Avraham Aharon Price
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Abraham Aharon Price (1900–1994) was a world-renowned Torah
scholar, writer, educator, and a community leader in Toronto
, Canada
. He was one of the city's most influential rabbinic figures.
, Rabbi Price discussed his arrival in Toronto and the beginnings of his Yeshiva.
Each of these individuals became influential community leaders in their own right. Gedaliah Felder, in addition to succeeding Rabbi Price as Chief Rabbi of Toronto, also led the Shomrai Shabos Synagogue of Toronto. Albert Pappenheim led Beth David B’nai Israel Beth Am Congregation of Toronto, Erwin Schild led Adath Israel Congregation of Toronto, Benjamin Hauer led Congregation Chevra Kadisha – B’nai Jacob of Montreal, and Phillip Rosensweig led the Beth Jacob Congregation of Kitchener
-Waterloo
.
, Rabbi Price expended considerable energy in his efforts to have young, Jewish refugees released from internment camps to come study in his yeshiva.
More details on this episode can be found in Erwin Schild's book, The World Through my Window.
reported on his library:
Many of his older books are now held at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto
in the Price Collection of Rabbinics.
and the Jewish holidays. The other two sets contain his commentary on two important 13th Century Jewish texts. The three-volume Sefer Hasidim is a commentary on the 12th-13th Century work of the same name by Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg
. The two-volume Mitzvot Gadol is a commentary on one of the earliest codifications of Halakah by Judah's student, Moses ben Jacob of Coucy
, known as "SeMaG", short for Sefer Mitzvot Gadol.
award of merit signed by the mayor of Tel Aviv
on the recommendation of the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Isser Yehuda Unterman
and Yitzhak Nissim
. It was the first time that this prestigious prize was given to an author outside Israel
. Price asked that the prize money be distributed among poor rabbis in Israel.
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
scholar, writer, educator, and a community leader in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He was one of the city's most influential rabbinic figures.
Community leader
In his book, The Jewish Community in Canada, Stuart E. Rosenberg discusses Rabbi Price's influence on Toronto's burgeoning Jewish community, beginning in the 1930s, as follows:
By the start of World War II, there were twenty-one Jewish schools in Toronto, employing nearly one hundred teachers, giving instruction to nearly three thousand Jewish children, or forty per cent of the Jewish school-age population of the city. Since the war, as in MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Jewish schools in Toronto have blossomed. The city has also seen the beginnings of a rabbinical seminary in the YeshivaYeshivaYeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
Torah Chaim founded by Rabbi Abraham Aaron Price. Born in Poland in 1900, Rabbi Price came to Canada and established his Yeshiva in 1937. He has published a number of important scholarly works in Hebrew and is regarded as a major Talmudic authority. Among the graduates of his are rabbis in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada, including Gedaliah Felder, Albert Pappenheim, Erwin SchildErwin SchildErwin Schild, is a Canadian Conservative rabbi and author.Born in Cologne, Germany, a Holocaust survivor of the Dachau concentration camp, he is the author of World Through My Window and his autobiography The very narrow bridge: a memoir of an uncertain passage...
of Toronto, Benjamin Hauer of Montreal, and Phillip Rosensweig of Kitchener. Rabbi Felder subsequently succeeded him as the Chief RabbiChief RabbiChief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of Toronto.
Arrival in Toronto and Yeshiva's establishment
In an 1985 interview with the Canadian Jewish NewsCanadian Jewish News
The Canadian Jewish News is a weekly, English-language tabloid-sized newspaper serving Canada's Jewish community. Though independent, the newspaper has been, since 1971, owned by a group of Jewish leaders involved with Canadian Jewish Congress...
, Rabbi Price discussed his arrival in Toronto and the beginnings of his Yeshiva.
Recalling how he came to Toronto, the rabbi says, “I was very fortunate — I fled from BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
to ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1931. I lived there for five years before applying for a visa to the United States.” Describing each detail, the rabbi says that he came to Toronto on the invitation of the Chevra Shas almost 50 years ago after he had been in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
only 10 days. “The men most responsible for convincing me to stay here were Moishe Oelbaum, Moishe Sigal, and W.J. Silverberg. They wanted to open a yeshiva, so they engaged me for $50 a week to head the yeshiva and as well I became the official rabbi of the Chevra Shas.”
