The Loss of a Giant by Naftali Halpern

THE LOSS OF A GIANT Rabbi Yehudah Kelemer, zt”l

BY NAFTALI HALPERN

AT twelve years old, Rabbi Yehudah Kelemer had a unique challenge. He was living in California with his parents, but, at the time, there were no high caliber yeshivas on the West Coast. His older brother, who was in YU at the time, agreed that the bright child belonged in a yeshiva on the East Coast. Young Yehudah knew that once he was on the East Coast, if he visited a yeshiva and wanted to learn there, his parents would consent to him learning there. But how would he get the money to travel cross-country, back then, in the early days of plane travel?

The two boys came up with a simple plan. Well, maybe not so simple for anyone else, but simple for them.

At the time, there was an international Chidon HaTanach competition for school-agestudents across the globe. This competition tested thousands of participants on their knowledge of Tanach. The winners of the competition were flown to New York for a ceremony. The brothers decided that young Yehudah would sign up for the competition and win it. This way, he would be able to get to New York.

The plan worked. Twelve-year-old Yehudah won the competition and was flown to New York.

Once he was on the East Coast, his older brother brought him to visit Ner Yisroel, and Yehudah decided to learn there, although his time there was short-lived. A few months later, he traveled to Detroit for his bar mitzvah at his grandparents’ home. Over the weekend, a young gaon, Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai Isbee, took notice of Yehudah and convinced him to come to Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland, where he himself was learning.

Yehudah agreed and went to Telz, where he was from the youngest students. When the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Mordechai Gifter, zt”l, gave a test to the

Rabbi Kelemer saw the soul, not the hair.

younger shiur, he quickly realized that Yehudah was a gifted young man.

“You belong in my shiur,” Rav Gifter said.

And, with that, Yehudah was bumped up to the Rosh Yeshiva’s shiur.

After six years in Telz, Rabbi Kelemer married the daughter of Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Walkin and went to Eretz Yisroel to learn in kollel in the Mir under Rav Nochum Partzovitz, zt”l, and Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, zt”l.

Eventually, he made his way back to America and his career in rabbanus took off, with his first major position being the rav in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1983, Rabbi Kelemer became the rav of the Young Israel of West Hempstead, where he tirelessly shepherded his kehilla until his untimely passing last week.

TO extol Rabbi Kelemer’s brilliance is not only antithetical to who he was – pious and humble – but it also does not do justice. Yes, he mastered every area of Torah. Yes, when all of his work was done for the day, he would spend hours learning. Yes, he even had a box of seforim on the front seat of his car so that he could learn while stopped at traffic lights. But that was all secondary to his ahavas Yisroel. For Rabbi Kelemer, caring about Yidden, sharing in the burden of others, opening his heart to others was the beginning, the end, and the middle.

“Oftentimes, there are people who are all about middos tovos, who are totally devoted to other Jews, and there is no reason to consider whether they are smart or not because their level of intelligence is not relevant to how much they do for others,” explains Rabbi Kelemer’s son, R’ Yosky. “But my father used his brilliance to figure out ways to help people and to analyze every aspect of middos tovos.”

Yosky recalls his father calling him late one night from a pay phone. Rabbi Kelemer explained that he was in Penn Station and lost his cellphone.

He wanted Yosky to help him find a 24-hour Verizon store. Realizing that it would not be wise for his father to deal with this so late at night, Yosky suggested that his father take a train home and that right in the morning he would go to a Verizon store for his father. But Rabbi Kelemer resisted and said that he had to get to a Verizon store right away; the matter could not wait until the morning.

R’ Yosky was incredulous. It was so late at night at that point, why couldn’t his father wait until the morning. After trying to convince his father again to put the matter off until morning, Rabbi Kelemer finally explained to R’ Yosky the urgency of the matter.

“I had a few conversations this evening with people who are going through hard times,” Rabbi Kelemer told his son. “I’m concerned that if someone finds my cellphone, they may decide to have a good time and prank call the numbers that were recently dialed and, chas veshalom, I don’t want these people to have to have that tzaar. I need to get to a Verizon store to erase the phone information before the phone can be found.”

SEVERAL years back, the Young Israel decided to purchase Rabbi Kelemer a new car. Knowing that he shunned gashmius, it was a big feat to be able to give the Rav a luxurious vehicle. However, within a few weeks, Rabbi Kelemer returned the car to the shul and said that he would not use it any longer.

He explained, “There are many people who come to shul who have struggles with parnassah. When they come to shul and see all of the nice cars, it hurts them deep down to see that other people have financial success while they don’t. They may understand that some people are more financially successful than others.” He went on, “But, if they see me driving a nice car, that would really hurt them because I’m the rabbi and if even the rabbi is more financially successful than them, that is really painful.”

With that, he gave the car back to the shul.

Rabbi Kelemer’s sensitivity knew no limits.

ONE man recalled that he was going through a very difficult time and arranged to speak with Rabbi Kelemer. Upon arriving at Rabbi Kelemer’s office, the man was so overwhelmed with his situation that he just sat in the office silently, unable to speak or even cry. Feeling the burden of the man’s pain, Rabbi Kelemer sat across from the man in silence as well, not saying a word. This went on for a whole hour. After an hour, the man got up and left.

He later explained that Rabbi Kelemer sitting there with him – in silence – and feeling his pain rejuvenated him and gave him the ability to carry on.

Rabbi Kelemer had a tremendous concern for almanos.

His son, R’ Berel, recalls when he was a young boy in Brookline, he would walk home with his father on Friday night and stop by several houses for cake. Only later did R’ Berel realize that there were a few almanos in the community and that Rabbi Kelemer would go to each of their homes on Friday night to make kiddush for them.

