Shlomo Nosson Kotler

Rabbi Shlomo Nosson Kotler (1856-c. 1920) was a distinguished Orthodox rabbi and Rosh yeshiva, and an acclaimed Talmudic scholar, Torah author and Posek (Halachic decisor).

Born in Kovno, Lithuania, Rabbi Kotler studied in the world-renowned Telz yeshiva under the eminent Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, as well as under Rabbi Jacob Joseph and later in the yeshiva of Rabbi Yaakov Charif, who became his foremost teacher. He received semicha from many great rabbis, among them Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor. At the young age of twenty, having already served as a Talmudic lecturer in the Łomża yeshiva, he became one of the first teachers in the famed Knesses Yisroel yeshiva in Slobodke. A few years later, he accepted the position of Av Beth Din in the city of Uzhvent, near Kovno.

In 1893, Rabbi Kotler's ailing former teacher, Rabbi Jacob Joseph, then the chief rabbi of New York, invited him to serve as his associate. Heeding the request, Rabbi Kotler served as rabbi of Congregation Tiferes Jerusalem in New York in Rabbi Joseph's stead for the next three years. In 1896, he joined the newly-founded Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary as a Rosh yeshiva.

Unsatisfied in an America weak in Orthodox Jewish life and practice, Rabbi Kotler returned to Europe to serve as rabbi in the cities of Kurshan and Luknik. After World War I, Rabbi Kotler returned to America, settling for seven years in Detroit.

Towards the end of his life, Rabbi Kotler emigrated to Israel, where, following the death of his first wife, he remarried the daughter of the leading Talmudic scholar Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlop, who was a close disciple of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook. Following Rabbi Kotler's death, his father-in-law renamed his Jerusalem yeshiva in his memory.

Torah Works

Rabbi Kotler authored numerous Torah articles which were published in the various Torah journals of his time, as well as many "sefarim", including the two-volumed responsa [http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=946&pgnum=1 Kerem Shlomo] (Jerusalem, 1936) and the original work "Beis Shlomo" (St. Louis, 1927). Many of Rabbi Kotler's unpublished Torah manuscripts and insights have been lost.

References

* [http://www.yutorah.org/bio.cfm/80101/Rabbi_Shlomo_Nosson_Kotler YU Torah Online Rosh yeshiva biographies]
* [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cgMCSrDxKGAC&pg=PA124&dq=%22shlomo%22+%22kotler%22&lr=&sig=su3f7Py-dJpI_dq_yNyYhI_ioAs#PPA124,M1 Orthodox Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary]