Two young talmidei chachamim have made it their mission to redeem the Torah of the great German rabbanim by republishing seforim long thought lost

Photos: Elchanan Kotler

“So this is a research institute?”

I call out above the din in the bustling beis medrash.

This is my first question for Rabbis Eliyahu Simcha Hellmann and Avraham Bamberger on this sunny day in Jerusalem. It’s a challenge to hear their answer, and the background noise makes me realize how silly the question is.

Nowadays there are likely hundreds of kollels in the Holy City — but only one Kollel Achsanya shel Torah, nicknamed “Kollel Ashkenaz.” This pioneering venture is bringing a largely forgotten past to life, and the yungeleit show palpable excitement when they can shed new light from an old source on a familiar sugya.

It is axiomatic that the lands of Ashkenaz — generally taken to refer to Germany and Western Europe — were hubs of Torah life during the Middle Ages. So many revered figures from that time and setting — among them Rashi, the Baalei Tosafos, Rav Yehuda Hachassid, the Rosh, and the Mordechai — are still studied daily in yeshivos and batei medrash worldwide.

As is well known, the ensuing centuries saw the Torah world’s center of gravity gradually shift to points further east. But for some reason, it is a nearly forgotten fact of history that Torah continued to flourish uninterrupted in the Germanic lands over that span. A prodigious literature produced by hundreds of great poskim from the 17th through the 20th centuries has languished, and the names of its authors are almost completely unknown today.

“Ask your average frum Yid nowadays what he knows about traditional German Jewry in modern times, and he’ll probably mumble about Yekkishe minhagim, Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch and Torah im derech eretz, and maybe the Aruch Laner,” says Rabbi Eliyahu Simcha Hellmann. “But the reality is that lo paska yeshivah — Torah study didn’t cease in Ashkenaz, from the times of Rabbeinu Gershom until the Holocaust, a span of 1,000 years.”

Rabbis Hellmann and Bamberger, two accomplished young talmidei chachamim — both of whom trace their lineage to 19th-century giant Rav Yitzchak Dov Bamberger, the Würzburger Rav — have made it their mission to redeem the Torah of these great German rabbanim. They hope to do this by cataloguing and republishing seforim long thought lost, but perhaps more importantly by bringing the Torah of Ashkenaz back to life in the beis medrash.

The roshei kollel’s enthusiasm is infectious. What attracted me to the project, though, was their keen appreciation for history. They have tirelessly dug into the past and discovered great treasures, and now they want to share their findings with the Torah world.

Not Just Books

How did it come to pass that centuries of Ashkenaz Torah scholarship were almost completely consigned to oblivion? As a proud descendant of German rabbinical aristocracy, Rabbi Hellmann was disturbed by the thought of this rich literary legacy being relegated to the dustbin of history. He set about figuring out what could be done about it.

Rabbi Hellmann turned to his rebbi, Rav Binyamin Carlebach, a rosh yeshivah of Mir Yerushalayim and himself a scion of a prominent German rabbinical family. Rabbi Hellmann has been a learning chavrusa of Rav Binyamin for the past six years, and sought his advice about embarking on a project to republish out-of-print seforim and manuscripts authored by German rabbis.

“If you become a sefer publishing company, then it’s likely that all of this valuable and historic Torah will be purchased by only a few and will primarily collect dust on bookshelves,” Rav Binyamin advised him. “What you need to do is bring the Torah into the beis medrash, where it belongs. Open a kollel, and have the members study this heretofore-unknown Torah. Within the framework of study in a kollel, these seforim can be published.”

And so Kollel Achsanya shel Torah was born. Rabbi Avraham Bamberger, another Mir alumnus and descendant of German rabbanim, was recruited to join the initiative. The kollel now operates in Jerusalem’s Ramat Eshkol neighborhood, under the auspices of Rav Binyamin Carlebach, Rav Eliyahu Meir Klugman, and Rav Yisrael Mantel, who provide guidance to the roshei kollel on the publication of new seforim and on kollel operations.

Achsanya shel Torah also publishes a bimonthly pamphlet that provides a taste of Toras Ashkenaz — exerpts from seforim and manuscripts by well-known gedolim that are kept in libraries and private collections around the world, such as Teshuvos Rabi Akiva Eiger, chiddushim of the Shaagas Aryeh, and divrei Torah of the Baal Hafla’ah — along with a sneak peek at recently discovered manuscripts being prepared for publication. Readers can open a door onto a lost world.

“Everyone is acquainted with the Rishonim of Ashkenaz,” says Rabbi Hellmann. “We’re all familiar with the Maharam of Rothenburg, down to the Maharil and the Terumas Hadeshen, who recorded centuries of Ashkenaz customs and halachah. Once we arrive at the 17th century, however, and especially when we hit the 19th century, Germany seemingly falls off the Jewish map as a significant Torah center.”

We return to the question: How did that happen? How is it that this history is completely unknown?