R' Yaakov Yitzchak Halevi Ruderman z"l was born on Shushan Purim in 5601/1901

in Dolhinov, Russia, where his father, R' Yehuda Laib, was the rabbi. He

studied in Yeshivat Knesset Yisrael in Slobodka, then headed by R' Nosson Zvi

Finkel (the "Alter") and R' Moshe Mordechai Epstein z"l. (Slobodka produced

more future leaders of American Torah Jewry than any European yeshiva. Among

R' Ruderman's colleagues in Slobodka were R' Reuven Grozovsky; R' Ruderman's

first cousin, R' Yaakov Kaminetsky; R' Aharon Kotler; R' Yitzchak Hutner; R'

Yaakov Moshe Lessin, and others.) R' Ruderman received semichah/ordination

from R' Epstein in 1926. At approximately the same time, R' Ruderman

published his only written work, Avodat Halevi. In 1930, R' Ruderman joined

his father-in-law, R' Sheftel Kramer, at the latter's yeshiva in Cleveland.

(R' Kramer previously had taught at the yeshiva of R' Levenburg in New Haven,

Connecticut, the first yeshiva in the United States outside of New York.) In

1933, R' Ruderman moved to Baltimore and founded the Ner Israel yeshiva. R'

Ruderman led that yeshiva for 54 years until his passing and built it into

one of the largest yeshivot in America, producing numerous rabbis, educators

and learned laymen. Outside of his own yeshiva, R' Ruderman was involved in

many aspects of Jewish communal life. His death on 14 Tamuz 5747/July 11,

1987 followed less than one-and-a-half years after the passing of R'

Kaminetzky and R' Moshe Feinstein (both of whom died just before Purim of

1986). With the passing of these three giants of the Lithuanian yeshiva

world, many considered an era to have ended in American Jewish history.

Posthumously, R' Ruderman's students have published two volumes of his

teachings: Sichot Levi contains mussar/ethical insights based on the weekly

parashah, while Mas'at Levi contains lectures on the 19th century work

Minchat Chinuch and other Tamudic and halachic insights. Copyright © 1998 by