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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
Part I
The Chofetz Chaim's Advice
When Reb Abba was six years old the Chofetz Chaim visited
Lodz for a meeting. Crowds turned out to catch a glimpse of
the aged gaon.
Rav Shaul Yosef arrived accompanied by his young son, whom he
wanted his rebbe to test in learning. The Chofetz
Chaim questioned the boy on the gemora and
Tosafos at the beginning of perek Hamafkid,
where dovor shelo bo le'olom is discussed. He was very
impressed by the child's knowledge and understanding and
instructed his father not to let word of the youngster's
abilities become public for it would have a harmful effect.
He then added, "Even the Vilna Gaon could have become greater
had he not become publicly known while he was young."
We Have Abba Lodzer!
Reb Abba was born on Tu BeShevat 5679 (1919). His father,
HaRav Shaul Yosef was rosh yeshivas Toras Chesed in Lodz. Reb
Abba would say that in his parents' home "they breathed
Torah" and that his father used to speak a lot about his own
great teacher, HaRav Naftoli Trop zt'l .
When he was born, the young baby was already completely
mohul. It was such a rare occurence that in all of
Lodz, there was no mohel who knew what to do for the
bris miloh. They had to bring in a special expert
mohel from Warsaw.
When Rav Shimon Shkop's Shaarei Yosher appeared, Rav
Shaul Yosef would spend much time studying it and he told his
young son that he should go to Reb Shimon to learn. Later
though, when he heard that the best minds were to be found in
Mir yeshiva, he decided to send him there instead. Reb Abba
learned with his father until he was fourteen and attributed
his method of learning to his father's influence during those
formative years.
Once he had missed cheder quite a few times, and a
test was approaching. So he learned 72 dapim of
Bovo Metzia in three days. There was at one point some
uncertainty whether it was three days or three weeks, but
talmidim said that it really did not make much
difference — both are impossible for most young boys.
In fact it really was three days.
Rav Shlomo Tenne zt'l, related that a month before Reb
Abba's arrival in Mir, word went around the yeshiva that a
gifted young scholar would be coming from Lodz who would
shake up the entire yeshiva — which was what happened.
When he came to Mir, Reb Abba knew by heart four of the
masechtos commonly learned in the yeshivos. He knew
them so thoroughly that if he was shown the last word of the
gemora, or of Rashi, Tosafos or Rabbenu Chananel on a
page, without being told which masechteh it was in he
could repeat that entire daf.
His memory was phenomenal. He once commented that until the
Shanghai period (during which he suffered a series of
misfortunes, besides receiving the news that his entire
family had been martyred), he didn't know what it was to
forget anything.
As soon as he arrived, the talmidim in Mir nicknamed
the young genius "Abba Einstein." The name stuck so well that
HaRav Chaim Shmuelevitz zt'l remarked to his
chavrusa, "A bochur has arrived with such an
interesting name . . . Einstein . . ."
The chavrusa informed him that it was not his real
name. Rav Aryeh Finkel ylct'a related that Reb Chaim,
acknowledging the comparison, used to say, "They have
Einstein — but we have Abba Lodzer!"
A Godol Blossoms
Notwithstanding his exceptional gifts, Reb Abba toiled over
his learning with all his strength. He testified that for
years he was the first bochur to arrive in the beis
hamedrash and the last to leave. A talmid once
found the nerve to ask him what would have become of him
without his extraordinary abilities.
After a short silence Reb Abba replied, "You should know that
my legs burn like firebrands (he suffered from several leg
conditions), and my digestive system hasn't worked properly
since Shanghai — I suffer from pain in my entire body.
Yet when I start learning I forget about everything because
I'm completely absorbed in learning."
And that, the message was, has nothing to do with a gifted
mind.
In Mir, Reb Abba grew close to the roshei yeshiva, who
befriended him and lavished exceptional praises on him. Reb
Yeruchom once organized a scheme to reinforce the learning in
the yeshiva, with bochurim undertaking to learn for
twelve or fourteen hours a day. The Mashgiach said, "If I had
ten like Abba Lodzer I wouldn't need to do this at all!"
For his part R' Abba always regarded R' Yeruchom as one of
his major influences in life. He used to say that he adapted
the methods of analysis that R' Yeruchom used in his
shmuessim into his own regular learning.
