The Almost Rabbinic Roots of the Gettysburg Address
Shem HaGedolim HaChadosh
Visit with Rebbetzin Chaya Small
Davening at Buckingham Pavilion
Sheldon Stern – Yizkor
Sunday Night, Shavuot
Davened at Bais Mint. Serka served a great meal: eggplant parmesan, broccoli pasta, and tuna melt from Slices (formerly Tel Aviv Pizza). Shalom, Hudi, and Tzvi ate with us.
June 2, 2025
1:30 AM – I gave a shiur for the Mishmar night learning. The speech was titled, The Almost Rabbinic Roots of the Gettysburg Address.
https://kotzk.com/2023/06/30/notes-for-speech-on-july-1-2023/
I wove into my speech excerpts from the Shem HaGedolim HaChadosh printed in 1864 by Rabbi Aaron Waldon. Rabbi Waldon was by the Kotzker and described being by the Kotzker beautifully. Rabbi Waldon’s sefer was a companion and successor to the Chida’s book Shem HaGedolim. The Shem HaGedolim came out on or around 1774 and was a compilation of the rabbis and leaders he encountered in his travels and in books he read in libraries in the various cities he traveled through.
The Chida was Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (1724–1806). Born in Chevron, he authored over 120 works, 50 of which he published during his lifetime. In 1755, due to his great scholarship and abilities, he was elected to represent the Yishuv of Eretz Yisrael. He traveled throughout Europe raising funds for the people of Israel.
Rabbi Aaron Waldon wrote his book to fill in the gaps and discussed tzadikim from areas the Chida did not visit. Rabbi Aaron Waldon also listed tzadikim who lived after the Chida passed away and others whom the Chida missed.
Look at page 10 of the introduction to the book.
I then discussed the great tzadikim who gave a haskama to the sefer.
Haskama (הַסְכָּמָה) – A rabbinic approval of a religious book concerning Judaism. It is written by a prominent rabbi in his own name, not in the name of a religious organization or hierarchy.
The Haskamos
1. Rabbi Shlomo Kluger (1785–1869). He writes that although he did not read the book, he saw who gave it haskamos and that when the book is published he will purchase it. Rabbi Shlomo Kluger learned in Zamosc at the yeshiva of Rabbi Yoseph Hocelanter in the early 1800s at the same time the Kotzker learned in the yeshiva. There was a two-year age difference. There was a yeshiva on the Lower East Side known as the Rabbi Shlomo Kluger Yeshiva.
2. Rabbi Yosef Shaul Halevi Nathanson (1808–1875), Rabbi of Lvov (Lemberg), known as the Shaul U’Meshiv. He was famously known for permitting machine matzah.
3. Rabbi Shimon Sofer, son of the Chasam Sofer.
4. Rabbi Eliezer HaKohen, rabbi of Pultusk and son-in-law of the Nesivos, Reb Yaakov of Lissa.
5. Yaakov Dovid Kalish of Amshinov.
He was the first Amshinover rebbe. Yaakov Dovid Kalish was a son of the first Vurker rebbe, Israel Yitzchak Kalish of Warka.
Kalish died in 1878 and was succeeded as Amshinover rebbe by one of his sons, Menachem Kalish.
When Menachem Kalish died in 1917, his son Yosef became the rebbe in Amshinov, and his other son, Shimon Sholom, became rebbe in Otwock. He famously was at the meeting with the German military and when asked why do the Germans hate the Jews, he answered, “Because we are oriental.”
He was involved in the exodus of thousands of young men in Kletzk, Radin, Novhardok, and other yeshivas via Japan to Shanghai at the outbreak of World War II. By the time Shanghai came under Japanese control, it held 26,000 Jews.
Shimon Sholom’s son, Yerachmiel Yehuda Meyer Kalish (1901–1976) of Amshinov, was born in Przysucha, Poland. He studied Torah with his grandfather, Menachem Kalish.
