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13 Kislev 5762 - November 28, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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MARAN HARAV SHACH ZTVK'L
Thirty Days Since His Passing
Special Section

If One Would Give all his Wealth for the Love that Maran zt"l Loved the Torah, they would not Believe It
by HaRav Meir Heisler, transcribed by Rafael Berlson

HaRav Heisler, a veteran disciple of Maran ztvk'l, related a succession of amazing stories about the ameilus, yegio and ahavas haTorah of Maran Sar HaTorah ztvk'l. Twice during the speech, Rav Heisler's voice broke, choked with tears; his love for Maran permeated the room.

By way of introduction: I am only mentioning examples from Maran ztvk'l's life for a simple reason. Can I eulogize Maran ztvk'l? A eulogy cannot do justice. I can only "mention facts" -- not eulogize, but tell stories to the listeners precisely as they occurred.

"How does chibut hakever feel?" Maran ztvk'l used to ask. How can we make tangible for ourselves here in olam hazeh what chibut hakever means?

Maran ztvk'l answered like this: "A Yid is lying in his bed Friday night and a Tosafos in Kerisus is bothering him [tumelt im] in his head. He does not remember what the baalei Tosafos say; it is dark in the house and he cannot turn on the light. The Yid is tossing and turning from side to side the whole night -- this is chibut hakever!"

Maran ztvk'l did not just say "maiselach"; he said everything from deep in his heart. His true essence, his emes, was Torah and ahavas haTorah. Many in our generation were zoche to Torah, and even ahavas haTorah, but it is still Torah-and-something-else. Maran ztvk'l was only Torah, nothing else. This was the essence of his existence: Torah.

There is no logical explanation bederech hateva for all of Maran's communal leaderships. It was a special gift from Shomayim, as Chazal say that from anyone who learns Torah for its own sake "we enjoy from him counsel and wisdom."

I remember the period earlier, before the burden of the community was upon Maran ztvk'l; then he did not get involved in anything. During this period, an avreich came to him and complained about a certain breach in Tiveria. Maran ztvk'l agreed to investigate the matter, but he asked the avreich in pain how he knew about it. "Why don't I know about it?" The avreich must have been lacking in hasmodoh.

Did You Eat Breakfast?

Maran's total involvement in Torah was "not normal." When he learned in Slutsk, he used to eat breakfast at his host's home and immediately run to yeshiva to learn. When he entered the beis medrash, he "grabbed" a shtender and sat down to learn while still in motion.

HaRav Isser Zalman Meltzer zt'l used to relate that the local Bolsheviks noticed this yeshiva bochur who used to run somewhere every day at the same time. They suspected him, so they followed him. They saw him run into a building, sit down and shokel. They did not understand this strange behavior but began to mockingly copy this Jewish youth. The Bolsheviks used to run quickly, sit down and shokel.

Once Maran zt'l showed us a difficult Ramban in Bovo Kamo. The next morning I met Maran ztvk'l, and he asked me, "Did you eat breakfast?"

I answered, "Yes."

"Did you sleep well last night?"

I answered, "Boruch Hashem."

"And yesterday did you eat supper?"

"Yes, boruch Hashem," I replied.

"And you aren't embarrassed?" Maran ztvk'l continued. "I showed you a difficult Ramban in Milchamos." He then told me how many nights this Ramban disturbed his sleep. "And you ate supper, you slept well at night and you ate breakfast! You aren't embarrassed?" The words were demanding.

About forty years ago Rebbetzin Gittel a'h was hospitalized in Tel HaShomer hospital where she underwent difficult treatment. Immediately after netz, I went with Maran zt'l to the hospital. He had accepted upon himself to fast that day. It was very hot and the entire day he was pacing back and forth. When the doctors came out, he asked them how the Rebbetzin was doing and then went back to his thoughts.

He did not speak to me the entire day, twelve hours straight. The heat was unbearable and even I could not stand on my feet. The Ponevezher Rov zt'l came to visit, spoke to Maran zt'l very briefly and left, telling me, "You don't have to speak to him now, it's disturbing his learning."

