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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
Rabbi Miller both loved and shunned the limelight. He loved
the limelight when it illuminated the message which he brought
to his audience. Yet he shunned the limelight when it shone on
him as a person. We must not forget this when recording a few
remarks about him as a person, and we have to keep in mind:
Will they bring a message to the reader? Will they inspire?
We hope that the following will inspire our readers with the
memory of one of the great teachers of our generation.
Part I
A Major Achievement
It has been said that the little Kehilloh of Gateshead
was a Teivoh built during the Mabul which
engulfed the Jewish world in the thirties. It is wondrous how
many living beings managed to come inside this Teivoh
and keep alive in a spiritual sense. Just as Noach had to
provide sustenance to all living beings, so too did R. Miller
provide spiritual sustenance to the bnos Yisroel in his
part of the Teivoh. Just as Noach exerted himself to his
utmost -- until he coughed blood [as Rashi explains] -- so too
did R. Miller stretch himself to his utmost, physical frailty
notwithstanding.
Despite R. Miller's multifaceted activities in harbotzas
Torah the focus of his activities was undoubtedly the
Seminary. From the perspective of an avreich it is hard
to describe the inner workings of his teachings there. One
achievement, however, towers so much above the rest that it is
visible to the entire Klal Yisroel:
Some years ago, a member of a heimishe shul in England
had married off two of his daughters to husbands who stayed in
learning after their chasunoh. When he told his neighbor
in shul that his third daughter had become engaged, the
neighbor exclaimed: "Mistome noch a kollel yungerman. Nu,
abi gezunt! (Probably another kollel avreich. Well,
at least let them be healthy.) Anyone who understands the
subtle nature of Yiddish understatement knows that the neighbor
was far from being impressed!
At that time, this man was the first baal habayis in his
shul to take a son-in-law who learned in kollel.
He was not disappointed and some of his sons-in-law have
become world famous talmidei chachomim. In recent years,
however, almost every member of that shul has married
his daughters to sons-in-law who commenced their married life
with full-time learning. (Heard from HaRav Matisyohu
Salomon)
R. Miller had a big role in this change. Together with his
colleagues, R. Miller elevated kovod haTorah. He
revolutionized the outlook and aspirations of a bas
Yisroel. Rather than share their lives with a young man
with a promising future in the professional world, his
talmidos learned to see their fulfillment in a marriage
which at least commences with full-time devotion to learning.
They realized that true spiritual bliss supersedes the glitter
of an assured comfortable parnosso.
His Message to his Talmidos
He used to say: We are not trying to teach girls mesiras
nefesh in terms of sacrifice. There is no real sacrifice.
We are just trying to show them where there is beauty, where
there is ta'anug, where there is real enjoyment of life
to its fullest -- to be bound to a ben Torah, to do
something for Torah. In his own family he aspired to sons and
sons-in-law who are bnei Torah. (Rav T. Miller in Hesped
in Gateshead)
It may perhaps be said that R. Miller was a general of Stage II
of the campaign to save Yiddishe daughters.
When daughters of Chassidishe homes started to go to opera-
houses, when German and Russian authors became their idols and
Goethe took the place of Chumash -- then Soroh Schenirer
o"h set out to save the sinking ship. At the behest of
her mentor and with assistance from gifted colleagues she began
to stem the tide. (One of her colleagues even wrote a book to
reconcile German literature with Torah -- such was the
nekudas habechiroh of Yiddishe daughters in those days
(heard from Dr. Judith Grunfeld o"h who taught in the
Cracow Seminary). This was Stage I.
It was left to the next (postwar) generation to elevate the
chinuch of bnos Yisroel; to generate in them a
love of Torah, an admiration of those who devote their life to
full- time study of the Torah. In response to this challenge,
R. Miller and his partners merited to guide his part of the
Teivoh from the brink of the abyss to hitherto unknown
heights.
Several years ago he visited HaRav Shach shlita. HaRav
Shach said to R. Miller: "People think that you have only saved
the girls. The fact is that you have also saved the yeshivos.
If girls would not be prepared to marry bnei Torah, what
would the Yeshivos look like! Please could you give me a
brochoh!" (Rav E. E. Miller in hesped in
London)
Overcoming Physical Suffering
The Rambam writes (beginning of Hilchos Talmud Torah):
"Everybody is obliged to learn Torah . . . whether healthy or
afflicted with painful diseases." In the case of no other
mitzvoh do we find that the Rambam should state the obvious:
Even a sick person is obligated to carry out a mitzvas asei.