During the last year that HaRav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel
zt'l was in Mir, Reb Abba would spend several hours a
week repeating his chaburos on seder Kodshim to
him. HaRav Finkel commented that never in his life had he
heard chaburos to rival Reb Abba's in either quantity
or quality.
On Shavuos, the Mir Rosh Yeshiva delivered a shiur to
the top talmidim on the topic of "a kometz from
which part was lost between separation and offering up"
(Menochos 9), the topic of one of Reb Abba's
chaburos. Noticing Reb Abba he said, "Reb Abba, Reb
Abba, I'm going to speak about your subject! (. . . veggen
dein inyan)"
Similarly, when Rav Yechezkel Levenstein zt'l noticed
Reb Abba at a shmuess he was delivering on Shavuos he
cried, "Reb Abba, this is your Yom Tov!"
A grandson of HaRav Avrohom Kalmanovitz zt'l, rosh
yeshivas Mir in America, mentioned a letter in the family's
possession from Reb Chatzkel in Shanghai to their
grandfather, containing a reference to a godol beTorah
who was learning in the yeshiva — Reb Abba.
When the yeshiva was exiled to Vilna at the beginning of the
War, food was very tightly rationed. Reb Abba was placed in
charge of the distribution because, renowned as he was for
his sterling honesty and purity of character, it was clear
that he would be scrupulously fair to all. Despite the
inevitable pressures he dealt fairly with all and even
refused to accept a small addition to his own portion, though
it came at no one else's expense.
Eventually the yeshiva settled in Shanghai. He rose above all
the travails — the harsh living conditions, the
constant dangers, and the emotional turmoil — and
immersed himself wholly in Torah. This was Torah learned "in
wrath," with the fierce determination that can overcome all
obstacles and his accomplishments were correspondingly
astonishing.
A single winter zman during this period can serve as
an example. In the mornings he covered most of maseches
Kiddushin in depth and in the rest of the time he
completed maseches Nozir, maseches Ohalos with
the commentaries of the Rash and the Rambam and all of the
Rambam's Hilchos Tumas Meis with thorough knowledge of
all one hundred and five of the Raavad's objections.
Between sedorim he managed to obtain the only copy of
Reb Chaim Soloveitchik's chiddushim on the Rambam that
was in the yeshiva. Cutting down on the time he spent at
meals, he toiled over Reb Chaim instead until he'd finished
the entire sefer. Thereafter he saw himself as a
talmid of Reb Chaim and modeled the way he learned
upon Reb Chaim's approach.
HaRav Reuven Fein zt'l once related that Reb Abba was
known in the yeshiva as the master of Reb Chaim's Torah;
anyone who had any difficulty with anything in the
sefer would consult him. HaRav Nochum Partzovitz
zt'l learned together with Reb Abba in Shanghai and he
recalled the "tiefe Torahs (profound Torah ideas)"
that Reb Abba would propound.
The strain of his constant toil made him ill. The doctors he
consulted sternly recommended a few weeks of rest, without
any mental exertion whatsoever. During that time he taught
himself four languages and physics, including Einstein's
Theory of Relativity. The knowledge of physics that he
displayed throughout his life was based upon those weeks of
study.
A grandson once asked him how he managed to study Einstein if
the doctors forbade him all studying. Reb Abba didn't
understand the question — how could one imagine
comparing plumbing the gemora's depths with studying
another discipline?
Disseminating Torah in America
After the war, many of the Mirrer talmidim from
Shanghai settled in the United States, among them Reb Abba.
He was one of the founders of the Mirrer Yeshiva in New York,
where he delivered regular chaburos to the outstanding
talmidim.
He married in America. His rebbetzin belonged to the
Greenberg family, one of the few that clung determinedly to
Torah observance in the inhospitable spiritual climate that
then prevailed.
Reb Abba's mother-in-law always prayed that her descendants
should be great Torah scholars. She raised funds for Kamenitz
Yeshiva and once asked HaRav Reuven Grozovsky zt'l to
bless her with grandchildren who would be talmidei
chachomim. He asked her, "Why don't you ask for sons-in-
law who are talmidei chachomim?" to which she replied
that that was something that she didn't dare ask for.
In fact she merited two sons-in-law from Mir as well as
grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are talmidei
chachomim and outstanding bnei Torah.
