On Friday 28 Av, tens of thousands of bereft Torah-loyal Jews,
headed by maronan verabonan, the gedolei haTorah
vehaChassidus, accompanied HaRav Yaakov HaKohen Pam,
zt"l, on his last earthly journey. HaRav Pam was the
rosh yeshiva of Torah VoDaas. One of the great marbitzei
Torah in the United States, he produced tens of thousands
of students. He was the president of the American Chinuch
Atzmai and of the Shuvu and the Nechomas Yisroel
organizations. He was niftar Thursday night, 28 Av,
after an illness, during the 89th year of his life.
Upon learning the bitter news of HaRav Pam's petirah, a
heavy pall of mourning descended upon all beis Yisroel
and the yeshiva world in particular. HaRav Pam was one of the
formulators of the derech of the yeshiva world in the
United States; one who created and sustained the American
Torah world, and one of its most venerable roshei
yeshiva. He was also a venerated model figure to countless
Jews, due to his unique manner of avodas Hashem.
On Thursday night after chatzos, the bitter news of his
petirah spread quickly throughout American chareidi
centers. The news reached Eretz Yisroel on Friday morning,
while many were still davening for his recovery.
HaRav Pam's health had severely deteriorated in recent months,
and his illness aroused concern among the Torah world that
hastened to plead for his speedy recovery. Prayers uniting all
circles of chareidi Jewry in the United States were uttered
fervently, expressing the great esteem in which all held this
illustrious godol who guided beis Yisroel for so
many decades.
Close to chatzos on Thursday night, his health took a
drastic downward turn, and family and students streamed to his
room in Boro Park's Maimonides Hospital, where they mournfully
cried out "Shema Yisroel," and "Hashem Hu
HoElokim." His family and students did kriya, as
obligated by halocho.
All felt bereft and orphaned. In the morning, his bier was
brought to the study hall of the Torah VoDaas yeshiva in
Flatbush, where he taught Torah, yir'oh, mussar and
halocho to tens of thousands of students over a period
of more than sixty years. The beis medrash that had
been a beacon for his many students, from which the light his
Torah had shone forth for long distances, resounded with the
weeping of those who had come to lament the petirah of
the tzaddik, one of the last vestiges of the previous
generation.
On Friday afternoon, his levaya, attended by tens of
thousands of students and mourners who had arrived from all
parts of the United States, formed a massive entourage that
proceeded from the yeshiva. He was buried Friday afternoon in
the plot of his fathers in the cemetery in Queens.
Over 10,000 men and women came to pay respect to the Rosh
Yeshiva. The streets were closed off from 18th Avenue to
Courtelyou Road, and from Coney Island Avenue to Ocean
Parkway, including the service road. It was very organized.
Police barricades kept the women across the street with a
special section in between for the cars and roshei yeshiva to
get across.
Almost all the Roshei Yeshiva and gedolim were there.
People came back from the mountains specially for the
levayo.
Here is the list of gedolim (perhaps not comprehensive)
who attended: Novominsker Rebbe, HaRav Elya Svei, HaRav Aharon
Schechter, Mattersdorfer Rebbe, HaRav Henoch Leibowitz,
Rachmasrivka Rebbe, HaRav Malkiel Kotler, Bluzhever Rebbe,
Munkatcher Rebbe, and HaRav Shmuel Birnbaum.
The group said Tehillim and his son, HaRavAharon Pam,
spoke for a few minutes on behalf of the family. He stressed
how HaRav Pam st'l did not want a hesped -- he
was a father to all. He asked mechila from his father
and thanked everyone for all that they did.
Hundreds followed the procession through Crown Heights to the
Interboro to the cemetery. Everything was very organized --
there were police all along the route directing traffic.
The Rosh Yeshiva was buried near other Torah Vodaas
gedolim: Rabbi Herman, HaRav Reuven Grozovsky and HaRav
Yaakov Kamenetzky.
His Biography
HaRav Avrohom Yaakov HaKohen Pam, son of HaRav Meir, a
ram in the Chaim Berlin yeshiva who had studied in the
Slabodka and Radin yeshivos in Lithuania, was born in Tamuz
5673, into a home filled with Torah and pure yiras
Shomayim. In his sefer, Atara LaMelech, HaRav
Avrohom Yaakov describes his father and his dveikus to
Torah, imbibed as a young man in Slabodka. During that period,
HaRav Pam's father was immersed in Torah day and night,
sharing a common language with the fervent lomdim of
the yeshiva. In time, he was appointed to the position of
maggid shiur in the yeshiva of the ga'avad of
Ponovezh (HaRav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman), along with HaRav
Eliyahu Dushnitzer.