Why did he find it necessary to state it regarding
talmud Torah?
Reb Leib Gurwitz zt"l explains (in sefer Meorei
She'orim): Learning Torah requires a clear mind, as the
gemora (Megilla 28b) says. One might have thought that a
baal yissurim cannot have a clear mind and is thus
absolved from the mitzvoh.
Why, indeed, is he obliged? The answer is that if a person
wants something with all his heart and soul, he is able to
concentrate on it. The mitzvoh of talmud Torah is so
great, so paramount, that a person has to break through even
the distractions of illness with the strength of his will in
order to learn. Rav Miller, it may be said, was a prime example
of this.
He suffered from a variety of ailments. You name it -- he had
it! Heart trouble, asthma, arthritis in an advanced stage,
failing kidneys, bone problems, spine problems, eye problems
etc. His fingers were disfigured. He could not turn his neck,
and walked with difficulty.
At the age of seventy-five he once remarked to a group of
avreichim [who had a shiur with him in the
seforim of the Maharal, Ramchal, and others]: "Of all my
limbs and faculties, Hashem left me with two which still work
properly: The mind and the mouth. Surely He wants me to carry
on my task in life. To this end He has preserved the function
of these two parts of my body."
To him one could aptly apply the posuk: "From the sole
of the foot to the head, nothing in him is whole . . . "
(Eichoh). (Rav T. Miller at the Hesped in Gateshead)
One might add: The posuk continues: ". . . only injury,
bruise and festering wound; they have not been treated and they
have not been bandaged." The Malbim explains the dimensions of
the disaster which had befallen the "patient" (Klal
Yisroel): What is good for the relief of one condition can
act like poison to another condition. When a person suffers
from so many multiple diseases, the treatment of one illness
often makes another illness worse. For example, medicines
essential for pain and heart ailments may be detrimental to the
stomach and kidneys.
Yet Rav Miller exerted himself to his utmost for Torah and
mitzvos. He would rise extra early in the morning in order to
daven with a minyan. It took him a long time to get
ready as he wanted to avoid relying on other people's help as
much as possible. He lost sleep and he strained himself to get
to his fixed minyan at the Gateshead Kollel although
there was a closer alternative.
When admitted into the hospital shortly before Rosh Hashanah
with a difficult condition, he was asked to stay over Rosh
Hashanah. Rav Miller said to his family: "The doctors do not
understand how extraordinarily important davening on the
Yomim Noraim is for me. Therefore they don't realize how
positively unhealthy it would be for me to lose this
opportunity."
And always, after a full day filled with shiurim and all
that goes with leading the Seminary, he found within himself
the physical and mental resources to learn gemora in
depth with cheishek.
His approach is best illustrated by an explanation which he
himself gave in shiurim: We say in Pirkei Ovos:
Ten miracles were done for our ancestors in the Beis Hamikdash.
[One was that] rain did not extinguish the fire on the
Mizbeiach. Why could Hashem not "simplify" the miracle by
preventing the rain from descending on top of the Mizbeiach?
Answered R. Miller: This way teaches us a lesson: Even if it
rains, Avodah carries on. Nothing is allowed to disturb
Avodah.
It may perhaps be said: R. Miller practiced what he preached.
In his own life he personified this explanation.
R. Miller's ongoing battle with physical limitations should
also be viewed from a different perspective:
The meforshim ask: Our forefathers in the Middle Ages
sacrificed their lives al Kiddush Hashem. They slit
their children's throats to prevent them from being baptized.
(See the Tosafos Gittin 57b, Tosafos Avoda Zora
18a and Ritvo there, who write that one may kill a child who is
in danger of falling into a situation wherein he or she will
transgress the three aveiros that are yeihoreig ve'al
ya'avor.) If so, in what way then was Avrohom's Akeidoh
a greater test than the temptations which his lesser
descendants withstood?
Some meforshim answer: The essence of Avrohom's being
was to excel in doing kindness: "chesed le'Avrohom". The
Akeidoh required Avrohom to act otherwise -- to be cruel
rather than kind; to kill rather than to keep alive. The
Akeidoh was tailor-made to test Avrohom at the point
where it was most difficult for him.
R. Miller too had his little -- or not so little --
Akeidoh. Everybody could see his physical suffering.
