Aharon (or Ahroyn, Aaron, Aron) Kotler (1890s - 1962) was a prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Lithuania, and later the United States of America. The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the Mauve Decade, because William Henry Perkins aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that color in fashion, and also as the Gay Nineties, under the then-current usage of the word gay which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no... 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Orthodox Judaism is the most conservative of the three major branches of Judaism. ...

Rabbi Kotler (on the right)

Early life

Rabbi Kotler studied in the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania under the Alter (elder) of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Zvi Finkel, and Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein. After learning there, he joined his father-in-law, Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer, to run the yeshiva of Slutzk. Slabodka yeshiva (Knesset Yisrael), was known colloquially as the mother of yeshivas (rabbinical seminaries). ... Nosson Zvi (Nota Hirsh) Finkel (1849-1927), was born in Lithuania and died in the British Mandate of Palestine. ... Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein is a Talmudist and the Rosh Yeshiva of the Slabodka Yeshiva. ... A yeshiva (Hebrew, pl. ...

World war II and move to the USA

When the communists took over, the yeshivah moved to Kletzk in Poland. With the outbreak of World War II, Rabbi Kotler and the yeshivah relocated to Vilna, then the major refuge of most yeshivoth from the occupied areas. Rabbi Kotler went to the United States via Siberia, but many of his students did not survive the war. He was brought to America by the Vaad Hatzolah rescue organization and guided it during the Holocaust. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Vilnius Old Town Vilnius (sometimes also Vilna in English, Belarusian Вільня, Polish Wilno, Russian Вильнюс, German Wilna, see also Cities alternative names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania with population in excess of 540 thousand (in 2003). ... Siberia Siberia (Russian: Сиби́рь, common English transliterations: Sibir, Sibir; possibly from the Mongolian for the calm land) is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan constituting almost all of northern Asia. ... Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust was Nazi Germanys systematic genocide (ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II, starting in 1941 and continuing through 1945. ...

In 1943, Rabbi Kotler founded Bais Medrash Gevoha in Lakewood, New Jersey. Today, this institution is run by four of his grandsons, pre-eminently Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler, and over the year it has grown into the largest institution of its kind in America with over two thousand college level students. He also helped establish Chinuch Atzmai, the independent religious school system in Israel. He was a leader of Agudath Israel of America. 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... Lakewood is a census-designated place located in Ocean County, New Jersey. ... Agudath Israel of America or Agudas Yisroel of America or Agudas Yisrael of America or simply the Agudah (agudah is Hebrew for gathering or union ), is an Orthodox Jewish communal organization affiliated with the international Agudath Israel movement. ...

After his sudden death in 1962, he was succeeded by his son Shneur Kotler as rosh yeshiva of the Lakewood yeshiva. 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... A Rosh yeshiva (Hebrew: ראש ישיבה) (plural in Hebrew: Roshei yeshiva, but also referred to in the English form as Rosh yeshivas) is a rabbi who is the academic head, or rosh (ראש), of a yeshiva (ישיבה), a college of higher Talmudic study. ...

Influence

Rabbi Kotler was the main proponent of a novel approach to Torah study in the USA. In his view, Torah study had suffered badly from the persecutions of World War II and the decline of character of the generations. This led him to encourage young men to devote themselves to full-time Torah study with financial support from the community. After marriage, yeshiva students could move on to a post-graduate kollel program. Torah study is the near-ritualistic dedication to studying religious texts that has evolved among the Jews over generations. ... A yeshiva (Hebrew, pl. ... A Kollel is an institute for Jewish learning for adults; they have traditionally been a Yeshiva for married men. ...

Together with Rabbis Moshe Feinstein and Yaakov Kamenetsky, Rabbi Kotler was considered one of primary leaders of USA Orthodoxy in the post-war years. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986) was an Orthodox Rabbi who was world renowned for his expertise in halacha (Jewish Law) and was the de facto supreme Rabbinic authority for the Orthodox Jewry of North America. ...

Kotler, like many Orthodox leaders, was anti-Zionist before World War II. An the summer of 1937, at the third convention of the rabbinical leaders of Agudath Israel held in Mariband, Kotler and the other rabbis there were unanimous in rejecting any proposal for a "Jewish State" on either side of the Jordan River, even if it were established as a religious state. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Agudath Israel can refer to any of several related organizations, including: an international movement, the World Agudath Israel an American organization, Agudath Israel of America an Israeli political party, Agudat Israel This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

External links

• Jewish virtual library about Aharon Kotler (1895-1963) (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/kotler.html)
• Kotler's views on Zionism (http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/rabbi_quotes/kotler.cfm)