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IN-DEPTH FEATURES HaRav Yechezkel Sarna -- His 30th
Yahrtzeit Part I
29 Shvat, 5687 (1927). In the branch of the Slabodke yeshiva
in Chevron, the sun has set. The Slabodke founder and
educator par excellence has passed on. The Alter,
HaRav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, was niftar. It is the
ne'ilah of the opening chapter in the Slabodke
division of the yirah institutes which were founded
along the paths charted by R' Yisroel Salanter.
Somewhere, far from the bier which is surrounded by the
grieving hearts, stride two of the Alter's students.
"Two types of builders," one says to his fellow, "participate
in the founding of every spiritual edifice which is
established for the generations: the masterminds and the
accountants. Now that the masterminds have left us, we must
don the mantle of the accountants."
"I saw then," one of them -- HaRav Yitzchok Hutner -- later
on related, "how Reb Yechezkel's shoulders rose up to don the
mantle which was thrown his way."
And, as if apologizing, Reb Yechezkel later explained to the
readers of the notes he had recorded in the margins of his
Mesilas Yeshorim, the Shulchan Oruch of
yiras Shomayim, "I hereby say, that if in these
insights, I have failed to cite the name of my mentor, HaRav
Nosson Tzvi Finkel, this is because there is no reason to
mention him, since everything I know is from him. Without
him, I would be like a blind man and a deaf man. Only through
him have I merited the opening of my eyes, and my ears, and
my entire study approach and manner of analyzing the
halochos comes only from him, my rav muvhak, even
though I didn't merit to be a talmid muvhak."
Those close to him testify that in his sichos, Reb
Yechezkel never mentioned the name of the Alter.
He has studied elsewhere. It was not well known, for example,
that he had also served another mentor, HaRav Shimon Shkop
during the period he studied in Maltshe. He held Reb Shimon
in great esteem, but more than that he valued his lack of
dependence on one approach or another. His heart was prepared
to absorb from the Alter, from the mashgiach, Reb
Zalman Dolinksi, from Reb Naftoli Trop of Radin and from Reb
Chaim of Telz. But his own mind ground the ideas he absorbed,
dipped them in condiments from his own table and prepared
them according to his taste.
In this way he followed the sage advice of HaRav Yitzchok
Yeruchom Diskin, the son of the Maharil Diskin the Rav of
Brisk, whom he visited in Yerushalayim when he searched for a
building for the yeshiva after the massacre that forced them
to relocate from Hebron to Yerushalayim.
"Surely," said HaRav Diskin with warmth, "you are swamped
with eitzas. But let me give you an eitza too.
It is worthwhile to listen to every advisor and to listen to
every eitza. But when it comes to taking action,
proceed according to your own understanding."
Dikduk in Mitzvos
As far as the attention to the details of mitzvos were
concerned Reb Yechezkel followed the methods by all of the
disciples of Reb Yisroel Salanter. In this he was much like
the Chofetz Chaim, whose son said: "As for my father, all of
the mitzvos and all of the prohibitions were the same to
him."
Typical of him is the following question, which Reb Yechezkel
marked down when he was in Switzerland (due to an illness):
In modern hospitals where the pipes are very strong, one
makes a lot of noisewhen he opens the faucets to draw water.
This is also true of the waste water, as it flows out to the
sewage. This noise in all likelihood disturbs the sleep of
the patients. What is preferable: to use a lot of water when
washing, for reasons of bein odom leMokom [Note: the
gemora says that using a lot of water for washing
brings brocho], or to be minimize the water, due to
considerations of bein odom lechavero?"
Another one of Reb Yechezkel's questions:
A rosh yeshiva of a yeshiva from which he earns his
livelihood, has very costly medical expenses, yet he also
refrains from accepting private gifts, partially out of
considerations of the dignity of the yeshiva. Which is
preferable: To withdraw money from the yeshiva's account for
his expenses, or to accept private gifts in order to defray
the expenses?"
