Memory Lane: Rav Meir Amsel

In his capacity as the editor of the legendary HaMo’or Torah journal, Rav Meir Amsel—a great ga’on, masmid, and talmid chochom in his own right—corresponded with many of the gedolim, Rabbonim and ga’onim of his time. As the leader of Congregation Beis Medrash Hamo’or, he was an esteemed figure in the Boro Park community. 

Harav Meir Amsel was born in the small Slovakian town of Neudorf to Harav Avrohom Amsel, zt”l, and Rebbetzin Yuta, a”h. The family descended from many Gedolei Yisrael including Rav Elimelech of Lizensk, Rav Heschel of Cracow, the Chacham Tzvi, the Taz, the Bach, the Maharal of Prague, and others. 

Exile to a Torah Locale 

As a young teenager, the family was exiled to Kashau during Worl War I. It was there that he met the four great rabbonim who shaped his life. Rav Avronom Shlomo Halberstam, the Stropkover Rebbe and Rav Shmuel Engel, the Radimishler Rav, Rav Yitzchok Zvi Jungreis of Cszenger, and Rav Yaakov Frankfurther, Admor of Kashau. He was attracted to them during his exile in Kashau and considered them his rebbes for life and often mentioned them. His Agudah activities, an ardent follower of the Katowice faction, began after his marriage several years later.

During the Holocaust he lived in Budapest disguised as a non-Jew with forged papers. Many wonderful and harrowing stories of his survival and tribulations are recorded in his sefer Zichronos Hamaor (Brooklyn 1974). 

In addition to his Torah scholarship, Rav Amsel was dedicated to helping and serving Klal Yisrael, which led to his selection to head Agudas Yisrael in Bratislava after the Holocaust. In this capacity he was able to help many Yidden flee war-torn Europe to Erez Israel and the United States. In addition to his lifesaving efforts for fellow Yidden under the nose of the Nazis and the Hungarian resha’im, he assisted many in immigrating to freer shores following the Churban. 

In the Holocaust, he lost his wife and his children, except for one daughter, Mrs. Gitta Meisels a”h of Flatbush, and a son, Avraham Yosef, Hy”d, who was killed in America. After the war, he married his wife’s sister, Rebbetzin Liba, a”h, and he retrieved a Shas that had belonged to his father, Rav Avrohom. The volumes remain a family heirloom.    

Hama’or Journal 

The Amsel family arrived in the United States in 1948 and settled in Brownsville and subsequently Crown Heights. For nearly 60 years Rav Amsel published the HaMaor Rabbinical Torah journal. The monthly became the mouthpiece of Orthodox Jewry during the 50’s thru the 70’s where the great rabbonim of the generation fought the battles for Yiddishkeit that we enjoy today. Kosher food – especially meat, mechitzas in shuls, Shabbos observance, kosher mikva’os, anti-Reform and Conservative reforms, were a feature of each issue. 

Lawyer letters and physical attacks on account of his courageous stands on issues were a common occurrence in his life. The Brisker Rav, Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Eliyahu Henkin, Rav Michoel Forshlager of Baltimore, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Satmar Rebbe, Rav Yonosan Steif, and the Skulener Rebbe were some of the many Torah luminaries who contributed articles of chiddushei Torah to Hama’or. Rav Amsel printed 3,000 copies of each edition, which was distributed to Rabbanim worldwide. 

Boro Park 

In 1965, the Amsels settled in Boro Park, where Rav Amsel opened the Hama’or shul. The shul immediately attracted many Rabbonim who became regular attendees. In his humility he honored them with all the rabbinical functions generally reserved for the Rav. He established a mikvah taharah near his shul, among the first in the area. In 2009 it underwent a major renovation which made it a 100% rainwater mikvah - the first of its kind in New York. 

As Rav Meir’s 100th birthday approached, his son planned a large celebration for the family. But on his way home from a doctor’s appointment, Rav Amsel told his einikel, “Your father is planning a birthday party for me, but I will not be there.” The next day, he was ascended to the Next World, following close to a century on this earth. When his son, Reb Eliyahu, went to inform his mother of the sad news, she proclaimed, “the world lost a tzaddik.” She then proceeded to open a closet where his Shabbos tallis lie laundered and folded, ready for its final use. 

Rav Amsel’s Levaya drew a large crowd, including dozens of prominent Rabbonim and Admorim whom he had known and corresponded with on a gamut of issues related to Torah and Yiddishkeit in America and beyond. He was interred in the Wellwood Cemetery following a lifetime of Torah, and decades of Torah leadership in Boro Park of yore.