הרב ישראל פלאם נפטר כו טבת תשס"ד

There are too many things that can be said about my beloved uncle. I will however state one thing that encompasses all that his life was about. Whenever there were choices to made or forks in the road to follow, it can be attested by all that the right choice was always made and the right fork always followed. He is always missed, however our consolation is the legacy he left behind and the fact that he is with his brothers tachat Kanfei HaShechinah.

Sheya Flam

The following articles appeared in the Jewish Press after Rabbi Flam's passing (by his niece Pearl (Preschel) Herzog

Rabbi Yisroel Flam, the dynamic and charismatic dean of Yeshiva of Spring Valley and rabbi of Kahal Jeshurun of Monsey, N.Y. was laid to rest last month on Har Hazeisim in Jerusalem. He was buried next to three of his beloved brothers, Rabbi Yitzchok Flam, Rabbi Sholom Flam (Strettiner Rebbe) and Rabbi Tzvi Elozor Flam, ZTL.

He and his eshes chayil Noa (Tibodel lechaim) were most well known for the more than half a century, they dedicated their lives to the spiritual welfare of tens of thousands of Jews.

Rabbi Yisroel was a prominent fixture in the Monsey Jewish community. A distinguished Talmid Chochom, as well as a gifted orator and writer, Rabbi Flam attracted people with his wonderful sense of humor, fiery speeches, glowing personality and hearty laugh.

He loved Torah and Yiddishkeit with all his heart and soul, and it was this love as well as his tremendous caring for people that endeared him to all who knew him.

Born in 1927 in Montreal, Canada to, Rabbi David and Sara (Langner) Flam, Yisroel was a scion of prominent Chassidic dynasties including Belz, Olesk, Strettin, Ziditchoiv and Kaliv.

His pedigree which could be traced back to King David included Rav Hai Gaon, Rashi, Maharal of Prague, the Shlah, the Maharsha, Rabbi Yoel Sirkes (the Bach), Tosfos Yom Tov (Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Heller) and Rabbi Elazar Rokeach.

His father, Rabbi David Flam set up a Shul in French Montreal where he had relocated with his family from Bobrik, Poland in the mid 1920’s after staying for several months in Toronto with his father-in law, the Strettiner Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Langner ZTL.

Rabbi David Flam and family first moved to a rented location on St. Urban Street where he established a shul, called Ahavas Dovid. Soon Rabbi Flam, with the help of devoted followers purchased a building on the corner of Villeneuve and Clark streets, a few blocks from Mount Royal. The building came with magnificent crystal chandeliers which hung from its ceilings. The growing Flam family lived on the second floor of the building.

The young Rebbetzin Sara was known as a tzadekes and famous for her raving beauty.

Young Yisroel was born the year that Rabbi Meir Shapiro, the founder of the Daf Yomi visited Canada and the United States. When Rabbi Shapiro visited the Flam home and shul, where he served as sandek for Yisroel’s bris, Rabbi Shapiro related that he was delighted to find a piece of the old country in the new world.

Many people would visit the synagogue of the Montrealer Rebbe, as young Yisroel’s father came to be known, to receive advice and blessings from the Rebbe.

Young four year old Yisroel was an adorable preschooler, who became an expert at imitating his father, the Rebbe. Yisroel would use this talent to accumulate some pennies which he would immediately redeem for chewing gum at the local candy store.

“Kim aher rebbele,” (come here little Rebbe,) a senior citizen would approach him.” Gib mir a brocho and ich vel dir giben a cent” (Give me a brocho and I will give you a penny).

After receiving a penny from the old man, young Yisroel would happily declare, “Zol eyer zivug oleh yofeh sein “(May your marriage be successful).

Probably not understanding what he was saying, young Yisroel would amuse people with his charming brochos no matter who the recipients were.

Montreal at the time young Yisroel was growing up was a spiritual wasteland and did not have any yeshivos or Bais Yaakovs. The Flam children learned to read and write Yiddish as well as Chumash and Rashi from their father. They would sit around the long extended dining room table with him at its head.