Some of his students once encountered him mounting the stairs
to the yeshiva's study hall on Shabbos night, having arrived
only after the end of davening. To the students who
wondered why Rav Yechezkel was in a rush when ma'ariv
was already finished, he explained, "Ma'ariv is
miderabonon, while wishing a gut Shabbos is
de'Oraisa."
He never endorsed imitation of outward behavior without a
corresponding change in one's inner essence. He once told a
group of avreichim: "The Chazon Ish possessed the
attribute of simplicity and modesty. One can learn humility
from him; one can learn respect of one's fellow from him, and
love of one's fellow. He not only had long
tziziyos."
"The most precious diamond in the crown of a godol
beYisroel," he once said, "is the fact that he is `tov
ro'i' in other words a figure in whom all see good, a
model of the Torah Jew."
Rav Yechezkel would charge a rav with the difficult task of
cultivating good rhetoric and proper speech. "Just as in
music," he once wrote, "every note in speaking must be
weighed and measured, and every tone which is out of place is
jarring. In speech, words do not enter the hearts, and surely
do not cause them to tremble, if the diction is not measured
and weighed."
Regarding Chazal's maxim which determines that the words of
the wise are heard if they are said calmly -- divrei
chachomim benachas nishmo'im, he said: "Nachas
doesn't necessarily denote just a lack of anger. Every
raising of the voice that is inappropriate, causes harm. Even
if the words are filled with rich content, they won't make
the proper impression if they are not spoken with appropriate
calm."
The Honor of a Friend
The rosh yeshiva's students still remember the
resoluteness of their rav at the levaya of one of the
special poskim of that time, the gaon of Montreux,
HaRav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, a Slabodker talmid who
is famous for his responsa work, Seridei Eish. News of
the petirah of the Seridei Eish reached Eretz Yisroel
from Montreux in Switzerland. HaRav Weinberg was a friend of
the rosh yeshiva from the period in which they studied
together in Slabodke under the Alter, who had a great impact
on both of their personalities.
The admirers of the niftar in Europe made efforts to
bring his bones to Eretz Hakodesh. His friend, the rosh
yeshiva, also planned to attend the levaya. But
precisely when the aron was on the way to Lod, Reb
Yechezkel fell ill, and at the instructions of the doctor, he
had to remain in bed, suffering deeply over his forced
absence from the levaya. It was very difficult for him
to accept that he would be unable to participate in the
levaya of his friend, who was so esteemed and was
considered one of the gedolei hador.
R' Yechezkel told the students who came to visit him, that
they were obligated to close their seforim and to pay
their respects to the sefer Torah which had been
consumed. The niftar, he explained, "was a man of
great stature in his wisdom, his yirah, his
middos and his zikui horabim.
"You should know," he told those who perhaps didn't know,
"that a great prince of Israel has fallen today. But I want
to make one request," he added, and from his voice it was
obvious that something was weighing heavily on his heart. "I
know that the Mizrachi circles will try to link his name to
their approach. They will try to bury him alongside those who
identify with their method. You must try to prevent this. All
of his life, he was an ish Torah veyirah, who was
raised and grew in the beis medrash. He is one of
us.
"And if there are problems," he closed. "Tell me
immediately."
There were indeed problems. When the bier reached a
crossroad, the Knesset members from the Mizrachi movement
issued orders that the procession should continue to
Sanhedria, to the plots where the leaders of their movement
were buried. The students of the Chevron yeshiva sought to
fulfill their rosh yeshiva's instructions, and they
encountered firm opposition.
Suddenly, in a totally unexpected manner, the edge of a
walking cane cut the argument short. It was the cane of Reb
Yechezkel who, despite the pain he suffered, had made the
effort to come to the site. Those present sought to approach
him and to ask how he felt. Others, who knew his precise
condition, tried to lend him supporting hands.
