Rav Nosson Meir Wachtfogel, the Lakewood Mashgiach, was born in Kuhl, Lithuania. His father, Rav Moshe Yom Tov, was one of the fourteen original talmidim of the Yeshiva in Slutsk. (Another of these talmidim was Rav Aharon Kotler.) Rav Nosson himself began his education in the Yeshiva in Kelm. When he was fifteen, he came to the United States – his father had accepted a Rabbinic post in Montreal – and enrolled in Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchok Elchonon (forerunner of the Talmudic division of Yeshiva University). After two years there, he returned to Lithuania to study at the Mir Yeshiva. He also studied under Rav Shimon Shkop, and in Kamenetz, under Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz. Beginning in 1941, Rav Nosson joined with Rav Aharon Kotler to develop the Lakewood Yeshiva. He left several children, including Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva Zichron Moshe in South Fallsburg, New York.