In the sefer, HaRav Avrohom Yaakov also speaks about
his righteous mother, who was the epitome of chessed.
She assisted the poor and brokenhearted in a remarkable
manner. He wrote: "Once a person complained: `My father-in-law
promised me a huge sum for my wedding, but did not fulfill his
promise. He tricked me.' My mother consoled him by saying:
`From the amount your father-in-law promised you, it is
evident how much esteem he has for you, and how deserving you
are in his eyes of so large a dowry.'"
In that home, HaRav Avrohom Yaakov's unique personality was
formed. He showed distinct signs of being destined for
greatness. He constantly sought to grow in Torah and to rise
in spiritually, and his diligence, greatness, refinement and
purity of thought were manifest even when he was young. He was
noble of spirit, outstanding in his middos, and
meticulous in his interpersonal relationships.
As a child, he studied in Kovna. His family later moved to the
United States, where his father was appointed to the position
of ram of the Rabbenu Chaim Berlin yeshiva. Once in
America, the thirteen-year-old Avrohom Yaakov began to study
in Torah VoDaas. He became very close with his mentors, the
rosh yeshiva, HaRav Dovid Lebowitz, zt"l, and HaRav
Shraga Feivel Mendelowitz, zt"l, rapidly becoming the
yeshiva's finest student.
The rosh yeshiva and the mashgiach were especially fond
of him, seeing that he was a bor sud she'eino me'abeid
tippa who was destined to light up the skies of Jewry with
his Torah and unique character traits.
He was known for his outstanding hasmodo as well as for
his work on his middos and his study of mussar.
His entire life centered around Torah study and middos
improvement, and was one long saga of deep immersion in Torah
study and exertion in avodas Hashem in an unassuming
manner.
After marrying the former Sara Belmuth, tibodel lechaim
tovim ve'arukim, who helped him in a most dedicated manner
her entire life, he was asked to serve as ram in the
Torah VoDaas Yeshiva Ketana, and later as the rosh yeshiva of
the yeshiva gedola. For more than sixty consecutive
years he delivered shiurim and mussar discourses
to the yeshiva students. His discourses would penetrate his
students' souls and form a path in their hearts leading to
beis Hashem. He was a mechanech in his very
essence and conduct and a manifestation of the fact that Torah
and yiras Shomayim are the core of life. His image lit
up their hearts long after they had left the yeshiva.
HaRav Pam had a tremendous impact upon his tens of thousands
of students. From his shiurim, they derived guidance in
avodas haBorei and acquired the eternal kinyonim
of pure Torah and yiras Shomayim. They regarded him as
an archetype of the genuine oved Hashem, whose life
focused only on serving Hashem with his entire heart and soul,
raising kevod Shomayim and disseminating Torah and
mussar, especially among the younger generation. His
students regarded him as a compassionate figure who sought
only their welfare and whose desire was to guide them along
the paths of Torah and mussar.
For some six decades, the great HaRav Avrohom Yaakov HaKohen
Pam was an anchor for hundreds and thousands of students
deeply attached to him with strong bonds of love. They sensed
that he was their support during times of happiness and during
times of distress, and felt that they could turn to him for
counsel.
He would study Chulin with Shulchan Oruch with
the avreichim of the Torah VoDaas Kollel, and after
testing them, he would grant them yoreh yoreh, yodin,
yodin.
His students note his fatherly image and the warm manner in
which he influenced them to pursue Hashem's path. He
personally fulfilled whatever he demanded of his students, and
was a model of humility, the noble trait from which he
elicited his quality of tolerance and the pashtus noted
by his many students. He never sat at the Mizrach in the
yeshiva, but rather among his students, like one of them. He
wore a short jacket, not a rabbinical frock: a model of
humility, modesty and simplicity. It was no mistake that he
merited to be called, "the Chofetz Chaim of America."
His home in Flatbush was a center of Torah guidance. Every
single corner in that home, which was the utmost in
pashtus, radiated with kedusha and embodied the
daled amos of halocho from which Torah emanated
to chareidi Jewry the world over. In that home, HaRav Pam was
consulted as a partner in all decisions pertaining to chareidi
Jewry. He welcomed all in a warm manner, opening his doors to
every Jew in need, listening attentively to them and making
all-out efforts to help.