At night we went back home to Bnei Brak. As soon as we arrived, Maran zt'l sat down at the table and started to write a shtikel Torah on the Rambam perek beis (or maybe perek hei) from Hilchos Malve Veloveh. Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. Suddenly he said that he felt like he was going to faint and asked for water.

Ki Vom Chiyisonu

A few decades ago, before he was to undergo a complicated surgery, Maran zt'l was working on a gemora about "a Kohen performed avodoh in tumoh . . . pirchei kehuno take him out to the azoroh and mefitzin es mocho."

After the surgery, while still under anesthesia, Maran zt'l suddenly began to wave his hands fiercely and wonder, "What's the pshat in mefitzin es mocho, where was this halocho taken from?"

The medical apparatus became disconnected from him, and the doctors were forced to tie his hands down. HaRav Dovid Povarsky zt'l said then, "I knew that he was shoku'a in learning. But I did not realize it was to such an extent that even under anesthesia, he thought about what he was learning previously."

Rav Yitzchok Zalaznik told me that the meetings of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah were held in HaRav Isser Zalman Meltzer's house. [In those days HaRav Shach was not a member of the Moetzes, but] Maran zt'l used to come to the house often to speak in learning with his uncle. When the gedolim came for a meeting, Maran zt'l used to leave the room and go to the seforim room, where he sat and learned. He did not want to sit and listen to the very interesting discussions. He was completely engrossed in learning from head to toe, with all his heart and soul.

Did Maran zt'l ever tell you about his difficulties as a yeshiva bochur?

One afternoon he came to yeshiva exhausted, and collapsed into a chair. I asked where the Rosh Yeshiva was coming from and he told me that he had walked from Givatayim. "There was a levaya of a Yid there."

I asked who the Yid was and Maran zt'l told me that he knew him from a village in which he had learned as a bochur. I asked Maran zt'l if he couldn't have traveled by bus? He answered, "The niftar deserved that I go on foot. I'll tell you how I know him."

Maran zt'l then told me that when he was a bochur [probably in 5675 (1915) or 5676 (1916)], he sat in a beis medrash and learned. He related that for many years he wore the same clothes and his shoes were full of holes. "The toes used to stick out of the shoes.

"I could do without food," Maran zt'l related, "but at night it was very cold. Other bochurim used to grab the place near the stove, but I didn't. I used to lie on a bench in bitter cold. One day, a Yid came in and gave me an old coat to cover myself with, and from then on I had it good. Today was the levaya of that Yid; he deserves that I go by foot for him."

Maran zt'l related that he learned with Reb Aharon Kotler zt'l for twelve years. "Then, I learned."

What is Wednesday?

The shiurim were his deepest concern. From Monday afternoon no one could go into Maran zt'l, because he was preparing his shiur for Tuesday. My apartment was opposite his and I saw that on the nights before shiur, he did not sleep. I once said to him in the course of conversation something about Wednesday. He asked, "What is Wednesday?"

I didn't understand the question. He explained, "I know two days of the week: Tuesday, which is shiur day, and Shabbos Kodesh."

The Rebbetzin a'h told me that after shiur he had to change his clothes because they were soaked with the sweat of rischo deOraisa. As an aside: On the day of the shiur, Maran zt'l used to go to the mikveh. There was a period in which I accompanied him to the Chofetz Chaim mikveh.

To illustrate to what extent the shiur was in his soul I'll tell the following story. During the change in government in Eretz Yisroel [in 1977 when the Likud was elected for the first time in the almost 30 years since the founding of the State], there was a meeting to decide who the chareidi representatives would support. The decision was left to Maran zt'l. When he left the meeting, media representatives, etc. were standing there, and there was great excitement. I approached Maran zt'l and asked him if the Rosh Yeshiva came out of the meeting pleased. He said to me, "How can I be pleased -- I still don't have shiur for Tuesday." This was on Thursday.

