Shmuel Schecter

Shmuel Halevi Schecter (Hebrew: שמואל הלוי שכטר‎, February 21, 1915 – September 30, 2000)^[1][2] was a Canadian–American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, educator, and author. Born in Quebec and raised in Baltimore, he traveled to Eastern Europe to study at the Mir Yeshiva as a teenager and at the Kelm Talmud Torah as a young married man. In 1940 he returned to the United States, where he was a co-founder of the first kollel in America, Beth Medrash Govoha, in White Plains, New York. He was a Torah educator in New York and Boston for more than 50 years, and served as dean of Mesivta Toras Emes in Brooklyn. He published a commentary on Orchot Chaim LeHoRosh, a musar work.

Early life and education

Shmuel Schecter was born in Lachine, Quebec, Canada. His mother died when he was four or five years old.^[1][3] Per his mother's request, at the age of seven he was sent to live with her brother, Rabbi Meshulam Zusha Cohen, a Torah educator in Baltimore.^[1][3]

At the age of 13 Schecter's uncle sent him to New York City to study at Yeshivas Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan.^[4] Together with his new friends and fellow students Nosson Meir Wachtfogel and Avigdor Miller, he attended a secret shiur in Mesillas Yesharim given by Yaakov Yosef Herman in a yeshiva dormitory.^[3][4] Herman encouraged him to travel to Eastern Europe to learn at the Mir Yeshiva, which he did at age 17, having completed his four-year high school course requirements in three years by attending night school.^[3][1][2] Schecter's father paid for chavrusas (study partners) to tutor him at the Mir to bring his academic level up to that of the European students.^[2] He remained at the Mir for four years^[1] and received rabbinical ordination from the rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel ("Reb Leizer Yudel").^[2] He and Wachtfogel returned to New York after the death of the mashgiach, Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz, in 1936.^[1]

In 1937 Schecter married Chava Gordon in Jamaica, Queens. Right after the wedding, the two traveled to Kelm, Lithuania, so Schecter could study at the Kelm Talmud Torah.^[3][2] Wachtfogel also enrolled there, and the two studied under Rabbi Daniel Movshovitz and Rabbi Gershon Miadnik until 1940.^[2]

World War II

In 1940 Schecter's wife and young daughter returned to the United States on the last ship to leave France. Schecter, however, wanted to keep studying under Movshovitz.^[3] Upon the urging of another student, Rabbi Aryeh Stamm, however, a beis din (rabbinical court) of three students was convened to rule that Schecter, a Canadian citizen, must leave Europe if he was able.^[1] Both Schecter and Wachtfogel, who also had Canadian citizenship, departed Lithuania in October 1940.^[3] Traveling in a group with other students from Kelm, Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler and his wife, and Wachtfogel's bride, they took the Trans-Siberian Express across Russia to Vladivostok, and a ship to Brisbane, Australia.^[3][5] Their trip from Lithuania to Australia was paid for by the British government; the Board of Governors of the Australian Jewish community gave Schecter, Wachtfogel, and Wachtfogel's bride first-class tickets to depart for New York a few months later, out of concern that they would institute a religious revival in the Australian Jewish community.^[5][6]

The remaining students and staff of the Kelm Talmud Torah were massacred by the Nazis on July 29, 1941 (5 Av 5701).^[6] Years later, Schecter printed a commentary on Orchot Chaim LeHoRosh, a musar work, and recounted in the preface the final hours of the yeshiva and the speech given by Rabbi Movshovitz at the site of the slaughter, based on historical sources.^[1][2]

Postwar

Schecter, Wachtfogel, and Rabbi Hershel Genauer, all alumni of the Kelm Talmud Torah, established the first kollel in the United States in White Plains, New York in spring 1942.^[3][7] Named Beis Medrash Govoha, the kollel opened with 20 members.^[8] Upon the arrival of Rabbi Aharon Kotler from Europe in 1943, the kollel members asked him to head the institute, which Kotler moved to Lakewood, New Jersey and expanded with a yeshiva gedola.^[6][8] Wachtfogel served as mashgiach of the Lakewood Yeshiva for over 50 years, until his death in 1998.^[9][8]

Schecter served as Kotler's emissary on a Vaad Hatzalah rescue mission in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1946.^[6] He later taught Torah and musar in New York and Boston for more than 50 years.^[2][3] He was the dean of Mesivta Toras Emes in Brooklyn.^[10]

Personal life

Schecter and his wife, Chava Gordon, had four daughters and two sons.^[6] In his later years he and his wife made aliyah, settling in Jerusalem. He died on Shabbat, September 30, 2000 (1 Tishrei 5761), the first day of Rosh Hashana.^[1][2]

References

Sources

• Arem, Heshy (2002), "Mashgiach from a Previous Generation: Rabbi Nosson Meir Wachtfogel", in Wolpin, Rabbi Nisson, Torah Leaders: A treasury of biographical sketches, Mesorah Publications, ISBN 1-57819-773-2
• Kramer, Doniel Zvi (1984). The Day Schools and Torah Umesorah: The Seeding of Traditional Judaism in America. Yeshiva University Press.
• Rosenblum, Yonoson (2000). Rav Dessler: The life and impact of Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, the Michtav M'Eliyahu. Mesorah Publications, Ltd. ISBN 1-57819-506-3.
• Shain, Ruchoma (2001). All for the Boss: The Life and Impact of R' Yaakov Yosef Herman, a Torah Pioneer in America: An Affectionate Family Chronicle (Revised ed.). Feldheim Publishers. ISBN 1583304703.
• Dershowitz, Yitzchok (2005). The Legacy of Maran Rav Aharon Kotler. Feldheim Publishers. ISBN 158330875X.