By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com

It is now the first yartzeit of Moreinu HaRav Shlomo Teitelbaum, and the world is palpably different now.� There is less Kedusha in it.� Rav Shlomo Teitelbaum zichron tsaddik v�kadosh livracha has passed away, and a paragon – a role model, of what a human being can achieve in both avodas Hashem and� kedusha – is now gone.

Rav Shlomo Teitelbaum zt�l possessed a rare combination of genuine and deep-felt ahavas yisroel, meticulous adherence to the mesorah of his father, Rav Yaakov Teitelbaum zt�l and of his Rebbeim, and sheer dedication to the performance of Mitzvos in the most ideal manner possible.

Rav Shlomo�s father, Rav Yaakov Teitelbaum zt�l, was a student of the famed Rav Meir Arik zt�l, along with Rav Meir Shapiro and others. �Rav Yaakov Teitelbaum had moved from Eastern Europe to Vienna.� He married his wife, Rebbitzen Freida Steinhof in 1938. Almost immediately they had to escape the Nazis y�s, and eventually relocated to England.

On December 8, 1948, the family came to America, on board the Queen Mary. �Rav Teitelbaum and his Rebbitzen, arrived with seven children � all age nine and below. In Europe, Rav Yaakov Teitelbaum was a strong Agudist and developed many young Talmidim in Vienna.� After his arrival in the United States, he soon established Khal Adas Yereim in Kew Gardens, Queens which shortly became a strong center of committed Torah life in Queens. �In 1953, he was appointed to be the Rav of Camp Agudah and influenced thousands of campers for many years.� Rav Yaakov zt�l was a true European Gadol, and had a strong and profound influence on his talmidim as well as his family.

Rav Shlomo Teitelbaum was a talmid muvhak of the Philadelphia Yeshiva.� He revered his Rebbeim, Rav Elya Svei zt�l and yblcht�v Rav Shmuel Kamenetzky, and consulted with them throughout his life.� A few years after he had moved on from Philadelphia to Beis Midrash Gavo�ah in Lakewood, his reputation of remarkable yiras shamayim and hasmada caught the eye of Rav Asher Zimmerman, a renowned Gadol and Posaik.� He married Rav Zimmerman�s daughter Nechamah.� After a few years in Kollel, tragedy struck.� Rav Yaakov Teitelbaum, his beloved father, passed away.� It was decided that his son, Rav Shlomo, should take his place.

Rav Shlomo was torn.� He loved learning Torah lishma.� He was gaining tremendously in Beis Medrash Gavoha of Lakewood.� What should he do?� His Rebbeim were unanimous in their answer.� He must take his father�s place and lead the Kehillah that his father had built.

Rav Shlomo Teitelbaum zt�l davened in the way that most other people learn Gemorah � slowly, meticulously, and making sure to understand and appreciate every word. By the same token, he was able to learn Gemorah at such a dizzying pace that it resembled the manner in which most people davened.� He knew numerous mesechtos so well that he was like a fish swimming in water.� He could learn and teich maharshas� at dizzying speeds � and with great depth.

In matters of tefilah, he loved and enjoyed every new k�naich or darher in the davening � a re-reading or an emphasis that was always inherent in the tefilah but one that was freshly brought out.�� Example:� He loved Rav Chatzkel Levenstein�s re-reading of the words in shmoneh esreh � �mechalkel chaim b�chessed.�� Most people understand that the word �b�chessed� is describing how He sustains the world � it acts as a type of adverb, of sorts.� Rav Chatzkel read the word as a noun.� What is the �food� that He sustains the world with?� What is that necessary nutrient � without which none of us would survive?� Chessed.� Pure, simple, Chessed.

And chessed absolutely permeated every fiber of Rav Teitelbaum�s life.� He took care of his mother like no one else did � and set an example for all of us to both admire and emulate.� We learned together b�chevrusah, and every day at a certain time we stopped so that he could drive his mother to the swimming pool.