Everybody could see how he would struggle to open a sefer
to the right page. Everybody could see how he could not
turn his head because of the collar around his neck which he
had to wear day and night. But for a person as retiring as he
to be thrust into the limelight because of his debilitating
condition, to be watched intently as he was struggling with the
door handle, or to be the head of a slow procession crawling up
the stairway to davening, that was surely another
dimension of agony. Who knows what was harder: the
psychological result of the physical limitations or the
limitations themselves?
Perseverance in Delivery of Shiurim and Learning
Session
The posuk says: "Those who pin their hopes on Hashem
renew their strength" (Yeshaya 40). On the other hand we
find: The Torah weakens a person's strength (Sanhedrin
26b). There is no contradiction here. Indeed the Torah can
weaken physical prowess, but people who trust in Hashem put
their powers into those things that Hashem likes. For those
matters they are granted renewed and redoubled strength. If a
person really wants to achieve something with all his will, he
will find the ability to do so.
This is the explanation as to how a person as ill as R. Miller
could keep his commitments with such steadfastness. He kept his
chavrusas despite great illness. Debilitating conditions
which would have provided many a person with a reason to take
off from learning, were apparently not strong enough for a
person whose love for Torah burned stronger within him than all
his painful diseases.
His long-time partner in leading the Seminary, Reb Avrohom Kohn
z"l, is reported to have said to him: "If you really
don't feel well, do not feel obliged to come and give the
shiurim in the Sem."
R. Miller answered with a twinkle in his eye: "If so, I never
have to come in!"
When he learned, no disturbances were allowed to intrude. Even
a relative, a choshuv talmid chochom who had come from
out of town, had to wait till the end of the learning session.
Even when one of his children called from abroad, feelings of
closeness with the family did not override his chavrusoh.
Even when one of his colleagues called with Seminary
matters, only urgent calls were allowed to intrude upon his
kevius.
A family member noted that the posuk for his name was
Moh ohavti Sorosecho, kol hayom hi sichosi. This
posuk indeed summed up the essence of his being. (Rav M.
Trepp at Hesped at end of shivoh)
In his hesped for Reb Avrohom Kohn z"l, R. Miller
mentioned the former's complete devotion in terms of time,
allocation of kochos and total interest to the mosad
for which he worked. Truly the same could be said of R.
Miller's perseverance in giving shiurim and general
leadership of the Seminary.
Normally hasmodoh is understood to mean learning 60
minutes out of every hour. However, R. Miller showed us a
further aspect of hasmodoh: perseverance and regularity.
R. Miller kept the same chavrusoh for gemora for
over 40 years! Through the hills and the valleys of life,
through the busy and the tranquil periods, he carried on and on
with the same learning companion on his voyage through the "sea
of the Talmud."
Another kevius with an outstanding talmid chochom
carried on for 18 years! Both chavrusas were
terminated only by his petiroh. Hasmodoh also means
perseverance and regularity. This measure of hasmodoh is
truly astonishing. (His son-in-law R. Y. Moore in a hesped
in Gateshead Yeshiva Lezeirim)
HaRav Shach shlita noted in the margin of his personal
copy of sefer Avi Ezri the following words of the Rashbo
in maseches Shabbos: Vehizoharu befeirush zeh ki betorach
godol nigleh lonu -- Learn this explanation with care
because only with great toil was it revealed to us.
Does the Rashbo (chas vesholom) have to blow his own
trumpet? Of course not! In reality he wanted to do a favor to
the talmid. If one is told how much the great Rashbo had
to toil in order to find the right explanation, he will look at
his words differently. He will think: "If the Rashbo with his
great mind had to toil so hard until he arrived at the correct
explanation, it cannot be simple. We should certainly exert
ourselves and ponder his words to make sure that we understand
them." (Sha'arei Oroh on Devorim II, parshas
Eikev)
The whole experience of R. Miller's shiur shouted out in
so many words: "Take care! Giving shiurim is a
tremendous effort for me."
The message came over as: How important must Torah be if it
merits such toil. How worthwhile must it be to ponder about
what he said, if it means so much to him.
Moreover, one felt it when watching him: How much must the
Rebbe love the Torah if he is prepared to overcome his
suffering in order to deliver the shiur. Does this not
indicate: The joy of Torah is greater than the suffering.
From Manmade Law to G-dly Law
"Reb Yochanan was walking up from Tiveriya to Tzipori. Reb
Chiyoh bar Aboh supported him in his walking. They came to a
field. Said Reb Yochanan: "This field used to belong to me and
I sold it so that I could occupy myself with learning Torah."
