New York is a city with a large populace. Each of us meets and knows many persons, and it is precisely because of this that we really do not know the people whom we think we know.
Rabbi Yehudah Leib Kagan has been Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Jacob Joseph for many years. Many people know him– but how many really know who he is.
He is a great Talmid Chacham, great both in Halacha and in Aggada — and a man who in his youth had served and known intimately many of the great rabbinic luminaries of pre-War Poland. He carries their memory in loving remembrance in his soul.
He was born in Poland. In his youth he wandered from one tent of the Torah to another. Suwalk, Slonim, Grodno, Slabodka, Kelm, Mir — all were stations on his road of learning. After his marriage in 1929, he was one of the select few who studied in the Kollel of Otwotzk, which was founded by Reb Shlomo Goldberg, a rich Warsaw Jew, whose spiritual patron was Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski of Vilna.
IN 1932, Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel, then rabbi of Antwerp visited the health spa of Marienbad. He met there Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz, the famous Mashgiach of Mir. He told the latter of his plan to establish a Yeshiva in Antwerp and asked him to recommend a young man who could serve as Rosh Yeshiva.
Upon his return to Poland, Rabbi Yerucham advised Rabbi Kagan that he was recommending him for the post, but suggested that Rabbi Kagan first discuss the matter with Rabbi Xhaim Ozer Grodzinski. Rabbi Chaim Oizer gave Rabbi Kagan his blessing and a short time later he entered his new post as Rosh Yeshiva in Antwerp.
“In whatever city he served as rabbi, Rabbi Amiel established a Yeshiva,” Rabbi Kagan remarked, reminiscing about his coming to Antwerp.
A year later, Rabbi Kagan became also chief Dayan of Rabbi Amiel’s Beth Din. After Rabbi Amiel was named Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, he was succeeded as Rabbi of Antwerp by Rabbi Shmuel Brot.
Rabbi Kagan can tell you many a story of Rabbi Brot, but there is one which particularly stands out in his memory.
Prior to World War II, there was a large boycott-Germany movement in Belgium. The Belgian government, intent on good relations with its powerful neighbor did not look favorably upon the boycott movement. Once on a Yom Kippur, in his Kol Nidre sermon, Rabbi Brot criticized those Jewish diamond manufacturers who continued to send diamonds for polishing to Germany.
On the morrow of Yom Kippur, Rabbi Brot sent for Rabbi Kagan.
“I am no more rabbi of Antwerp,” Rabbi Brot told Rabbi Kagan, when the latter entered his home.
“The president of the community, who was evidently not too pleased with my Kol Nidre sermon, informed me that in the future, I would have to submit all my sermons for his prior approval. I cannot accede to such a demand and I have decided to resign.”
If the rabbi leaves the city– I shall go with him,” Rabbi Kagan told Rabbi Brot.
Sukkot approached. no sermon of the rabbi was announced for the forthcoming festival. People were perplexed. What had happened? The rabbi had resigned! They begged Rabbi Brot to reconsider his decision. He refused. Only after the president of the community offered his apologies, did he withdraw his resignation.
Rabbi Kagan served in Antwerp until the invasion of Belgium by Germany. He fled the country and lived in several localities in unoccupied France, serving for a period the Yeshurun congregation in Lyons. In 1942 he left for the U.S.
A short time after his arrival in New York, he became Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Jacob Joseph. He has served in that capacity with short interruptions, during which he was Rosh Yeshiva of the Beth Medrash LaTorah in Chicago and of Yeshiva Yisroel Salanter in the Bronx.
Rabbi Kagan has contributed to a variety of rabbinic periodicals and is the author of the brilliant “Halichot Yehuda.” The work which is arranged according to the Sidrot of the Torah contains discourses both in Halacha and Mussar. Three parts of the work have appeared thus far. The two remaining parts on the books of Bamidbar and Devarim, are to appear shortly.
He had ready for print a similar work on the Siddur which discusses the prayers both Halachically and from the point of view of Mussar.
Rabbi Kagan and his wife, the former Devora Kosovski, a daughter of Rabbi Yitzchok Kosovski, rabbi of Volkovisk and a niece of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, have three children. Their son, Israel Meir, a son-in-law of Rabbi Shmuel Ehrenfeld of Mattersdorf, is a Rosh Yeshiva in Denver. Their two daughters are daughters-in-law of Rabbi Judah Altusky of New York and of Rabbi Leib Lopian of Gateshead, respectively.
The Jewish Press, Friday, April 30, 1971