Rav Avraham Tropp, zt”l

Upon the passing of Rav Tannenbaum, the hanhalah of the Yeshiva turned to Harav Aharon Kotler, zt”l, for advice on who could take the helm of the yeshiva. He recommended Harav Avraham Tropp, zt”l, of Radin.

With this came a unique influence of Torah brilliance coupled with deep piety and middos which would influence his many talmidim.

Reb Refoel Oppenheim considers himself a talmid muvhak of the Rosh Yeshiva, and considers it his zechus to have been meshamesh him. He came to the Yeshiva on the advice of Rav Shneur Kotler, zt”l, and because Rav Tropp was Rosh Yeshiva there. “He was a quiet person by nature, always learning… always immersed in his sefer,” he says.

“And to imagine that this was a Rosh Yeshiva who had said shiur in Radin…he was truly one of the amolige Roshei Yeshiva. His hasmadah was tremendous, and his gadlus b’Torah was great.” Despite his anivus and his unassuming manner, he was considered among the gedolei Roshei Yeshiva in America, and was revered wherever he went.

Rav Tropp would speak freely with the bachurim, and this brought them close to him. They described a tzaddik, an elevated personality whose every word was measured and laden with love and holiness.

The Rosh Yeshiva insisted that the Yeshiva needed a summer home, and the first camp was in White Sulphur Springs near Liberty, NY. This was where Mrs. Chana Goldstone, a daughter of the Rosh Yeshiva, remembers meeting the children of Rav Moshe Berman, the menahel of the Yeshiva. Here too, he never stopped learning for a moment. Even when he strolled with talmidim, his mind was immersed in learning.

Reb Meir Pilchick would often say that the zechus of the yeshiva’s success was having a Rosh Yeshiva like Reb Avraham Tropp.”

Rav Avraham moved to Eretz Yisroel, and was later niftar there.