 Serving as a hub of Torah activity, community kollels make a significant impact on the growth of Torah awareness in remote Jewish areas.His able assistant in this endeavor was Rabbi Nosson Meir Wachtfogel (1910–1998), the Lakewood "mashgiach" (spiritual supervisor), who had been one of the original students of Rabbi Aharon Kotler when Beth Medrash Govoha first opened in 1943 and who subsequently served as "mashgiach" under three generations of "roshei yeshiva".Rabbis Kotler and Wachtfogel paved the way for the opening of community kollels in many cities, including Passaic, New Jersey (this kollel developed into the Yeshiva Gedola of Passaic), Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Melbourne, Australia.