Before Price came to Toronto, the Chevra Shas had organized a class of higher learning. Nachman Shemen, who is executive director of the OrthodoxOrthodox JudaismOrthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
Division of the Canadian Jewish CongressCanadian Jewish CongressThe Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol...
, was its organizer and first teacher. “Under the strong and dedicated leadership of Rabbi Price, and with his vision, the class developed into a flourishing yeshiva,” says Shemen [...] Price spoke of the establishment of Yeshiva Torah Chaim — of moving from a crowded room on College St. to a house Ulster and Markham and seven years later, to his yeshiva on Montrose and College streets.
Many prominent rabbis were ordained at the Yeshiva and [it is] where many doctors, engineers, university professors and others received their Hebrew and Talmudic educations. Rabbis Gedaliah Felder, Erwin Schild, Bernard Rosensweig, Benjamin Hauer of Montreal, and many who went to the United States like Joel Litke in the San Francisco area, Abraham and Wolf Kelman and hundreds of others were my students, says the rabbi, “and many still study with me regularly.”
Each of these individuals became influential community leaders in their own right. Gedaliah Felder, in addition to succeeding Rabbi Price as Chief Rabbi of Toronto, also led the Shomrai Shabos Synagogue of Toronto. Albert Pappenheim led Beth David B’nai Israel Beth Am Congregation of Toronto, Erwin Schild led Adath Israel Congregation of Toronto, Benjamin Hauer led Congregation Chevra Kadisha – B’nai Jacob of Montreal, and Phillip Rosensweig led the Beth Jacob Congregation of Kitchener
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
-Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is the smallest of the three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, and is adjacent to the city of Kitchener....
.
Bringing War Refuges to his Yeshiva
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Rabbi Price expended considerable energy in his efforts to have young, Jewish refugees released from internment camps to come study in his yeshiva.
Price worked with the CJC (Canadian Jewish Congress), Senator Arthur RoebuckArthur RoebuckArthur Wentworth Roebuck, QC, was a Canadian politician and labour lawyer.Roebuck ran for a seat in the Canadian House of Commons in the 1917 federal election as a Laurier Liberal, but was defeated. He was involved with the United Farmers of Ontario and its successor, the Progressive Party, in the...
and with federal government officials to help young Jews. “We were instrumental in bringing out more than 50 young Jewish men from an interment camp in QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. They were GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
citizens sent here from England. We helped liberate them, helped them get a Jewish education and helped them get established in Canada. Then we brought 55 young boys to Canada from a yeshiva in PraguePraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.”
More details on this episode can be found in Erwin Schild's book, The World Through my Window.
Later years
In the later part of his career, Rabbi Price continued to be occupied with his writing, with work at his Yeshiva, which had relocated north along the Bathurst Street corridor along with the rest of the Toronto Jewish community, and with his scholarly writings. In 1985, at the age of 85, he was still the dean of Yeshiva Torath Chaim, and providing supervisory kashruth services for the Toronto Jewish community.Library
Rabbi Price was also known for his impressive collection of rabbinic materials. By 1950 The Toronto Daily StarToronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
reported on his library:
As Rabbi A. A. Price works in his study on Palmerston Blvd.Palmerston BoulevardPalmerston Boulevard is a residential street located in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, two blocks west of Bathurst Street, between Koreatown and Little Italy.The Boulevard's well co-ordinated nature lends it its charm...
, he is surrounded by what is probably the largest private library of Hebrew books on this continent, a total of 2,200 volumes. Among them is one published in ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
416 years ago and written by Benjamin Zev, a physician and scholar. There is only on other copy of Zev’s book know to exist and it is in the British MuseumBritish MuseumThe British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.[...]
Rabbi Price’s present library represents less than half of the original collection owned by the Polish-born, 51-year-old rabbi. He had them brought over after he decided to extend a visit to Toronto in 1935 into a permanent stay. The rest of his books were destroyed in Paris by the Germans a week before the FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
capital was liberated. His brother and sister were killed in France by the Nazis, and recently an orphaned niece arrived in Toronto.
