Maryland – Klal Yisroel lost one of the deans of the Rabbonisheh world in America, Rabbi Gedaliah Anemer zatzal passed away today. He was the Rov of the Shomrei Emunah Young Israel synagogue of Silver Spring for over fifty years.
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Rav Gedaliah was born in America and was a Talmid muvhak of the Rav Elya Meir Bloch zatzal of Telze. “He was a giant of a Talmid Chochom. Everyone talked about him in yeshiva,” remarked one prominent Telze Alumnus. He came to visit Telze Yeshiva in 1967 and Reb Boruch Sorotzkin said, “ Reb Gedaliah! How are you? I just gave a shiur on such a such a sugya, maybe you remember what I said last time – seven years ago?”
Rabbi Anemer responded, I wasn’t here seven years ago, but I heard the shiur two cycles ago – fourteen years ago, and this is what you said.” Rabbi Anemer then repeated – not just the basics of the shiur but the entirety of it replete with all the lomdus that Rav Sorotzkin had originally included in that earlier delivery.
Rav Anemer was also the Rosh HaYeshivah of the Yeshivah of Greater Washington, and the President of the Vaad Harabbonim of Greater Washington. He was a pioneering Rabbi with a congregation of religious Jews many of whom also worked in the highest echelons of the government. He built the community of Silver Spring, Maryland and Greater Washington into a true Torah community.
One former Rav who stayed at his home remarked, “Rabbi Anemer built Silver Spring into a genuine Torah community. You can see it in the finekeit of everyone who Davens there. The children who grew up there, many of them moved to New York and you can see the depth of their ruchniyus. This was all done by Rabbi Anemer. He did it in the shul. He did it in the Yeshiva. It is an indescribable loss.”
Others who knew him recalled, “His father-in-law was Rabbi Bagley zatzal, who was a Ben Bayis by the Chofetz Chaim. Indeed, the Chofetz Chaim himself would test paragraphs of the Mishna Brurah on him to make sure that it was clear. Rabbi Anemer treated his father with such remarkable Kavod that it was inspiring.”
Rabbi Anemer represented that rare combination of a strong advocacy of pure undiluted Torah with a personality of love and chessed. His impact will be felt in the Torah community that lies near the capital of our country for many decades to come. Boruch Dayan HaEmes.
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B’DE. He was a real mensch in addition to being a great tzadik and talmid chacham. I’ve had to deal with him on many family matters over the years and he always lent a degree of empathy to matters of halacha while always adhering to strict interpretations of halcaha. He will be missed by the Washington jewish community.
I knew him personally its all true we lost a big tzadick his tzidkas and he was so down to earth he wasn’t holding nothing of him self oiy what a tzadick
HaRav Anemer Z”tl was a giant in Torah but was a tremendous Anav and one of the sweetest people…He made Silver Spring and the greater Washington community what it is, as well as starting on the BEST hashgochas, the Capital K…Baruch Dayan Emes. He will be sorely missed.
Baruch Dayan Emes.We most certainly will miss him. He built Silver Spring basically from scratch. He was a towering Torah Scholar but also one of the nicest and most approachable Gedolim of our times. What this world has lost, the Yeshiva Shel Malah has gained. May we see Moshiach very, very soon.
A huge talmid chachom with thousands of talmidim. A true anav, as well as gibur. May Hakodosh Boruch Hu give nechama to his family as well as the entire community.
A great man who inspired many. He reached out to family in times of need. A sweet person who will be missed.
Does anyone have about the levaya in newark???
We had an English principal in the “little” Bais Yaakov (Rabbi Ehenreich’s) named Rabbi Anemer who nebach was killled when he went to Baltimore for Pesach probably 40 years ago, I think about him every year on Pesach.
Rabbi Anemer taught me one class a week this year on Fridays. Aside for his evident breadth of Torah knowledge, he genuinely cared about his students. He made sure to smile at each girl as he took attendance and he would occasionally hum as he opened up a sefer. His dignity was befitting that of a talmid chacham of his stature.
