Avigdor Miller

Rabbi Avigdor Miller (1908-2001) was a Haredi rabbi, author and lecturer in the United States. He served simultaneously as a communal rabbi and as the mashgiach ruchani ("spiritual advisor/supervisor") of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin and as a teacher in Bais Yaakov for many years.

Biography

Rabbi Miller was born to a non-rabbinical family in 1908 in Baltimore. There were no yeshivas in those days, so he attended public school and went to an afternoon Talmud Torah. Once he had completed the regular Talmud Torah classes, the school arranged for him to learn privately with an old Lubavitcher chassid. Rav Miller recalled more than once that he spent two years studying Gemara with this teacher. Despite this difficult arrangement, Rabbi Miller became one of the Torah giants of his time.

Yeshiva University

At age 17, Miller went to New York and attended and graduated from Yeshiva College and RIETS, attaining a B.A. and rabbinical ordination, respectively.

He was elected the student body president at the time, and was also the baal korei.

Rabbi Moshe Bick, known as the Mezubizher Rav, who arrived in the United States in 1927, was one of Rabbi Miller's early study partners.

At that time in YU he joined a chabura together with five other young men (who all later became notable Hareidi rabbis) to study Mussar from the book Mesillas Yesharim under Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Herman, a pioneer in Orthodox Judaism in America in the early 20th century. Rabbi Herman encouraged Miller to travel to Europe to learn Torah in the prestigious yeshivas there. Miller met Rabbi Isaac Sher, the son-in-law of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, who was in New York to collect funds for the Slabodka yeshiva. Although it was during the Depression and he did not raise much money, he later declared this trip to America his most successful, since he was able to recruit and bring such a bright student to Slabodka.

Slabodka yeshiva

In 1932, at the age of 24, Rabbi Miller arrived in Europe to study at the famous Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania. There, he studied under Rabbi Sher. While he was in yeshiva, Rabbi Shulman of Slabodka, son-in-law of Rabbi Sher, introduced Rabbi Miller to Ettel Lessin, daughter of Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Lessin of Slabodka. The two married in 1935.

In all the prefaces for all his books and on many of his tapes he says that everything that is un-sourced should be considered the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Sher, who was his primary rabbi.

Chelsea, Massachusetts

In 1938, due to the rise of Nazism and the tensions leading up to World War II, Rabbi Miller sought to return to the United States with his wife and two children. Fortunately, the American consul in Kovno at the time was a Baltimore acquaintance of Rabbi Miller's, a public high-school classmate, who speedily arranged passage for Rabbi Miller's wife and children who had not been born in the United States.

Upon his return, Rabbi Miller became the rabbi of a synagogue in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Initially, the community was taken aback by Rabbi Miller's audacious and intense volume of Torah presentations, attempting to restrain his unconventional approach. However, within a few years the community had radically changed their minds, and indeed besought Rabbi Miller to stay longer.

Mesivta Chaim Berlin

In 1944, Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, persuaded Rabbi Miller to become its mashgiach ruchani, in which position he served until 1964. In 1945, Rabbi Miller also assumed the pulpit of the Young Israel of Rugby in Brooklyn, New York City. In 1975, with neighborhood demographics changing, Rabbi Miller established the Bais Yisroel of Rugby Torah Center on Ocean Parkway in Flatbush, which served as his main vehicle of Torah dissemination until his passing.

Yeshiva Gedola Bais Yisroel

In 1986, Rabbi Shmuel Miller, Rabbi Avigdor's son, opened Yeshiva Gedola Bais Yisroel in Flatbush, where his father served as mashgiach and rosh yeshiva. Rabbi Miller was also a revered and honored lecturer at many yeshivas and Bais Yaakov schools throughout the years, cherished by his students.

Character and personality

Rabbi Miller was a master orator, having superb command of the English language. His personal magnetism drew students, young and old, from all Jewish backgrounds.

Rabbi Miller also trained himself to demand very little physically. For more than sixty years, he slept on a board. As a student in Slabodka, he wore a coat during the summer to conceal the multitude of overlapping patches that were his trousers.

Though having attended public school at a time when there were no formal yeshivas in Baltimore, he only spoke Yiddish at home, never speaking in English to his family.

