The Cow They Sold for Torah: A Father’s Greatest Sacrifice

Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman once visited Cincinnati and stayed with a devoted businessman who had founded a Talmud Torah school in a city famous for its Reform seminary. Hearing the familiar Lithuanian melody of Torah study pouring from the classroom moved Rabbi Kahaneman to tears. “Your love for Torah touches my heart,” he told his host, who simply replied, “I paid dearly for this love.”

As a boy in Lithuania, this same man was one of seven children in a home where money was always scarce. His father spent weekdays traveling between towns to sell goods, and the family rarely enjoyed a hot meal outside of Shabbat. When a new teacher offered to educate local children for one ruble a month per child, the family faced a seemingly impossible bill of four rubles.

Determined to keep their sons in school, the parents began selling their most treasured possessions—first silver, then jewelry, and then whatever else they could spare—month after month, never missing a payment. But one particularly harsh winter left them with nothing left to sell and two months’ tuition owed.

His mother turned to his father and said, “We must find a way.” With a calm tone he answered, “After Shabbat, we’ll walk to the next town and sell the cow.” That cow provided milk, cheese, and butter—their only reliable source of nourishment. Yet before sunrise on Sunday, the parents led her ten kilometers down the road, sold her for eight rubles, and returned home with a joy they had never known. They wrapped the coins in a simple napkin and handed them to the teacher, ensuring their boys could continue learning.

That act of sacrifice became the soul of the Cincinnati Talmud Torah and later inspired the Ohel Torah kollel in Jerusalem. It taught a powerful lesson: that no hardship is too great when it comes to nurturing the love of Torah. Today, that same spirit of dedication lives on in classrooms and hearts around the world.