Excerpting: “The Priceless Treasure of Bircas Kohanim” by Naftali Weinberger. Artscroll Mesorah Publications. 2024. Hardcover. ISBN: 9781422641736.
(Courtesy of Artscroll) Dr. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen (Alvin) Radkowsky was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1915, and lived for a number of years in Washington, D.C. Later, he moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, where he was an active presence in the local shul and was involved in building the first mikveh in the area. Blessed with a brilliant mind and great powers of concentration, he merited to study and complete the entire Shas in depth at least four times.
Dr. Alvin was a nuclear physicist and the chief scientist at the U.S. Navy Nuclear Propulsion Division for many years. His work in the 1950s led to major advances in nuclear-powered ship technology and civilian use of nuclear power. USS Nautilus was the world’s first operational nuclear-powered submarine, and the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole, on August 3, 1958. Dr. Alvin worked on the “Nautilus Project” together with Admiral Hyman Rikover (also a Jew).
Dr. Alvin and his wife Annette (Chanah) had one daughter, Gila, and no sons. He always said that his biggest enjoyment in life was to go up to the duchan and bless the Jewish people. However, living outside Eretz Yisrael, he had the opportunity to fulfill this mitzvah only on Yom Tov. His dream was to move to the Holy Land, where he would be able to duchan every day. So it was that in 1972, when he reached the earliest permitted retirement age (57), the family moved to Eretz Yisrael, settling in the Ramat Chen neighborhood of Ramat Gan.
A short time after settling there, he heard about the legendary Steipler Gaon and went with a cousin of his to visit the great sage. Dr. Alvin was immediately captivated by the Steipler, and also by the integrity of the congregation in the local Lederman shul. He told the gabbai of the Lederman shul, R’ Moshe Cohen, that since he had no sons, he felt that the privilege of being a Kohen would end with himself, and he therefore wanted to maximize his opportunity to recite Bircas Kohanim. Every Shabbos, he would walk an hour each way to and from the Lederman shul, just so he could experience the beautiful Shabbos davening there, and, of course, bless the congregants with Bircas Kohanim.
The Steipler took a liking to Dr. Alvin, and would refer to him as the chacham olami, a world-famous intellectual (see “Beis Imi,” authored by R’ Chaim Kanievsky’s daughter, Rebbetzin Ruti Tzivyon, ch. 18). Dr. Alvin later developed a warm relationship with R’ Chaim Kanievsky and other illustrious Lederman shul members. He joined most of the siyumim in the shul and would try to daven there as often as he could.
Dr. Alvin continued his career as a scientist after moving to Eretz Yisrael. He taught nuclear engineering at Tel Aviv University and Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva. In 1992, Dr. Alvin invented a new type of nuclear fuel called thorium, and started the Thorium Power Company. Thorium-fueled reactors allow nations the capability to generate energy while preventing them from using spent fuels to produce nuclear weapons.
During the many times Dr. Alvin duchaned at the Lederman shul, it disturbed him to see that some of the Kohanim left their shoes on the floor in a disorderly fashion and on public display. (See Mishnah Berurah 128:15, which states that the shoes of the Kohanim should be placed in an inconspicuous place due to kavod beis hamidrash.) After discussing this with the Steipler, Dr. Alvin came up with an innovation (perhaps not as ground-breaking as his nuclear patents, but an innovation nonetheless). He paid for a craftsman to build cubicles near the sinks outside the sanctuary, and also to install a carpet from the washing sinks until the aron kodesh, so that the Kohanim could keep their shoes in the cubicles and walk to the front of the shul on the carpet, without getting their socks dusty. The cubicles and carpet remained in the Lederman shul until after Dr. Alvin passed away in 5762/2002.
Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein discusses Dr. Alvin in his teshuvos (Chashukei Chemed, Pesachim 3b):
Q: The brilliant scholar R’ Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Radkowsky moved from the United States to Eretz Yisrael to be able to recite Bircas Kohanim every day and not just on Yom Tov. At the time he made this decision, there was a risk that he might lose his source of livelihood — his position as a nuclear scientist doing research for the U.S. government. Nevertheless, he chose to make the move, and Hashem blessed him with the brachos promised to Kohanim, and he was able to continue his successful career in his new home.
Is a Kohen indeed obligated to move to Eretz Yisrael and endanger his parnassa for this purpose?
A: Magen Avraham (O.C. 13:8) rules that a person is not obligated to move to a different city in order to fulfill the mitzvah of tzitzis. Logic would seem to dictate that the same applies to moving to Eretz Yisrael in order to perform the mitzvah of Bircas Kohanim, especially when there is a risk of losing one’s livelihood. However, if one does move, he fulfills the mitzvah of, “You shall fear your God” (Vayikra 25:17), as Biur Halachah implies. Additionally, he fulfills the words of Chayei Adam, who writes: “One must run and pursue mitzvos, as Scripture states, “Let us know, let us strive to know Hashem (Hoshea 6:3), and “I will run in the way of Your commandments” (Tehillim 119:32). One should make great efforts to fulfill mitzvos, and eagerly anticipate and aspire for such opportunities. This can be learned from the words “u’shmartem la’asosam— you shall be careful to perform them” (Devarim 5:1). The word u’shmartem can also connote anticipation (see Bereishis 37:11); thus, the Torah is instructing us to look forward to the moment that we will be able to perform a mitzvah, and this is also a fulfillment of the mitzvah to love Hashem.
Reprinted from “The Priceless Treasure of Bircas Kohanim” by Naftali Weinberger with permission from the copyright holder, ArtScroll Mesorah Publications.
