Rav Mendel
Gettinger, zt”l, was a mammoth talmid chacham, in the image of those trained in the glorious
days of the greatest Lithuanian yeshivos
– yet he was born (in 1925), raised, and educated in Brooklyn. He was a rav
of a very American-style shul
in Manhattan, did post-graduate work in mathematics and engineering at Columbia
University, and researched the heavens with his own telescope. His father was a
Stuchiner chasid, but if Rav Gettinger had any chasidic influence
in his life, I am unaware of it. Although few of his contemporaries in
Brownsville received any serious Torah education, Rav Gettinger was sent to yeshivos.
He became a talmid
of Rav Yitzchok Hutner, zt”l, at
Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, through whose influence he dedicated his life completely
to Torah. Rav Gettinger completed Shas the first time at the age of 17!
Not bad for an American boy of his generation. Rav Gettinger received much of
his shimush (apprenticeship) in psak halacha from Harav Eliyahu
Henkin, the preeminent posek of America in his era.
I can personally
attest to Rav Gettinger’s independent analyses of topics in the Gemara
and halacha. I remember distinctly how, in 1984, I was confronted by a
complicated shaylah (halachic question) in the laws of ribbis (interest). I called Rav Gettinger to
discuss the matter, and in his inimitable style, he advised me or, more
accurately, “discussed with me” how to proceed. He was a delight – not rushed –
working through the question carefully and logically to figure out the options
and reach a decision.
His magnum
opus, Menach Yoma, contains groundbreaking insights on the
opinion of Rabbeinu Tam regarding bein hashemashos, halachic twilight, to which Rav
Gettinger also applied his scientific
background and his telescope.
Rav Gettinger’s
father-in-law, Rav Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Riff, was a direct descendant of the
Netziv and the famed Volozhin dynasty of Rav Chaim of Volozhin. In America, he
was the rav of a shul in
Camden, New Jersey, but he was well respected as a gaon from the
previous generation who was an expert in all the areas that a rav is
known for, in particular, overseeing shochtim. He also served
voluntarily as the president of Ezras Torah, a tzedakah
organization to help talmidei chachamim around the world, a position
that Rav Gettinger assumed after his father-in-law’s passing and to which he
was dedicated above and beyond the call of duty.
* * *
Shortly after his marriage, Rav Gettinger became the first rav of
the Young Israel of the West Side and served the kehillah for
almost 60 years. He spread Torah for many decades and impacted the lives of
numerous people, who were influenced by his wide-ranging Torah knowledge and the
depth of his caring heart. He also served as rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva of New
Haven and assumed many similar roles in the Torah world.
Many people who met Rabbi
Gettinger noted that meeting and getting to know him changed their lives. In
the words of a graduate student at Columbia, “He took young professionals who
kept Torah and mitzvos as part of their lives and made Torah the focus of their
lives.”
An elderly couple who was not
observant and not very knowledgeable became members of the Young Israel. The
Gettingers made them part of the family, eventually having them, their children,
and grandchildren at both sedarim every Pesach. They became frum, and their descendants today are
fine bnei Torah, notwithstanding that Zeidy never mastered reading
Hebrew well enough to recite kiddush properly and Bubby set the world’s
record for people repeating first level ulpan.
Rav Gettinger has
been described by Rabbi Dovid Cohen, his successor at the Young Israel, as
“a rosh yeshivah trapped as a pulpit rabbi.”
According to
Rabbi Cohen, “Being a rosh
yeshivah and
a shul rav are
different roles and require different skill sets – and sometimes the role or
title fails to adequately describe the individual. Being a shul rav wasn’t
always the grandest fit for Rabbi Gettinger, who sometimes had to deal with
people way beneath his lofty level – both in halachic observance and in Torah
scholarship. My recent recollections of him are of warm embraces, but I know he
wasn’t always this tender, at least not in the shul. He was warm and welcoming if you pursued him, but he
wasn’t today’s glad-handing rabbi at the kiddush.
“Rabbi Gettinger lived in two
worlds – yeshivish and Modern Orthodox – yet he didn’t really fit
into either. He attended Columbia University and had advanced degrees in
mathematics and engineering and did kiruv way before any of
today’s campus outreach organizations existed.”
Rabbi Gettinger had a classic ability to customize his vast Torah knowledge to the
wide variety of congregants and to approach all sorts of situations with his
signature calm disposition.
* * *
Shortly after I
had made my decision to take the rabbanus of the Young Israel of Greater
Buffalo, I saw Rav Gettinger at
a simcha. I used the opportunity to ask him some particular advice about
assuming positions in the rabbanus in general, and I asked him if he had
some general advice for someone beginning in the American rabbanus.
“Always give shiurim that require you to prepare a
lot,” was his sage advice. “People think that a rav has opportunity to
learn Torah. The opposite is true. A rav is always being pulled away
with distractions. There is a very serious risk that someone can assume a rabbanus
and not do any more serious learning. He knows enough to answer the questions
that come up in the shul from
his membership. It is very easy to coast along on what you know already.”
This very
sagacious advice has helped me for over five decades. At the moment, although I
am busy with many other matters and I no longer earn my livelihood from rabbanus,
I still give four in-depth shiurim a week, each of which requires
extensive preparation.
If a young rav
were to ask me for advice, I would add another caveat: When you know that
answering a specific shaylah is beyond your level of expertise and you plan
to refer the shaylah to a well-known posek, research the shaylah
as extensively as you can before you ask the shaylah. Use the
opportunity to familiarize yourself with a topic with which you are not
familiar. When asking the shaylah, ask the rav to explain his reasoning and his sources. Make it an
opportunity to grow in learning.
I am sure that Rav
Gettinger did not suggest this to me because it was too obvious to him. He was
a top-of-the-line posek and a very independent thinker. He probably had
difficulty relating to someone who would ask a shaylah from a prominent posek
without first researching it thoroughly.
Yes, it is true
that rabbanim are very busy, but they must learn to use their “business”
as an asset, not a deficit. At the time of his death, on Shushan Purim, 2015,
at the age of 90, Rav Gettinger had been doing just that for over 60 years.
