In Memory of Rav Kahn

  Sara Schatz Rav Kahn was a legendary melamed (teacher) with unparalleled dedication towards his students. Since the 1970s, he believed in furthering women’s Talmud Torah, and did not stop until he physically couldn’t this semester due to his waning health. I’ll never forget Rav Kahn’s speech at my GPATS graduation last year, when he expressed that belief so eloquently and fervently, despite the fact that he was ill and it had been two years since he had stepped foot in the Stern Beit Midrash due to COVID. Without Rav Kahn’s keen ability to push us to think critically and deeply, I would quite honestly still be afraid to open up a Gemara. The tools he gave me opened up my mind and heart to a world of Torah I previously didn’t know I could ever have access to. The impact that he made on my life, and the lives of many women of Klal Yisrael, will forever stay with me. ברוך דיין האמת. (Sarah is a Gemara teacher and Assistant Programming Director at MTVA.)

  Miriam Schwartz Today, I had the devastating displeasure of burying my rebbe.  He was buried along with a passul Sefer Torah from Rinat, a fitting accompaniment for a man who shared last year that teaching Torah was keeping him going. It is comforting to know that he’s learning Torah once again in the Olam shel Emes, learning a Milchamos along with the Ramban himself.  So many of my friends have shared about his impact on klal Yisroel. And I don’t have the ability to write coherently about that. But I hope that by sharing my stories of his impact on me I give those of you who did not have the privilege to learn from him some insight into the tremendous gadol that was Rav Moshe Kahn.  During my time in GPATS, Rav Kahn went from being a person who taught me Torah to being my rebbe. I began to wonder, as is customary in many Yeshivos, whether I should address him in third person.  I stuck around after shiur to sheepishly ask what he thought.  He answered “Mi...

Zahava Rothschild Bauer What a privilege to have been Rav Kahn’s student for 5 years. What a loss to the Jewish community that his neshama is no longer in this world. Rav Kahn insisted on teaching in Stern so that women’s learning would be rigorous and demanding, and Rav Kahn always taught the women the same masechet as was being taught in YU. His search for truth and understanding kept us on our toes- always pushing us to learn, relearn, and dig deeper. Rav Kahn did not need to stand on a podium to push forward his values. He simply acted upon them. I am a better person for having been his student. Yehi zichro baruch (Zahava is a Middle School teacher in Caskey Torah Academy in PA.)

Mindy Schwartz Zolty There is so much to say about Rav Kahn, Zecher Tzadik L’Veracha. Like countless other women today, I am still processing this huge loss and the profound ways Rav Kahn impacted my life. For now, I will say simply as a wholly incomplete but partial tribute to his greatness: There is nothing quite so powerful as having someone, especially a teacher, totally and completely believe in your ability. The way Rav Kahn believed in me, and in all of the women he taught, and our capacity to learn Gemera at the highest level, to parse every word and every sentence, and take ownership over our learning, has left its mark on me forever and is the gift of a lifetime. In his honor and memory may we all be blessed to receive this gift in our lives, and to offer it, at least in some way, to others as well. (Mindy formerly served as community scholar at Lincoln Square Synagogue, currently a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Adelphi University.)  

  Zissy Turner I learned with Rav Kahn in GPATS from 2015-2018. I sent this remembrance to my colleagues and friends. Today, the world lost a gadol. A man who affected unbelievable torah learning, religious growth and influenced countless Talmidot. My rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Kahn went to the olam haemet today, and I'm sure there will be many, many hespedim about his greatness and anava but I thought I'd share how he personally changed my life.  I was 21, newly graduated from college, bursting with a desire to learn more Torah. For various reasons, I couldn't go to Israel and was looking for a place in the US. GPATS was the top and natural choice. I emailed Nechama Price for an interview, and she accepted me on the condition I passed a bechina with Rabbi Kahn. I hadn't learned much gemara then. I had one summer of Drisha under my belt. But I wanted it. I wanted to get in so badly.  I studied as hard as I could, knowing I still had many gaps in my understanding and took a taxi...

Chana Brauser Shestack It doesn’t feel like there is space to say more about my Rebbe, Rav Kahn zt”l. Truly, though, I feel a prerogative, as one of the students lucky enough to have learned from him and been privy to the glory of his connection to our mesorah, to share a bit about what made Rav Kahn a gadol, at least from my personal experience. And while there’s been a chorus of beautiful eulogies, I thought it was worthwhile for me to post my reflections here to both add to the chorus in appreciation of my Rebbe and to post on social media in the event I’m reaching people in my circles who haven’t yet been introduced to Rav Kahn.  When I first began learning gemara, it was in Rav Kahn’s intermediate gemara shiur in the fall semester of my senior year at Stern College. I had never before learned gemara beyond a quick scan at a source on a source sheet and to say I was intimidated would be an understatement. I remember feeling, too, like I wasn’t sure if my place was among the wom...

Gabrielle (Hiller) Berger Over winter break, Am Yisrael experienced an enormous loss. Rabbi Moshe Kahn, longtime Talmud and Halacha teacher at Stern College for Women, passed away on Wednesday morning, January 18th after a long battle with cancer. I stand here with trepidation because I know I can't do justice to the tremendous impact he had on me and the world of women's advanced Torah learning. Out of all the amazing teachers I have been blessed to learn from, Rabbi Kahn had the single largest impact on my Torah learning. Not just because of my own 5 years learning directly from him, but also because of the number of my teachers to whom he taught Gemara on an advanced level. I remember in college there was moment when my friends and I realized that every woman Gemara and Halacha teacher we had had in high school, and Baruch Hashem that was quite a few, had been taught by Rabbi Kahn at some point. So although I didn't learn directly from Rabbi Kahn until college, my learni...