Uvelechtecho Baderech

Once, after an important meeting in Yerushalayim, a number of communal activists were going to travel with Maran zt'l to Bnei Brak. Maran zt'l valued his precious time during the trip, but did not want to offend the activists. So before he entered the car, he told everyone that he enjoyed traveling because "my best shiurim, I prepare on trips." They all understood the hint, and he spent the trip completely engrossed in a sugya.

Even when Maran zt'l was talking to someone, he himself was in another world. He said himself that he learned how to speak to people and think in learning at the same time!

Did he elaborate on this talent?

If I knew how he did it, I would also do it, as in "If I knew him, I would be him." Someone who learns Torah lishmoh and is active in communal affairs lishmoh is zoche that there is no contradiction between the two.

Maran's hasmodoh was unbelievable. One time he came back from the hospital after tests, drained. His feet barely carried him. He walked to the seforim shrank, took out a gemora, put it on the table, and collapsed into bed.

Toras Emes

Usually, a group of the best bochurim went to Maran zt'l on Wednesday morning to talk to him about the shiur. In one shiur, he said a pshat on the Rashbo. The next day, a brilliant bochur came to him and said a different pshat on the Rashbo. Maran zt'l asked him to repeat himself a few times and then called the group of bochurim and said, "Listen, the pshat I told you yesterday on the Rashbo is a good pshat, but the true pshat you'll hear from this bochur."

He called the bochur by his name and said, "Zog. Shemt zich nisht." (Say. Don't be embarrassed.)

In the middle of one shiur, a young bochur asked a question that implied that the loshon of the Tosafos was not like Maran's words. Maran zt'l closed the gemora and said to the bochur, "You are right."

Afterwards he told us, "Was it impossible to answer the question? I could have answered it easily -- but it wouldn't have been emes!" As the Chazon Ish zt'l wrote to him in his famous letter, "Truth is very beloved to him."

The first time Maran zt'l met the Chazon Ish zt'l, the Chazon Ish told him, "We know you from your shtikel Torah on Ha'anoko in Knesses Yisroel [a Torah journal]." The Chazon Ish was very impressed by the article. Is this a good approbation? Definitely.

But when we compiled the sheets of the Avi Ezri with Rav Shmuel Deutsch, Maran zt'l did not want to put in the shtikel Torah that was published in Knesses Yisroel. He said the words were not glatt to him. I asked him, "Didn't the Chazon Ish like it?"

He answered, "True; but to me the words I wrote are not glatt."

This is a high level of emes, and this is possible only to someone whom "the truth is very beloved to him." This emes accompanied Maran zt'l on all fronts. He considered sheker the worst thing! If he ever caught someone lying, he did not speak to him again.

@Bullet Section=Shemt Zich

The municipality of Bnei Brak gives out prizes for writing Torah seforim. When Maran zt'l published a volume of Avi Ezri, they offered him the prize. His financial situation was very difficult but he refused to accept the prize. The municipality really wanted Maran zt'l to agree to accept the prize and they sent me to speak to him about it. The list was to be completed on Sunday, and they sent me to him on Friday.

Maran zt'l had a certain air of tranquility on Fridays. When I went into him, he spoke to me tenderly and sweetly and asked if I already covered the cholent. When I merely mentioned the prize, he began to tremble and screamed at me, "You should be embarrassed. This is what you are offering? To take a prize for learning!? This is why I learned? To get prizes? Aren't you embarrassed? This is what you offer me on a Friday afternoon. Shemt zich! (You should be ashamed!)"

(If I recall correctly, his eyes were streaming with tears. I just remember the incident and am overcome with fear.) I told him the name of a great talmid chochom, whom I knew Maran zt'l admired, who took the prize. He dismissed it with, "It was not ehrlich of him to do that."

A Punched Bus Card

When he became very weak in his later years, Maran zt'l used to wonder what he would bring to Beis Din Shel Ma'alo. Someone who frequented his house said, "What about the Avi Ezri?"

He answered, "The Avi Ezri is a good sefer. But I already had fame from it. You should know that anything that is publicized in this world is not worth anything in the next world." (I think he described something famous as having the value of a fully punched-out bus card -- a oisgeklapteh carteh.)

