Memory Lane: Rav Aaron Meir Krauz, The Sopron-Edeliner Rov

Leading Cong. Bnei Israel for a number of decades was Rav Krausz, the last rov of Sopron, who had a rich tenure as a rov in Sidney, Australia, and spent half a century as a rov in New York until his passing last year. 

Edelény 

Aaron Meir was born in the year 1924 to his father, Rav Yehoshua Krausz, who had learned in the great Hungarian yeshivos, and was descended from the great “Rav Shmuel Vogosher.” 

Aaron Meir began his journey as a talmid of Rav Yisroel Avrohom Alter Landau, the Edeliner Rov. When the anti-Semitic mayor of the town shuttered the yeshiva in 1939, he continued on to Yeshiva Darkei Teshuva in Munkatch. He received semicha there.   

From Shopron to Sidney 

Following the war, Rav Krausz settled in the town of Shopron, serving as a rov to the entire vicinity for six years. 

Having married the daughter of Rav Yehoshua Citron, the rov of Shopron, he naturally succeeded him. It was not easy reestablishing a community from the embers of the war, but the young couple succeeded in building an infrastructure that provided the Yidden of the entire area with all their needs. The area is extremely picturesque, and they lived an idyllic existence there, with Rav Aaron Meir spending his days immersed in Torah learning— until the Communists overtook Hungary, and it became unsafe for him there. It was then that he relocated to Melbourne, where an entire new chapter opened up in his life. 

He became the rov of The Montefiore Congregation in Melbourne, and would go on to serve as the rov for many years. In those days, there was a sizable population of Holocaust survivors in Australia, which welcomed them in. 

It took incredible strength to raise his children in the path of Torah in Australia of those years, and the Shoproner Ruv invested all of his energies into this endeavor. After a while, he moved to Sidney. 

The following article lends a glimpse into his leadership in the Sidney community: “The new Beis Hakneses Adas Yisroel. The recently concluded Yomim Nora’im were days of great elation and elevation in the Sidney community. They merited for the first time to daven in the newly-completed center of Orthodox Jewry in the city, Adas Yisroel, which was erected through the leadership of the rov of the kehillah, Rav Aaron Meir Krausz. It was filled from wall to wall, with more than three hundred people, a membership that is expected to grow even more. It is said that such a grand Shul cannot be found in the entire Australia, and people come from all over to see this grand edifice. 

“Despite its modern features, the rov was meticulous that not one single tradition be changed from the way Yidden have built their shuls throughout the millennia. In the coming days, the mikva tahara will also be completed, and the joy will be a complete one.

From Melbourne to Monsey 

As noted, in the 1950’s, he moved the family to Sydney, where he authored the sefer Zichron Yehoshua, a collection of his deroshos, in tribute to his father. 

In the 1970’s, the family moved to Boro Park, where Rav Kraus served as the rov of Anshei Marmorosh on 15th Avenue. While in Boro Park, he opened the American office of Yad L’Achim, the legendary kiruv organization in Eretz Yisroel. 

Those who worked with him during those years recall a deeply aristocratic figure with a golden heart, brimming with compassion and love. He loved to take care of those less fortunate, and his office welcomed those whom no one would give a second glance. He was always with a sefer. 

For thirty years, he served as a pillar of Rabbonus and chessed in the Boro Park community, until around the year 2000, when he retired from the rabbonus. He moved to Monsey, and made it his mission to be mechazek younger Rabbonim. Every Shabbos, he would make his way to another shul, and he would rotate this way. He was an engaging speaker, and always had the right words. He was a revered and welcome figure everywhere he went. 

He was niftar on the 4th of Shevat, and the levaya was held at the Edelin-Kerestirer Beis Medrash on Fanley Avenue in Monsey. He was interred in the Viznitzer chelka in Monsey, following a lifetime of Torah, and dedication to Klal Yisroel.