A few paragraphs on R' Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan from Dayan Grunfeld's Three Generations

I've read this paragraph before, but somehow this time it particularly resonated with me.

It is difficult to describe now, a generation later, the impression which the sudden death of Kaplan made on his contemporaries in Germany. And yet it is important for the understanding of the inner development of German-Jewish orthodoxy during three generations after Samson Raphael Hirsch to recapture that impression of more than thirty years ago. This can best be done by reproducing here a literal translation of the beginning of a memorial essay which appeared in "Jeschurun" soon after Kaplan's passing away: "It is generally agreed that never has there been witnessed in Berlin a similar scene of lamentation as on the day when Avrohom Eliyah Kaplan was laid to his eternal rest. (16th Iyar 5684-1924). The expressions of desperate grief, the continued sobbing of West-European men trained in self-control cannot be explained merely by the tragic event that a young father had been torn away from his family and that a very promising career had been cut short. It was far more than that; from the depths of our sub-conscious minds a feeling arose, breaking with elemental force through all conventional behavior and telling us that this death was a blow which had struck down everyone of us and had put an end to a sacred conviction which we all shared: that this man was destined to bring about a revival and renewal of German Judaism." ("Jeschurun" Vol. XI (1924) p.234.)

Dayan Dr. I. Grunfeld, Three Generations: The Influence of Samson Raphael Hirsch on Jewish Life and Thought. London: Jewish Post Publications, 5718/1958, p.77.


You can read more about R' Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan here.