Rabbi Yaakov Meir Kohn zt”l

I am blessed to have many great role models in my life. Perhaps foremost is my Zaydei, Rabbi Yaakov Meir Kohn zt”l. Although he passed away when I was 8 years old he continues to be my hero. He was a student in the illustrious Baranovich yeshiva of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman zt”l hy”d and Kletzk under Rabbi Aharon Kotler zt”l. Despite incredible losses during WWII, my Zaydei built a family with my Bubby after the war. His sense of humor and pleasant demeanor never left his side. His love for Torah was palpable as was clear from the endless seforim that graced the walls of his apartment, floor to ceiling. He was the Rav of the well-known Slonimer shul on the Lower East Side. He was a speaker of note and knew many of the Gedolei Yisrael of the last generation. He scribbled Torah thoughts on whatever paper or receipt was near him and he stuffed them in his seforim. It is painstaking and challenging to decipher his writing but it is a labor of love and admiration. Whatever I have successfully been able to glean and transcribe is merely a drop in the bucket of the Torah knowledge he possessed and shared.