הרב אברהם יעקב הכהן פאם

Rav Avraham Yaakov HaKohen Pam (5673/1913–28 Av 5761/2001), rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn, was born in the town of Vidz, then in the Vilna district of the Russian Empire, to Rav Meir Zanvil Pam, a talmid of the Chofetz Chaim, and Rachel Leah, daughter of Rav Shimon Dov Analik, rav of Shaki and Shedlitz. At eleven he was sent to learn in Yeshivat Ateret Tzvi in Kovno, and in 5687/1927 the family sailed to America, where his father became rav of the great shul of Brownsville in Brooklyn and gave shiur in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. The young Avraham Yaakov entered Torah Vodaas, learning under Rav Dovid Leibowitz — he also learned under Rav Moshe Rosen, author of the Nezer HaKodesh — and received semicha at twenty-one.

In 5697/1937 he was appointed a maggid shiur in Torah Vodaas, the beginning of more than sixty years in the yeshiva, at whose head he eventually stood. On 21 Av 5703/1943 he married Sarah Balmuth. He taught mathematics in the yeshiva on the strength of his City College degree, and for many years in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s gave the semicha shiur to talmidim preparing for hora’ah. His dress was plain — a short jacket and fedora where other roshei yeshiva wore the long frock and homburg — and with all the honor given his lomdus, he was beloved above all for his humility and soft speech. He served as chairman of the rabbinical board of Torah Umesorah and stood at the head of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America.

At the Agudath Israel convention of 5751/1990 he spoke of the children of the new immigrants from the Soviet Union growing up in Eretz Yisrael estranged from their heritage, and out of that appeal founded Shuvu, a network of Torah schools for those children, appointing Avraham Biderman as its chairman. His Torah is gathered in Atara LaMelech and Moreh Tzedek, collections of his ma’amarim of hashkafah and mussar, and in the Ateret Avraham volumes on the Torah and the moadim, edited by Rav Sholom Smith. He was niftar on 28 Av 5761 (August 16, 2001); tens of thousands accompanied him at his levaya, and the school network he founded was renamed Shuvu—Chazon Avraham in his memory.