah. His strength stemmed from the strength of Chovos Halevovos, which was his guidebook. He was a man of truth."

Rav Shmuel Yaakov Bornstein, rosh yeshivas Chevron Geula yeshiva, defined the deceased as a "giant among giants." He said, "Today is a difficult day for Yisroel. He spread Torah with all of his might throughout his life. He was `exclusively for Hashem' and utilized every moment of his life for Torah."

The last eulogy was delivered by Rav Mattisyahu Solomon, the mashgiach of the Lakewood yeshiva: "All of his life, he was like Avrohom Ovinu -- promulgating truth, belief in G-d and love of one's fellow. He proclaimed to the entire world that there is a Creator of the universe, and thousands and tens of thousands gathered around him to hear his teachings."

At the end of the eulogies, a massive throng accompanied him to his final resting place on Har Hazeisim.

Successor and Farewell

Rav Miller had refused to suggest a successor to himself. He told his son that it would be up to the baalebatim in the shul to choose a fitting successor.

After the funeral, the presidium mournfully met and decided to appoint Rav Miller's grandson Rav Eliyahu Brog as the new rav. Rav Brog, 42, had studied his entire life in the Mirrer yeshiva. He had spent many years davening in his grandfather's shul and listening to his shiurim and lectures. He was a faithful follower of his grandfather's worldview and goals.

With the appointment of rabbonus, Rav Brog also undertook the heavy load of his grandfather's shiurim.

After Rav Miller's passing, his family found a letter he had left behind for them. Like all of his writings, it was a masterpiece which movingly expressed his loving farewell to his family and congregation.

He told his children how he loved them all and how much nachas they had given him.

He reiterated how he thanked Hashem for all the blessings He had given him.

"I cannot say the end of His praises for all He has given me from the beginning to the end of my life."

He exhorted his family to continue going in the Torah's way, and to thank Hashem for all the good He does to them, including prior kindnesses done to the family.

He thanked many people in his congregation who had dealt with him kindly, mentioning a few by name. He thanked select people who were not his congregants but who had helped him through the years.

He bid his family to go in the ways of mussar, observe the ways of piety, and keep away from the ways of the goyim.

He ended his letter asking that Hashem bless them together with faithful Jews everywhere -- and that they forever be successful in their spiritual and earthly affairs.

Did You Ask Hashem First?

One student asked Rav Miller for a blessing for his wife and the child each time his wife was expecting, He felt he could rely on Rav Miller's blessing. First Rav Miller ascertained that he was also asking Hakodesh Boruch Hu for His blessing with regularity, Rav Miller happily complied and gave his blessing.

No Charity For Lions

One student met Rav Miller on the street on Purim. He asked the student's age, and then, subtracting it from 120, wished him that many more happy Purims.

The students' little son, who was wearing a lion suit, stuck out his hand and asked the rav for tzedaka. Rav Miller declined saying that he only gives tzedaka to people but not to lions.

Confronted by a Hoodlum

Thirty-eight years ago, Rav Miller attended a large demonstration in Manhattan together with students from yeshivos all over New York protesting that the Brisker Rav had been defamed by a Mizrachi rav.

On the way home, he invited a student to walk with him through Manhattan towards Brooklyn.

As they walked through a deserted side street, a tall thug quickly approached the two and stuck his hand out ominously asking for money. The man wasn't a downhearted panhandler and he looked like he might grab Rav Miller's wallet if the rav took it out to give him money. However, Rav Miller and his student realized that if they wouldn't give the man a donation, he might become violent and hurt them. Nor could they run away and turn to someone for safety because they were on a deserted side street.

The frightened student looked towards Rav Miller for guidance. Suddenly he heard Rav Miller talk to the man with words of gibberish. The street tough looked at him, and again demanded that he give him money. Rav Miller calmly repeated his earlier mumble-jumble. The man asked him for money more threateningly. Rav Miller again calmly said the same incomprehensible words.

The street tough became irked. A few more times he demanded money and each time he was responded to with the strange, incomprehensible words. He finally became so frustrated that he shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

Rav Miller and the student quickly left the scene. When they were a safe distance away, his student asked him what he had said. He knew it wasn't Hebrew or Yiddish.