But the Rosh Yeshiva paid no heed to them. In a storm, he
headed toward the bier. Leaning on his cane, and panting
heavily from the effort, he finally reached the bier which
stood at the center of the battle taking place on the
crossroads between Sanhedria and Har Hamenuchos.
Here the Rosh Yeshiva behaved in a most authoritative manner.
"The niftar will be buried there," he said, his hands
pointing in the direction of Har Hamenuchos.
To those who still doubted who had the last word, Reb
Yechezkel's following remark put an end to their hesitations.
"The niftar will be buried in the place prepared for
me, beside HaRav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, the rosh
yeshiva of Mir.
"Our generation needs someone like Reb Yechezkel for many
more years," said HaRav Chaim Shmuelevitz, the Mirrer rosh
yeshiva, who was present on the occasion.
This was in 5726 (1966), a year before the dramatic events of
the Six Day War. The Kosel, the Old City and Har Hazeisim
were all under Jordanian rule. No one had any thoughts about
being laid to rest on Har Hazeisim, the mountain opposite Har
Habayis, a mountain whose tombstones had been trampled for
eighteen years by Arab legionnaires. No one knew that exactly
a year later, Jews would once more be able to pour out their
prayers on the place from which the Shechina did not
move.
Three years after the petirah of his friend, Reb
Yechezkel was called up to the mesivta shel maalah. On
Wednesday, the 6th of Elul, 5729, the aron kodesh of
the Slabodke yeshiva was taken captive.
"Bury me on Har Hazeisim," was the request of the one who had
"donated" his grave in order to save the honor of his friend.
He was buried beside the grave of his illustrious father-in-
law, HaRav Moshe Mordechai Epstein.
With the Chofetz Chaim
HaRav Yechezkel Sarna merited to be very close to his mentor,
rabban shel Yisroel, the Chofetz Chaim, and for a year-
and-a-half lived beside him, when he moved from Radin to
Smilowitz, while the cannons of the First World War raged.
The events of World War One had an impact on the life of the
yeshiva, which was nonetheless like an island of daled
amos shel halocho in the vast ocean of blood and
tears.
One of the students, Ephraim Leibowitz, who had come from
Memel (a city on the German border), was suspected by the
Russians of espionage on behalf of Germany. According to the
emergency regulations, all German citizens had to appear
before the authorities, who would then transfer them to
Eastern Russia or to Siberia.
In the yeshiva of the Chofetz Chaim, at that time, there were
three students with German citizenship. Out of pity, the
yeshiva's administration ignored their citizenship and its
requirements, even as it feared the repercussions of their
being in the yeshiva illegally.
After the fast of the 17th of Tammuz 5675 (1915), calamity
occurred. In the middle of the night, agents of the KGB,
accompanied by police from Lida and Vilna, raided the home of
Reb Leib Matlis, the brother-in-law of the Chofetz Chaim,
where their suspect lived. During the search, a precise
sketch of the blueprint of the fortress in Kovno was "found"
among Leibowitz's belongings, on a piece of paper which had
been maliciously stuck into the student's pocket by one of
those very secret police.
The threat of death loomed over the student. He was expected
to be put to death within no more than a day or two. With
much effort and money, his trial was postponed. Many efforts
were also made which were finally successful in releasing Reb
Leib Matlis from the prison in which he had been detained for
a number of weeks as an accessory.
The boy's family came to plead with the Chofetz Chaim not to
be angry at him, and not to curse him. The Chofetz Chaim
replied that he never curses anyone.
It was two years later that the Chofetz Chaim learned that
Leibowitz was in a prison in Panze, and that his trial was
about to take place. It was precisely on Shemini Atzeres 5677
(1916) that a letter arrived with the news that Ephraim
Leibowitz was about to be tried. The following day, Simchas
Torah, when the Saba Kadisha was called up to the Torah, he
banged on the table and burst out into tears. "Ribono shel
olom," he cried. "Why do you let your sons suffer so? The
Torah which Ephraim studied with great hasmodoh is
before You, and now he is suffering terribly, even though he
has committed no crime."