They came to a vineyard. Said Reb Yochanan: "This vineyard used
to belong to me and I sold it so that I could occupy myself
with learning Torah." They came to an olive tree plantation.
Again Reb Yochanan told him the same thing.
Reb Chiyoh started to cry. Said Reb Yochanan to him: "Why are
you crying?"
Answered Reb Chiyoh: "I cry because you left yourself nothing
for your old age."
Said Reb Yochanan: "Is it a light matter in your eyes what I
have done! I sold something which was given in six days for
Torah which was given in forty days."
When Reb Yochanan died [people in] his generation applied the
following posuk to him: "If a man would give away all
his possessions" -- with the love with which Reb Yochanan had
loved the Torah "he will merit the booty of the battle of Gog
and Mogog." (Midrash Shir Hashirim Rabbah 8:7, according
to Eitz Yosef commentary)
R. Miller held a postgraduate degree in law. He had a promising
future in the professional world. His uncle had a law firm in
London and with his great talents he would have been given a
good position. But he gave it all up in order to spend his life
al haTorah ve'al ho'avodoh. (In later years he used to
say jokingly the following (approximately): I used to be
engaged in pursuit of the law of profits, now I am engaged in
the pursuit of the law of the prophets.)
In this he emulated his Rebbe's way. He had seen how Rav
Dessler had breathed and lived Shlomo Hamelech's hashkofoh
of haveil havolim regarding earthly matters.
In a letter someone remarked in a degrading way as if bnei
Torah lack the degree of sophistication that comes with
secular studies. R. Miller answered: No one can say what is
greater, chochmas haTorah or any other chochmoh,
unless he is a master of both. I feel that I am someone who
can tell you where chochmoh really is, where depth
really is, where ta'anug really is. And I can tell you:
Of all the chochmos of the nations there does not really
exist anything that is comparable to the chochmoh
contained in one line of gemora. (Heard from a
member of the family)
His hashkofoh was borne out by what he aspired to in his
own family. None of his sons, daughters or sons-in-law pursued
a higher course of secular education. Every one of them chose
Toroso umanuso. To all of them R. Miller accorded great
respect -- for their way in life was his ideal too. When he
looked for a son-in-law, he looked for somebody he could look
up to. What mattered to him were the words of the Rambam: ". .
. that the daughter marries a talmid chochom. This is
the fulfillment of the mitzvah of cleaving unto Hashem."
R. Miller quoted Reb Yonoson Eibeshitz (in his sefer Kreisi
Upleisi) in his explanation of why an extra limb renders
the animal treifoh (kol yeser kenotul domi): If there
is an extra limb attached to the body, it means that the body
systems have to work harder in order to sustain the life of
this extra limb. However, they were only endowed with the
ability to sustain a normal body and thus the extra load will
run down the body systems.
Said R. Miller: Everybody's faculties and abilities have a
limit. If a person wants to have everything in life, he will in
the end remain bereft of everything. A human body is just not
made in a way to enable him to do everything. He has to choose:
Are his main interests in gashmiyus or in
ruchniyus?
R. Miller himself -- as a family member pointed out -- had the
broadness of mind to have been able to turn his attention to
many varied spheres of activity, including also some talmud
Torah (as a sideline). Yet he chose to direct his faculties
completely to meleches Shomayim to the exclusion of
other pursuits. (He used to quip: If you are too broad-minded
your mind might fall out!)
Chazal tell us: R' Akiva had 24,000 talmidim. They all
died within a short period. "And the world was desolate" (of
Torah). R' Akiva commenced again with only five (!)
talmidim. From those five talmidim, Torah
flourished again. How did R' Akiva have the moral strength to
start from nothing and bring about a rebirth of Torah? Because
he himself had revolutionized his own lifestyle. He used to be
a shepherd and decided to devote his life completely to Torah.
He changed himself, so he could change others.
When our world was "desolate of Torah" after churban Europe
R. Miller was among those who started from nothing to bring
about a rebirth of hashkofas haTorah in Bnos Yisroel.