Rav Miller explained that when he studied in Lithuania, he used to take long walks around the nearby countryside. Over the time, he had picked up an odd dialect of Lithuanian. Rav Miller was afraid that the man who was accosting them might recognize French or Spanish, so he chose to speak in a strange dialect that he knew the man wouldn't be able to understand. He had hoped that the man would become frustrated at not being able to communicate until he walked away -- which is exactly what happened. The brilliance of Rav Miller was that he thought of this response within mere seconds, and when he spoke the words in Lithuanian, he was totally calm and in control.

He reminded his student of one of his frequent sayings -- that a person has to thank Hashem even for his thoughts.

Teaching Passages About "Shedim"

In the beginning, when Rav Miller's gemora study group would encounter sections dealing with "shedim" or supernatural phenomenon in the gemora, he would say, "We'll skip the next ten lines because we need more yiras shomayim for this."

The Year He Stopped Selling Chometz

Rav Miller didn't take money for selling chometz before Pesach. One year the rebetzin announced that he would only be selling the chometz of his congregants, but not of outsiders.

Only his close students knew the reason why. A prominent rav had moved into the neighborhood who was poor and needed to supplement his living. Rav Miller decided that he wouldn't arrange the chometz sales for outsiders so they would go to the new rav and he would have an income before the holiday.

Utilize the Opportunity to Influence Others

One day Rav Miller was walking in the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania when he came across a young man who he had known in Yeshiva University. This young man had been a light-headed fellow and a joker. But here he was, in the Slabodka yeshiva of all places! Rav Miller went over to the young man, gave him a "Sholom Aleichem" and asked what he was doing there. The bochur told him, "Do you remember that day that we met in the corridor in Yeshiva University? You looked at me and said, 'When will you make something of yourself and take life seriously?' Your words penetrated deeply, and shook me up. That was my turning point."

Rav Miller would tell this story to his students and then add that if they had an opportunity to influence another for the good, or even an opportunity to just say something thought-provoking, they should do it even if they're not sure the other person will accept it.

"Once it goes down the hatch, it's there," Rav Miller would say. "It might take a week, a month or a day, but it never leaves the person's brain. One never knows when it will bear fruits."

Rabbi Avigdor Miller zecher tzadik livrocha

[Anonymous]

Ten years ago in Jerusalem, I was sitting one night with a friend and studying "Praise, My Soul" by Rabbi Avigdor Miller.

We had both grown up in the Midwest. Our husbands were both involved in day-long Torah study and we were among the lucky few whose husbands had come to study in Jerusalem and eventually decided to settle here.

Being spiritual types, we decided we wanted to do something to upgrade our kavanos while davening. I had suggested Rabbi Miller's book "Praise, My Soul" and she was amenable to the idea. We decided to first do the Shemoneh Esreh since that was unquestionably the most important prayer of all. Over a year, we completed the chapter, and then the busyness of our lives took over and our study partnership came to an end.

But the inspiration from Rabbi Miller's book did not. I had copied some of his comments into my prayer book and as I recited my prayers every morning, my eyes passed over his inimical comments and vitalized the words I was reciting.

One day the realization hit me that Rabbi Miller's works had had a large impact on my life. His book on prayer had given life to my daily davening. Being an avid history fan, his history books had revised my entire concept of Jewish history gained from numerous faulty sources -- some of them regretfully picked up in the Jewish schools I attended. And his three books on Jewish hashkafa had won a Jewish girl in the Midwest to the cause of Torah 30 years ago. One could say about Rabbi Miller that his books were written to address the needs of his generation rather than express his own personal Torah achievements.

At that moment I promised myself that when Rav Miller will be called away by the heavenly academy, I would sit down and write the story of how much Rabbi Miller impacted on one Jewish life. That hour has come.

Long ago, in the faraway years of the mid-1900's -- a time of Jewish uncertainty and confusion too inconceivable for today's youth to comprehend -- you were considered Orthodox if you kept the basic guidelines of Shabbos and kashrus, and your father went to shul every day. You were considered fanatically Orthodox if you wore tznius clothes and didn't go to movies. Going to a religious day school was a relatively new phenomenon which could not be taken for granted.

I still remember the principal of the local yeshiva telling my father, "You keep Shabbos and kashrus -- why are you sending your kids to the local public school?" and my father telling him that his limited income didn't allow for him to pay a private school tuition. Many if not most of my classmates in yeshiva were on "scholarships." In those days, even Orthodox parents had to be enticed to send their kids to Jewish day schools. Most of our parents had studied in public schools and didn't think they were so terrible.

