Memory Lane: Rav Yitzchok Adler, Beis Medrash Hagadol of Mapleton Park

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Yehuda Alter

On the periphery of Boro Park is the neighborhood of Mapleton Park. In this neighborhood, there was a Sfardishe Shul/Beis Medrash Hagadol which began at 42 Avenue O, the location of its Talmud Torah. The Talmud Torah was located alongside a Bnai Solomon Shul, but it is unclear whether they were affiliated. As the shul grew larger, a nicer, larger building was erected at 1477 West Eighth Street, which was for years later also known as Rabbi Isaac Adler Talmud Torah.    

A Child of Yerushalayim

Rabbi Adler was born in Yerushalayim in the year 1895, and learned in the yeshivos there.  Like many others, he escaped the great hardship of those times, landing in Philadelphia in 1921.

For the ensuing half-century in which he resided here, the Jewish community of Brooklyn was host to an exceptional Torah scholar. When one of his nephews went to receive semichah from Rav Moshe Feinstein, he asked Rav Adler to sit in, as a sign of respect.

He married Faiga Leah Mann, from the famous Mann family in Yerushalayim, many of whose relatives came to America and still reside here—and to all of these families, as well as the numerous people in the community, he was a guiding light, a brilliant and wise sage.

In New York, he served as the Rav of Congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagodel of Mapleton Park Jewish Center—which also had a Talmud Torah through which he sought to inculcate the youth of the area in the ways of Torah. But his primary love was the study of Torah—and it was to this that he dedicated himself. So supportive was his rebbetzin of his learning—a grandson relates how Rav Adler never set foot in a grocery store. Evidently, this extended to the beis din he established in Manhattan, through which he sought to establish the primacy of halacha within the melting pot of America.     

A Rabbinic Court

A fascinating article from the Forverts’ August 27, 1929 edition has recently come to light. In it, they express wonder at the beis din over which Rav Adler presided—something that surely stood in great contrast to the American life around them and even to the majority of the Jewish community in New York at the time.  

“In New York, there is a court that is different than any other courts, both in its unique energy and passion, as well as through the cases that are brought there. This is a court whose judges are Rabbonim, who resolve conflicts between Orthodox Jews according to Jewish Law. This interesting court, or Beis Din as it is called, holds its meetings in the Civic Center Shul at 10 Lafayette Street. On this page, we present various scenes from throughout the court session."

(The images are reprinted here.)

Torah and Chessed

While Torah and halachah were central in his life, Chessed was Together with his wife, they presided over the “Sheine Gittel Bread Fund,” providing funds to feed the poor of Yerushalayim, and the Rebbetzin also did everything to support him in his Torah learning.  

In 1971, they made Aliyah to Eretz Yisroel, where Rabbi Adler was niftar in 1977 and was interred on Har Hazeisim.

Rabbi Adler left behind a beautiful family of upstanding Torah Jews, talmidei chachamim, and marbitzei Torah around the world who continue his legacy of Torah and chessed.