Yisroel’s sister, young Chana Rochel would take several trams from the Mount Royal area, to Cartierville, which at that time was a rural area, to observe the milking of the cows, so that she could bring home Cholov Yisrael. She would shlep the pail of kosher milk all the way home. The Flams would take the cream off the milk and shake it in a bottle to make their butter.

The Flams did not eat any meat at that time due to their stringent Kashrus observance, and purchased chickens slaughtered by Reverend Krakovsky, a chosid of Lubavitch, who was a close friend of Rabbi David Flam for many, many years. Rabbi Flam, with his regal appearance, in his long satin bekeshe, and round kapalitch (hat) would run his nail across the reverend’s Chalev, (slaughtering knife) to insure that it was flawless. Each shechita for the Flam family had to pass this inspection.

The Flam’s weekly fish order was delivered by the Ossman fish store on Villaneuve Street.

A Mrs. Koch would come every Thursday and help the Rebbetzin bake delicious yeast kuchen and Challos for the family.

Rabbi David Flam, took special pride in the making of his own wine for Shabbos and Yom Tov which he stored in barrels in their cellar in two rooms which were under lock and key. The janitor, who would come to stoke the coals in the furnace was not able to enter where the kosher grape juice and wine were kept. The French neighbors, the Chouinards, who owned a hardware store on St. Lawrence and Villaneuve streets, had  rows of  lilac trees which heavenly fragrance mixed with the delicious smell of newly squeezed grapes.

The growing Jewish community was enthralled with their Montrealer Rebbe. They would hold board meetings presided over by a Mr. Kugelmass on how to enhance the congregation.

(To Be Continued)

Rabbi Dovid Flam, the Montrealer - Oleske Rebbe, wanted his sons to be totally infused with Torah learning and Yiras Shamayim. He had originally planned to send his oldest son Yitzchok to Poland to study with his brother, Rabbi Shmuel Aaron Flam, the Rav of Dubetzk, but since war seemed imminent, he decided to send him to New York to study in Torah Vodaas. Yitzchok was soon followed by his younger brother, Yisroel, and later by brothers Sholom and Tzvi Elozor.

The Flam brothers stayed in the dormitory supervised by Rabbi Rivlin and learned under Rabbi Avrohom Pam ZTL and Rabbi Gedalia Schor ZTL. The camraderie between the brothers was legendary; until this day people speak about the special closeness and warmth of the Flam brothers. They would eat on Shabbos at the home of the prominent Wilhelm family, one of the founders of Torah Vodaas.

Fifty years ago in America, learning Gemorrah and being in Yeshiva was not as popular as it is today. There were very few yeshivos then and those young men who attended were from very religious families, the majority of whom later went into spreading Torah and serving as Klei Kodesh.

Two prominent students at Torah Vodaas, and very good friends of the Flam brothers were Rabbi Henoch Cohen, the Executive director of Torah Schools for Israel (Chinuch Atzmai) and Rabbi Nisson Wolpin, Rabbi Cohen’s, brother in law, well known as the editor of the Jewish Observer.

Yisroel Flam’s younger brother, Tzvi Elozor Flam was taken ill in his late twenties, and was unfortunately not able to continue learning Gemorrah in the Yeshiva environment. Confined to bed, and not wanting to stop drinking from the sweet waters of learning, his friend Meir Applebaum, would tape record the Gemorrah Shiurim for him.

Until his death in a hospital bed in the 1970s, Tzvi Elozor, would enjoy learning Talmud.

Today, all over the world, thanks to the initial brainstorm of Applebaum and Flam, thousands of men learn Torah, by listening to tapes.

Yisroel received Semicha from Rabbi Kushelevsky and then left for Bais Medrash Elyon in Monsey where he studied under the late Rabbi Reuven Grozovsky.

With Semicha in hand, Rabbi Yisroel Flam was dispatched to Detroit, Michigan, at the behest of Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz or Mr. Mendlowitz, as the latter insisted on being called.

Unlike today, where sitting in Kollel, is usually the next step in developing one’s Torah growth, at that time, America was such a wasteland in terms of Torah education, that it was imperative for young Torah scholars to spread their wings and disseminate their knowledge.

Rabbi Yisroel Flam, the dark haired and bearded dashing rabbi’s son, with the magnetic personality became a popular Rebbe in the Bais Yehuda school.