Many of his older books are now held at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
in the Price Collection of Rabbinics.
Writings
Rabbi Price authored at least four sets of books. Mishnat Avraham (Vol. 1 and 2 published in 1944) and Imrei Avraham (Vol. 1 published in 1946, Vol. 2 published in 1975) both contain his speeches and writings on the weekly torah portionParsha
This article is about the divisions of the Torah into weekly readings. For this week's Torah portion, see Torah portionThe weekly Torah portion |Sidra]]) is a section of the Torah read in Jewish services...
and the Jewish holidays. The other two sets contain his commentary on two important 13th Century Jewish texts. The three-volume Sefer Hasidim is a commentary on the 12th-13th Century work of the same name by Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg
Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg
Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg , also called HeHasid or 'the Pious' in Hebrew, was the initiator of the Chassidei Ashkenaz, a movement of Jewish mysticism in Germany....
. The two-volume Mitzvot Gadol is a commentary on one of the earliest codifications of Halakah by Judah's student, Moses ben Jacob of Coucy
Moses ben Jacob of Coucy
Moses ben Jacob of Coucy was a French Tosafist and authority on Halakha . He is best known as author of one of the earliest codifications of Halakha, the Sefer Mitzvot Gadol.-Biography:...
, known as "SeMaG", short for Sefer Mitzvot Gadol.
Three of the volumes on the book-lined wall are the work of Rabbi Price himself. The latest, “Learning of Abraham, Vol. II,” just off the press, while hardly causing a ripple here, has won high praise from Israeli Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi HerzogYitzhak HaLevi HerzogRabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog , also known as Isaac Herzog, was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland, his term lasting from 1921 to 1936...
.
Rabbi Price’s latest book, the first of its kind ever published in Canada, was printed by a Toronto firm. Dr. Hertzog wrote the he was particularly impressed with its treatment of ShabbatShabbatShabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
laws. The intricacies of these laws, Dr. Hertzog remarked, have earned them the title of “mountains suspended by a hair.” [...]
His latest book, like the volume one, is a commentary on the Talmud. It is not intended for general circulation but for scholars and rabbis who spend their lives studying the TalmudTalmudThe Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
and interpretation of Jewish laws. Four years earlier Rabbi Price published a commentary on the Book of Genesis and Exodus.
Honours
In 1965 Rabbi Price was awarded the Rabbi Abraham Isaac KookAbraham Isaac Kook
Abraham Isaac Kook was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halachist, Kabbalist and a renowned Torah scholar...
award of merit signed by the mayor of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
on the recommendation of the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Isser Yehuda Unterman
Isser Yehuda Unterman
Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman was the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1964 until 1972.Born in Brest-Litovsk in modern Belarus, Unterman was educated at the Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Maltsch. There, he became a pupil of its Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Shimon Shkop...
and Yitzhak Nissim
Yitzhak Nissim
Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim was a former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel. Rabbi Nissim was born in Baghdad and immigrated to Palestine in 1925....
. It was the first time that this prestigious prize was given to an author outside Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Price asked that the prize money be distributed among poor rabbis in Israel.
Further reading
- Price, Abraham A., Mishnath Avraham, [New York, 1944]
- Price, Abraham A., Judah ben Samuel, he-Hasid, d. 1217., Sefer Hasidim, [1955-64]
- HebrewBooks.org has the texts of all 9 volumes available in PDF format.
-
- Imrei Avraham 1 (Toronto, ON 1946)
- Imrei Avraham 2 (Toronto, ON 1975)
- Mishnat Avraham 1 (Toronto, ON 1944)
- Mishnat Avraham 2 (Toronto, ON 1944)
- SeMaG 1 (Toronto, ON 1978)
- SeMaG 2 (Toronto, ON 1978)
- Sefer Chasidim 1 (Toronto, ON 1955)
- Sefer Chasidim 2 (Toronto, ON 1960)
- Sefer Chasidim 3 (Toronto, ON 1965)
-