Regarding the previous post, yes, the story about his children is true. He had a son and I believe 2 children who were killed in a car accident many years ago. Interestingly, his niece and her two children were spared in a car accident years later.
The article only captures a “taste” of this great Rav.
He built up the Shomrei Emunah to the point that there were two different branches (“buildings”). A true towering figure of Torah and leadership.
Yehi Zichro Baruch.
I was a student of Rabbi Anemer over 30 years ago. He was a great influence in my young life, as well as helped me through some very rough years. My best wishes to his family.
We’ve lost one of the greats. There are simply no words.
His brother and two nephews were killed in March, 1961 in an accident in the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel which in those days was only one lane in each direction. Another car crossed the double line and they were killed instantly. They are interred in the National Capitol Hebrew Cemetery in Capitol Heights, Maryland (outside of Washington, D.C.) The sons are buried on each side of their father and a triple matzevah marks the kever. Rabbi Anemer, ZTL was a giant in this community and I had a relationship with him since I entered his school in 1963, when I was 7, which continued until his passing. He is to this community, irreplaceable. May his soul be bound up in the bonds of eternal life and may he be for us a “gitteh beiter”, Omein.
Rabbi Anemer turned me onto Gemorah. He genuinely cared about me and expressed his love.
Rabbi Anemer really understood kids. He would talk about sports and other things. He had a wonderful sense of humor.
I miss him a lot
I was in Rabbi Anemer’s shiur 20 years ago. He embodied a sense of kavod Hatorah and glory of Torah that gave us talmidim a sense of the grandness of Torah. His presence imbued Yiras Shamyim.
One maaseh stands out in my mind. One talmid had come late to shiur several days in a row and was not really knowledgeable on the topics discussed. When Rabbi Anemer asked him why, the talmid explained he has been sick but still coming to shiur, and because of his illness hasnt really followed what was going on. Rabbi Anemer told him sternly “If you’re sick -stay home and recover. If you come in, you need to be at your best” . This mantra has stuck with me throughout all my activities in life and has guided me to raise my own standards
Yehi Zichro Baruch
B”H
I can not put into words the severity of our loss! I am so blessed to have known Rabbi Anemer, and even more blessed that he took such an outreach and complete loving kindness towards myself and my family. What a privelage it was for me to walk him home on motzai shabbos from Shule and have alone time with the Tzadik! I miss him already and I know this feeling runs deep throughout our community. I pray that Hashem will ease the sorrow of his family and all of us who knew and loved him. Thank G-D I got to tell him how I felt about him just several weeks ago! I told him ,Thank you” for helping us and that I Loved Him!
He was also my Son’s Rebbe this year at Yeshiva,and my Son was blessed to be among his last class on Sunday. My Son is devastated by his loss! Rabbi Anemer used to tell us that we don’t see the internet waves in the air , but we know they exist, just like Hashem! Well Rabbi, if you are reading this in Gan Eden, Thank You again, I Love You and miss you and so does my whole family, especially Adam, and this community will never be the same without you, but I personally am resolved in strengthening my Yiddishkeit by your example!
I was a former student at the Yeshiva of Greater Washington. While I was never close to Rabbi Anemer I was always amazed how there never seemed to be anyone within the community that had any emnity towards him. He was outspoken, arguably rigid at times, and did not tow the line. Yet, his sincerity was unquestionable and while there may have been disagreements, there was always the utmost love and respect towards him. I am not an authority, but how many people of such stature can have thousands of people under their influence and never have anyone criticize their charachter or motives? In the disposable world we live in, how many rabbis can retain their position in an overwhelming fashion for close to 50 yeards the way in which Rabbi Anemer did? His beautiful smile and demeanor will forever be etched in my memory. Yehe Zichron Baruch.
I’m 53 now and Rabbi Anermer bas mitzvahed me. Did his wife teach hebrew school ? I think she must have been my teacher. He was a very kind mind. I recall saying the sh’ma faster than the rabbi.