He was an educator par excellence. His wonderful sweet voice and his joy of life endeared him to his students. He was a wonderful story teller and brought Torah to life.He became almost a father figure to his students who could not get enough of him. Suffice is to say, many of the single teachers had their eyes on him.

In 1952, Noa, a pretty blond haired teacher at the Bais Yehudah school in Detroit became Rabbi Yisroel’s basherte. She was the daughter of Dr. Hugo and Serach Mandelbaum. Dr. Hugo Mandelbaum, a geologist, who had immigrated from Germany, had previously served as the principal of Bais Yehuda. He was a professor of geology as well as a gifted artist, whose works were all created to enhance mitzvoth. Professor Hugo was commissioned to create one of the magnificent Torah arks now standing at the Kotel Hamaarovi in Jerusalem.

The young Flam couple made it their goal to devote their lives to spreading Yiddishkeit and the love and joy of Torah.

Rabbi Yisroel’s Chassidic warm simchadike singing background, combined with Noa’s Yekke (German) punctilious observance of the Mitzvos served as the perfect combination to raise a family steeped in Torah. With these wonderful attributes, the Flams were to share their homes and their lives with thousands and thousands of people over the years.

The couple became pioneers and moved to Oak Park Michigan, where Rabbi Yisroel Flam served as the Rabbi of the Bnai Israel Shul. He also became a principal of the local day school. At that time, Oak Park was a suburb with very little yiddishkeit and it was the Flam couple that lit the fire of Torah in the area.

The Flam couple were a fascinating team. Rabbi Yisroel Flam’s personality was very similar to the leaders of the chassidic dynasties he descended from. He had the most beautiful and powerful voice; when he would make a brocho, all the neshomos listening would be touched and moved. Through his fiery excitement about learning Torah and his rebbetzin Noa’s calm rational and cool explanations, many many Jews became closer to the observance of Judaism.

In 1966, the growing Flam family moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Rabbi Yisroel Flam served as the principal of the Hebrew Day School. Although the Flams were to live there for only three years, they left their mark in that community too. The present Hebrew Day School is built on the site of the house where the Flam family had lived at the time. Years after the Flam family had left Scranton, the house they lived in was known as the “Flam House”.

(To Be Concluded)

Rabbi Yisroel Flam and his family relocated from Scranton, Pennsylvania to Monsey, N.Y. in 1969. Thirty five years ago, the Jewish community of Monsey was in its infancy. There were not that many Torah institutions then and those that did exist did not have the large student populations that they do today.

For one year Rabbi Yisroel Flam commuted to Washington Heights. He taught at the Rikka Breuer Girls High School and served as the assistant principal there. He also served as Rabbi at the Riverdale Young Israel.

He would spend Shabbatot at the home of his brother-in law, Rabbi Alfred Freeman, married to his wife’s sister, Shushie, who lived in Riverdale. The Yekke congregation was more than just satisfied with its warm, fiery and charismatic Talmid Chochom who guided them as their rabbi.

Rabbi Yisroel Flam did not treat his congregation as simply a job. He was a selfless individual whose interest and caring for his congregants was evident. He was an intellectually curious person, and despite the fact that he himself was descended from Chassidic Rebbes, he was extremely interested in the Minhagim of different Kehillot. Little known seforim regarding the customs of German Jews, for example, could be found in his home library. 

He was a strong personality who did not just flow with the tide; whenever he would disagree with the actions of a Jewish institution or even a Torah personality, he would make his opinion known. He did not fear anyone or anything but Hashem and the truth.

Rabbi Flam’s career rose meteorically. Wherever he went, he would serve as an inspiration to the people who worked for him, his secretaries and teachers as well as his students and congregants. He was generous when it came to meting out praise; his warm and heartfelt remarks would restore egos to people who had inferiority complexes. All Jews, young and old would literally blossom under his tutelage; they would feel sure of themselves and exude confidence.

Rabbi Flam was soon offered the position as co-dean of the Yeshiva of Spring Valley, a position he was to hold for over thirty years.

