Opinion & Comment
More About a Picture in the Article about the Brisker Rav

To the Editor:

In a recent article on the Brisker Rav zt"l a picture of the Brisker Rav and four other rabbonim was presented. (28 Tishrei, 5760 -- October 8, 199, page 16). Identified was the Brisker Rav, as well as HaRav Zalman Sorotzkin and HaRav A. Rappaport. The rav on the extreme right as well as the rav on the extreme left were not identified.

Please be advised that the picture was taken in 1937 at Krinitzia, a resort in Poland near the border town of Bardiev, wherein the great rabbonim and the noted Hassidic Rebbes went on vacation. Accordingly, it was an occasion where the Litvishe Gedolim and Hassidic Rebbes informally met together. The Rav on the extreme right was my esteemed father- in-law, HaRav HaGaon Reb Yaakov Nayman (Shlita). HaRav Nayman was born and bred in Brisk and was a devoted disciple (and ben bayit) of the Brisker Rav. HaRav Nayman was in Shanghai during the war years, subsequently a rav in Chicago and currently is the rav of the famed Beis Medrash HaRav in Lawrence, New York. He had extremely close relations with the Rov as well as with his lifetime chaver, HaRav HaGaon Reb Berel, the Brisker Rav's son.

Many authors writing biographies of the Rav seek out HaRav Nayman for personal anecdotes as well as to authenticate issues. Of great interest to the Torah world is that the Rav not identified on the extreme left of the picture, was none other than HaRav HaGaon Reb Berel Soloveitchik (zt"l), the eldest son of the Brisker Rav and the successor to the Rav as Rosh Hayeshiva, Yeshivas Brisk, currently under the leadership of his son, HaRav Reb Avrohom Yehoshua.

Please note also that HaRav Rappaport was incorrectly noted as the rav of Klitz. He was the rav of Blitz.

Bevirchas Kohen,

HaRav Yaakov Simcha Cohen

Melbourne, Australia

All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.