Nathan Kamenetsky

Making of a Godol: A Study of Episodes in the Lives of Great Torah Personalities is a two-volume book written and published in 2002, with an improved edition published in 2005, by Rabbi Nathan Kamenetsky (1930-), son of Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, about the lives of his father and of various other Jewish sages of the 19th and 20th centuries, who are revered by Orthodox (especially Haredi) Jews. The word Godol means "great [one]" in Hebrew, and refers to exceptional Talmudic scholars who are often prominent Roshei Yeshiva (heads of yeshivas).

The book, which resulted from about 15 years of extensive research, includes much historical background based on over 800 sources, and is very detailed in its stories and biographies. Due to the banning of both editions (see next section), not more than 1,000 sets of each edition are in existence.

Soon after it was first published, a group of 10 leading Haredi rabbis in Israel, first among them Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, appeared to issue an official letter banning the book, claiming that it was disrespectful to the rabbis whose lives it describes. For example, the book records that Rabbi Aharon Kotler read Russian books in his youth. The book also claims that as a young man studying in yeshiva, Rabbi Kotler was a "sore loser" at chess and he would always demand from his opponent to be able to take back moves once he realized that they were a mistake. This is said to have prompted a grandson of Rabbi Kotler to urge Rabbi Eliashiv to ban the book. Rabbi Kamenetsky responded that he did not consider such information to be disparaging. (Indeed, he wrote that his father also had read Russian books). Rather, he was merely recounting a nisayon (personal test or trial) that these great men experienced in the process of becoming Gedolim (great sages) during the difficult period of Haskalah.