Known simply as “Aba” to those he worked with, including members of the Conference of European Rabbis, where he recently served as executive director, he was loved and respected as a good “Aba” for his unflagging support. But when a fundamental principle of Yiddishkeit was at stake he could also be a fighter, as those who knew Aba Dunner well can attest
“Okay, you got the funding.” Those words were spoken countless times during the decades that Rabbi Avraham Moshe Dunner ztz”l strived on behalf of European and worldwide Orthodox Jewry. Known simply as “Aba” to those he worked with, including members of the Conference of European Rabbis, where he recently served as executive director, he was loved and respected as a good “Aba” for his unflagging support. But when a fundamental principle of Yiddishkeit was at stake he could also be a fighter, as those who knew Aba Dunner well can attest
The founders of Kollel Tiferes Yechezkel in Berlin were devastated. In what was certain to be a major new step in the restoration of Torah Judaism in Berlin, the kollel was on the verge of opening. Then funding promised by one of the original donors failed to materialize at the last moment.
Rabbi Josh Spinner, one of the kollel’s founders, was in New York when he received the bad news, and he started calling several people for advice. The last call he placed was to Aba Dunner, but it might as well have been his first.
“I explained the situation to him and he said to call me back in five minutes,” says Rabbi Spinner. Five minutes later, Rabbi Spinner called back. “Okay, you got the funding,” said Rabbi Dunner.
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