Her daughter, Rebbetzin Berman tblct'a, studied in one
of the first classes in Beis Yaakov in America. From an early
age she prayed constantly for a husband who would be a great
Torah scholar. After her sister married a talmid of
Yeshivas Mir, America, she began inquiring as to who the best
students in the yeshiva were. When she heard about Reb Abba
she wanted to make inquiries about him but her brother- in-
law dismissed the idea telling her, 'Ah, you won't manage to
catch Reb Abba."
That was enough to convince her that he was a bochur
of exactly the caliber she was seeking. She selflessly
supported him throughout his life, devoting herself both to
his own Torah study and to its dissemination.
Once he was married, Reb Abba began delivering regular
shiurim in the yeshiva. His new talmidim were
younger than those who had been hearing his chaburos,
and he had to adjust his delivery to a more basic level of
clarity so that they could understand him. In no way did he
feel that this held him back. He said that he felt that he
gained from it, because he had to organize everything so that
it would be absolutely clear.
After serving as a maggid shiur in Mir for seven
years, he opened his own yeshiva, Iyun HaTalmud. A
short time later he brought the yeshiva to Eretz Yisroel and
the Steipler zt'l became involved in ensuring that it
had financial support. Distinguished talmidei
chachomim from Bnei Brak would attend his shiurim,
among them HaRav Gedaliah Nadel zt'l. A year later
however, budgetary constraints forced Reb Abba to move the
yeshiva back to America, where it at first occupied premises
in Boro Park and later on, in Far Rockaway.
Back to Eretz Yisroel
One motzei Shabbos Reb Abba decided that he and his
family had to move elsewhere. Their neighbor had bought a dog
and its barking was disturbing his learning. What was the
value of a home where one couldn't concentrate on
learning?!
That very same night he found a house for sale at the
end of the street and signed a contract on it without making
any investigations.
Several months later the neighborhood began to be invaded by
blacks and the yeshiva relocated to Monsey. Although the
yeshiva had debts, Reb Abba refused to sell the houses in Far
Rockaway to blacks. Every such sale brought the prices in the
area down further and he felt that were he to sell, people
would say that the rabbi was damaging his neighbors, causing
chilul Hashem. He held on to the houses for another
two years until he finally sold them to Jews at a loss.
After spending seven years in Monsey, Reb Abba decided to
move the yeshiva back to Eretz Yisroel, this time
permanently. The yeshiva opened its doors in Yerushalayim in
Elul 5739. Leading scholars flocked to sit among his
talmidim to hear his shiurim, with the Friday
morning shiur keloli becoming especially well known
and attracting talmidim from outside the yeshiva.
He moved the yeshiva to Kiryat Sefer seven years ago and
during his last years he also served as rosh yeshiva of
Yeshivas Knesses Yitzchok of Chadera-Kiryat Sefer.
A Life Spent in Pursuit of the Truth
His method in learning was to seek depth in understanding and
then continue probing for yet deeper levels of profundity,
with clear, straight thinking. This occupied his entire
life.
On a number of occasions he told his rebbetzin that
when the Mirrer mashgiach Reb Yeruchom zt'l
died from a brain hemorrhage, it was said in the yeshiva that
the cause had been mental overexertion. Reb Abba also feared
such an eventuality because he too taxed his mind
continuously and when his time came it was indeed a brain
hemorrhage that caused his death.
He often remarked that he didn't want to have an "ordinary"
life in this world. He wanted, he said, to live life to the
fullest, which one can only do through Torah. He merited
retaining mental clarity and occupying himself with Torah
until the very last day of his life.
On the of Iyar 5765 he was snatched away while fully engaged
in his holy labor — preparing a shiur on
Pesochim with which to open the new summer
zman.
Torah study was the fabric of his life and the depth of his
immersion therein was almost unimaginable. Rav Yosef Lis
zt'l related that while learning in Yeshivas Mir he
noticed how Reb Abba sat eating in the room where he lodged
while completely wrapped up in the complexities of a
sugya. Even after the plate was empty, Reb Abba
continued putting the empty spoon into his mouth! (quoted in
Hi Sichosi)
Rav Shlomo Brevda ylct'a, a talmid of Reb
Abba's in America, relates that while walking in the street
with his mind focused on learning, his rebbe would
occasionally walk into a tree or other obstacle. To those who
knew the Rosh Yeshiva, it is evident that it was not because
he was an "absentminded professor" who could not free himself
of his abstract thoughts. Rather the fact that he bumped into
obstructions from time to time was probably the result of a
deliberate choice: R' Abba probably decided that it was worth
it to suffer an occasional bump in order to be able to devote
all that additional time and intensity to Torah.
