RABBI YISROEL GROSSMAN A”H

For decades, the gaon Rav Yisroel Grossman a”h was the rosh yeshiva in yeshivos Tomchei T’mimim, at first in Lud, then in Kfar Chabad and Migdal HaEmek. He merited to have thousands of talmidim. * R’ Grossman had yechidus twice and was encouraged by the Rebbe to publish his s’farim. * He was a model of a man of Torah, man of halacha, a refined Chassid, and an outstanding man of chesed who helped many. * The special bond between R’ Grossman and the Rebbe and Chabad.

Rabbi Yisroel Grossman was one of the distinguished rabbanim and dayanim in Eretz Yisroel. His connection with Chabad and the Rebbe was special. He highly regarded the Rebbe who sent him instructions regarding the Chabad yeshivos in Lud, Kfar Chabad, and Migdal HaEmek where he served as rosh yeshiva. With the help of his oldest son, R’ Bentzion, who became a Chabad Chassid, Beis Moshiach managed to uncover some of the wide ranging connections of R’ Grossman with Chabad and the Rebbe.

HIS YOUNGER YEARS

R’ Grossman was born in Yerushalayim on 5 Cheshvan 5683/1922. In his youth he learned in the yeshiva of the gaon R’ Tzvi Dushinsky who later became the av beis din of the Eidah HaChareidis. R’ Dushinsky cherished him and predicted that he would grow to greatness. Then he went to learn in Yeshivas Kamenitz by the gaon R’ Moshe Bernstein. R’ Grossman was one of the first talmidim in the yeshiva and was the rosh yeshiva’s right hand man.

He was an ardent Karliner Chassid and was close to his Rebbe, the Admur, R’ Avrohom Elimelech Perlow of Karlin. When the Admur came to visit Eretz Yisroel in 5699 and saw the young, Chassidishe bachur, he was amazed by his abilities and diligence and quoted a verse and applied to him, “Yisroel asher becha espa’ar” (Yisroel, in whom I will be glorified).

Before he married he was tested on all of Shas by the av beis din of the Eidah HaChareidis, R’ Reuven Bengis. He married Gitta Perel, the daughter of R’ Yosef Gutfarb. His rebbetzin stood by his side all his days in his work in teaching Torah, educating a generation of talmidim.

His diligence in Torah study already gave him the title of a lamdan of stature in his youth. This is why, when he was a young man of twenty he had a regular learning session with the Admur R’ Shlomo of Zhvil. In 1948, when he was just 25, the Karliner Admur appointed him as rosh yeshiva of Karlin in Yerushalayim.

During the years he served as rosh yeshiva in Karlin he learned in the yeshiva during the day and learned with great Torah scholars at night.

THE REBBE NEGATED THE AGREEMENT

During the years after the War of Independence, R’ Grossman worked exceedingly hard to buttress Judaism and he was occasionally a go-between for g’dolei Yisroel.

In 5712, when Eretz Yisroel was in an uproar over the issue of drafting girls into the army, R’ Grossman led the battle against drafting girls and even sat in jail for this.

At the same time, he fought to save the Yaldei Teheran and children from Yemen from anti-religious, heretical education, and was one of the founders of Pe’ilei HaMachane HaToranis (which later became Yad L’Achim) along with R’ Sholom Ber Lifschitz, director of Yad L’Achim.

One of his first attempts at outreach was in Rosh HaAyin, as his son R’ Yitzchok Dovid related:

“My father traveled by van to Rosh HaAyin where he informed the Yemenite immigrants that whoever wanted a place for his son to learn Torah, and whoever wanted his son to be given food and clothes, should come with him. Within a short time, he had thirty children in the van whom he brought to our home in Battei Warsaw, a little apartment with two small rooms where our large family lived. Despite the neighbors’ complaints that the immigrant children carried contagious diseases, my father was not fazed and he took care of all their needs.”

