Born Sunday 10 Teves 5502 in Frankfurt
A descendant of the author of the Yalkut Shimoni
He was a disciple of the Pnei Yehoshua and afterwards of Rav Moshe Rapf, but his Rebbe Muvhak was Rav David Teveli Schiff HaKohen who served afterwards as Av Beis Din in London.
He opened a yeshiva by age twenty and many great talmidei chachamim were his students and disciples such as: The Chasam Sofer, Rav Avraham Binga Av Beis Din Wertzberg, Rav Menachem Mendel Kargoy author Gidulei Taharah on Mikvaos, Rav Avraham Auerbach son in law of the Yad Duvid, Rav Chaim Deutschman Av Beis Din Kaline and others.
He was known as an expert in secular studies of nature and sciences as well as Hebrew and Aramaic grammar in addition to his Torah wisdom especially in the esoteric secrets of Kabbalah. The gedolim of Frankfurt used to say though that his expertise in hilchos tumah and tahara was unsurpassed and that the Divine spirit of Hashem spoke through him in these matters.
It was said that Rav Nassan Adler’s home was always open to guests and so that none ever be guilty of stealing, Rav Nosson Adler had declared all his possessions ownerless and hefker that way he was sure no one would ever steal from him.
He never recorded any of his Torah or chiddushim because he never forgot any of his learning. He once explained that the only heter to allow writing down the oral Torah SheBaal peh as explained by the Rambam is due to our forgetting it, we are allowed to write it down, “I however have no such heter to allow me to write down what I learned because I do not forget it!”
Some of his unique customs and minhagim were: since he was a Kohen, he himself duchened and recited the Birkas Kohanim in his own bais medrash daily (des[ite the minhag of most Ashkenazi Jews outside of Eretz Yisroel to only duchen on YomTov). He said about himself that as soon as the Bais haMikdash was rebuilt he was ready to do the avodah in Kodesh haKadashim since he was a master of and knew all the halachos of the Avodah of the Kohanim.
Another unique minhag he had was that he davened from the Siddur Arizal and used nusach Sefard as well as a Sefardi accent and pronunciation. The author of Tzror Chaim testified as an eye witness that he davened in Rav Nosson Adler’s bais medrash and heard him pronounce with a Sefardi accent and pronunciation which he studied under a Yerushalmi Jew for several years to learn. He also took two aliyahs every Shabbos for Kohen and Maftir.
(See Chut HaMeshulash pg13-14,16-17)
He passed away on 27 Elul ס''תק.
