The Radin Yeshivah stood at the forefront of Torah dissemination in Eastern Europe
With luminaries like the saintly Chofetz Chaim, Rav Moshe Londinski, and — until his untimely passing in 1928 — Rav Naftali Trop at the helm, the Radin Yeshivah stood at the forefront of Torah dissemination in Eastern Europe. A seemingly mundane list of names was submitted to the Vilna-based Vaad Hayeshivos, within the framework of the annual allocation of desperately needed funds. The dry data offers a window into the world of the yeshivah, as well as a glimpse of a future generation of Torah leaders.
The Kollel Kodshim in Radin was the brainchild of the Chofetz Chaim, as an initiative to promote the study of Kodshim in anticipation of Mashiach’s arrival. Future leaders such as the Ponevezher Rav, Rav Dovid Leibowitz, Rav Elchonon Wasserman, Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz, Rav Eliyahu Dushnitzer were among its early students. The Chofetz Chaim’s young son-in-law Rav Mendel Zaks was appointed to head the kollel in the 1920s.
#62 | Gershon Yankelewitz — One of the leading talmidim of Rav Yerucham Levovitz in Mir, Rav Gershon was also a prominent “Radiner.” Following his sojourns with the Mirrer Yeshivah in Shanghai, in 1958 he joined RIETS, where he gave the semichah shiur for more than five decades before his passing in 2010 at the age of 104.
#65 | Dovid Zaritzky — From Novardok and the Chofetz Chaim, he then went on to become a prolific writer for Torah Jewry in almost every genre. He wrote articles for Hamodia, children’s magazines, Bais Yaakov, books on Torah topics, chassidus, mussar, Jewish thought, fiction, prose, stories, history, and much more.
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