Over a span of 50 years, more than 2,500 lectures by Rabbi Miller in English were published as tape cassettes, as well as several in Yiddish. He gave most of his lectures in his modest synagogue in Flatbush, dealing with Torah education and self-help, of which several hundred thousand copies were sold. His tapes remain available for purchase through the yeshiva he established, and at many Jewish book stores, and can be found in many Jewish tape libraries. Rabbi Miller was also the author of several books about Jewish history, Jewish thought, Evolutionary Theory, and other subjects. His tapes remain very popular after his death.

Rabbi Miller was also a staunch opponent of Zionism, in both its religious and secular forms. He was also an opponent of the Theory of Evolution.

He was also known for his uncompromising approach to other streams of Judaism.

Quotes

Rabbi Miller has been noted for his ability to summarize great ideas into easily digestible soundbites. He once memorably said, "Learning Mussar teaches one how to live, but learning Bava Kamma is living."

Awareness of creation's good

His foundation and biggest principle in this world was to awake his fellow listeners to the precious plan and purpose of every minute detail of life, and to make them happy and excited about its benefit.

Anti-Zionism

Miller was one of the first rabbis in America to voice his fervent opposition to the secular Zionism movement, which he considered to be an anti-Torah movement that posed great danger to pure, traditional Judaism.

His first book, Rejoice O Youth, was refused printing by Feldheim publishers due to its containing anti-Zionist statements such as, "the Kotel is better of in the hands of the Muslims due to their modesty more than the Jews who defile the holy place with their Jewish immodesty".

Death

Rabbi Miller was taken to Maimonides Medical Center during Chol HaMoed of Passover 2001. Though his physical health was deteriorating, his mental acuity remained intact until his passing. Rabbi Miller died on Friday morning, April 20, 2001.

Funeral

At a memorial service the following Sunday, Rabbi Miller was eulogized by Rabbi Yosef Rosenblum, the rosh yeshiva of Beth Hamedrash Shaarei Yosher, Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum, rosh yeshiva of Mir yeshiva and Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, rosh yeshiva of Torah Ore, who was in America on a visit from Jerusalem. Rabbi Miller's son-in-law Rabbi Shmuel Brog and his son Rabbi Shmuel also delivered eulogies.

Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen, a grandson-in-law of Rabbi Miller, noted that Rabbi Miller's descendants married into the esteemed families of Torah scholars such as Rabbi Shmuel Ehrenfeld, the "Mattersdorfer Rav" (& Rabbi Cohen's grandfather); Rabbi Reuven Grozovsky; Rabbi Aaron Kotler and Rabbi Baruch Sorotzkin, rosh yeshiva of Telshe. An estimated 30,000 people attended Rabbi Miller's funeral .

Rabbi Miller's body was transported to Israel, where a funeral was held at the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem with a crowd of 25,000 people in attendance. He was eulogized by Rabbi Noson Tzvi Finkel (the Mirrer rosh yeshiva), Rabbi Moishe Sternbuch and others. Rabbi Matisyohu Salomon was in Israel at the time and he also delivered a moving eulogy. Rabbi Miller was buried on the Mount of Olives in chelka Tashach.

At a later event at the end of the week of mourning Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe, head of Agudath Israel and a pupil, remembered Rabbi Miller’s first days as mashgiach at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin.

After his death, a synagogue, Nitei Avigdor (Hebrew: נטעי אביגדור), was founded in Rabbi Miller's name in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The synagogue includes a library of Rabbi Miller's tapes. The founder and rabbi of the synagogue is Rabbi Avrohom Shlomo Yabo, who also gives lectures based on Rabbi Miller's teachings.

Bibliography

Rabbi Miller's prolific writings, which have influenced generations of students, include:

• Rejoice O Youth! (1962)
• Sing You Righteous
• Praise My Soul
• Awake My Glory
• The Universe Testifies
• Behold A People
• Torah Nation
• Exalted People
• The Beginning (1987)
• A Nation is Born (1991)
• A Kingdom of Priests (1994)
• Journey into Greatness (1997)
• A Fortunate Nation (2001)
• Career of Happiness
• Lev Avigdor (לב אביגדור), a mussar sefer

Additionally, more of his manuscripts are currently being edited and prepared for printing.

References

• "Remembering Rabbi Avigdor Miller". Retrieved 01 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• "RAV AVIGDOR MILLER ZT"L (biography)". Retrieved 01 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)