Rav Mordechai Gifter

Rav Mordechai Gifter (October 15, 1915 - January 18, 2001) was the Rosh Yeshiva of Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland. His life story, from being born in Portsmouth, Virginia, to receiving a public school education, to attending yeshiva in Lithuania, and to eventually becoming a gadol for the American Orthodox community, is truly inspiring.

To Rav Gifter, every minute of Torah was a precious gift. His intense and successful effort to master the Torah was phenomenal. All his life he carried with him - and personified - the memories of his mentors and his years in the Telz Yeshivah in Lithuania. He was a peerless orator, who moved listeners to tears and inspired them to scale heights. He had an awesome sense of responsibility to the yeshivah, the community, and even to the youngest talmid and most humble petitioner - he made time for everyone. Most of all, he loved Torah, which was his life's goal. His contagious zeal for learning created legions of talmidei chachamim in his image.