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RabbiShneur Kotler
Kotler as a young man in the 1940's, while studying at the Chevron yeshiva in Jerusalem
Personal life
Born	1918
Died	June 24, 1982
Spouse	Rischel
Alma mater	Chevron yeshiva
Religious life
Religion	Judaism
Denomination	Orthodox
Jewish leader
Predecessor	Aharon Kotler
Successor	Malkiel Kotler

Shneur Kotler (1918 - June 24, 1982) was an Orthodox rabbi, and the son of the famed Talmudic scholar Rabbi Aharon Kotler. Upon the death of his father in 1962, he became the rosh yeshiva of Beis Medrash Govoha, a Lithuanian-style Talmudic Haredi but non-Hasidic yeshiva in Lakewood, New Jersey.

Born in Slutsk, Russia, where his maternal grandfather Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer was the rosh yeshiva and rabbi, Rabbi Kotler escaped to Mandatory Palestine in 1940. There, he studied under the leading scholars of Jerusalem, among them Rabbi Meltzer who had moved there previously.

In 1947, after World War II, he moved to Lakewood to join his father, who had brought his yeshiva there from Europe. Rabbi Shneur Kotler assumed the leadership of the yeshiva with his father's death in 1962. He transformed Lakewood from a small elite institution into a large center of excellence and fulcrum of the Orthodox yeshiva world.

Whereas his father had actively restricted enrollment to a select group of students, his son Shneur opened the yeshiva doors to a broader range of students and post-graduate fellows. From a group of approximately 200 students, the yeshiva grew to almost a thousand students by 1981. As more students enrolled, the scope of study broadened to the point where a student could join any number of groups studying all the tractates of the Talmud.

Kotler sent out groups of married students, pioneers to establish kollels in major communities across America, from Philadelphia in the East to Los Angeles in the West. The members of these kollels would divide their time between studying Talmud and spreading the experience of Torah learning to the local Jewish populations. There are now Lakewood satellite kollels operating in 30 cities across North America.

Kotler was active in communal organizations and issues. He held leadership positions as a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America and was on the rabbinical boards of the Torah Umesorah National Society for Hebrew Day Schools and Chinuch Atzmai. Rabbi Kotler was also very active in helping Jewish refugees from Russia and Iran.

Death

A resident of Lakewood, Kotler died in 1982 in Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston at the age of 64. Tens of thousands of mourners assembled at Rabbi Kotler's funeral in Jerusalem; even vaster throngs had attended in America before his final journey.

Rabbi Kotler passed away on the nineteenth year, seventh month and second day after assuming his Rosh Yeshiva position, equal to the day to the tenure of his father as Rosh Yeshiva of Lakewood. This extraordinary phenomenon was spoken of throughout the Torah world as a Heavenly sign that he was considered a worthy son, disciple and successor who carried on his father’s mission to build Torah with total devotion.

He was survived by his wife, Rischel; a sister, Sarah Schwartzman of New York; eight children, and many grandchildren. With his untimely death, his son Rabbi Malkiel Kotler took over the leadership of the yeshiva, assisted by three other grandchildren of Rabbi Aharon Kotler, Rabbis Dovid Schustal, Yerucham Olshin and Yisroel Neuman.

References

• New York Times Obituary 1982
• American Jewish Yearbook 1984 obituary

Notes

1. Staff. "Rabbi Shneur Kotler, 64, Head Of Rabbinical School in Jersey", The New York Times, June 27, 1982. Accessed February 9, 2011. "Rabbi Shneur Kotler, dean of Beth Medrash Govoha, a postgraduate rabbinical school in Lakewood, N.J., died Thursday at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston. He was 64 years old and a resident of Lakewood."
2. "Rabbi Shneur Kotler's yahrzeit".

External links

• Biography Rabbi Y.C. Shneur Kotler

v t e Rabbis of Beth Medrash Govoha
Roshei yeshiva	Current Malkiel Kotler Yerucham Olshin Dovid Schustal Yisroel Neuman Past Aharon Kotler Shneur Kotler
Mashgiach ruchani	Current Abba Brudny Past Nosson Meir Wachtfogel Yehudah Jacobs Matisyohu Salomon
Category

Template:Persondata

• 1918 births
• 1982 deaths
• American Haredi rabbis
• Beth Medrash Govoha
• Beth Medrash Govoha alumni
• Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
• Rosh yeshivas
• People from Lakewood Township, New Jersey
• People from Slutsk