Part 1: Pre-war Europe's Youngest Rosh Yeshiva

In Part One of a two-part series, Gedalia and Rabbi Galinsky discuss the gadlus of Rav Aharon Kotler 60 years after the petirah of prewar Europe’s youngest rosh yeshivah. Whether in his mastery of Torah or in his dealings with a simple yeshivah cook, the stories of Rav Aharon have the power to change your perspective on how to live Torah. They delve into Rav Aharon’s influence in Europe and even in Eretz Yisrael, and what the world looked like throughout Rav Aharon’s childhood. They discuss how Rav Aharon’s gadlus and leadership allowed him to push himself beyond his nature, and ultimately, they try to quantify: Who built Rav Aharon, and how can we define the empire that Rav Aharon built?

Part 2: Transplanting Torah to America

In Part Two of this series on Rav Aharon Kotler, Gedalia and Rabbi Galinsky delve into the creation of Lakewood. Today, it is a bastion of Torah; how did Rav Aharon build this incredible Ir Torah from a summer zeman of 14 “bench squeezers”? They discuss Rav Aharon’s legacy of Torah Umesorah and Jewish day schools as well, all of which were instrumental in making the pursuit of limud Torah lishmah a serious and legitimate endeavor in the modern age. Also: Find out why many gedolim in England are called dayan and whether the yungeleit of Lakewood ever considered a side job of canning vegetables.