Rabbi Mordechai Gifter zt’l was the Rosh Yeshiva of the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland, Ohio. Born in 1915, in Portsmouth, Virginia, and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Rav Gifter’s explosive growth and development was virtually unprecedented. In 1932, while still a teenager, American born and raised Mordechai Gifter traveled to Lithuania to study Torah in the legendary Yeshiva of Telshe. Even as a teen young Mordechai was recognized as a uniquely gifted student with great talents bestowed upon him by Hashem. As bright as he was perhaps most astounding was his relentless drive to become great in Torah. The story is told over how as a young boy in high school, his wall was covered with pictures of gedolim. In the center of all of the pictures he left an empty space with a handwritten note that read: “WHY NOT YOU!”