In Different Worlds

Perhaps the most obvious things they had in common were the immense impact their illustrious father had on their lives, and their lifelong association with the legacy of Volozhin. Rav Chaim Berlin studied under his father in Volozhin for a number of years, eventually assuming the rabbinate in the wealthy Jewish community of Moscow, where he helped fundraise for his father’s yeshivah. In Volozhin’s last years, the Netziv summoned his son to return to the yeshivah and named him his successor.

In his twilight years, Rav Chaim Berlin immigrated to Eretz Yisrael, where he immediately assumed leadership positions in the educational and charitable institutions of the Old Yishuv, alongside his activities on the beis din of Rav Shmuel Salant.

Though Rav Meir Berlin was only 12 when the Netziv passed away, as the child of his father’s old age, they enjoyed a close relationship. He was subsequently reared by his maternal grandfather, Rav Yechiel Michel Epstein, author of Aruch Hashulchan, while studying at the Telshe yeshivah. Despite the vast age difference and geographical separation for the majority of their lives, Rav Meir wrote warmly about their relationship in his memoirs.

Like his brother, he moved eventually to Eretz Yisrael, in 1926. This was after a sojourn in Berlin, and then a number of years in New York. Inspired by his father’s support of the Chovevei Zion movement of the 19th century, Rav Meir became one of the leaders of the Mizrachi. He’d go on to build much of its infrastructure in the United States and Israel, founding the movement’s newspaper, Hatzofeh, and serving as its editor.