When it came to the honor of Heaven, there was no holding back. That’s why Rav Chaim Dov Keller ztz”l was my role model

Photos: Matisyahu Goldberg, personal archives

 When Rav Chaim Dov Keller ztz”l joined Telshe-Chicago in 1961, established by Rav Avrohom Chaim Levin and Rav Chaim Schmelczer a year earlier, he was assuming a role not only in the yeshivah but in a revolution. The roshei yeshivah of Telshe were driven by a mission: to spread the undiluted, boundless supremacy of Torah without holding anything back. They began with the talmidim, extended outward to their parents and siblings, and gradually transformed entire families.

My family was one of those families.

The Keller home was a comfortable home, a home filled with pleasantness, a sense of humor, and fun, and I reveled in that warmth from a young age. Walking in on Erev Shabbos, I’d see the Rosh Yeshivah preparing the cholent for Shabbos. He and his rebbetzin provided a living lesson in marital harmony and raising well-adjusted, happy children. I witnessed their boundless love for their children (and children-in-law). I recall how many pots the Rebbetzin had to use to satisfy all the different chumros and minhagim of the family that would come for Pesach, all with a genuine smile on her face.

My mother would drive me to Shacharis every morning. The ride took us past the Rosh Yeshivah’s house (with the pink garage door). Invariably, we would pass his house at the exact moment the Rosh Yeshivah was leaving, and so we had the zechus to drive him to Shacharis. My mother would use the opportunity to ask Rav Keller her sh’eilos, some of them more important, some of them less significant, and he always answered her with such patience and respect.

In 1974 the Rosh Yeshivah was a passenger on one of our trips to Cleveland. My father was in the driver’s seat, Rav Keller was in the passenger seat, and I was scrunched in the middle, my feet high up, perched on the dashboard. I was in eighth grade at the time, and slated to attend the yeshivah the upcoming year. My father asked, “Rebbi, are you ready for Pesach next year? I mean, are you ready for him and his bright red Shabbos suit?”

Rav Keller responded, “Don’t worry, Mr. Siegel. We’ll take good care of Pesach and his red suit!”

At the time, I had no idea how much the Rosh Yeshivah was going to “take care” of me.