They say that the Kol Arye was crowned with all three crowns mentioned in Pirkei Avos: Kesser Kehuna, because he was a Kohen, Kesser Torah, the crown of Torah, due to his own toil and greatness in Torah and Kesser Malchus, the crown of royalty, as Chazal say: Who are the true kings if not our Rabbonim? – Man malchi rabbonon? Of course this means that his good name, his Kesser Shem Tov, outshone and superseded them all.
(Most of the stories and sources cited appear in the sefer Toldos Kol Arye, based on the traditions that Rav Dov Ber Spitzer received from his father-in-law, Rav Chaim Tzvi Eherenreich, Av Bais Din of Mad, and mechaber of Ketzei Hamateh on Matei Efraim, Shaarei Chaim on Shaar Efraim, and Shu”t Kav Chaim. Rav Chaim Tzvi was the son of the Kol Arye’s daughter and son-in-law and successor of the Bais Naftoli, the Kol Arye’s son.)
Born in Mad, Hungary, on Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av 5584/1824, the Kol Arye was the grandson of Rav Moshe HaKohen Kenig of Zambor and Hendel Rivka, the daughter of Rav Mordechai Tzvi Schwartz and his wife Zissel.
Initially, he continued his studies in his hometown of Mad. At first, he studied under Rav Avrohom Danziger, one of the Gedolei Talmidei Chachomim of Mad, and he later joined the ranks of Yeshivas Rav Yehoshua Segal of Bonihad, who was a talmid of Rav Hirsch Charif Heller. Rav Yehoshua Segal was one of the greatest melamdim in Mad and all the environs and almost all the Torah scholars of Mad were counted among his talmidim.
Afterward, when these Gedolim saw there was no more they could teach the young illui whose genius surpassed their capacity, the Kol Arye was accepted to the great Yeshiva of Rav Yitzchok Nosson Lipschitz, the Rav and Mora D’Asra of Mad, who was a great lamdan and had many talmidim. He studied there under the Mora D’Asra’s son-in-law as well, Rav Shmuel Ginz, Av Bais Din Abraham. The Kol Arye studied there for three years until his Bar Mitzva, when Rav Lipschitz was appointed to succeed his grandfather, Rav Elozor Loewe of Santov, mechaber of Shemen Rokach. The Yeshiva then closed.
In his Bar Mitzva derosha on the sugya of Chazaka DeRava (Nidda daf 46) he amazed and delighted all the lamdonim and all the Geonim present, who witnessed firsthand his amazing capabilities of depth, insight and sharp-witted understanding. It would be these capabilities and talents that came to his aid when he came knocking on the gates of the great Yeshivas Pressburg the following year. At the age of just thirteen the Kol Arye boldly entered the Chasam Sofer’s room and asked to be accepted as a full-fledged talmid of the Yeshiva. Knowing that he needed to be tested, he had prepared to recite his Bar Mitzva pshetel with which the Chasam Sofer was immensely impressed. His acceptance to Yeshivas Pressburg ushered in a new era in his life. From now on the Kol Arye would forever be remembered as a talmid of the Chasam Sofer. He was the Chasam Sofer’s youngest talmid in Pressburg. He was counted among the greatest students of Yeshivas Pressburg; his seat was located on the Mizrach and he was designated by the Chasam Sofer as one of the elite Shabbos bochurim, who ate at the table of one ba’al habayis all week long, as opposed to the teg bochurim, who ate at a different table each day of the week. The Chasam Sofer allowed his beloved talmid to sit near him during the shiur, as well as to enter his private room and study from his personal library before the shiur. The Kol Arye relates that it was here in the Chasam Sofer’s private study that he first saw the Yeshuos Yaakov of Rav Orenstein of Lemberg when it was first printed. There are even citations from the Chasam Sofer’s teshuvos in the sefer Kol Arye from teshuvos that were not yet in print, lending credence to the fact that he must have had access to his Rebbe’s handwritten manuscripts and responsa. Every Shabbos, as the bochurim lined up to greet the Rosh Yeshiva with a good Shabbos, the Kol Arye received a special smile reserved just for him from his Rebbe’s shining countenance. These were signs of earned respect, achievement and admiration despite his young age of fifteen.
The Toldos Kol Arye tells us that during his time at Pressburg, the Kol Arye studied together with colleagues such as Rav Aharon Greenberg, Av Bais Din of Toltsheva Mihalovitz, mechaber of Daas Sofer, who arrived eight years before the Kol Arye, as well as Rav Dovid Katz Bistritz, Av Bais Din Milchdorf, and mechaber of Bais Dovid.