Those present cried, while the Chofetz Chaim asked his son-in-
law to calm them, saying, "It's Simchas Torah today."
After the davening, the Chofetz Chaim sent a special
messenger to the well known lawyer, Oscar Gruzenberg of St.
Petersburg, who was famous as one of Russia's greatest
jurists. Gruzenberg had achieved his fame in some of the
biggest criminal trials of his time. In the Jewish world, he
became known for his defense of Beilis.
Gruzenberg, a Jew who barely knew about Yiddishkeit, tended
toward the radical left, and was far from the Jewish
experience. Along with this, he was a humanist, and was thus
always among the first to take the side of the downtrodden,
and as was natural in those times, they were often Jews who
suffered from pogroms, expulsions, blood libels and more.
This time, however, Gruzenberg refused to take the case. He
was afraid to become involved in a trial which was being held
in the wartime atmosphere of hostility to Jews and
Judaism.
Upon hearing the reply, the Chofetz Chaim decided that he
himself would go to see Gruzenberg about the case. On this
trip, he took his student, Reb Yechezkel Sarna, whom he
regarded as his confidante whom he could trust, and also Reb
Hillel Ginsburg. The trip was shrouded in mystery, and some
of its chapters aren't even known today. There were many
efforts about which Reb Yechezkel never said anything.
Nonetheless, many details about the journey did become known.
In time, it was related that Gruzenberg asked the Chofetz
Chaim if he could personally testify that the accused was
completely innocent of espionage.
The Chofetz Chaim replied that he was certain of this, and
that the very fact that a man as old as he had come all the
way from Shomiatz to St. Petersburg for that purpose, should
be proof enough of his own conviction.
"Rabbi," Gruzenberg said with emotion. "I'm pretty
young. But if you have the energy and vigor to make such a
dangerous trip then we, who lack such a feeling of
responsibility, should be considered old."
Then to his wife he said, in Russian: "In our times, when
life has so little value, would a Russian notable be willing
to embark on such a dangerous journey, just in order to save
a single young boy, who isn't even his relative?"
Gruzenberg apologized for a moment, and left the room. "He's
a good person," the Chofetz Chaim told those who had come
with him. "It's a pity he isn't oriented towards avodas
haBorei. If only he had been educated in a yeshiva . . .
"
Gruzenberg returned and announced that he could not accept
the defense of the young man. "I don't feel brave enough to
stand before a military court at this point," he said. "I
called a friend, non-Jewish lawyer, who agreed to accept the
case. He also thinks that it's best that the defending lawyer
be a Christian and not a Jew."
The trial was held in Vitebsk in Teves 5677 (1917), before a
military tribunal which was made up of three Russian
generals. On the day the trial opened, the Chofetz Chaim sent
telegrams to all of the yeshivos in Russia, to daven
and recite Tehillim. In his yeshiva, everyone
fasted.
The entire procedure of the trial is an amazing story. Among
the witnesses were HaRav Elchonon Wassermann, Reb Tzvi Hirsch
Levinson, the son-in-law of the Chofetz Chaim, and the
Chofetz Chaim himself.
Throughout the trial, the defense related accounts of the
sterling character of the Chofetz Chaim, in order to
illustrate the extent of his ethical level. Even when the
reliability of the stories was questioned by the judges or
the prosecution, the defense insisted that it is not only the
story itself which proves the point, but even the fact that
such a story is even told about him, even if it is not
precise.
The prosecution, for its part, explained that although the
honesty and sincerity of the Zidovski Rabinn was not
in doubt, all this still did not prove the innocence of
Leibowitz who, in his wily manner, had deceived his
mentor.
The accused was sentenced to death, but out of consideration
for his age, the sentence was commuted to twelve years in
prison, with hard labor.