One time I was looking for Maran zt'l. I went to his house and they told me he went to yeshiva. I went to yeshiva and they told me he went home, and so forth a few times. The Rebbetzin a'h said, "I think he has a kushyo." That's why he came home to look in a sefer, went back to yeshiva and then back home when he needed another sefer.

"But I think," she continued, "that he already has a teretz."

I asked her how she knew and she said that the last time he came home, she saw him open a sefer and sigh in relief. I went out to the street where I met Maran zt'l. He immediately said to me, "Oy. I had a shlechter tog, a hard day. I couldn't find the pshat in gemora."

I asked him, "And how does the Rosh Yeshiva feel now?"

"Now much better."

Ahavoh Rabboh

The medrash says, "Rabbi Yochanan passed away. His generation said of him -- If a man would give his entire fortune for the ahava that Rabbi Yochanan loved the Torah, it [the fortune] would be nothing!" (Medrash Rabboh, Yayikro 30:1) Why does it say "his generation said of him?" It would have been more fitting to say "the eulogizer said of him." But, the entire generation stood, watched and saw how Rabbi Yochanan loved the Torah to such an extent that if a man would give his entire fortune, it would be nothing in comparison.

Of Maran zt'l as well, everyone saw, the entire generation saw his ahavas haTorah! I remember how Maran zt'l stood on the street Shabbos morning, stopped passersby and asked them to explain a shtikel on the Ramban. There are many who love Torah, but many love other things as well. Maran zt'l loved only Torah, only the blatt gemora.

When HaRav Shmuel Deutsch was young, he complained to Maran zt'l that he does not come up with chiddushim while learning. "I am jealous of you," Maran zt'l told him. "You can learn in peace, but I `get stuck' all the time."

Maran zt'l continued, "If I were an ehrlicher Yid, I would sit and learn all day in order; Eilu metzi'os shelo ve'eilu chayov lehachriz, daf after daf, one after the other."

About thirty years ago, Maran zt'l told me that he has a proof that he is weakened. Until then he was not able to fall asleep while in the middle of a sugya; his brain continued working energetically. He had to take a break from his sugya by learning a light sefer. "But lately, I fall asleep while in the middle of a sugya."

Torah in Taharoh

The focal point of his soul was Torah in taharoh, that this corner of kedushoh remain clear and clean. There was once a gathering for elementary school graduates. Maran zt'l traveled there and spoke to the parents, urging them to send their children only to institutions run al taharas hakodesh. He described all the good that would envelop them if their son would learn in a yeshiva kedoshah.

This was his "essence" -- yeshiva kedoshah in taharoh. Maran zt'l once said about the Mashgiach zt'l that he was the biggest oved Hashem he has ever seen. After the Mashgiach passed away, Maran zt'l did not allow anyone to say shmuessen in the place the Mashgiach said his shmuessen. Maran zt'l trembled and said, "We have to continue giving shmuessen, but in the Mashgiach's place?!"

From then on, the shmuessen were not given in the yeshiva's beis medrash. This is how he related to all matters in the yeshiva kedoshah.

There was a well-founded suspicion that a certain institution was going to hire a man who had false dei'os. Maran zt'l and the Steipler zt'l wrote a letter against the institution and instructed parents not to send their children there. A certain talmid chochom met me then and asked, "On what basis did they prohibit this institution? After all, it is only a suspicion, without proof."

I told him, "First of all the Rambam rules in many instances "yir'eh li" (it seems to me), without any proofs from the gemora, only based on his broad wisdom. Second of all, I'll ask you a question: If the suspicion became reality and that man became part of the institution's staff, would you have slept at night?"

He answered yes.

I told him that this is the difference. Maran zt'l would not have been able to sleep at night; even in a case of sofeik, he wouldn't have slept at night!

I gave him a tangible example of a father who has fifteen children. When one of them wakes up coughing at night, he's taken care of with a "cover yourself better or take a drink." But someone who has a ben yochid, when his son starts coughing, both parents immediately run to his bed, take his temperature and make a whole fuss. We treat yeshivos as the fifteenth child, who comes after a wife, other children, other matters. But to Maran zt'l, the yeshivos were his ben yochid, and even a "little cough" upset him greatly.