Rabbi Kelemer’s son, R’ Shmuel Dovid, recalls how, one year, on the first day of Sukkos, his father took a circuitous route home from shul. On the way, Rabbi Kelemer stopped into several sukkahs to look for someone. Shmuel Dovid asked his father who he was looking for. Rabbi Kelemer explained that there was a widow in the community who lost her husband that year. He wanted to wish her a Rabbi Kelemer with Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchikgood yom tov.

“Her husband was a very popular Kelemer sat across from the man in silence as well, not saying a word. Rabbi Kelemer recalls how he made them the center of his universe for those few minutes. He had a laser-like focus and would draw out a person’s kochos by focusing on the person’s penimius, rather than seeing their chitzonius.

Rabbi Kelemer’s son, R’ Chaim Leib, recalls that, when he was a very young boy, a young man visited the Kelemer home sporting a very long ponytail. When the guest left the house, Chaim Leib innocently asked his father why the man had a ponytail.

Rabbi Kelemer was incredulous. “He had a ponytail? I didn’t notice that.”

Rabbi Kelemer saw the soul, not the hair.

Rabbi Kelemer’s care and concern for his community was legendary, but his love for Klal Yisroel reached even beyond his cherished Kehilla in West person in the community,” he told Shmuel Dovid. Hempstead. “I’m sure on Sukkos there were always a lot of peo- On many Shabbosim, the Kelemer home would ple around their sukkah. I’m sure that now she is be filled with rabbonim and meshulachim from going to feel his absence the most, so I want to find Israel who needed a place to stay. Rabbi Kelemer her and wish her a good yom tov.” made every guest feel at home – not just by providing them with physical comfort but also by taking an interest in who they were and where they came from. “He would talk to one about Lubavitcher Torah

Feeling the burden of and with another he would discuss a Biur HaGrah,” recalls his son R’ Shmuel Dovid. “He understood the man’s pain, Rabbi enjoy talking about.”

ANYONE who ever had the fortune of speaking with

where each person came from and what they would RECENTLY, Rabbi Kelemer called his son R’ Shmuel Dovid, who lives in Brooklyn, and asked him to do an urgent favor for him. He explained that there was a person from Brooklyn whom he recently came across who was not making parnassah due to the pandemic. Rabbi Kelemer heard that the heat in that person’s home broke. He instructed R’ Shmuel Dovid to find someone immediately to fix the heat and said that he would pay the bill.

R’ Shmuel Dovid succeeded in the mission and called his father back later that night to let him know that the heat was fixed. “My father was so happy,” recalls R’ Shmuel Dovid. “He kept saying to me, ‘You can’t imagine. This man’s wife has a health issue, and it’s so important that they have heat.’ It was the biggest simcha by him that the heat was fixed.”

Rabbi Kelemer loved all facets of Torah. He was a descendant of the Baal Shem Tov and learned under some of the greatest Litvisher talmidei chachamim of the late twentieth century. As such, he had a great love for chassishe seforim, while being completely dedicated to lamdus and delving deeply into every area of Torah. His children recall that anytime they told their father about something they were learning, within a few days, he would purchase a new sefer for them relating to that topic.

“Despite all of his obligations, when he had a

Rabbi Kelemer officiating at a congregant's wedding

free second, he would immediately absorb himself in learning,” notes R’ Shmuel Dovid.

Yosky recalls that on the day that the Persian Gulf War broke out, a relative was in the hospital, and Rabbi Kelemer was going to spend the night with the person. He decided to bring Yosky, who was in sixth grade at the time, to the hospital with them. As they were about to leave, the news broke that the Persian Gulf War started and that President Bush would address the nation. Rabbi Kelemer turned to Yosky and said, “Yosky, grab the sefer Dvar Avrohom which is in this-and-this shelf.”

When they arrived at the hospital, the entire waiting room was crowded around the TV listening to President Bush’s address. Rabbi Kelemer, however, sat in a corner with his face buried in the sefer. Yosky later learned that Rabbi Kelemer was learning a very complex piece from that sefer which discusses the laws of kibbush minchama (the laws about the halachos of wars and what happened when one country invaded another country). While the entire world was concerned with the sensation of war, Rabbi Kelemer was interested in what the Torah says about war.

Despite his complete absorption in Torah, avodah and gemilas chassadim, Rabbi Kelemer had a unique way of relating to the outside world as well. One of his children recalls that in the Kelemer home, if anyone ever made a pejorative statement about any person, Rabbi Kelemer would gently remind them that “all people are a tzelem Elokim.”

One time, Rabbi Kelemer was on a train and didn’t realize that it was an express train and would not stop at the station that he needed to get off. He asked one of the LIRR ticket collectors where he should get off in order to be able to eventually get to the station that he needed. The conductor was so taken by Rabbi Kelemer’s menschlechkeit that he pulled up at the station and opened one door so Rabbi Kelemer could exit at the station that he needed.

Rabbi Kelemer’s son, R’ Berel, recalls that when they were once at a mechanic shop Rabbi Kelemer noticed that the mechanic seemed unhappy. When Rabbi Kelemer asked why he was sad, the mechanic disclosed that he had just lost a child.

For the next hour, Rabbi Kelemer sat with the man and consoled him.

EVEN though Rabbi Kelemer led his flock a few miles from the Five Towns, the entire frum community feels an acute loss. Somehow, in the back of our minds, we knew that there was a giant Jew living less than a half-hour away from here.

We recognized that Rabbi Kelemer was the personification Torah and chessed, with a humble spirit and a primary concern and devotion to all Yidden.

May Rabbi Yehudah Kelemer, zt”l, be a meilitz yosher for his family, his community, and all of Klal Yisroel.