After the war, Shimon moved to the United States. Upon his death in 1954 (י”ט אב תשי”ד), his son accompanied his body to Tiberias in Israel and remained there, later moving to Tel Aviv, and then to the Bayit V’Gan neighborhood of Jerusalem.
4:40 AM – Davened Vasikin
7:30 AM – Went to sleep
10:30 AM – Could not sleep and got up
11:45 AM – Went to visit Rebbetzin Chaya Small to discuss her book, In the Crook of the Rock. Great stories about her parents, Shanghai, and Professor Vera Schwarcz.
1:30 PM – On my walk home, I walked past Aaron Jacoby and his wife sitting on their stoop. His wife is a Bruer. Aaron Jacoby got his rabbinic ordination from Rebbetzin Chaya Small’s father, Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Walkin. Aaron Jacoby also wrote gittin for Rabbi Walkin’s beis din.
Rabbi Walkin lived in Crown Heights and was the rabbi of a shtiebel. He left in 1962 when Crown Heights became dangerous. He then moved to Kew Gardens Hills.
Chaya Small had 800 people at her wedding in New York.
Her husband, Michoel Small, studied in Lakewood for two years.
Her husband went to John Marshall Law School. The graduation was on Shabbos and the family stayed downtown for Shabbos. When he was given his diploma, a large cheer went up for him by all the Jews at the graduation.
3:00 PM – Started the lunch meal. Eli, Xi, and Ezra came over.
8:00 PM – Mincha
8:20 PM – Ben Adler spoke about the gerus of Rus. Why didn’t Tov want to marry Rus?
June 3, 2025
9:45 AM – Walked to Buckingham nursing home. I like to go there once every year as hakaras hatov to my friendship with the Stern–Kohn family. I love to schmooze with “Sushi” Stern. He seems to know everything—Torah, history, people, and books.
After davening, I sat with Sushi Stern and we schmoozed for an hour. I told him what I was working on. I was shocked to learn that he listened to shiurim and on occasion spoke to Rabbi Hershel Schachter. I was even more shocked when he knew Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet. He told me a story of when his sister, Leah Kazlow, married Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet’s student, Dr. Philip Kazlow. The mesader kiddushin at the wedding was both Rabbi Dovid Beirush Meisels and Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet. Rabbi Dovid Beirush Meisels is the Satmar Rav in Boro Park.
Sushi Stern spoke before Yizkor and his speech resonated with me. Unesana Tokef says that on Rosh Hashanah the books of life and death are open. What is the book of death? These are the people who have died. Sushi asked why our dead ancestors are coming back to be judged. Sushi answered that our merits, who are alive, can positively influence previously negative judgments against our ancestors. They can rise in levels of holiness based on our deeds, based on us who are saying Yizkor, and we have to uplift our dear ancestors.
This resonated with me. Saying Yizkor over the years never meant anything to me. I said the words but it did not bring up any feelings. I think about my grandparents, brother, and departed family at times and do not need Yizkor.
Sushi Stern’s words resonated with me mainly regarding my father. We were estranged. I really did not care that he spoke harshly with me and cursed me out because he is entitled to his feelings. However, I felt he did things in his lifetime that were beyond the pale—not to me but to others. This is the first time I had a positive emotional feeling towards my father.
The Kotzker said on the pasuk in Devarim 6:6, which is in the Shema prayer, that God’s words have to be on your heart so that when you are ready to open your heart, the words of God will be there to flow into your heart to be absorbed internally. At davening at Buckingham, because of Sushi Stern’s words, I was ready to open my heart and feel for my father.
My mother lives within me. She is buried at Har HaMenuchos; however, she is still alive in me. She is always in my subconscious and whenever I see something that she would appreciate, I smile, think about it, and call my sister.
I was visiting my son at his office. My son recently became a partner in a law firm. The law firm changed its name to Prero & Morgenstern and they finally changed the signage to reflect this change. I took a picture and sent it to my family, saying that my mother is looking at this and smiling—just like when my mother came to my office and the sign right outside my office read, “Mitchell A. Morgenstern – Senior Vice President – Division Manager.”
