Introduction

HaRav Yechiel Schlesinger zt'l, rosh yeshiva and founder of Yeshivas Kol Torah, Yerushalayim, lived almost in our own times. His yeshiva, one of the largest and best known in Eretz Yisroel today, has a major role in the growth of the Torah community there, and in other countries. The most important and immediate lessons to be learned from him are to be gained from studying his character: his love of Torah, his brilliance, his human qualities, his zeal and alacrity, his single-minded dedication to spreading Torah and above all, his fear of Heaven and of sin, that are noticeable at every point in his life. Yet our account starts long before HaRav Schlesinger was born, and it includes much background material along the way, on the premise that the more detailed the portrayal and the fuller the context, the greater will be the impact of his story.