OUR FOUNDER

RAV NOTA GREENBLATT, ZT"L
(1925–2022)

Our school owes its existence to the vision, sacrifice, and boundless energy of one remarkable man: Rav Nota Tzvi Greenblatt, zt"l.

Early Life and Torah Study

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1925 to Rav Yitzchok Greenblatt, a talmid chacham with deep roots in Brisk, Rav Nota was immersed in Torah from his earliest years. As a young man he studied under Rav Dovid Leibowitz at Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, and later became one of the closest and most distinguished talmidim of Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt"l, at Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim. Rav Moshe recognized his student's extraordinary promise early on, writing in 1947 that the young Rav Nota would soon stand among the pillars of halachah in the world — a prediction that was fulfilled many times over.

Answering Memphis's Call, 1949

In 1949, Rav Nota made a decision that would shape the future of Jewish life in the Mid-South: rather than pursue prominence in the great Torah centers of the Northeast, he answered Memphis, Tennessee's call for a Talmud Torah teacher and chazan — a move he undertook with the encouragement of his father and of his rebbi, Rav Moshe Feinstein, whose counsel he sought before accepting the position. He found a community whose Jewish future hung in the balance. Within months, he set about founding a Jewish day school, one of the first of its kind in America. He went door to door, persuading young families to entrust their children to him, raising funds, writing the school's first check, and teaching in its classrooms without pay. From that small first class grew the school that generations of Memphis families have called home.

Rav Nota's devotion to our school never wavered. Across seven decades he remained its teacher, guide, champion, and halachic authority — later helping to establish Jewish high school education in Memphis as well. It is no exaggeration to say that the survival and flourishing of observant Jewish life in Memphis is his legacy.

A Posek for Klal Yisrael

Yet Rav Nota's influence extended far beyond our city. He became the rav and posek for communities across America, renowned especially as one of the country's foremost experts in gittin. For some sixty years he traveled hundreds of thousands of miles — often at his own expense — so that Jewish men and women anywhere in the country could rebuild their lives. He built mikvaos throughout the South, helped shape national kashrus standards through his decades of work with the Orthodox Union, led the Vaad Hakehilloth of Memphis, and served as a "rabbi's rabbi," fielding halachic questions from rabbanim across the country. His sefer, K'Reiach Sadeh, published in 1999, reflects the breadth and depth of his learning.

Family Life

Together with his wife, Rebbetzin Miriam Greenblatt, a"h, a daughter of one of Memphis's pioneering shomer Shabbos families, Rav Nota raised five children and opened his home to the entire community, hosting a minyan every Shabbos for half a century.

His Passing

Rav Nota was niftar on Erev Shabbos, the 28th of Nisan 5782 (April 29, 2022), at the age of 96. He was mourned by Jews around the world — but nowhere more deeply than in Memphis, where every child who walks through our doors continues the story he began.

Yehi zichro baruch — may his memory be a blessing.