Early Years
Sarna was born in Horodok, Russia, on the 28th Shevat in 1890. His father, Rabbi Yaakov Chaim, was the city's shochet and melamed, and later its maggid. Rabbi Sarna's mother, Aidel, was the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Buxenbaum, a chassid of the Chiddushei Harim, and author of Rechovos Ir, a commentary on Midrash Rabba. Rabbi Sarna received his primary education from his father, as well as at the cheder in Horodok.
When he was 11, he was sent to the Ohr Hachaim yeshiva in Slabodka, headed by Rabbi Tzvi Levitan, a student of the Alter of Kelm. During the year that he studied there, he was exposed to the musar teachings of the mashgiach, Rabbi Eliyahu Laicrovits.
In 1902, he journeyed to Maltsch to study under Rabbi Zalman Sender Kahana-Shapiro, who also presided as the Chief Rabbi of the city. Due to an internal conflict in the yeshiva, Kahana-Shapiro left Maltsch, and transferred to Kriniki, barely a year after Sarna had arrived. Without a mentor, Sarna left Maltsch. A year later, he returned to Slabodka to study under Rabbi Chaim Rabinowitz in Knesses Beis Yitzchok.
In 1904, Rabinowitz invited Sarna to join a group of select students he took along with him while being transferred to the Telz Yeshiva. When the yeshiva temporarily closed in 1906, Sarna returned to Maltsch, studying under Rabbi Shimon Shkop. One year later, he returned to Knesses Yisroel Yeshiva in Slabodka, where he became one of the yeshiva's best students. He drew attention of the Alter, who played a major role in his spiritual growth. Describing their special relationship, Sarna wrote, "Without the Alter, I would have been like a blind and a deaf person. He opened my eyes and my ears, and I acquired my entire approach to Torah study from him."
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