It was only over many years that the critical need for a day school education became obvious. You could see the difference in those families where the older kids studied in public schools because there were no day school classes for them, and the younger kids studied in the yeshiva day school which had in the meantime opened. In most cases, the oldest kids became irreligious and the youngest ones stayed religious.

As if the times were not bad enough, we were growing up in the Midwest, far away from the intensive Jewish-permeated atmosphere of New York. I remember several Chassidim from New York (just a little closer than the moon) who came to our town for an event one Shabbos. A few of us girls asked to be addressed by them and one agreed. While we gawked at his Medieval Age-vintage shtreimel, he enthusiastically praised us for retaining our attachment to Judaism in the parched spiritual desert we were living in. We walked out of the shiur uncomprehending. 1960's Midwest Orthodox Jewish life was all that existed, as far as we knew.

Most of us students were like the fragile last autumn leaves dangling from a tree caught in an autumn storm. The winds that swirled around us unrelentingly assaulted our tiny connection to our tree. Many if not most of our relatives were irreligious. We were born into a society where the newly invented TV, college studies, English literature and belief in our superior western civilization were stock articles of our faith. Looking at the many, large Conservative and Reform Jewish populations around us in contrast to the few, small Orthodox shuls, we felt like the last of the Mohicans. Over our shoulders we could see the distancing gray clouds of the Holocaust, some of us still heard screams at night, and sometimes we wondered what it all meant.

It was the days when interurban travel and phone calls were still expensive and what you saw in your community was all that existed. I remember self-assuredly asking my Hebrew teacher in 8th grade why we have to learn the Hebrew language since "who speaks it anyhow?"

Most of us barely tolerated our Jewish studies, and nearly all of us rated it lower on the totem pole than our general studies. Chumash often seemed like Foreign Language 101, Rashi was a course in hieroglyphics and shorthand, and Yeshaya was a little like tackling Shakespeare. Sheer habit dictated by the school's policy got us used to davening every day although we rarely understood what we were saying and tried to finish as fast as possible. Hebrew appeared to be about as useful as Latin and Greek. The girls from the better homes dutifully did the homework, while the other ones sat in the back, chewed gum, read teenage magazines and discussed the latest movies they went to. The battle of the hemline remained a daily skirmish despite our educators' best efforts.

No one thought of eventually leaving the confines of our town for more than seminary, and we imagined we would have to raise our own families in the same pain-in-the-neck isolation and alienation from general society that had typified our upbringing.

Being a religious Jew was often a series of No's and You can't's - we weren' t able to go here, we couldn't wear that, we couldn't watch this, we shouldn 't read that. You can't do anything at all on Shabbos, unless you were willing to walk a mile to Bnos to play some boring games and hear the counselor tell a story you had heard three times before.

Our dedicated principal and teachers undoubtedly tried to inculcate Yiddishkeit the best they knew, but the times were difficult and the temptations immense.

During those bleak times, Rabbi Miller's work "Rejoice O Youth" fell into my hands and opened my eyes. Today I would call it a work of Hashkafa, but at that time, the word was unknown to us. Rabbi Miller addressed every single issue that was central to our lives and that had been troubling us, and he unrelentingly examined it under a Torah microscope. Meaning of life, the emptiness of western life, the mirage of romance, the falsehood of the religions, Secularr Zionism, evolution, Reform and Conservative, Bible critics, and sundry negative influences were all thoroughly treated in his book. He was the first to tackle the subject of the emptiness of western society and western values and dispel the subliminal inferior complex we felt towards Jews less old-fashioned than us. He mercilessly and sarcastically bludgeoned all these convincing, impressive sounding beliefs and trends so that you weren't left with a kernel of doubt.

Immense of an accomplishment as this was, he did even more. Strange as it is to say it, he brought G-d into the mosaic of our lives. We kept mitzvos, we studied Torah, we translated the words of the prayers, we knew dikduk, we could read a Rashi. We just didn't have much of an idea of how all this relates to G-d, Who we vaguely knew was somehow supposed to be a presence in our lives.

The idea that G-d had created an apple to give us humans pleasure was a shockingly new idea. The idea that G-d wants us to enjoy His world, and keeping mitzvos and studying Torah is just our way of saying thank-you, was a stunning revelation. He introduced new concepts which we never heard before: True Awareness, the Jews' unique role and challenges, our great potential.