Together with R’ Zushe Wilyamowsky, known as the Partisan, and R’ Sholom Dovber Lifschitz, he attracted the immigrant children to Torah schools, mainly Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Lud. When the hanhala said they did not have money to buy beds, R’ Grossman and R’ Lifschitz procured dozens of beds and linen so that the children would be accepted in the yeshiva.

During the years that followed, he continued his war against the government regarding the children from Yemen and the Yaldei Teheran. He demanded that those children whose parents raised them according to the holy Torah should continue receiving a Torah education. But the government, as is known, wanted to send them to irreligious schools. R’ Grossman’s outcry apparently disturbed Prime Minister Ben Gurion’s rest and he offered an agreement to R’ Grossman. He would get a certain percentage of the immigrant children in exchange for his silence on the education of the immigrant children. It was a question of pikuach nefesh and R’ Grossman did not know whether to accept the offer. He wrote to the Rebbe about this.

In a letter dated 12 Adar II 1957, the Rebbe completely negated the proposed agreement. The Rebbe wrote very decisively that he should not agree to the offer. At the end of the letter, the Rebbe urged him about the study of Chassidus in the yeshiva that he headed, saying that nowadays, Chassidus with expanded explanations needs to be taught just as Nigleh of Torah is taught.

During the years that he was involved in a vast range of communal activities, he continued heading the Karlin yeshiva, while being immersed in Torah study. His son R’ Bentzion recalls that his father barely allowed himself to eat something before he went to yeshiva. “My father was very particular about time and was never late to yeshiva or to anything he was invited to. I remember, as a child, before my father left for yeshiva, he would eat for a few minutes and then run to yeshiva.”

ROSH YESHIVA OF YESHIVAS TOMCHEI T’MIMIM IN LUD

After ten years of being rosh yeshiva in Karlin, he was offered the position of rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Lud to replace R’ Boruch Shimon Schneersohn. R’ Grossman accepted, and the directors of the yeshiva in Lud sent the offer to the Rebbe who agreed to it.

Before he took the job, R’ Grossman gave a Gemara shiur in the presence of the menahalim, R’ Efraim Wolf and R’ Avrohom Drizin, as well as the mashpia of the yeshiva, R’ Shlomo Chaim Kesselman, and other members of the staff. The shiur was successful and he was accepted as rosh yeshiva.

R’ Grossman worked as both rosh yeshiva and mashgiach, throwing all his energy and efforts into establishing the yeshiva, instilling the students with the spirit of Torah study with a Chassidishe enthusiasm. The hanhala was very satisfied with his outstanding work and reported to the Rebbe.

A short while after his appointment, his impact on the talmidim could already be felt. The Rebbe wrote to him about this in a letter dated the beginning of Tammuz 5718, and said he was pleased that R’ Grossman would be working in Tomchei T’mimim, founded and run by the Rebbe Rashab and his son, the Rebbe Rayatz. The Rebbe said he was especially pleased to hear about his effect on the talmidim.

R’ Grossman worked day and night to raise the level of learning in the yeshiva. Whenever he was in the yeshiva he sat in the zal even though the hanhala said he could sit in his office and prepare his shiurim there. Instead of that, he prepared his shiurim late at night, and during the day he invested all his energy in the talmidim. At first, he spent all week in Lud where he lived in a little shack and only went home to Yerushalayim for Shabbos.

KARLIN CHASSID OR CHABAD ROSH YESHIVA?

There are Lubavitcher Chassidim who are surprised when they hear that a Karliner Chassid headed Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim for many years. His son, R’ Bentzion, who himself became a Chabad Chassid, has this to say:

“My father wasn’t comfortable with the situation, being an ardent Karliner Chassid and being the head of a Chabad yeshiva. He thought that some of the talmidim had a hard time learning from him because of this. He kept this to himself until one day, when he poured out his heart to the mashpia, R’ Kesselman. By way of answering him, R’ Kesselman told him that in Tomchei T’mimim in the town of Lubavitch there was a maggid shiur who was a Koidinov Chassid. On Erev Rosh HaShana, as wagons would arrive in Lubavitch, one wagon would leave for Koidinov. This aroused bad feelings among the talmidim and the Rebbe Rashab heard about it. He said, ‘I love a Chassid who is not a shmatte,’ meaning, there are people who constantly change due to peer pressure, like a shmatte, while this maggid shiur, a Koidinov Chassid, did not think he had to change because of his job.”