Under his leadership, the fledgling Yeshiva of Spring Valley grew to a huge school; with its boys and girls divisions, the student population today numbers over one thousand.

At the same time, he served as the Rabbi of Kahal Jeshurun, a synagogue which distance was over a mile and a half from his home. He never moved his family to its location but walked every Shabbos the three mile round trip for each tefilah.

For years, however, after Maariv on Motzaei Shabbos, instead of walking home, he would be driven home by Martin and Carol Ginsberg. Carol had revered the rabbi from her childhood in Detroit.

The Ginsbergs were in Israel at the time of Rabbi Yisroel Flam’s passing and were scheduled to fly back to New York. When they heard from their machatonim in Monsey, that their beloved rabbi had passed away, they extended their tickets to return home a day later in order to participate in Rabbi Flam’s funeral in Israel. After he was laid to rest in Har Hazeitim, they visited the family members sitting in Jerusalem.

As soon as the Ginsbergs arrived back in the United States the following day, they dropped off their luggage, and came straight to the Flam Shiva home in Monsey. “How could we not come,” said Mrs. Ginsberg, “he was not only our rabbi, he was family!”

That is how hundreds and hundreds of people perceived their beloved Rabbi Flam. He became intimately involved in the lives of his congregants, teachers, students, and their families that many considered him part of their own.

Monsey literally came to a standstill last month for Rabbi Yisroel Flam’s funeral, as police cars escorted his hearse to several Jewish educational institutions in the city. At the entrances of each school, hundreds of teachers and students paid their last respects by greeting the Aron outside their buildings with the recitation of Psalms.

The hearse finally arrived at the Yeshiva of Spring Valley where thousands gathered to listen to inspiring eulogies. The student body was dismissed for the day to enable the funeral which overflow crowd spilled out of the auditorium into the classrooms and outside the building to follow the hespedim through loudspeakers.

Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Philadelphia stated to the assembled, that often prominent Jewish leaders are so busy with their public lives, that it is not unusual for their children to stray from Torah. All of Rabbi Flam’s children and their spouses, Rabbi Kaminetsky stressed, are devoted to Torah and Chinuch.

Rabbi Joseph Elias of Washington Heights who has served as dean of the Rikka Breuer Teachers Seminary and knew Rabbi Yisroel for more than half a century since he worked with him in Detroit, described the niftar, as “my Rebbe,” even though Rabbi Yisroel Flam was younger than him.

Rabbi Yaakov Schnaidman, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Scranton, Pennsylvania discussed his very close relationship with Rabbi Y. Flam, first as a friend and then as his mechuton.

Rabbi Uriel Mandelbaum, Rabbi Flam’s brother-in- law, the Menahel of the Philadelphia Yeshiva, described Rabbi Yisroel Flam as an “Educator Par Excellence” who was a true “Rodef Shalom,” (pursuer of peace).

Both Rabbi Shlomo Greenbaum, the Menahel and Rabbi Yehuda Frankel the Assistant Menahel of Yeshiva of Spring Valley lauded the many wonderful qualities of Rabbi Yisroel Flam which helped turn the Yeshiva of Spring Valley into the large and prominent institution it is today.

Rabbi Shlomo Breslauer, the Rabbi of Bes Tefilah in Monsey and a Rebbe at Yeshiva of Spring Valley confided to the assembled that despite the fact that Rabbi Flam had been deathly ill, he insisted that a special meeting be held at which many educators and principals would attend. He wanted them to work on a special concern of his that caused him much anguish; this is a problem that is prevalent in many heavily populated Jewish cities - there is not enough room in the mesivtas or high schools to accommodate all of their applicants.

Many eighth graders suffer much humiliation and shame for months after they receive rejection letters from prospective high schools. Until they are finally admitted into schools, sometimes as late as after the high school semester had already begun, they feel demeaned, devastated and demoralized. Their eighth grade year which is supposed to be a period of individuation and identity formation turns out to be a torture chamber where these students feel hopeless, worthless and undeserving. Rabbi Flam could not bear the fact that so many eighth graders that he loved and was close to, would be ravaged by shame and self-loath.