He challenged us: "It is within your power to gain a real Awareness of G-d's imminence. This transforms a man's life; he becomes optimistic and energetic, and his potential abilities begin to emerge and assert themselves." We had never heard before someone equating success and optimizing our potential with gaining an awareness of Hashem.

This book (and later books of his) was a major influence on the lives of many of my contemporaries. It gave us the backing to look western society in the eye and conclude "the Emperor has no clothes." Convinced of its truth, many of us started paying more attention to our Jewish studies, and when we grew older, embarked onto seminary instead of college, and married a ben Torah instead of an accountant.

The Hashkafa content was the salient feature of all of his books. When Rabbi Miller's synopsis of Torah history, "Behold a People", came out, I remember wondering "What can he say about Jewish history down to the Bayis Sheini which we haven't learned 5 times before in Chumash, Parshas Hashavu and Jewish History classes!"

I was stunned at his originality when I read the book. His commentary was based almost exclusively on simple p'shat reading of the Torah's text, and he only rarely quoted the commentaries and Midrash. He kept pounding away at your psyche, trying to inculcate his fundamental concepts of gadlus ha'odom in understanding the Avos and the following generations. It was unbelievable how much understanding of Hashem, the Avos, and the salient lessons of Jewish history could be gleaned from a simple reading of his book. To read his commentary was to feel that you had never learned the material before. Rabbi Miller's focus and simplicity was unique.

I felt the same excitement when his sequels Torah Nation and Exalted People came out, which continued Jewish history until the times of the Gaonim. These seforim had the advantage of drawing upon Talmudic sources to explain the main Jewish leaders and Jewish events of the period covered from a perspective of yiras shomayim, which had been lacking from my Jewish history classes. How surprising to discover that Rabbi Akiva had been traveling around to encourage the Jewish exiles and better their spiritual and physical state rather than collect funds for a new revolution against the Roman Empire, the standard drivel that appears in Jewish history textbooks. Among the concepts he clearly explained in the book was yeridas hadoros, the greatness of the sages, and the development of the Oral Law.

"Praise, My Soul", Rabbi Miller's commentary on the siddur, had the same Hashkafa-slanted explanation. I was feeling frustration with the stupor which usually descended when I began praying Shemoneh Esrei.

He knew how to bring G-d down to you so you felt He was real and tangible. He gave you the impetus and the wherewithal to form your own relationship with Hashem. A glimpse into what being a Torah-true Jew means.

He helped you break the bonds of superficiality and artificiality to reach a genuine, meaningful, deep connection to Hashem.

He trumpeted his principles and beliefs without hesitation or stammering. The Jews were chosen. Evolution is a foolish deception. No apologies. No circumlocutions. No hedging. No doubts.

Today's generation has spawned a number of powerful machzirim b'tshuva who are able to instill their listeners with similar convictions and emotions. But for many years and for many American Orthodox Jews, Rabbi Miller was the only one who could do this.

He is no longer here, but his words continue to resound in me and in the hearts of the tens of thousands who are dedicated Torah Jews due to him.

Then the clerk told him, "I used to be non-religious. I was working in this store for 1 1/2 years and one day I had nothing to do. So I picked up this book and began reading it. It made such an impression on me that I decided to start keeping mitzvos. I gave the book to my parents and after reading it, they also decided to become religious! I went to study in Ohr Someach and became a learned Jew." Today this man is religious and he studies Torah regularly.

 

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PERASHAT SHEMOT
AS HEARD FROM RABBI AVIGDOR MILLER ZT'L

" AND WHEN HASHEM SAW THAT MOSHE TURNED ASIDE TO SEE (VAYAR HASHEM KI SAR LIROT), HASHEM CALLED OUT
TO HIM FROM THE MIDST OF THE BUSH..."

The Torah is coming to emphasize the importance of becoming a Seeker, 'Mevakesh'. Therefore, the beginning of the Pasuk is stated although it seems unnecessary.

It was solely because Moshe was a seeker that he gained this vision. It was only because "Hashem saw that he turned aside to see" that therefore "Hashem called to him." Moshe was chosen only after he demonstrated his eagerness "to see."

To gain greatness of spirit, one must be eager for greatness of spirit.

Even we today should "turn aside to see" the demonstrations of Hashem's presence that are evident on all sides.