The Rav’s ahavas yisroel extended to everyone.� He worked closely and lovingly with children who, r”l, had gone off the derech.� Many returned to the proper path thinking, “Rav Teitelbaum truly loves me – how can I not keep Shabbos?”� He was not the type who would only befriend those that would change.� he loved them – even if they did not budge in their ruchniyus.

Rav Teitelbaum and his wife yblct�v ran a Pesach food order for the entire community – every year – for four decades.� Unless one has seen it, it is difficult to imagine all that goes into such an enterprise.� From ordering, to arranging for people to pick up their orders.� Even when he was suffering physically, he would attend the simchos of others with unparalleled Ahavah.

Reb Shlomo�s smile had a deep warmth to it that was so visibly genuine that everyone recognized it.� He possessed a hadras panim that could melt hearts.� Correction � that did melt hearts.� He loved people.� Goyim who came across him – perceived his kedushah.� That probably explained why there were gentiles at his levaya that were crying.

The Rav was always looking out for people in terms of shidduchim.� He rett shidduchim out of true Ahavas Yisroel.

His shul, Adas Yereim, was a remarkable makom kedusha � filled with learned baal habatim – where one could speak in learning with virtually every member of the shul.� He loved them all.� He appreciated that Reb Alter Kramer z�l would deliver an amud yomi shiur and when his son Reb Duvie, who had grown up in the shul, took it over � he was elated.� These shiurim and others ensured that Kehillah Adas Yereim would thrive as a makom Torah.

His was a shul where Gedolei Torah felt comfortable and at home.� Whether it was Rav Shalom Schwadron zt�l, or Rav Simcha Wasserman zt�l – they all took a warm liking to Rav Shlomo.� �Zeh mamash kmo Europa kan� Rav Schwadron once said.

If there was any sh�ailah about an item Rav Shlomo would stay away.� His chumros in these areas were borne out of true yiras shamayim, ahavas haTorah, and an affinity for matters of kedusha.� Yet, never did he look down on others � he loved everyone.

The greatest of his challenges involved not chalilah causing another person pain. His midos were uncanny.� He would never get angry at anyone � even if they deserved it.� Years before the new aluminum pans had emerged that no longer require tevilah, he was very meticulous in tovelling aluminum pans even if they were only used once.� I informed him of a new plastic nine by thirteen pan that could withstand temperatures of above 500 degrees Fahrenheit and took orders for it.� He was elated.� To make a long story short, I was wrong about the technology.� He spent hours erev Shabbos removing the burnt plastic and potato kugel remnants from his oven.� He did it with love and not an ounce of kaas.

There is a Ramah that prohibits one from holding a wedding on a Sunday because it was following the ways of gentiles.� His shver zatzal was makpid on it and the family had never held a wedding on a Sunday.� But one mechutan very much wanted a Sunday wedding.� He researched the sugyah thoroughly.� The answer?� It was a Russian orthodox custom and at the time and location where the Ramah lived in Cracow Poland the majority population held weddings on a Sunday.� The gentile population was comprised of three groups.� Catholics, Russian Orthodox, and Russian Orthodox that were forced to convert to Catholicism but were told to still keep Russian Orthodox customs.� The latter two formed the majority of Cracow�s population.� This was not the case in America.� Rav Shlomo was elated.� He could accede to his mechutan�s desire to hold the wedding on a Sunday and still not violate the Ramah.

Rav Shlomo worked very hard on maintaining the shalom bayis of others.� He was strongly opposed to divorce and actually cried whenever he felt that there was not enough effort placed in trying to save a marriage.� He often quoted the Gemorah in Sanhedrin 22a � that when a person divorces his first wife � even the Mizbeach itself sheds tears.� Rav Shlomo felt the pain of Hashem too, and also cried.� Once he pointed out to me a sefer that said that there was no letter �gimel� or �tes� in the parsha of the Korban Tamid.� He stayed away from having anything to do with divorces because they were such a source of pain to him.

The Rav and I learned together b�chevrusah for three years and several years after that by phone until he took ill.� It was an extraordinary z�chus.� Yehi zichro boruch and may he be a meilitz yosher for all of Klal Yisroel.

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