How He Received Two Names
Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky, Rav Ruderman’s cousin and namesake, told how Rav Ruderman came to have his name. A year before the birth, an elderly, childless man named Reb Yitzchok told Rav Yehuda Leib that a son would be born to him, and asked him to promise to name the boy Yitzchok. Rav Yehuda Leib doubted it would happen, and half in jest he agreed.
When the boy was born a year later, his mother wished to call him Yaakov, after her own father. The question was brought to a rav, who ruled that the child should carry both names, Yaakov Yitzchok.
More stories of Rav Yaakov HaLevi Ruderman
All 13 ›Sick Over Rav Schneur’s IllnessIn 1982 a talmid arrived at the Rosh Yeshiva’s home to accompany him to Mincha. He noticed that Rav Ruderman’s face looked broken. The Rosh Yeshiva said he had just heard that Rav…Rav Nochum’s Late Chanukah CandlesRav Ruderman’s special consideration for his Rebbetzin had its roots in something he learned from the Chofetz Chaim, an account of a Chanukah night when the Chofetz Chaim was…The Wives’ Thank YouAt the last Knessia Gedola, in 5740 (1980), several women who were married to his talmidim in Eretz Yisroel asked to meet him. He asked after their families and then asked why…The Inkwell and the CreamA talmid came to the Rosh Yeshiva’s house before joining the yeshiva, to be tested. In the middle of the conversation he knocked over an inkwell, leaving a stain on the sofa that…Finishing Shas Before the NewsAt Slabodka, the Alter allowed Rav Ruderman to learn in his own way, since he could not keep to the yeshiva’s sedarim, as long as he met goals set in advance. It was agreed that…Back Into the Burning BuildingIn the early days of the yeshiva’s current campus, flames erupted in the building that housed the Rosh Yeshiva’s home, and everybody rushed outside. Then Rav Ruderman suddenly ran…
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