Rav Mendel Kravitz (Krawiec 1907–1992) was undoubtedly one of the postwar builders of Torah
The fifth Knessiah of the World Agudas Yisrael, a historic event, was to be held at Jerusalem’s impressive and relatively new Binyanei Ha’umah. The American delegation included a rosh yeshivah who, according to one keen observer, hadn’t taken his eyes out of a sefer the entire 12-hour flight.
His journey until that point had spanned the familiar milieu of the yeshivos of prewar Poland, a tumultuous sojourn in Shanghai, and finally his tenure as rosh yeshivah in RJJ. Though he traveled through time and space, his home remained the four walls of the beis medrash. This was Rav Menachem Mendel Kravitz.
Rav Mendel Kravitz (Krawiec 1907–1992) was undoubtedly one of the postwar builders of Torah. His connection to Rav Aharon Kotler dated back to his time in Slutzk and Kletzk. Rav Aharon appointed him chozer of his shiurim, as Rav Mendel was one of the few who fully comprehended their depth. Rav Mendel also merited a closeness with his rebbi’s father-in-law, Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, and Rav Aharon also asked him to study with his son Rav Shneur.
Rav Mendel’s nearly two decades there were interrupted when Rav Aharon made an extended fundraising trip to the United States in 1936. Rav Elazar Menachem Shach knew Rav Mendel from Kletzk, and advised him to utilize Rav Aharon’s absence to imbibe the Torah of Rav Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rav. Rav Mendel subsequently remained in Brisk for two years.
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