Bereishis Boro Elokim

Maran zt'l heard about a cheder that stopped teaching the children parshas Bereishis, because it was too difficult. Instead they started from parshas Lech Lecho.

He called up and cried like a little boy, "You don't learn Bereishis with the children?! If the Chofetz Chaim was alive he would put you in cheirem! I am living from the "Bereishis" of my kinderishe yuren (childhood years)."

In response to the claim that children don't understand parshas Bereishis, Maran zt'l asked, "And does the principal of the cheder understand Bereishis today?"

The question remains: How many Yidden sit and cry because they heard that a certain cheder changed the accepted way of teaching? Why don't others cry? Because for them, Torah is the fifteenth child.

"Blessed is the One Who gave his world to watch guards." Who are these watch guards? The devoted father to whom the Torah is literally his ben yochid! He is the loyal watch guard. This was the root of all of Maran's actions. When someone tries to harm my ben yochid, I fight with all my soul and might.

There is a vort from the Ksav Sofer on the posuk, "Lema'an achai verei'ai adabro no sholom boch; lema'an beis Hashem Elokeinu avaksho tov loch." When one is dealing with personal matters, he speaks about peace. But regarding matters of beis Elokeinu, he must seek good -- that which is good for Hashem!

This is how Maran zt'l conducted himself. In his personal matters, he was literally like a doormat. He once helped a certain activist in a communal battle. After he won, the activist came to Maran zt'l and offered to give his granddaughter, who had recently gotten married, a job. Maran zt'l was shocked and said, "I didn't ask for this. I think it is an injustice! My granddaughter just got married; there are families with children who need livelihood. It is an injustice to put her before them."

I heard this story from the activist involved, who was very surprised. He told me, "Many good people ask me to arrange a job for their family members. I never saw this in my life."

Both Old and Young

Maran zt'l taught Torah to everyone. He did not stay in yeshiva during lunch hour and I thought that he went home to eat and rest. Once I came to his house and saw that he was sitting and learning with his grandsons, on a regular basis.

For a long time, Maran zt'l used to say shiur in Yeshiva Porat Yosef in Katamon, which was for very young bochurim, bar mitzvoh age. Once he gave a shiur about migo, and after the shiur he asked me if the boys understood it. I told him that I didn't know, but in any case the shiur itself had a good purpose. Maran zt'l agreed, and he put in much effort to come time after time.

He had a respected shiur in the respected yeshiva of Ponovezh, and he traveled to Yerushalayim to say shiur to young boys because it might be to a good purpose.

In general, Maran's devotion to his students was superlative. Once a bochur, whose parents were not chareidi, got into a fight with his parents. The bochur was at fault. Maran zt'l had high fever then, and his son-in- law, HaRav Bergman, told him in the course of conversation that this bochur was walking around under the apartment. Maran zt'l immediately got dressed and started to go down to the bochur. The family tried to stop him, of course, because he was sick. But Maran zt'l insisted. He said, "I must speak to the bochur."

They told him that they could call the bochur to come up. Maran zt'l insisted on going down to him and explained, "What can I say to this bochur? He did a narishkeit. How can I help him? If they see in Shomayim that I am exerting myself to go down to him, maybe HaKodosh Boruch Hu will give me something to say to him."

Maran zt'l was completely absorbed in Torah learning and opposed luxuries. He did not understand why people had to use many utensils to eat and why people made such a fuss over eating. I was with him at many meals, and I never saw him bend towards his food. His perishus from this world was a result of his tremendous involvement in Torah. Even a baal taava rests from his desires while under anesthesia, but Maran zt'l thought in learning even while under anesthesia. It is clear that the Torah overpowered all other desires!

Maran zt'l once left the house of the Griz zt'l and said the following: I don't know if I have Olam Habo, but if I have it, it was already paid now when I heard that shtikel Torah from the Brisker Rov.

We have no concept of the "ki vom chiyisonu" of Maran zt'l -- it was to the depths of his soul.

 

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