To walk around with his mind on learning was typical of Reb
Abba. While engaged in one such walk he remarked that he had
to deliver fourteen chaburos and shiurim over
the coming week and a half.
His method of learning in depth was to examine the topic over
and over again, while taking care to break his train of
thought after a while. He would spend ten minutes thinking
about a topic — and then switch to another one. His
present walk therefore, on which he had fourteen topics to
consider, took him over two hours. It was no problem for his
powerful mind to change to an entirely new topic every ten
minutes, in an orderly fashion. He would say that he composed
his best pieces of Torah while walking in the street.
Family members relate that at times he might dwell on a
particular idea for three whole days. He would often get out
of bed in the middle of the night if he felt that an idea was
insufficiently clear. He would pace up and down immersed in
thought until he achieved clarity and only then would he lie
down again.
His talmid HaRav Yeruchom Olshin, one of the roshei
yeshiva of Lakewood, noted that Reb Abba's power and
originality were by no means confined to the sedorim
of Noshim and Nezikin that are commonly studied
in yeshivos. He was forever developing new ideas and insights
all over Shas.
Reb Abba himself once said that he'd composed
chiddushim on every part of Shas, with two
exceptions: part of maseches Keilim and the Rambam's
calculations of kiddush hachodesh. He always regretted
not having written down all of his chiddushim.
Though he learned in tremendous depth, the depth was not an
end in itself; of primary importance was the quest for a
genuine understanding of the topic. His goal was to correctly
understand the comments of the Rishonim.
His Explanation of His Method
His explanation of how his method of learning led to
attaining a fundamental understanding also showed how the
Torah's profound wisdom differs from every other
discipline.
He would point out that whoever studies Einstein's Theory of
Relativity sees immediately that it is at variance with a
simple understanding of how the world operates. For
centuries, certain principles were accepted as fundamental
— until Einstein came along and showed that they were
based upon a mistaken understanding.
The truth is that Hakodosh Boruch Hu's world is not
simple and its workings cannot be fully grasped. There is not
even a small part of the universe that mankind has thoroughly
investigated and understood. However, the moment that the
underlying rules and principles that actually govern the
world's operation are discerned, it becomes evident that the
initial, simple understanding was flawed and that the very
ideas that at first seemed strange and unusual are in fact
the true ones.
Reb Abba would then continue, pointing out how everybody
accepts that the laws governing worldly disciplines need not
accord with what appears to make sense to the uninformed
observer. In the case of Torah though, which is undoubtedly
far deeper than any worldly knowledge, many people think that
any deeper explanation must also fit their own simple
ideas.
Chazal tell us that the entire world was created in six days,
while Torah was given over a period of forty days. When one
delves into the commentaries of the Rishonim and gains some
understanding of the principles that govern the sugya,
one experiences powerful illumination and sees that
everything is in fact clear.
End of Part I
When he was young Reb Abba suffered from a severe stutter.
When he arrived in America with the other Mirrer bnei
yeshiva, HaRav Avrohom Kalmanovitz zt'l applied to
the Joint Distribution Committee on his behalf for assistance
in treating the problem. Rav Kalmanovitz told them about the
great young scholar who was also well-versed in physics
(which he studied in the period that the doctors forbade him
to learn Torah). The Joint agreed to sponsor a two-year
course in speech therapy for Reb Abba.
The course did not significantly improve Reb Abba's speech.
The Joint told him that with such a severe speech defect he
would be unsuited to serve as a rabbi or rosh yeshiva and
would remain without any means of support. They suggested
that he graduate in physics and offered to pay for his
studies. This would have given him a lucrative career with
only a minimal input of time. With his powerful mind, he
could have mastered the necessary studies quickly, leaving
most of his day free for learning.
Reb Abba conceded that logic supported the Joint's viewpoint.
All of his family had been murdered in Europe and he was
completely on his own. His future prospects looked bleak
indeed. Nonetheless, he only thought about the whole matter
for a short time.
He asked himself: Is this what Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave
me my abilities for? He also remembered the sacrifices that
his father had made so that he should learn Torah and
therefore resolved to remain in full time learning.