For two fruitful years the Kol Arye grew and studied under his Rebbe until the passing of the Chasam Sofer on 25 Tishrei 5600/1839, when once again he took up his wandering staff and hit the road to the Yeshiva of Rav Binyomin Wolf Loewe of Verboy, mechaber of Shaarei Torah. In the hesped for his father, the Kol Arye’s son, the Bais Naftoli, remarked that the Shaarei Torah loved and appreciated his father like one of his very own children; such was the relationship that grew between the talmid and his new Rebbe.
It was during this time in Verboy that the Kol Arye began to write down his chiddushim, putting down on paper his wealth and breadth of knowledge and insight in an organized manner that would form the backbone to his scholarship for generations to come. Upon reviewing his kuntresim from that period, the Rav of Serdaheli, mechaber of Vayaged Moshe, Rav Moshe Yehuda Katz, was so amazed at the wondrous pilpulim, that he said the eyes of whoever studies them are enlightened by the chiddushim of a sixteen-year-old fit for an aged Godol sitting years in Yeshiva.
Before leaving Verboy to travel back home to Mad, the Shaarei Torah wrote a letter of Semicha and ordained the Kol Arye with Rabbonus that was prophetic, for instead of writing that Rav Arye Leib was from Mad, the Shaarei Torah described him “accidentally” as the Av Bais Din of Mad. Upon seeing this error and pointing it out to his Rebbe, the Shaarei Torah is said to have responded, “If that is what I wrote, let it remain so and I shall not change it.” When one day in the future the Kol Arye in fact earned that title and rose to the position as Mad’s Av Bais Din and Rav, he humbly attributed it to his Rebbe’s berocha rather than his own skill, erudition and worthiness.
He was married to Faige, the daughter of Rav Moshe Yehuda Leib Gintzler and Lea. His father-in-law hailed from Uhjel and it was there that the erusin took place. Around the engagement party tables sat many great Rabbonim and Geonim, including the Yismach Moshe, and all sat spellbound and amazed, listening to the derosha of the young illui of Mad. Afterward, whispers began circulating that the chiddush and pilpul was so great it simply wasn’t possible that the novel insights were his own. “Surely he heard this from his Rebbe, the Rosh Yeshiva of Verboy,” and they nodded their heads in agreement. When the whispers reached the ears of the chosson, the Kol Arye smiled enigmatically and simply remarked, “They must really like what they are hearing to attribute them to my Rebbe. In fact, my chiddushim must be sound, since if they think that they came from the Shaarei Torah they must have not found any mistakes or errors in them – all the more reason to rejoice!” Just before age seventeen in Sivan of 5601/1841, he was married in Uhjel with the Mora D’Asra, the Yismach Moshe, serving as the Mesader Kiddushin. At the chosson tisch the Kol Arye was about to deliver his derosha when the Yismach Moshe made a request that he tell over something he had heard from his Rebbe, the Chasam Sofer. Although not having prepared anything in advance from his Rebbe, the Kol Arye found a way to segue into one of his Rebbe’s profound teachings. The seamless connection and progression from his prepared pilpul to the new addition was so good and fit so well, no one could tell that this was not how he had prepared his derosha beforehand. After he concluded, the Yismach Moshe blessed him, “May your Rebbe’s zechus stand by you all of your days, for your toil and effort to study and refine his teachings.”
In those days in Uhjel he drew close to the two luminaries, the Yetev Lev, Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum, future Rav of Sighet, and the Maaglei Tzedek, Rav Menachem Mendel Panet, future Rav of Deish. It was during this time that at age eighteen, he authored the kuntresim that were published in Kol Arye for Hilchos Shlichus and Hilchos Berochos. He sent the kuntres on Shlichus to his Rebbe, the Shaarei Torah in Verboy, who greatly admired and praised its scholarship. The Kuntres on Berochos was perhaps the favorite of all his kuntresim. The reason for this is cited in the Maftechos to the Kol Arye, which were written by the Rav of Samloya (in newer editions printed as an introduction to this siman):
HIMMEL TORAH – HEAVENLY TORAH
I wish to tell future generations what I heard myself from the mechaber. This kuntres on Birkas HaMitzvos was written in Uhjel when he lived with his father-in-law Rav Moshe Leib Gintzler and ate at his table.
At that time the Rav of Uhjel was Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum of Sighet, mechaber of Avnei Tzedek and Yetev Lev, who succeeded his holy grandfather, the Sabba Kadisha, Rav Moshe Teitelbaum, mechaber of Yismach Moshe.
When my Rebbe completed the kuntres he handed it over to the Yetev Lev so he could study it. The Yetev Lev left it in his private study, the room where the Yismach Moshe
