Warmed by His Fire

In Reb Yankel Rosenbaum’s world, there weren’t neat boxes labeled mechanech or askan or mekarev — there was just one box: doing what Hashem wants

More than half a century later, former students would enthuse about his magnetism as a teacher and contagious reverence for Torah. But along with his warmth went a fire for higher Torah standards, which led to a clash that endangered the young man’s job.

The school was co-ed, and when a new, larger building was planned, the young teacher argued that now was the time to divide into two separate buildings. But that was a step too far for some of the parent body, who saw it as an unnecessary chumrah. So Rabbi Rosenbaum decided to enlist the support of the Satmar Rebbe, since some of the school’s donors were old-style followers.

The Rebbe’s’s reply to the young avreich was surprising: “They won’t listen to me, because they’ll say it’s a ‘Satmarer zach.’ But if Rav Moshe Feinstein rules in favor of the division, I’ll sign as well.”

Thus was born a one-of-a-kind teshuvah carrying the signature of two very different Torah giants, Rav Moshe Feinstein and the Satmar Rebbe, and brought about by Rabbi Yankel Rosenbaum, a clean-shaven but chassidic-souled avreich who spanned both worlds.