How Rabbi Hutner Overcame His Pain

By Dovid Zaklikowski for COLlive and Hasidic Archives

It was a day that Rabbi Avremel Kleinkaufman will never forget. After World War II, he was living with his mother, a young widow, in a displaced persons (DP) camp in Europe. Having lost touch with her parents and siblings, his mother assumed that she was alone in the world with her son.

Then, one day, she came home and exclaimed, “Avrohom lebt! Uncle is alive!” She had seen a note posted in the town square asking for information on the Karp family from Frampol. The note was signed by Avrohom Karp, her brother.

In the years that followed, Rabbi Karp became like a father to young Avremel. When Rabbi Karp and his sister immigrated to North America, Avremel spent his summers with his uncle in Montreal. Rabbi Karp, a teacher, purchased Avremel his first pair of tefillin.

As a teenager, Avremel enrolled in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in New York. When Rabbi Karp came to New York, he would discuss Avremel’s progress with the dean of the yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner.

“He was like a father to me in every sense,” recalled Rabbi Kleinkaufman, a lecturer at Yeshiva of Far Rockaway and translator of several Jewish classics. “He made it his business to go ask about how I was doing.”

One winter, Rabbi Hutner broke his foot and was not able to deliver his regular classes in the yeshiva. During this time, Rabbi Karp made one of his visits to New York. The next week, Rabbi Hutner returned to school and called Avremel into his office.

When Avremel entered, the dean told him, “I want to tell you what your uncle coerced me into…”

Rabbi Hutner told Avremel that every time Rabbi Karp visited, he gave a donation to the Yeshiva. “Last Tuesday, he did the same, but this time it was a substantial amount.”

Rabbi Hutner asked Rabbi Karp how he could afford such a large amount.

“A Jew needs to make the effort,” Rabbi Karp replied simply.

Shortly after this conversation, Rabbi Hutner said, he had been invited to a charity event that he normally would have attended. Because of his broken foot, however, he had declined the invitation.

That was when Rabbi Karp’s words began echoing in his ears: “A Jew needs to make the effort.”

The morning of the event came, Rabbi Hutner said, and he knew that he had to go, “If I didn’t go, I wouldn’t have any rest.”

He had suffered through the event in excruciating pain, yet he continued repeating Rabbi Karp’s words to himself: “A Jew needs to make the effort, a Jew needs to make the effort, a Jew needs to make the effort.”

“This is what your uncle did to me,” the dean said to Avremel. “Now go back to learn.”

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