Abba Berman

Who was Abba Berman?

Rabbi Abba Mordechai Berman was a renowned Talmudist and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Iyun HaTalmud. Reb Abba was born on Tu BiShvat 5679 in Lodz, Poland to his father, Rabbi Shaul Yosef Berman, rosh yeshiva of Toras Chesed in Lodz and a student of the Chofetz Chayim. As a young child, Reb Abba's greatness was recognized by the Chofetz Chaim. The Berman family were descendants of Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz.

Following his Bar Mitzvah, Reb Abba learned in Yeshivas Mir where he became especially close to the mashgiach Rabbi Yerucham Leibovitz. Along with most of the student body of the Mirrer Yeshiva, Reb Abba fled to Shanghai during World War II and eventually migrated to America where he became one of the founding members of the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn. There he married Rebbetzen Itka Greenberg. He established Yeshivas Iyun HaTalmud in Beach 17th Street, Far Rockaway. After several years, he emigrated to Israel and re-established Yeshivas Iyun HaTalmud in Bnai Brak. The yeshiva then relocated to Jerusalem, and then finally to the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Sefer in the West Bank. In his final years he served as rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Knesses Yitzchok of Chadera-Kiryat Sefer. Reb Abba is recognized a Gadol, despite never having accepted a significant leadership post. He is supposed to have coined the idiom, "“From your viewpoint, you’re right. It’s your viewpoint that’s wrong.”