His appearances at the meetings and conventions of Agudas
Yisroel in the United States had a tremendous impact. His
speeches were heard each time with cherdas kodesh, for
he was a beloved figure, accepted by all circles of the
chareidi community. He spoke calmly, with measured, well-
chosen words that penetrated the hearts of his listeners.
Although he didn't participate in the last Agudah convention,
a speech that he had recorded at home was presented. He spoke
about the trait of emes,saying that it should be the
guiding light of the entire chareidi sector. As a man of
truth, for whom truth was the central point of his life, he
spoke penetratingly about the sin of chilul Hashem
caused by a lack of integrity.
His profound, weekly shiurim in parshas hashovua
in Torah VoDaas were famed throughout the United States, and
many people attended them. Hundreds of tapes of his
shiurim on the parshos and on middos
serve as the mainstay of the chinuch of every ben
yeshiva in the United States. They constitute the bulk of
his sefer, Atara LaMelech, which contains discourses on
hashkofoh as well as guidance, chiddushim and
explanations, with particular stress on integrity in one's
interpersonal relationships. These shiurim generally
focused on middos tovos and the good practices he
himself exemplified.
Alongside his leadership of many of the struggles of Torah
Jewry in the United States, he was very concerned about the
problems of Torah Jewry in Eretz Hakodesh. The issue of the
chinuch of Jewish children was close to his heart, and
he was the first to offer his aid in every effort in this
area. He was particularly interested in the Torah-true
chinuch in Eretz Hakodesh. After the petirah of
HaRav Moshe Feinstein,zt"l, he was appointed president
of Chinuch Atzmai in the United States. He was also a member
of the presidium of the largest Torah organization in America,
Torah Umesorah. During recent years he was president of the
Nechomas Tziyon organization, active in American secular
schools.
He founded the Shuvu organization for the chinuch of
Russian children in Eretz Yisroel, and was its patron during
the past few decade. He became involved in this organization
when HaRav Avrohom Yosef Laizerson, one of the heads of the
Chinuch Atzmai in Eretz Yisroel, arrived at an Agudah
convention in the United States. At the directives of the
gedolei HaTorah, HaRav Laizerson then raised the
problem of the education of the children of Russian immigrants
who want to study in Chinuch Atzmai schools.
The subject was raised at the convention and HaRav Pam, very
upset over the difficulties encountered in the area of the
chinuch of immigrant children, accorded the issue a
pivotal place at the Agudah convention. In his stirring, tear-
filled speech, he addressed the thousands of participants at
the convention, making them keenly aware of the urgent need to
rally to the aid of Russian immigrant children. Then and
there, he set up a special committee for rescue activities,
and in that manner, Shuvu was born. He was its loyal patron
until his final day. HaRav Pam said that in the beis din
shel ma'aloh it will surely be noted that he had a part in
the founding of Shuvu.
Four years ago, he contracted a serious illness and underwent
surgery. The Torah world prayed for his refuah, and
with Hashem's help, he resumed his regular Torah activity. Two
months ago, his health began to deteriorate. Prayers were
recited for his recovery in all the yeshivos. Despite his
difficult condition, three weeks ago he participated in the
annual convention of Shuvu, setting out for the meeting on a
stretcher by ambulance. At the meeting, he spoke for five
minutes about the tremendous importance of granting Jewish
children a Jewish education. At that, his final public
appearance, he conveyed the message that every Jew under all
circumstances is obligated to do his maximum for the sake of
the education of Jewish children.
Last week, his health rapidly deteriorated, and he was rushed
to Maimonides Hospital in Boro Park, where he returned his
pure soul to its Maker on Thursday night at 12:30, in the
presence of his family and many of his students and close
acquaintances.
The levaya left Torah VoDaas on Friday morning, and was
attended by tens of thousands of mourners. Before the
procession set out for the cemetery, chapters of
Tehillim were recited. As per his final request, no
hespedim were delivered. His son, HaRav Aharon Pam,
delivered words of parting.
He is survived by an illustrious family: sons that are
gedolei haTorah and grandchildren and great-
grandchildren, all of whom are pursuing the path he charted
for them. His sons are: HaRav Aharon, a ram in Darkei
Torah in New York; HaRav Dovid, a rav in Beis Medrash Shneour
in Toronto; and Rav Usher, a ram in the Talmud Torah of
Lakewood.
