Rav Shneur Kotler’s pioneering vision still guides Chicago roshei kollel Rabbi Moshe Francis and Rabbi Dovid Zucker

Photos: Avi Berkman, Alex Polissky, Mishpacha archives

IF one has two grandfathers named “Meir,” he can name his son “Shneur” in memory of both, writes the Beis Shmuel in Hilchos Gittin. The name “Meir” (the root of which is “ohr”) means “bearer of light,” or “one who is bright or shines.” The name “Shneur” is “Shnei Ohr — Two Lights.”

For 19 years, Rav Shneur Kotler ztz”l served as rosh yeshivah of Lakewood’s Beis Medrash Govoha. There he learned, taught, guided, and encouraged, and succeeded in ushering in an era in which years of kollel learning became a prevalent norm. During his relatively short lifetime, Rav Shneur Kotler spread so much light.

But the spiritual glow he cast over the city of Lakewood, was just one of the lights that Rav Shneur Kotler ignited. Under his leadership, together with Rav Nosson Wachtfogel, he oversaw a movement to spread Torah across America and beyond, marshaling his troops for a mission to take the mesorah and energy of Lakewood, the steadfast commitment to limud haTorah, and share it with Yidden on the outside. Thus began the concept of community kollelim, the second “ohr” of Rav Shneur’s “two lights.”

Last week, on the third day of Tammuz, was Rav Shneur’s 40th yahrtzeit. It was on Shabbos, which Klal Yisrael welcomes with lighting at least two candles — bringing that much more ohr to the world. Rav Shneur was just 64 when he passed away, having run Lakewood’s BMG for the exact number of days as his father, Rav Aharon Kotler ztz”l, who passed away in 1962 — 19 years, seven months and one day. The Gemara in Avodah Zarah tells us that it takes 40 years to grasp the lessons of a rebbi. Rav Shneur’s lessons were many, his timeless impact spanning so many areas. One of them is the phenomenon of community kollelim now spread across the US and further afield, which has transformed the landscape of Jewish America.

It’s always a curious thing to examine the pattern of which cities succeeded in carving out an oasis within American culture, where Torah is its singular heartbeat. Today there are many, and each has its own story to tell. Although Chicago has had a vibrant Torah community for a century, it was one of the first to initiate this trend over four decades ago (Toronto was the first), and its number of mekomos haTorah is constantly growing. Of course, many people and numerous factors can be credited for this accomplishment, and the Chicago Community Kollel’s 40 years of uninterrupted limud HaTorah — a harbor in the ever-Windy City — is surely somewhere at the top of the list.

But the kollel’s hatzlachah was not born in a vacuum. Its founding roshei kollel, Rabbi Moshe Francis and Rabbi Dovid Zucker, are both talmidim of Rav Shneur, and it was under the Rosh Yeshivah’s directive, that they built one of America’s oldest and most successful community kollelim. The roshei kollel, role models themselves in Torah, avodas Hashem, and baalei achrayus of the highest order, admit that the credit is not theirs for the taking. Because behind the success they’ve been blessed with, is a figure who didn’t live in Chicago and in fact, had little to do with the city at all.

Rav Shneur Kotler didn’t really have to concern himself with a city in far-flung Illinois, or with the growth of Torah in Toronto, Detroit, Los Angeles, or any other city for that matter. His hometown was Lakewood, New Jersey, where he led a yeshivah rapidly earning the title of America’s largest — this alone was ample enough responsibility. But Rav Shneur not only cared, he acted.

“He was a great baal achrayus,” Rabbi Francis reflects. “He juggled so many responsibilities. And through it all, he was forever learning, writing, and developing chiddushim. It was truly awe- inspiring to watch.”

Rabbi Zucker recalls how Rav Shneur so frequently had to spend time away from the yeshivah, raising the necessary funds to sustain it and support its swelling number of talmidim, which jumped from 180 to 1,000 (500 bochurim and 500 yungeleit) during Rav Shneur’s tenure as rosh yeshivah. “He gave up both ruchniyus and gashmiyus for the yeshivah,” says Rabbi Zucker. “In those days, there was no sophisticated board of directors, and so much of the work fell on Rav Shneur’s shoulders.”

That sense of achrayus extended well beyond the parameters of the yeshivah. Rav Shneur was involved in myriad different projects on behalf of the klal, as well as serving on the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. Given this context, it’s easy to see how Rav Shneur would throw his weight behind an initiative that would mean saying goodbye to talmidim of his own yeshivah for the sake of building Torah in other communities.