The experience of pre-war Polish Jewry was distinct in character, and the life of Rabbi Meir Don Plotzky, one of its prime leaders, mirrored it. Amidst poverty, illness, and the scourge of communism, he still produced the brilliant Torah commentary the Kli Chemdah, and no matter how bitter his personal troubles, he devoted himself to the poor, the agunos, and the weakest amongst the Jewish people.