Memory Lane: Rav Aharon Kreiser

A masmid otzum who never stopped learning since his days in Kobrin, Baranovitch, and the Mir, Rav Kreiser was consumed by Torah, and chose the Mirer Minyanim of Williamsburg and Boro Park as the location where he could be seen learning for up to nine hours consecutively. Wherever he went, he sat in the back—he was pure anivus—but his influence on countless people was outsized.  

In our ongoing documentation of the personalities of the Mirer Minyan, we profile Hago’on Rav Aharon Kreiser in these lines. 

Imbued with Stories of the Chofetz Chaim 

Rav Aaron was born in the year 1919 in the Russian town of Kovel, and went to learn in Yeshiva Ezras Torah in Kobrin as a young bachur. “My first rebbi was a Radiner, and would relate stories of the Chofetz Chaim,” he later related. “Every day was another Chofetz Chaim.” 

His next rebbi was Rav Mordechai Shimon, a Volozyner talmid. “He had such a profound influence on me that I remained in his shiur for a second year. 

In Kobrin, he would behold the legendary Mashgiach, Rav Leib Nenedik, zt”l, Hy”d, and he would always relate how “he represented ‘the Kelmer cheder’ at its finest. From Kobrin, he went to Baranovitch. 

“The hasmodoh that was in Baranovich did not exist anywhere else,” Rav Aharon later related. “Mamish day and night, k’pshuto. I saw this and I experienced it personally. There was one solitary sefer Ketzos Hachoshen in Baranovitch, and it was taken for most of the day. So, one night, I decided to wake up at three in the morning to spend some time with the Ketzos, thinking that I would be there alone. How surprised was I to see many bachurim learning in the beis medrash. We were young and energetic, and we utilized it to the maximum.”  

He also spoke of the incredible presence of Rav Elchonon, zt”l, Hy”d, which itself had a transformative influence on the bachurim: “The bochurim there were not innocents. They had ideas and opinions about all kinds of things. But when they arrived in Baranovitch and came face-to-face with the truth that shone from the Rav Elchonon—everything just faded away. When you encounter the truth, everything else melts away and disappears.” 

America

Following years in the Mir which shaped him indelibly, and his travails with the Mir to Shanghai, Rav Aaron moved to America, where he married Rivkah Leshinsky. 

At first, the Kreisers lived in Williamsburg, and later they moved to Boro Park. Here, Rav Aharon became a guide and mentor to countless bnei Yeshiva, and his burning ahavas haTorah etched itself upon their psyches, as one talmid chochom wrote in the introduction to his sefer: “I would be remiss if I did not thank the great Rav Aharon Kreiser whose love for Torah and those who learn it is impossible to measure, and he was like a father to all bnei Torah who encountered him.” Similarly, there are talmidei chachomim—as well as lay people—all over the world whose lives are indelibly changed because of the influence and inspiration of Rav Aharon. 

As noted, he would sit and learn in the Mirer Minyan for hours on end. An entire group of balebatim who would join him for an intense learning session every Sunday from 9 in the morning until 6 in the afternoon without a break!

Rav Nachum Partzovitz, Rosh Yeshiva in the Mir, was among his yedidim from Baranovitch Shanghai, as was Rav Shmuel Berenbaum. Once, Rav Nochum said, “The three of us were in Shanghai together. Today, I am a Rosh Yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel, and Rav Shmnuel is a Rosh Yeshiva in the Mir in Brooklyn, while Rav Aharon sits and learns in the Mirer Minyan. Know that he is ten times greater than us!.” 

Towards the end of his life, he moved to Lakewood, where he continued his learning. It was an incredible sight to see this odom godol interacting with bachurim, yungeleit, and balebatim (and even Roshei Yeshiva) 50 years his junior, with his energy rivaling theirs as they thundered in learning. 

Rav Kreiser was niftar on Eretz Pesach of the year 1997, and was interred in Eretz Yisroel, following a lifetime dedicated to learning Torah.