Aryeh Leib Malin
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Rabbi Aryeh Leib Malin (1906-1962) was a Rabbi, Talmudist, and Mussarist in both Europe and America.
[edit] Biography
Rabbi Malin was born in Białystok. In his early years, Reb Leib learned in Grodno under Rabbi Shimon Shkop. Later, he learned by Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman and Rabbi Baruch Ber Lebowitz. As an older student, Reb Leib learned in the Mir yeshiva where he gained a reputation as a prototype-follower of lomdus (a type of pilpul) and a model of mussar. In mussar, Reb Leib is a student of Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz. Rabbi Yechiel Michel Feinstein, a son-in-law of the Brisker Rav, said of Reb Leib that he an ability to totally immerse himself into whatever talmudical tractate was being learned in Mir.
At the request of Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, the Rosh Yeshiva of Mir, sent a group of his finest scholars to Brisk to hear the Rav's lectures. Among the group that heard the Rav's shiurim on Kodoshim were Reb Leib,Reb Ephraim Mordechai Ginsburg, Reb Yonah Karpliov (Yonas Eilim) and, the Rav's future son-in-law Rabbi Yechiel Michel Feinstein. During this period, Reb Leib becme especially close the Brisker Rav, who took a special liking to Reb Leib. Reb Leib was able to write many of the Brisker Rav's lectures which were later published in stencil form. He also was given special access to manuscripts of Rabbi Chaim Brisker. Rabbi Berel Povarsky of Ponevezh yeshiva-- who edited and published Reb Leib's writings "Chidushei Reb Aryeh Leib" -- branded his uncle's Torah as "Brisker Torah" meaning that it continues the tradition of Brisk.
In Mir, Reb Leib was part of an elite group of students who attempted to serve as a model for proper behavior and learning. This group was highly respected by the leading posek, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzensky and is still fondly remembered by Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg. In 1941, in the midst of World War II, Reb Leib rejected an invitation to immigrate to America, extended to him by Rabbi Avraham Kalmanovitz.
Instead, Reb Leib followed the Mir Yeshiva into exile in Shanghai during the war years.
In this time, he took on many administrative duties in the Yeshiva. He played a major role in the committee which decided which students of Mir would have the privilege of following the Yeshiva into China, and which would have to remain behind or move to America.
After the War, Reb Leib moved to America. Immediately upon his immigration to America, he rejected proposals from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein to become Rosh Yeshiva of Tifereth Jerusalem and Rabbi Avrohom Kalmanowitz to become the Rosh Yeshiva of the newly-established Mir in Brooklyn. Instead, after his marriage to the daughter of Rabbi Dovid Dov Kreuzer (a Talmudist from Klutsk), Reb Leib opted to create a Yeshiva and Kollel that mimicked the pre-war European Mir. He therefore created Beis HaTalmud in Brooklyn which he looked at as a continuation of Volozhin yeshiva, Slabodka yeshiva, and Mir yeshiva. In Beis HaTalmud, luxuries (like telephones and water coolers) were rejected, as they were against the spirit of the Yeshiva.
As rosh yeshiva of Beis HaTalmud, he upheld standards of Torah and mussar that were instructive in themselves. One time, he announced that he would deliver a lecture on a certain sugya and then, on the day of the scheduled lecture, he cancelled it. He explained that he had been unable to see the proper desire on the part of the students to hear the lecture.
Despite being busy with the yeshiva's affairs, Reb Leib would still spend hours at home learning Torah and mussar. About nine months before his death, he was injured by a stone thrown at him by a hooligan. On the last day of his life, he was seen in the women's section of the Beth Midrash, standing with his hands outstretched, deeply immersed in prayer. A student who saw him, who later became a prominent doctor, concluded that Reb Leib was then suffering a heart attack. Later, Reb Leib finally collapsed and fell down after arriving late to a meeting in the house of Rabbi Shabsai Frankel (who famously re-printed the works of Maimonides). He was fifty-six years old.
Rabbi Aharon Kotler said at Reb Leib's funeral that the Jewish communities were deprived of a potential leader for the next generation with Reb Leib's untimely death.
[edit] Works and influences
Reb Leib's main work, Chidushei Rebbi Aryeh Leib, was published posthumously by his nephew. This work is on the entire scope of Shas, and is currently used in many present-day yeshivas, especially in matters concerning Kodashim and Nezikin, for which the work is famous.
