Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan
Encyclopedia
Kedainiai
Kėdainiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithuania. It is located on the Nevėžis River. First mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, its population as of 2008 was 30,214. Its old town dates to the 17th century....
, a town in the Kaunas County
Kaunas County
Kaunas County is one of ten counties of Lithuania. It is in the centre of the country, and its capital is Kaunas...
in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
. He was born an orphan, and named Avrohom Elya for his deceased father, who had died suddenly at the age of 33 several months before his son's birth. At about this time, Reb Avraham Elya's mother remarried a man from Telshe
Telšiai
Telšiai , is a city in Lithuania with about 35,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on Lake Mastis.-Names:...
(Reb Avraham Elya was very close to his stepfather, and called him "The Father").
Avraham Elya studied for several years in the renowned Yeshiva of Telshe
Telshe yeshiva
Telshe yeshiva was a famous Eastern European yeshiva founded in the Lithuanian town of Telšiai. After World War II the yeshiva relocated to Wickliffe, Ohio, in the United States and is currently known as the Rabbinical College of Telshe, It is one of the most prominent Haredi institutions of Torah...
. His poetic and pasionate nature became legendary even at a young age. At 16, he was drawn to the spirit of the Mussar movement
Mussar movement
The Musar movement is a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement that developed in 19th century Eastern Europe, particularly among Orthodox Lithuanian Jews. The Hebrew term Musar , is from the book of Proverbs 1:2 meaning instruction, discipline, or conduct...
, and went to learn in the Talmud Torah in Kelm
Kelm Talmud Torah
The Kelm Talmud Torah was a famous yeshiva in pre-holocaust Kelmė, Lithuania. Unlike other yeshivas, the Talmud Torah focused primarily on the study of Musar and self-improvement.-Under the Leadership of Simcha Zissel Ziv:...
, the yeshiva founded by Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv
Simcha Zissel Ziv
Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv Broida , also known as the Alter of Kelm , was one of the foremost students of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter and one of the early leaders of the Musar movement...
. He left Kelm, however, shortly after his arrival and went to the famed yeshiva in Slabodka
Slabodka yeshiva
Hebron Yeshiva, also known as Yeshivas Hevron, or Knesses Yisroel, and originally as Slabodka Yeshiva, is known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas" and was devoted to high=level study of the Talmud. The yeshiva was located in the Lithuanian town of Slabodka, adjacent to Kovno , now...
headed by Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel
Nosson Tzvi Finkel
Nosson Tzvi Finkel may refer to one of the following roshei yeshiva in Orthodox Judaism:*Nosson Tzvi Finkel , of the Slabodka yeshiva in Kaunas, Lithuania, or his descendant,...
, known as the "Alter of Slabodka", and Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein
Moshe Mordechai Epstein
Moshe Mordechai Epstein was Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Knesseth Yisrael in Slabodka, Lithuania and is recognized as having been one of the leading Talmudists of the twentieth century.-Childhood:...
, known by his penname, "Levush Mordechai". Avraham Elya studied in Slabodka for seven years, until the outbreak of World War I left him stranded in his mother's home in Telshe. In Slabodka, Reb Avraham Elya found the path that he had sought, in triying to reconcile the Mussar philosophy of Lithuanian Judaism with the philosophy of Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
. At the age of 30 he was appointed as Rosh Yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
The Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary was founded in Berlin on 22 October 1873 by Rabbi Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer for the training of rabbis in the tradition of Orthodox Judaism.-History:...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin 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...
.
He died suddenly when he was only 34 years old, about the same age as his father. In his youth (at the age of seventeen), his fiery nature induced him to compose a poem portraying impending doom and angst. This famous poem, Shak'a Chama, contains a sense of depression and searching. It begins: "The sun has set... my soul has set / In the depth of its sorrow as great as the sea..." (B'Ikvot, p. 171).
Works
- B'Ikvot HaYir'a, Mosad HaRav Kook, 1956. Reprinted in 1988 in an expanded edition, and again in 2002.
- Divrei Talmud, 2 volumes, Mosad HaRav Kook, 1958. Reprinted in 1970.
- Mivchar Ketavim, privately published by the Kaplan family, 2006.
These works were all compiled and edited by Rabbi Kaplan's son, the noted author Rabbi Tzvi Kaplan.
External links
- Biography of Rabbi Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan
- Be'ikvos haYir'ah, the title essay
- Essays, Lyrics and Songs (mp3) from Bei'kvos haYir;ah
- Shtei Derachim a comparison of Mussar and Chassidus
- Some poems by Rabbi Avrohom Eliya Kaplan including Shak'a Chamah
- Elul in Slabodka from his diary