Friedler, Nathan (1921-1997)

I. Family and Education
Rabbi Nathan (Naftali) Friedler was born to Samuel Friedler and Adele (nee Rechtschaffe) on May 13, 1921, in Duisburg, Germany. He was one of three children, Siegmund (1912) and Dora (1914).² His parents were Eastern European Jewish immigrants to Germany who maintained Chassidic customs.³ Due to his Eastern European heritage, Friedler attended Rabbi Moses Schneider’s Yeshiva Torath Moses in Frankfurt am Main, which catered specifically to students of Eastern European extraction. He also attended the preparatory camp of the Jüdische Jugendhilfe in Rüdnitz, a Hachschara Camp that prepared Jewish youth for emigration to Palestine in Rüdnitz, a town north-east of Berlin, from June to July 1937.⁴

II. Flight to England and Rabbinical Studies
In 1939, Nathan Friedler’s teacher Moses Schneider was forced to leave Germany because it was no longer safe for him to remain. In September 1939, Schneider and the Yeshiva Torath Moses relocated to England and settled in London.⁵ Friedler was unable to emigrate with his Yeshiva at that time because he had gone to his parents into Zbąszyń for the high holidays. Schneider facilitated Friedler’s emigration visa, thereby saving him from the Nazi hordes, and Friedler safely arrived later in December 1939.⁶ As a young man, Friedler hoped to emulate Schneider and become like him a rabbi and Talmudic instructor. Settling in London, Friedler continued his Talmudic studies at Yeshiva Torath Moses. Friedler also joined the Gateshead Kollel, where he continued his rabbinical training and studied with Rabbi Moses Schwab and Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler. Friedler received his rabbinical ordination in London from Rabbi Shmuel Yosef Rabinow in 1943. In 1944, he married Judith (nee Speier) in 1944 in Stoke Newington, England.

III. Life and Legacy in the United States and Canada
As a young refugee rabbi from Germany, Friedler struggled to navigate within the Anglo-American Ultra-Orthodox Jewish landscape. In 1948, Friedler was offered a senior teaching position as Rosh Yeshiva at the Gateshead Kollel, but he was unable to accept it because of time constraints.⁷ Instead, Nathan Friedler and his wife emigrated from England to the United States. This decision was motivated by the fact that Friedler’s in-laws lived in Washington Heights and Friedler was offered a teaching position at Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (YRSRH).⁸ He and his wife established themselves in the Khal Adath Jeschurun (KAJ) congregation in New York and had eight children. Friedler taught at YRSRH from 1949 to 1970. In 1958, Friedler was appointed Rosh Yeshiva of the YRSRH’s Bais Medrash program for post-high-school students. In 1970, Friedler was again offered the position as Rosh Yeshiva at the Gateshead Kollel, and this time he was able to accept. He and his family relocated from Washington Heights to London. However, Friedler soon realized that this position was not the right fit for both him and the Kollel.⁹ In 1971, Friedler was invited to serve as the Rosh Yeshiva of the nascent Yeshiva Ner Yisrael in Toronto, Canada. He and his family returned to North America and settled in Toronto where he taught until 1988.¹⁰ In 1988, Friedler accepted an appointment to officiate as rabbi, Rosh Yeshiva, and Rosh Kollel, of the KAJ’s branch-off community in Monsey.¹¹ The family moved back to New York. Friedler passed away on August 24, 1997, in Tannersville, New York.

Nathan Friedler was a pivotal figure in the development of the YRSRH and in forming the distinctive character and Talmudic intensity of its Hebrew studies department. Friedler’s religious pedagogy was unique for following the Lithuanian-style of Talmudic instruction. At the same time, Friedler espoused parts of the classic Neo-Orthodox ideals of a Jewish mission as well as a religious Jewish universalism, urging his students to always show compassion and concern for the welfare of all people.¹² Moreover, as Rosh Yeshiva of the YRSRHS Bais Medrash program, along with his capacity as Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Yisroel, Friedler recognized the importance of general studies, creating a unique Neo-Orthodox-style pedagogy in North America that combined for his students a rigorous Talmudic education with a full secular curriculum.¹³ Friedler also imbibed the American ethos of professionalism, urging his students in both YRSRH and Ner Yisroel to take college courses.¹⁴ These open-minded attitudes significantly distinguished Friedler’s approach from that of other Anglo-American Ultra-Orthodox rabbis and educators.

Ehrman, Chaim Meyer. My Rebby Rab Schwab: His Shiurin, Wisdom, and Warmth. New York: Menucha, 2009.
“Entry for Nathan Friedler, 1937.” Jewish “Training” Centers in Germany: USHMM, Holocaust Survivors Victims and Database, RG-11.001M.0002.00001070. Accessed November 11, 2024, https://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/person_view.php?PersonId=3570790.
“Entry for Samuel Friedler.” Memorial Book – Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933 – 1945. Accessed November 20, 2024, https://www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch/en543342.
Interviews by Raphael Thurm with Rabbi Dr. Chaim Ehrman, Leon Metzger, Rabbi Elchanan Stern, and Joseph Friedler, August 2021, July 2023, September 2024, November 2024.
Textual recordings. Private archive Raphael Thurm.
Katz, Dovid. “R’ Moshe Schneider, 1884-1954, Rosh Yeshiva of the First Lithuanian Kiruv Yeshiva Over 100 Years Ago,” Spotify, June 26, 2022. https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/rabbi-dovid-katz/episodes/R-Moshe-Schneider-1884-1954-Rosh-Yeshiva-of-the-First-Lithuanian-Kiruv-Yeshiva-Over-100-Years-Ago-e1kfk91/a-a9ka2n.
Kranzler, David, and Dovid Landesman, Rav Breuer: His Life and His Legacy. Feldheim Publishers, 2008.
“Rebbetzin Yehudis Friedler, a”h.” Matzav. July 24, 2012. Accessed February 8, 2024, https://matzav.com/rebbetzin-yehudis-friedler-ah/.
Rosenblum, Yonoson. Rav Dessler. Artscroll, 2000.
Weis, Raphael. “Rav Chaim Naftali Avraham Friedler.” KAJ Newsletter28, no. 1 (September 1997): 6–8.
Weis, Raphael. “Hesped for Rav Friedler, ztz”l,” KAJ Newsletter, 28 (1) (September 1997): 9–10.Entry for Eidel Friedler, Archivportal-D, Stadtarchiv Duisburg 506 3056, Amt für Wiedergutmachung 1. Juden. Accessed November 11, 2024, http://www-p2.archivportal-d.de/item/S4QUJP2PPWFEU6E3RME2KJSORLJAGBAN.
“Ýeshivas Ner Yisroel Toronto.” Wikipedia. Accessed November 11, 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshivas_Ner_Yisroel_of_Toronto.

Friedler, Naftali. Imrei Shefer: Kovetz Shiurim UBerurim BeSugyot HaGemara VeHaRishonim BeInyanei Moed VeChullin [Words of Shefer: A Collection of Lectures and Elucidations of Talmudic Passages and Medieval Rabbinic Authorities Relating to Tractates Moed and Chulin] (Monsey, no publisher given, 1993).
Friedler, Naftali. Imrei Shefer: Kovetz Shiurim UBerurim BeSugyot HaGemara VeHaRishonim Seder Nashim [Words of Shefer: A Collection of Lectures and Elucidations of Talmudic Passages and Medieval Rabbinic Authorities Relating to the Mishnaic Order of Nashim] (Monsey, no publisher given, 1995).