All this paled in comparison to Rav Kasher's magnum opus— the multivolumeTorah Sheleimah
Rav Menachem Mendel Kasher was born in Warsaw in 1895 to a family of Gerrer chassidim. His maternal grandfather, Reb Shlomo Pacholder, was a devoted follower of the Avnei Nezer — Rav Avrohom Borensztain of Sochatchov — and would take a young Menachem Mendel along when he went to visit his rebbe. In his mature years, Rav Kasher recalled with deep satisfaction that he had been privileged to receive the personal blessing of the Sochatchover. Rav Kasher considered himself somewhat of a student of the Sochatchover and of the Rogatchover Gaon, Rav Yosef Rozen. Both embodied novel approaches to Torah study — and Rav Kasher built upon those with his own method and vast knowledge.
In 1920 the nascent Agudath Israel invited Rav Kasher to become the editor of its new publication, Degel HaTorah. Renowned Torah luminaries contributed to the Warsaw-based journal, including the Rogatchover, Rav Meir Simcha HaKohein of Dvinsk, Rav Elchonon Wasserman, the Chofetz Chaim, Rav Meir Don Plotzki (author of Kli Chemdah), Rav Menachem Ziemba, and scores of others. Never before (and perhaps never again) were such giants featured in one publication, which sparked a revival of Torah discourse so greatly needed in the wake of World War I’s destruction.
During the early 1920s, Rav Kasher took an activist role in local Torah life as a co-founder of the famous Mesivta of Warsaw and as a secretary for the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisrael of Poland. In 1924, the Imrei Emes of Gur requested that Rav Kasher relocate to Yerushalayim to establish the first Gerrer yeshivah in the Land of Israel, named Yeshivas Sfas Emes. He served as rosh yeshivah for its first two years.
These early years of public activism were followed by nearly six decades of pursuing his lifelong passion of writing, editing, and publishing his many seforim. His prodigious literary output included 25 volumes of the Torah journal Noam, biographical works, halachic responsa, a treatise on the International Dateline, the halachic ramifications of man reaching the moon, Hatekufah Hagedolah exploring his relationship with Zionism and the State of Israel, and many more works too numerous to mention. He also edited and published the works of the Rogatchover Gaon.
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