Passaic's Rabbi Heshie Hirth was the ultimate Torah builder
When Rabbi Heshie and Ettie Hirth arrived in Passaic in 1978, there were no kosher stores, only a declining marginally Orthodox population that was remnant of a bygone era, and no viable chinuch options. There was, however, a tiny starting-out yeshivah gedolah, whose rosh yeshivah would entrust Rabbi Hirth with the building blocks of the kehillah over the ensuing decades.
By the time Rabbi Hirth passed away in the beginning of Tishrei 43 years later, the Passaic-Clifton community was thriving. Yeshiva Ktana of Passaic — the school Rabbi Hirth had founded with just four dozen kids — boasts four divisions and is now the second-largest private school in the State of New Jersey. Three mesivta high schools, a world-class yeshivah gedolah, half a dozen kollelim, a plethora of shuls, and a dizzying array of chesed organizations all call Passaic-Clifton their home.
For over four decades Rabbi Hirth built, developed, and ran the Passaic-Clifton community, with seichel, love, and loyalty — loyalty to his ever-increasing staff, loyalty to his beloved rosh yeshivah, and loyalty to Hashem, His Torah, and His people.
It was in the early 1930s when Mr. Yechiel Hirth, his parents, and siblings escaped their native Ukrainian town and headed for the US. Industrious and talented as Mr. Hirth was, his jobs would inevitably end on Friday afternoon, when he took leave for Shabbos. After several disheartening weeks, he and his brother finally found steady work in a hardware store whose owner was willing to overlook the Saturday absence in exchange for the two valuable assiduous employees. When the store owner announced he was closing up his shop and selling the building, Mr. Hirth and his brother decided to purchase the property and start their own real estate company — a venture that would prove to be successful and allow the family to support needy institutions and individuals with utmost generosity. Yechiel Hirth married Esther Landgarten — a fellow immigrant from Poland — and together, the young couple settled on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Their son Heshie, their fourth child, was born in 1950. This was before the American Orthodox community came to appreciate the value and significance of Torah learning, yet Heshie forged his own path ahead that included the highest reverence for Torah study. It was an outlook that he would maintain for the rest of his life.
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