R’ Bentzion Grossman visited his father several times at the yeshiva in Lud when he was a child, and he remembers the shack with the “Jewish Agency bed,” which his father slept on all week.

“My father was a tall man and the small Agency bed wasn’t long enough for him. In addition, the noise from the train station near the yeshiva made it hard for him to sleep, but he did not complain. Instead, he personally worked with the students from Yemen, giving them a lot of attention so they would remain in yeshiva.

“My father, aside from giving general shiurim to all the talmidim, also gave shiurim to some of the classes and talked a lot in learning with the bachurim to keep them sharp. At first, my father thought it would be an easy job but he quickly saw that the yeshiva had outstanding talmidim for whom he had to prepare shiurim on a high level.”

THE MOVE TO MIGDAL HAEMEK

R’ Grossman was rosh yeshiva in Lud for about five years and then, after a short break, was appointed rosh yeshiva of Tomchei T’mimim in Kfar Chabad where he worked for twenty years.

During the 70’s, his son R’ Yitzchok Dovid opened a middle school yeshiva for young baalei t’shuva, which eventually fed into a high school. When the boys were old enough for beis midrash (yeshiva g’dola), R’ Yisroel Grossman suggested that instead of opening a yeshiva in Migdal HaEmek, they should bring bachurim from Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Kfar Chabad to Migdal HaEmek for two months. During this time, the bachurim would be mekarev the boys from the yeshiva to the derech of Chabad and then they could go to the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad.

A group of bachurim from Kfar Chabad went to Migdal HaEmek for two months. Then R’ Yitzchok Dovid wanted to turn his yeshiva (for young boys and older boys) into a Chabad yeshiva, but the Rebbe said that if he would not commit to standing up against those who would oppose him, he shouldn’t do it.

In his answer, the Rebbe said that his father, R’ Yisroel, should give shiurim in the yeshiva four or five times a week. With this response, R’ Yitzchok Dovid informed the Rebbe’s office that he committed to standing up to any opposition. R’ Yisroel started giving shiurim on Sunday through Wednesday.

These bachurim from Kfar Chabad, who were to serve as shluchim in the yeshiva, went to the Rebbe at his expense for Nissan 5738 and had special kiruvim from the Rebbe and even an extraordinary yechidus in the course of which the Rebbe told them that when they returned to Eretz Yisroel, they should go to the Kosel with R’ Yisroel Grossman, which they did.

THE REBBE TOLD HIM TO PUBLISH BOOKS

R’ Yisroel Grossman published thirteen s’farim, some of them shiurim that he said in the yeshivos where he worked. In other s’farim he focused on clarifying halachic issues relating to money matters. R’ Grossman learned and taught but never considered publishing s’farim. As he put it, “In those days, only geonei ha’dor published s’farim, why would I?” But the Rebbe thought otherwise. When he had yechidus, the Rebbe told him to publish s’farim. When he asked on what topic to write, the Rebbe told him to collect his shiurim that he said in yeshiva. That is how a series of shiurim on tractates in Shas came to be published with the Rebbe continuing to encourage him.

His son R’ Yitzchok Dovid relates that several times, when he was at the Rebbe, the Rebbe expressed interest about the continued publishing of his father’s s’farim.

R’ Yisroel said a number of times that he credits the Rebbe for his publishing s’farim, for encouraging and urging him to do so.

EXPERTISE IN ADJUDICATION OF MONETARY CASES

Along with his work in Karlin and Chabad yeshivos, R’ Grossman was very involved in dinei mamonus (financial legal disputes) such as laws of neighbors, brokerage, rentals, inheritances, etc. For many years he was a dayan in a beis din for monetary cases in Petach Tikva and Yerushalayim and he acquired a worldwide stellar reputation for his halachic decisions.

