Rav Miller told him: “Come at 1:52”…
Imagine this: You’re holding a fresh Toras Avigdor in your hands, pages still warm from the press. But have you ever wondered about the journey this little booklet has taken to reach you? Behind every page is a story of dedication, commitment, and a determination to bring Rabbi Miller’s Torah to the world.
We spoke to Rabbi Eliezer Niehaus, one of Toras Avigdor’s Eretz Yisrael directors, who told us about his involvement with the Hebrew Toras Avigdor and the meaning it has brought to his life.
I had never heard of Rabbi Miller
“I grew up in Los Angeles,” begins Rabbi Niehaus, “and I had never heard of Rabbi Avigdor Miller.”
When Rabbi Niehaus was seventeen, he began learning in Yeshivas Toras Moshe, Yerushalayim, and it was there that some friends made the introduction. He borrowed a tape and he was hooked.
“From then on, I would borrow tapes from the tape library at Ohr Somayach. I would go running at night, and I would listen to the shiur as I ran.”
Meeting Rabbi Miller Face to Face
Rabbi Niehaus always wanted to meet Rabbi Miller, and Hashem arranged the meeting in a spectacular way. He was flying back to L.A., and his plane was delayed, which meant he missed his stopover. When the airline awarded him a voucher as compensation, he decided to use it to visit his new mentor in Flatbush.
He called the Miller household from the airport. “Come at 1:52,” the rebbetzin told him. “Rabbi Miller should be coming back from his walk then.”
And that’s exactly what Rabbi Niehaus did.
“I asked him how to make sure not to waste time, because he’s always talking about using your time properly.
“‘Are you wasting time with newspapers and other nonsense?’ he wanted to know.
“‘No,’ I answered, ‘I just want to make sure I’m using my day wisely.’
“‘Don’t worry about it,’ was his answer.
I was amazed. It was his first time meeting me, and he was able to tell that this was what I needed to hear.”
At the end of their conversation, Rabbi Miller gave Rabbi Niehaus a brachah that he should find a wife who would support his Torah learning. Although he wasn’t yet planning to start shidduchim, Rabbi Niehaus found himself engaged within the month. His wife, also from L.A., had visited her grandmother—Rebbetzin Miller’s friend—in Flatbush two weeks earlier, and had received a brachah from Rabbi Miller too.
A match made in Heaven!
Becoming an Author
The Niehaus couple moved to Kiryat Sefer after their wedding, and Rabbi Niehaus eventually opened a night kollel for English speakers, later joining the staff of two other yeshivos as well: Beis Dovid and Imrei Binah. He began writing for the Yated and The Jewish Press, producing articles on Shabbos and tefillah, inspired by Rabbi Miller.
Getting Involved in Toras Avigdor
At one point, Rabbi Niehaus was shown a Toras Avigdor booklet, which was sponsored that week by his mother-in-law, and said, “I need this.”
He contacted Rabbi Mordechai Steinharder, who at that point was single-handedly running Toras Avigdor in Eretz Yisrael. At first bringing Toras Avigdor to his hometown of Kiryat Sefer, Rabbi Niehaus eventually became the joint head of Toras Avigdor in Eretz Yisrael, together with Rabbi Aharon Spetner, making sure that every edition published comes out just right. There are a number of steps involved in the process, each one a crucial cog in the wheel of success.
Translation is the first step, where an expert translator transforms the Rav’s words into Hebrew, on a par with the original English. From there, the newly translated Hebrew edition makes its way to an Israeli yungerman, who checks it thoroughly and makes comments. The third stop is a chashuve rosh kollel, who was raised in Rabbi Miller’s shul. Only then does it reach the top of the chain, where Rabbi Niehaus, the only bona fide American involved at this stage, scours it for nuance and clarity.
Sickness
A little over a month ago, the Niehaus family lost their precious daughter, Esther, to osteosarcoma. She was twenty-three, and gave birth to a healthy baby during her illness.
“She was named directly after Esther Hamalkah, at the instruction of Rav Chaim Kanievsky,” says Rabbi Niehaus, “and she had an air of royalty about her. Just like Esther Hamalkah, she was taken against her will—to Ichilov hospital, in the heart of Tel Aviv. She was thrown into the bais hamelech of tumah, and yet she stood out, just like Esther, as the pasuk tells us: וַתְּהִ֤י אֶסְתֵּר֙ נֹשֵׂ֣את חֵ֔ן בְּעֵינֵ֖י כָּל־רֹאֶֽיהָ—Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her—including the top doctor, who took care of her as if she was his own daughter.
“And everywhere she went, it was with a malchus, even in taking care of herself, even being stuck in bed for several weeks. I myself used her experience as an opportunity to appreciate being able to get out of bed and being able to walk and breathe.”
Throughout his daughter’s illness, Rabbi Niehaus drew strength from Rabbi Miller.
“Two weeks before she was nifteres, the English Toras Avigdor spoke about a young man who got sarcoma in his knee. Rabbi Miller said we don’t know why Hashem chooses these people. He calls them “victims.” Why he chooses them is not really nogeia for us. Hashem wants us to appreciate good health and healthy knees and being able to walk. And I found that very shocking, because that’s exactly what my daughter had—it was partly in her knee. I felt that Hashem was sending me a message, a message that I needed to hear. I said it at the levayah and people were very, very moved.”
And that’s not all.
A year and a half ago, Rabbi Niehaus teamed up with Yossi Hecht, who has a website called “Asher to the Yatzar,” and together they began producing a monthly leaflet, heavily influenced by Rabbi Miller’s teachings, about the brachah of Asher Yatzar.
“At the levayah, I said we were working on Asher Yatzar, and everyone should continue, and for the Shivah, I asked everyone to try to read it from a card or a siddur.
“The week of the Sheloshim, Toras Avigdor spoke about why we do things l’iluy nishmas our loved ones. It was mind-boggling. It felt once again like Rabbi Miller’s words were directed to me, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu sent me the chizuk I needed through His siyata dishmaya.”
Chizuk for Those Struggling with Illness
Rabbi Niehaus’s granddaughter, born during her mother’s illness, is a ray of light and hope for the family. Rav Meir Kessler, Rav of Kiryat Sefer, said that the fact that Esther a”h left over a child is highly significant. There’s a hemshech to the nifteres, and this is a big comfort.
What kept the family going?
“Just knowing that we were in Hashem’s hands, and being very, very positive and hopeful. We weren’t fooling ourselves. We knew how dangerous it was, but we also knew that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is kol yachol and it doesn’t matter what the doctors say or what the statistics say. Even if it was hard to believe it, speaking that way helped us be mechazeik ourselves.
“It’s important to be in touch with rabbanim and chashuve people. The other way is to fall apart and to just give up. There’s a mitzvah to be positive. We don’t know what’s going to be, but there’s a mitzvah to have bitachon and to hope for the best. It makes you more uplifted and more positive, and sometimes being positive even changes the gezeiros.”
Thank you, Rabbi Niehaus, for taking us along on your journey of hope and bitachon in the face of illness and tragedy. May the zechus of Rabbi Miller stand by you.