How could he attempt such a task? Because he had rechannelled
the tide of his life from dedication of his abilities to
success in a profession to total dedication of his abilities to
Torah. If he could change himself, he was granted the ability
to change others. (Heard in the name of R. Y. M. Halpern)
His Rebbe's Mouthpiece
Indeed, R. Dessler had but a handful of close talmidim
in England, especially from his pre-Gateshead days. Three
of these invested years and great chochmoh in preparing
his works for publication. A third, R. Miller, disseminated his
Rebbi's Torah as Torah shebe'al peh as well as through
his three English seforim and two Hebrew seforim
of shiurei Shabbos and shiurei yom tov. Over
the years R. Miller gave over R. Dessler's Torah orally to
thousands of talmidim and talmidos. It may be
fair to say that in terms of numbers reached by the spoken
word, R. Miller disseminated Rav Dessler's Torah to more
listeners than any other disciple.
Hashkofoh Shiur
R. Miller used to give a fortnightly shiur on
hashkofoh to bochurim of Gateshead Yeshiva
Gedola. This shiur filled a void, a vital need, despite
the many varied shiurim by great talmidei
chachomim which were given in the Yeshiva.
In what way?
There were many deeply sincere bochurim who learned
seriously. Yet for one reason or another they arrived in the
Yeshiva imbued with a long-held belief [to put it bluntly]: The
Torah is (chas vesholom) not "with it." The Torah cannot
compete in intellectual depth with the arts and sciences they
had been taught before they came to Yeshiva. The Torah does not
really relate to twentieth century life. This was the attitude
of more than one of the sincere yeshiva bochurim.
Along came R. Miller. His personality and his shiurim
demolished these fallacies. He discussed space exploration,
"Science and Moral Progress," Racism, and many other more
"traditional" issues. He changed their whole outlook. The depth
of his shiurim showed the beauty of the Torah's depth.
Their content showed the relevance of Torah to modern life. His
way of giving it over showed how a talmid chochom can be
"with it."
Other bochurim came with a heimishe hashkofoh,
but they, too, were eager to hear the answers to modern
questions.
Indeed his combination of breadth and profundity of knowledge
was dazzling. And it greatly elevated toras ho'aggodoh
from the way it was perceived by us ex-children -- a
springboard for a vort at the Shabbos table -- and it
took its rightful place alongside toras hahalochoh.
His shiurim, both his weekly Shabbos shiur (some
of which have been published in English and Hebrew) and in
particular the midweek shiur on hashkofo, were
really "bread and butter" of a Yiddishe Weltanschauung.
But more than that: they actually put many a bochur
on the right track for his whole future. There were many
who changed their career plans, their whole purpose in life,
due in no small measure to R. Miller's shiurim. They had
the ability, they had powers of concentration and intelligence.
But it was due to him that these were channeled towards
talmud Torah.
One bochur listened six times to the whole two-year
cycle of hashkofoh-shiurim -- once live and five times
from tape. He later noted that it helped him to "keep above
water" in difficult times, in times of great
nisyonos.
First he heard them while in Yeshiva. Later on -- in his
college years -- he heard them during the ride to university,
then on the ride home from university, as immersion in the
waters of mei hada'as (to use the Rambam's expression);
in fact even when brushing his teeth! Indeed they helped him to
come back to the world of learning.
Another aspect of the hashkofoh-shiurim was also
remarkable. Although he had so much to be mechadesh
himself, and every maggid shiur enjoys giving over
his own novel insights, R. Miller limited himself almost
exclusively in the midweek shiur to give over the
hashkofos just as he had heard them from his own
Rebbe. When one looked afterwards into the Michtav
MeEliahu it was all there -- but it had come to life
because of the way he said it and felt it.
It says in parshas Beha'alosecho (10,2): Asei lecho
shetei chatzotzeros kesef, vehoyu lecho lemikro ho'eidoh.
Rashi comments that the chatzotzeros which Moshe Rabbenu
made for himself could not be used for another generation.
HaRav Leib Gurwitz used to explain in the name of HaRav
Abramski: The content of the message is timeless. It's the same
in every generation. But the keli, the way in which it
is presented, must be attuned to the generation. The tune may
be the same, but the instrument is different. And so the
chatzotzeros which served Moshe Rabbenu so well are
posul for the next generation. A new means must be
found. (Meorei She'orim in a hesped on HaRav Y.
Abramski)
In the same way R. Miller was the timely chatzotzeros
who gave over the timeless message. All those who benefited
from his spoken [and published] word will always be grateful
that the Hashgocho Elyonoh placed the right individual
in the right position lemikro ho'eidoh, to "call the
congregation" to dvar Hashem.
End of Part I
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