Rabbi Breslauer was happy to inform those attending the funeral, that thanks to Rabbi Yisroel’s many phone calls and pressure, the meeting was held and this year for the first time, it was promised that no eighth grade girl would be told there was no room for her at any school. Rabbi Breslauer stressed the unbelievable caring of Rabbi Flam for his students that even when his body was racked with pain on his death bed, his only concern was that the emotional pain his beloved students might suffer, be alleviated.

Rabbi Flam was also eulogized by his oldest son-in-law Rabbi Shlomo Zytman, an outstanding Talmid Chochom in his own right, as well as his three sons, whom the niftor was very close to and who emulated his ways, Rabbi Shmuel Aaron Flam, Rabbi Moshe Flam and Rabbi Avrohom Flam.

Rabbi Yisroel Flam had a wonderful sense of humor, even as recently as shortly before he returned his soul to his Creator. When a nurse entered his room, and told him that he looked wonderful, he responded with, “Lady, when was the last time, you visited the eye doctor?!”

When his daughter Shiffy flew in from Jerusalem, to see him before his death, and he had seen her, just a few weeks earlier during another visit she had made to this country, he said to her jokingly: “Oh no, you’re here again; that must mean it is bad news for me!”

Rabbi Flam was always full of life, full of humor, full of stories and full of laughter. Although he did not live to participate in the wedding of Yehudah Zvi Pilchik, his fifth grandchild to be married, which took place just days after his family got up from shiva , he did participate in a mini celebration. In his hospital room, he “danced” with the chosson just days before his soul departed.

Fortunate are those whose lives were touched by Rabbi Flam; he will be missed sorely by all who knew him. His parting especially leaves a tremendous void in his family, his rebbetzin, children and grandchildren, his surviving siblings: two sisters, Chana Rochel Preschel and Leah Nemetsky, and his youngest brother, Shlomo Flam.

All of his Flam nieces and nephews who lost their own fathers in recent years, are experiencing pain as if they have now lost their second father. A tremendous consolation to them and to their widowed mothers is that the Flam legacy, Ahavas Hashem, Limud Hatorah, and Simchas Hachaim, will live on in the Flam children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Rabbi Yisroel Flam is survived by his Rebbitzen, Noa (Mandelbaum) Flam who continues on with her teaching as she has done for half a century, and their eight children: Mrs. Rifkie Zytman teaches in Bais Yaakov of Monsey; Rabbi Shmuel Aharon Flam is Ram in Scranton Yeshiva; Mrs. Esther Pilchik, wife of Rabbi Yochanan Pilchik, the Menahel of Bais Dovid, serves as assistant principal in Bais Yaakov of Monsey; Mrs. Shiffy Schiff, wife of Rabbi Avrohom Schiff, a mohel and Marbitz Torah in Jerusalem, heads the entire computer dept. in Shaare Tzedek Medical Center; Rabbi Moshe Flam learns in a Kollel and teaches in the Girls Seminary, “Seminar” in Bayit Vegan, where his wife, Channa and his father-in-law, Rabbi Meisels are the directors; Rabbi Avrohom Flam teaches in Yeshiva of Spring Valley and assisted his father as Rabbi in Kahal Jeshurun; Mrs. Chana Tehila Katz, is the wife of Rabbi Avrohom Katz who is a Ram in Yeshiva Zichron Shmaya in Toronto, and Mrs. Michy Fireman whose husband Rabbi Aharon Dovid teaches Talmud in Deal as well as serves as the English Principal in Beis Reuven Kaminetz in Lakewood, N.J.

In the recent January edition of the Jewish Observer, Rabbi Yisroel Flam, who was deathly ill at the time, penned an article about Rabbi Yisroel Chaim Kaplan ZTL, the famous Baal Mussar, in commemoration of the latter’s 34th Yahrzeit. In the end of the article Rabbi Flam quotes a Midrash Tanchuma, ‘Dovev Sifsei Yesheinim.’ He writes: “The lips of a tzaddik who taught talmidim in this world are activated after his death as the talmidim continue his work that was done on this earth.”

This is true of the lips of the tzaddik, Rabbi Yisroel Flam, who served as a beacon of light for thousands of his Talmidim on earth.

Yehi Zichro Boruch.