By Mattis Goldberg
I have published three books about rabbis who were the Torah leaders in our generation, yet I always hesitated to write about the local Torah leader in Denver, a giant of our generation, the late Rabbi Israel Kagan.
Rabbi Kagan was one of the foremost students of Rabbi Aaron Kotler, the founder of the Lakewood yeshiva in New Jersey. Yet, Rabbi Kagan conducted himself in such a humble and hidden manner that I am convinced that many people didn’t know how great a man lived in our midst. Although he was a yeshiva dean, a rosh yeshiva, he still managed to cloak himself in as much an anonymous fashion as his superior Talmudic scholarship would allow.
I never wrote about Rabbi Kagan during his lifetime because I knew that he truly ran away from honor and believed that he didn’t deserve it.
I was born in Israel and grew up in Denver. After high school in Wickliffe, Ohio, my heart was set on returning to Israel. I studied in the famous Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Because I was born in Israel, the Israeli army would not allow me to continue studying in Israel and I returned to Denver. I was allowed to attend Yeshiva Toras Chaim for the summer session and I had attended Rabbi Kagan’s lectures.
The first day after the class Rabbi Kagan approached me and apologized to me that his class was not on the level of my previous teacher in the Mir Yeshiva. At first, I thought he was joking. My teacher in the Mir was much younger than Rabbi Kagan and Rabbi Kagan’s class was on a very high level. I soon realized that Rabbi Kagan was not joking. In his humility he truly felt the need to apologize to me.
I am not one to judge who gave a higher-level Talmmud lecture, but I do know that a great rosh yeshiva once came to Denver for a short visit and attended Rabbi Kagan’s lecture. The visitor was blown away by the depth and breadth of the Rabbi Kagan’s knowledge.
Rabbi Kagan knew that many boys entering Yeshiva Toras Chaim loved the Broncos, Nuggets and Avalanche. He transformed many of these boys into genuine Talmud scholars.
Rabbi Kagan never had to lecture us about the sweetness of the Torah because he led by example. He would sit at his lectern with his Talmud open for hours at a time, every day, morning, afternoon and night. He would hum a tune as he was studying, a tune I remember 30 years later.
He was always available for questions and whenever I had a question he answered with patience and clarity.
He never lectured me about the excitement one should have for Torah study. He didn’t need to. When I attended the Telshe yeshiva in Wickliffe, I once found a book authored by his father with handwritten footnotes in the margins that the yeshiva dean in Wickliffe, Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, had written. When I told Rabbi Kagan about my discovery, he was so excited! He asked me to photocopy the pages for him.
This past summer I met Rabbi Diamond of Deal, New Jersey, who had studied together with Rabbi Kagan when they were young students in the Lakewood yeshiva 70 years ago. I asked Rabbi Diamond whether he remembered Rabbi Kagan. He smiled and said, “he was the first one who came to greet me when I came to the yeshiva.”
Torah taught Rabbi Kagan how to act in a princely manner, how to act in such a gentle and sweet manner. His character traits (middos) were exemplary. He mixed in with the crowd. He spoke to everyone on their level and gave everyone a good feeling.
The same Rabbi Kagan who could be so intense during the High Holiday season could put a student, or any member of the Denver Jewish community, at ease. He made you feel welcome in his yeshiva, in his home or anywhere he would meet you.
Behind every great man is a great woman. Rabbi and the late Leah Kagan were an awesome team. I never felt the true impact of Rabbi and Mrs. Kagan had on the Denver community until I attended Mrs. Kagan’s funeral and shiva in Israel years ago. Hundreds of people came to support Rabbi Kagan at that difficult time. It was clear to me that the Kagans had been instrumental in building the lives of hundreds and thousands of people in Denver.
They were a walking kiddush Hashem or sanctification of the Divine Name. They represented Denver at its best as Rabbi Kagan represented the Torah, and the entire Torah world, at its best.
Rabbi Mattis Goldberg is the author of Gedolai Yisroel: Portraits of Greatness (Feldheim). Raised in Denver, he now lives in Israel.
