He was best known as a teacher in the Hebrew Theological College of Chicago and the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, where he mentored many future leaders of Orthodox Jewry.
Avraham was a lawyer and Esther was involved in community service, raising funds for the yeshiva and feeding the poor.
When Wasserman needed to travel overseas in order to raise money for the yeshiva, Kaplan would deliver the lecture in his stead.
Like the members of the Mir yeshiva and other refugees there, Kaplan sought visas to allow him to escape Nazi and Soviet rule.
After entering Japanese territory by boat, Kaplan expected deportation back to Russia and eventually Siberia.
His insights into world affairs and reading between the lines of the daily paper (even while needing help with the language) earned him his student's respect.
[7] By 1965, Kaplan had joined his family in New York and was invited to start teaching the first-level post-high school class in the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia.
Kaplan did not consider it beneath his dignity to fix his own car or pick up random hitchhikers from the side of the road.