A rose bush, burning with beautiful color, is an opportunity for seekers of Hashem to see His glorious handiwork in the miracle whereby the plant has the ability to produce such a magnificent creation, including the miracle of producing design and pigment and fragrance from the air and the soil.

Even the thorns of the rosebush bespeak Hashem's kindliness and cunning plan-and-purpose; because this prized plant is equipped with defensive weapons of sharp thorns pointed downward to meet the upward pull of the thief who would attempt to uproot the plant.

Quoted from "A Nation Is Born" by Rabbi Avigdor Miller

A purpose of life is to take full advantage of the many opportunities presented to us thereby demonstrating that we are 'seekers'.

Greeting people with a full face and pleasant smile along with encouraging words.

Saying words of appreciation to a spouse. A nice word to a child. Helping people in need. Praying for the protection of Jews worldwide. Thinking about and thanking Hashem. Learning Hashem's Torah.

These are some of the opportunities we have.

Be a Seeker. Go for it!

Shabat Shalom

---

''I once heard from Rabbi Avigdor Miller that he said that the first thing that a person has to do when he does Teshuva is have gratitude that he almost made it through yet another year. We should thank G-d for all the great meals, all the times we went to the bathroom without problems, and--last, but not least--all the times we went on the subway and made it home to Brooklyn in one piece.'' Since our prayers for chaim/life since Rosh Hashana have been granted so far, did we thank G-d for each day?.

---

A PEACH PIT AND AN EGGSHELL

I, too, had a hidden agenda in believing in evolution, although mine was not theological, but sociological. Even years after I had committed myself to observing the commandments of the Torah, I still clung to a belief in evolution. Why? I didn't want to be one of them. The Creationists, Jerry Falwell and his ilk, made my skin crawl. Denying the Theory of Evolution would have put me on their side of the fence, and jeopardized my image of myself as an enlightened, scientific thinker.

Then I read a thin volume which irrevocably changed my perception. Rabbi Avigdor Miller, in his book "The Universe Testifies," discusses the humble peach pit.

Pointing out that the peach pit is so hard that no animal can bite into it and harm the delicate seed within, he informs the reader that the cement-like substance which holds the two halves of the peach pit together cannot be dissolved by anything -- except a solvent excreted by micro-organisms in the soil.

In the exact right place where the seed needs to be released, Voila! there's the chemical solvent needed to release it. Could the micro-organisms in the soil know that the peach tree was "evolving" its cement-like sealant? Yet without the soil solvent, the first generation of peach trees would have been the last.

Continuing with his rebuttal of the Theory of Evolution, Rabbi Miller points out that every egg shell must be a precise thickness -- strong enough to hold the developing chick or turtle or crocodile within, but thin enough so that the new creature can break its way out at the right moment. Moreover, the egg of each species has to be a different precise thickness, an ostrich egg thicker than that of a wren, etc.

Getting the thickness of the eggshell right (over and over again for each species) cannot be a matter of chance, because if the eggshell were not the perfect thickness the very first generation, there could be no second generation. The baby organism would have been trapped inside the too-thick egg, unable to reproduce. Moreover, no fossil has ever been found of an egg with the embryo imprisoned inside, although evolution assumes millions of such false tries.

"Thousands of degrees of thickness were possible," Rabbi Miller writes. "That the shell is not too thick and not too thin is incontrovertibly the work of a Designer."

Bringing dozens of further illustrations of phenomena in nature which simply could not have evolved by chance, Rabbi Miller's logic devastated my belief in evolution. I was convinced.

I discarded my belief in organisms evolving by chance like taking off a pair of sunglasses. Then a funny thing happened. I saw a different world.

If instead of haphazardly evolving, everything was deliberately designed by God, then EVERYTHING WAS A GIFT OF GOD'S LOVE. It was the difference between receiving a box of chocolates because Hersheys is giving out free samples to today's first hundred customers, and receiving a box of chocolates as a gift from my husband.

I had always loved flowers. But now, every time I looked at a rose, I felt God's love for me. The form, the color, the fragrance -- none of it had to be there. God had designed it purposely so that human beings would enjoy it. My walks in the Knesset Rose Garden became a rendezvous with God.

When I looked at an orchid, I was no longer blown away just by the beauty of the orchid; I was blown away by the love of a God who would design orchids for me to enjoy. When I went to my Senior Prom, I was delighted with th