The accused fainted in fear, and from the observer's benches,
wails were heard.
The students who left the court were shocked. They also
didn't know how to convey this to the Chofetz Chaim. Some
advised telling him that Leibowitz had been sentenced to only
two years in prison.
Reb Yechezkel was the one who broke the news to the Chofetz
Chaim, telling him that Leibowitz had not been sentenced to
death but to six years in prison.
It is related that the Chofetz Chaim ordered Reb Yechezkel to
lock the door of the room. Agitated, he looked to and fro,
and when he saw that there was no one else there, he
whispered to Reb Yechezkel: "What makes them certain that
they will continue to rule for even six more months?"
Two months passed, and Kerenski and his revolutionary
government took over the reins of government, while Czar
Nikolai was deposed and, a short while later, assassinated.
This was on the 22nd of Adar, 5677 (1927)!
Ephraim Leibowitz, the "Jewish spy," was freed along with
other political prisoners, thanks to the efforts of
Gruzenberg, and the yeshiva community.
In Brisk it was said that R' Chaim Soloveitchik had commented
on this story: "The Chofetz Chaim deposed Nikolai."
Reb Yechezkel took the remaining secrets to his eternal
rest.
His Biography
HaRav Yechezkel Sarna was born in Horodok Russia, in 5650
(1890). His father was R' Yaakov Chaim, a maggid
meishorim in Horodok and Slonim, who became famous for
his outstanding rhetoric as the maggid of Slonim. His
mother Eidel stemmed from the Buxenbaum family.
Like all of the other children of the period, he began his
education in the local cheder. His father, who
recognized young Yechezkel's talents, sent him when he was
still very young to various yeshivos in the area. Yechezkel
wandered from yeshiva to yeshiva, until his older brother,
Reb Leib finally brought him to Slabodke in Kovno, where he
began to study in the Or HaChaim yeshiva ketana, known
locally as Yeshivas Rebbe Herschel. The mashgiach at
that time, Reb Eliyahu Laicrovits, planted mussar
roots in young Yechezkel's heart.
Yechezkel remained in Slabodke for only a year. In 5662
(1902), he journeyed to Maltshe, where he studied under one
of the most famous Torah giants of the time, HaRav Zalman
Sender Kahana-Shapiro, who also presided as the Chief Rabbi
of Maltshe. Due to an inner conflict which occurred in the
yeshiva, Reb Zalman Sender left Maltshe, and transferred to
Kriniki. This was only a year after Yechezkel had arrived in
Maltshe. However, without a mentor, he too left Maltshe and
returned in 5663 to Slabodke, in order to study in Knesses
Beis Yitzchok, headed by HaRav Chaim Rabinowitz, who later on
became known as Rav Chaim of Telz. He was very fond of the
youth, who became bar mitzvah that year, and recognized his
brilliance of mind and swift grasp. When Rev Chaim was
invited to deliver shiurim in Telz, at the end of
5664, he included the young Yechezkel in the group of well
known Torah scholars who were schooled in halocho.
In the beginning of the winter of 5666 (1906), the young
Yechezkel once more returned to Maltshe, in order to study
under HaRav Shimon Shkop.
Another year passed, and Reb Shimon left Maltshe. Under the
influence of the son of the Alter, HaRav Shmuel Finkel, the
young Yechezkel, who was by then seventeen years old, decided
to return to Slabodke.
5667 (1907) was the most important year in the life of Reb
Yechezkel. His searching and wandering had ended, and he
decided to remain in Slabodke -- and he remained there until
his final day.
Slabodke itself wandered first to Eretz Yisroel in Chevron
the city of the forefathers, and then to Geula in
Yerushalayim, but he always remained in Slabodke. He never
left it. Regarding this, he later said that he was very
grateful to Reb Shmuel Finkel for having drawn him into the
Slabodke life.
End of Part I
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