His chiddushim and psakim in dinei Choshen Mishpat are considered guiding lights for dayanim in battei din for monetary cases and are in regular use by those who decide such cases. R’ Tuvia Weiss, av beis din of the Eidah HaChareidis, said when eulogizing R’ Grossman that for decades he was regularly assisted by R’ Grossman’s outstanding s’farim that translated the complicated laws of Choshen Mishpat into actual cases that apply in our times.

His expertise in monetary law led many to his door so he could serve as an arbitrage consultant in complicated disputes. Even when he was weak in his later years, many went to him for his arbitration.

“IT’S A WONDER THAT I AM STILL NOT A LUBAVITCHER CHASSID”

He greatly esteemed the Rebbe. In his drashos he commented several times, saying the Rebbe is the tzaddik and gaon of the generation. He sent many letters to the Rebbe over the years and regularly told about open miracles he experienced. His son R’ Bentzion relates:

“My father, with his great admiration for the Rebbe and Chabad, once said, ‘Although I am a Karliner Chassid, based on the open miracles I experienced with the Rebbe, it’s a wonder that I am not yet an official Lubavitcher Chassid.’”

He had two private audiences with the Rebbe. Another time he passed by for dollars and received seven, with the Rebbe telling him that each dollar was for a different title of his: Rosh Yeshiva in Tomchei T’mimim, Rosh Yeshiva in Karlin, Dayan, author of s’farim, etc.

His visits to the Rebbe increased his esteem for the Rebbe and at the Siyum HaRambam in 5750 he said, “When we see the Rebbe, his enormous work which is in a manner of ‘the tzaddik sprouts forth like a palm,’ and on the other hand the scope of his maamarim and sichos for which I have no words to describe, in the manner of ‘a cedar grows in Lebanon,’ we can see his tremendous greatness. I apply to the Rebbe the verse that says, ‘as a nursemaid carries the nursling,’ he bears all the material and spiritual worries.”

R’ Grossman submitted divrei Torah to Torah books that were published in the Rebbe’s honor in 5749 and for the Rebbe’s ninetieth birthday. He also attended Chabad events such as the meeting to amend the Law of Mihu Yehudi, the siyum of Sifrei Torah L’Yaldei Yisroel, siyumei Rambam, central farbrengens, etc. He also signed the proclamations of g’dolei Yisroel on the subject of amending Mihu Yehudi.

SHAS EVERY YEAR

R’ Yisroel Grossman was a man of Torah, a man of halacha, a refined Chassid, and an outstanding man of chesed who helped many. His son R’ Bentzion relates that many went to his father’s house for advice and help.

“He wrote thousands of recommendations for the needy. He put his entire neshama into writing recommendations for those down and out or for mosdos with numerous talmidim. He imagined how the wealthy man reading the recommendation would react and wrote it persuasively to pull at the heartstrings. So that each recommendation would look important, he wrote with big, nice letters. In later years he even bothered to laminate the recommendation so it wouldn’t be ruined.”

He became weak in his later years and had to reduce his many activities in the public sphere. He therefore increased his study of Shas. His family says that in his last decade he finished Shas every year.

***

On Motzaei Shabbos Parshas Ki Sisa 5767 he was taken to the hospital. A few hours later, a prayer gathering was held at the Kosel to daven for him. In the days that followed his condition deteriorated. Despite this, his concern was to help others. He spoke to his family about the importance of saving Jewish lives and the importance of being mekarev Jews to their Father in heaven. One of the last things he said was, “The most important thing in heaven is doing a favor for a Jew.”

He passed away on 23 Adar. Many attended his funeral including Admurim, rabbanim, and roshei yeshivos of all segments of the Jewish world. Of course there were also Chabad rabbanim and talmidim from Chabad yeshivos from Migdal HaEmek and Kfar Chabad.