Ep. 64: A Man In A Girls School Is A Bidieved with Rabbi Nochem Kaplan

In this episode, Rabbi Nochem Kaplan of Crown Heights traces his family’s remarkable journey-from Chassidim dating back to the Alter Rebbe on his mother’s side to his father’s Litvishe roots and eventual connection to Lubavitch. Born in the Soviet Union, he recalls his family’s escape from U.S.S.R, life in the DP camps in Germany, their close connection with Rebbetzin Chana, and their eventual move to England and later New York. Rabbi Kaplan shares memories of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s histalkus and the early years of the Rebbe’s nesius, as well as his own formative years growing up around 770 in the small Lubavitch community of the 1950s and ’60s. He describes the great Chassidim and mashpi’im who influenced him during his years learning in Kfar Chabad and 770. Following the Rebbe’s guidance, Rabbi Kaplan devoted his life to chinuch, serving communities in Virginia, Lakewood, Philadelphia, and New York. He shares fascinating, little-known accounts of teaching Chassidus in Lakewood and his close relationships with Reb Schneur and Reb Meir Kotler, a”h. He also recounts the extraordinary story of a portrait he painted of the Rebbe Rashab—including the input he received from Reb Avrohom Mayor, Reb Mendel Futerfas, and ultimately the Rebbetzin—and the Rebbe’s satisfaction with the finished portrait.