Avigdor Miller
| Rabbi Avigdor HaKohen Miller | |
|---|---|
| Position | Rabbi |
| Synagogue | Bais Yisroel of Rugby Torah Center |
| Position | Mashgiach ruchani |
| Yeshiva | Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Victor Miller |
| Born |
August 28, 1908 Baltimore, Maryland, United States |
| Died | April 20, 2001 (aged 92) Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Yahrtzeit | 27 Nisan |
| Buried | Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, Israel |
| Nationality | United States |
| Denomination | Haredi Judaism |
| Spouse | Ettel |
| Alma mater | Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael (Slabodka) |
| Semicha | Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary |
Avigdor HaKohen Miller (August 28, 1908 – April 20, 2001) was an American Haredi rabbi, author, and lecturer. He served simultaneously as a communal rabbi, mashgiach ruchani of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, and as a teacher in Beis Yaakov.
Avigdor Miller was born Victor Miller in Baltimore, Maryland. Miller was a kohen by birth. Although he attended public school, only Yiddish was spoken at home. After school, he went to learn in an afternoon Talmud Torah. When he finished his regular classes at the Talmud Torah, the school arranged for him to learn privately with Rav Avrohom Eliyahu Axelrod, a Lubavitcher hasid. The Talmud Torah was unable to pay Axelrod, but he continued to teach Miller anyway. Miller would never forget that Axelrod continued to teach him without being paid, and spoke about him with appreciation.
At age 17, Miller went to New York City to attend Yeshiva College. He was elected student body president, and was also the baal korei. He graduated from both YU and RIETS, attaining a B.A. and rabbinical ordination, respectively.
Rabbi Moshe Bick, known as the Mezubizher Rav, who arrived in the United States in 1927, was one of Rabbi Miller's early study partners.
While a student at YU, Miller joined a chavurah together with five other young men (who were all to become notable Hareidi rabbis) to study Mussar from the sefer Mesillas Yesharim. The organizer of the chavurah was Yaakov Yosef Herman, a builder of Orthodox Judaism in New York City of the early 20th-century. Herman encouraged Miller to travel to Europe to learn Torah in the yeshivas there. Miller met Rabbi Isaac Sher, the son-in-law of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, who was in New York collecting funds for the Slabodka yeshiva at the time. Sher did not raise much money, since this was during the Great Depression. But Sher would later declare this to be his most successful trip to America, since he was able to recruit and bring such a bright student to Slabodka.
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