Rav Aharon Chodosh embodied the spirit of Slabodka, yet he was a mashgiach for a new generation. His passing last week marks the end of an era – a great rav schooled in the historic yeshivah tradition who understood the soul of his American boys
Photos: Mattis Goldberg, Personal archives, Mir archives, Uri Stern
The words “Mir Mashgiach” are enough to make one tremble in reverence.
Rav Yerucham Levovitz, Rav Chatzkel Levenstein, Rav Chaim Zev Finkel — the giants of mussar who filled the post in the past — moved mountains and built men. Our generation had its own mashgiach. For more than half a century, Rav Aharon Chodosh was “the Mashgiach” to tens of thousands of talmidim. He imbued us with the spirit of Slabodka and the Torah of Mir. But most of all, he built people. He saw the latent capabilities of every talmid and inspired them to achieve their potential.
The last time we were zocheh to spend significant time together with the Mashgiach was during the Mir Yarchei Kallah last November. Typically, we would show up without any formal invitation, and always, a short Torah thought would lead to a long schmooze, complete with an evocative mussar lesson, vort on the parshah, or fascinating historical reminiscences.
Create a free account to keep reading.
