The Legacy of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan zt”l

In a sense, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan was a meteor, a dazzling light that illuminated the darkened skies of post-Holocaust Torah learning, but burned out far too soon. With his scientific background, Rabbi Kaplan might have pointed out the inaccuracy of this comparison; more likely, his modesty and unassuming demeanor would have led him to deflect this much-deserved praise. And that, in a nutshell, is the life story of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan.

Few, if any, have had a greater impact on the Jewish spiritual awakening often called “the teshuva movement.” Although other religious leaders sent out emissaries and still others opened yeshivot, Rabbi Kaplan directly and personally impacted an almost unfathomable number of Jews, primarily through NCSY, but also through his prolific writing.