Nota Greenblatt

Rav Nota was born to a family with strong roots in the Torah world of Brisk, his father Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblatt being close with Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and his son Rabbi Velvel. After spending most of his childhood in British Mandate Palestine, where he crossed paths with the likes of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Rav Nota and his family moved back to the US when he was 13, where he enrolled in Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim under the tutelage of Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz. Despite his young age, he became one of the prominent students of the Yeshiva. At the age of 16, Rav Nota befriended Rabbi Yechiel Michel Feinstein, learning under him and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik in the short-lived Heichal Rabbeinu Chaim HaLevi in Boston. It is there where Rav Nota honed his Brisker methodology which he would employ in his Torah learning and teaching for the rest of his life. At the age of 17, Rav Nota enrolled in the Yeshiva of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim, with whom he forged a very close bond. It is there where Rav Nota learned a way in life and Halakhic decision-making. Rav Nota also continued to learn with Rabbi Yechiel Michel in the Yeshiva there, until 1946, when they both made their way to Palestine to learn under the Brisker Rav. The Brisker Rav was not well at the time, although Rav Nota seized every opportunity to learn from him. He also took this time to learn with Rabbi Aharon Cohen, the Rosh Yeshiva of Chevron, as well as Rabbi Leib Shachor. He also managed to forge bonds with other great Torah luminaries in Palestine at the time, such as the Chazon Ish, Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer, and the Imrei Emes of Gur. Rav Nota gave up an opportunity to marry the daughter of Rav Moshe Bernstein and succeed him as Rosh Yeshiva of Kaminetz Yeshiva in Palestine, deferring it to Rabbi Yitzchak Scheiner, who Rav Nota had taken under his wings in those years. He returned to America in 1948 with his ailing Father, eager to make an impact.[1] [2]

Rav Nota teaching young students of the Memphis Hebrew Academy in 1949, shortly after the founding of the school.

Rav Nota would find his niche in the fledgling Jewish community of Memphis, Tennessee, where he first settled alone as a bachelor to fill the role of chazzan at a local synagogue and teacher in the local Talmud Torah.[3] Already within a year of his arrival, Rav Nota, along with local resident Seymour Kutner, embarked on the daunting task of establishing a fully operational Jewish day school for the community. After going door to door to plea with practically every Jewish household in the city, in September of 1949, they managed to open a school of 38 children for kindergarten and first grade, where Rav Nota taught without taking a cent from the School. The School, which would later blossom into a fully functional K-12 institution known as the Margolin Hebrew Academy, would continue to grow and flourish under the watch of Rav Nota, producing many Torah observant Jews and pumping the Jewish community with religious vitality. Even as Rav Nota gave up his teaching role in the school, he still played an active advisory role, and was invested in the spiritual growth of all its students. He also would play an active role in overseeing all Halakhic aspects of daily Jewish life in the community. [1] [4] [5]

Rav Nota would go on to marry a local resident of the community, Miriam Kaplan. They would have five children together.[1] [4]

While in Memphis, Rav Nota would also volunteer to take on the role of dealing with divorces in the Jewish community according to the Halakha. This eventually became not just a local effort, but a national, and sometimes even international undertaking, travelling across the globe to administer Gittin. Rav Nota paid for his travel expenses from his own pocket, and his endless travels would take up a significant portion of his days.[1] [6]

In 2015, Rav Nota permitted a woman to re-marry despite never receiving a get from her previous husband (who had refused to do so) on the questionable grounds of kiddushei taos. This decision was criticized by many prominent Rabbis, but nevertheless, Rav Nota never rescinded his decision.[7]

Rav Nota delivering a shiur to Students of the Cooper Yeshiva HS in Memphis in 2014.

Although he did not teach in the school in Memphis for many years, Rav Nota's impact on the Memphis Jewish community was enormous, whether it be in overseeing Halakhic observance, investment in the personal spiritual growth of its residents, or delivering Torah lectures in the community. In 2014, in his old age, as he started winding down in his tireless siddur Gittin efforts, Rav Nota set his sights on founding a Kollel in Memphis, where he would teach top young Torah Scholars from across the country. Rav Nota would continue to deliver shiurim to his Kollel and the Community until the deterioration of his health in his late 90's.[1]

Like most Briskers, Rav Nota was reserved about publicizing his Torah novelties. He only published one sefer in his lifetime at the behest of his children - K'Reiach Sadeh (1999), with an approbation by his mentor, Rabbi Yechiel Michel Feinstein. The sefer contains concise sharp inferences and insights into the words of the Chumash and Rashi with a Halakhic emphasis.[8]

Rav Nota passed away in New York on April 29, 2022. He was buried in the Mount Judah Cemetery in Queens in the Brisker section.