Shneur Kotler - Rosh Yeshiva

Rosh Yeshiva

Whereas his father had actively restricted enrollment to a select group of students, Rabbi Kotler opened the yeshiva doors to a broader range of students and post-graduate fellows. Enrollment grew from less than 200 students in 1962 to over 1,000 by the time of his death in 1982, transforming the Lakewood Yeshiva from a small, elite institution into a world-class Torah center. As more students enrolled, the scope of study broadened to the point where a student could join any number of groups studying all the tractates of the Talmud.

Rabbi Kotler continued his father's dream of establishing "branches" of the Lakewood Yeshiva in other cities, supervising the opening of 30 Lakewood-style kollels in 30 cities, including Montreal, Boston, Long Beach, New York, Scranton, Pennsylvania, Miami Beach, Denver, Pittsburgh, Deal, New Jersey, Mexico, and Melbourne.

He also pioneered the establishment of community kollels in the United States and other countries. Unlike a kollel, which is a full-time learning program, a community kollel is a part-time learning program, part-time outreach program. Its Torah scholars learn together in the morning and afternoon and then interact with lay members of the community by offering evening lectures and one-on-one learning. Serving as a hub of Torah activity, community kollels make a significant impact on the growth of Torah awareness in remote Jewish areas. His able assistant in this endeavor was Rabbi Nosson Meir Wachtfogel (1910–1998), the Lakewood mashgiach (spiritual supervisor), who had been one of the original students of Rabbi Aharon Kotler when Beth Medrash Govoha first opened in 1943 and who subsequently served as mashgiach under three generations of roshei yeshiva. Rabbis Kotler and Wachtfogel paved the way for the opening of community kollels in many cities, including Passaic, New Jersey (this kollel developed into the Yeshiva Gedola of Passaic), Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Melbourne, Australia.

Rabbi Kotler was a prominent leader of American Orthodox Jewry as well, serving on the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America and the rabbinical boards of the Torah Umesorah National Society for Hebrew Day Schools and Chinuch Atzmai. He was also active in the effort to help Jewish refugees from Russia and Iran.