I saw “T” at davening. “T” is Mark Tenenbaum. He is a resident at Buckingham. He almost died. He now feels better; however, he has a hard time walking and needs therapy. He was in my elementary school class. It was nice seeing him. I remember his father. They lived across the street from Arie Crown on Kimball Avenue right off the alley. His father was a photographer, so I asked T what happened to all of his pictures. T said that he has to go through them. Sam Saleski came to visit him and it was nice seeing him.
Why Yizkor?
In 2022 we were in Toronto as my mother-in-law was not doing well. We were in Toronto for Yom Kippur and Sukkos. The Conservatory, for whatever reason, did not let me daven at their minyan in the building. It did bother me. However, it turned into a blessing for me. I davened at Netivot. They had a tent minyan which I davened at. Yom Kippur eve was a nice early fall day with a nice breeze. As the day turned to night, the lights of the tent minyan turned bright and the chazzan chanted Kol Nidrei. It was beautiful.
The next day Rabbi Yecheizkel Grysman spoke before Yizkor. He started by saying that his wife told him that she gets nothing out of Yizkor. It has no meaning to her. I understood her feelings because I also get nothing out of Yizkor. Rabbi Grysman talked about his own father. His father was a Holocaust survivor and did an interview with Spielberg’s Holocaust project. About a year earlier Rabbi Grysman’s son, who is in school to get a therapy degree, wanted to watch the Spielberg interview with his father. Rabbi Grysman said that although he was there when his father was interviewed, watching the interview 20 years later he saw new aspects of his father. I do not recall how Rabbi Grysman answered his wife’s question. I called Rabbi Grysman after Shavuos.
12:45 PM – Walked to Rivkie and Mordy’s house. They had company. I spoke for about 8 minutes about Sugihara and Abraham Setsuzo Kotsuji.
1:30 PM – Got home and had my Shavuos meal.
3:00 PM – Learned Rus. I learned the 4th perek. I learned a beautiful Rashi.
Rus 3:9, 4:9, and 4:10 state that Naomi and Rus wanted Boaz to purchase their land. Naomi and Rus had land from their husbands and they had to sell it. They could have sold it to anyone; however, Behar 25:25 says that when a person sells ancestral land, his closest relative is first in line and should redeem the land—how much more so before the land is sold. Rashi on 3:9 continues and says Rus was also telling Boaz to marry me, so that the name of the deceased be remembered. How? So that when I come to the field to work the land, people will say, “This is Machlon’s wife.”
Rashi says this twice, in Rus 3:9 and Rus 4:9. Amazing that the remembering is so that people will mention Machlon. Even though Elimelech, Machlon, and Kilyon abandoned the Jewish people in a time of great need, there was still a need to remember Machlon. Families do not forget their relatives. Everyone does something wrong and the family still wanted to remember Machlon. They remember the goodness, not the evil.
This is true in my own family. My mother’s first husband, Simcha Chase, divorced my mother in 1947 having produced two children. Eddie Chase was never at any celebrations and his name was rarely mentioned. He was completely forgotten. His memory stayed only in my brother’s memory. My uncle Yoseph Maza once told him, “Pesach, your father was a fine fellow.” This was very important to my brother. After having many grandsons, no one in the family would name a child after my brother’s father. Last year finally one of Pesach’s grandkids named their son after Simcha—Eddie Chase. Baby Simcha Chase is a fifth-generation child of the original Simcha Chase. He now has a name after him and will be remembered forever. This is the pshat in the Rashi in Rus. Despite the separation, Simcha–Eddie Chase is now again part of the family.
Pesukim
[Hebrew text and translations preserved as in original]
8:30 PM – Ne’ilas HaChag, the end of the holiday get-together. Yonatan Glenner spoke out a number of Chasam Sofers.
Exploring Kotzk 