Rav Aharon Aronson, an elder of the Torah community in Holland, passed away at the age of 100 on the first night of Rosh Hashanah.

R’ Aronson was born and grew up in the Netherlands. He managed to survive the Nazi invasion of Holland by escaping to neighboring countries. Following the end of the war, he returned to Holland and dedicated his life to rehabilitating the Torah world in Amsterdam and Europe. He served as the president of Agudas Yisrael in Amsterdam, he was the secretary of the Dutch Agudas Yisroel for over 40 years and was a member of the Vaad Hapoel Ha’olami and its European Representative for International Affairs.

R’ Aharon was active in the Amsterdam Torah community in every area, in chinuch, hachnasas orchim, battei knesset, tzedkah and Torah learning. He donated large amounts of money to yeshivas and the Torah world in Eretz Yisrael, especially the Ponevezh Yeshiva. Many Roshei Yeshivah were hosted in his home over the years while on fundraising trips. R’ Aharon also served as a chazan in the Dutch community for decades, continuing until his last day, including at weddings.

R’ Aharon spent every Sukkos and Pesach in Israel with his children and grandchildren. This past Pesach, R’ Aharon visited R’ Chaim Kaniesvsky, who quipped that R’ Aharon, who had celebrated his 100th birthday, looked younger than him. According to a report by BeChadrei Chareidim, during that visit, R’ Aharon told R’ Kaniesvsky that his father, the Steipler, z’tl, told him that he’s jealous of R’ Aharon’s Gan Eden. The Steipler was referring to an incident after the Holocaust when government authorities asked R’ Aharon to give them incriminating information about a Jew but R’ Aharon categorically refused and suffered greatly because of it.

BeChadrei Chareidim also reported that the Hamodia newspaper wrote about in an incident in which R’ Aharon was m’kadeish shem Shamayim when he once refused to meet the king of Holland, King Willem-Alexander. The king was visiting the ancient Portuguese synagogue and a meeting was scheduled in the adjacent museum in which R’ Aharon was requested to join. However, due to a takana of the late Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam, R’ Meir Just, z’tl, that it was forbidden to enter the museum since it was open on Shabbos (under the directors who belonged to the Reform community), R’ Aharon unequivocally refused to attend the meeting with the king, despite great pressure from members of the Jewish community.

R’ Aharon left behind two sons and a daughter and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are following in his derech haTorah and chessed. One of his grandsons is the well-known chareidi media personality, Menachem Toker.

The levaya was held on Wednesday in Amsterdam. His aron will then be flown to Israel and he will be buried next to his late wife Brachah on Har Hazeisim.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)