Several years later Reb Abba suffered from a back condition
which caused him great pain. His doctor prescribed a medicine
that did nothing to relieve the condition — but it did
bring about a marked improvement in his stutter! He remarked
that he had merited such a miracle because he hadn't
succumbed to the temptation to become involved in science and
had instead remained immersed in Torah.
At one point, Reb Abba's yeshiva was in very dire financial
straits. He approached several well-to-do individuals to try
to elicit support for the yeshiva but his efforts met with no
success. One morning he was under great pressure because a
mortgage payment was due and he had no means of paying it.
That evening he arrived home happy and relaxed. Seeing his
good mood, his rebbetzin asked him whether he'd
managed to meet the payments.
Reb Abba told her that wasn't the reason for his joy and he
explained what had happened. There was another yeshiva on the
same street as his. Earlier in the day the second yeshiva's
directors had come to him and asked him to approach some
wealthy donors on their yeshiva's behalf. "You are acquainted
with the wealthy people," they told him. Reb Abba accepted
the undertaking and visited several homes for their yeshiva.
He had been successful and had collected a large sum for
them. That was why he was so happy!
His rebbetzin listened and expressed her amazement. In
approaching the donors on behalf of the other yeshiva he had
done himself a disservice! Now they would donate even less to
his yeshiva!
His response was "Dan iz Torah mein eigene gesheft?
(Is Torah my private business concern?)"
by Mordecai Plaut
Usually when we think of first class lomdus we think
of originality, brilliance, and creativity, but rigor is not
always part of the picture. To be sure, there is no
discipline—secular or sacred—that can boast
results more solid than those of HaRav Chaim Soloveitchik in
his chiddushim on the Rambam, but it is their novelty
and insight that make the first and strongest impression on
the reader, and not their rigor which is much harder to
appreciate.
In fact, Rav Chaim's ideas were really developed from a deep
appreciation and understanding of Torah that was borne of
fantastic diligence, and not only or mainly from brilliant
insight. Edison's famous pronouncement that genius is 1
percent inspiration but 99 percent perspiration was said from
his understanding of the physical sciences, but it is kal
vochomer true of limud Torah where omeil is
crucial.
It is still easier to perceive the originality and brilliance
of Rav Chaim than to appreciate the way his ideas integrate
into the general context of Torah. To realize the brilliance
of the ideas, it is only necessary to understand what Rav
Chaim said. To appreciate the rigor and solidity of his
innovations within the general framework of Torah, one must
have a prior and independent knowledge of the framework of
Torah itself. To grasp his ideas it is only necessary to work
on his ideas for a few hours. To get a good overall grasp of
Torah itself in order to fit in his innovations, is a work of
years.
As soon as one began to hear the shiurim or R' Abba,
he could see that they are creative and elegant—and
that there is nothing that refutes them. Yet to appreciate
how he ensured that what he said was true, took much
longer. He was very careful with how he used words, and he
gave precise definitions to terms that are commonly used
without much thought to what they mean exactly.
Whatever was said on one masechta was fully integrated
with the rest of Torah. Sometimes when one asked for a
clarification about one of the points, the Rosh Yeshiva would
say, "Wait until we learn masechta so-and-so, where
those concepts are clarified." The ideas that he used to
explain the material in one place were a part-and-parcel of
the total store of concepts which he carried with him
throughout Shas. This consistency and
comprehensiveness of approach lend a further dimension to the
sense of responsibility with which the Rosh Yeshiva
constructed his shiurim. He knew that, regardless of
the memory of his talmidim, he himself would have to
live with each yesod throughout Shas.
When the Rosh Yeshiva said a shiur he did not set out
to say only something that might be true. The Rosh
Yeshiva always spoke from a firm conviction, based on his
yegi'a beTorah over the years, that what he was saying
was 100 percent true. As he once said to me (in a slightly
different context), "If it were possible to be 110 percent
true, it would be 110 percent true. But of course it is not
possible to be more than 100 percent true."
For HaRav Abba Berman, truth was the goal that he set for
himself. As the Ramban explains in his introduction to his
Milchamos Hashem, .".. All who learn our Talmud know
that there is not, in a machlokes between its
expositors, conclusive proofs, nor, for the most part,
absolute questions, ... " Nonetheless, the boldness of the
goal, and the seriousness and responsibility with which it
was pursued, have produced results that are clearly evident
to any serious student of his work.
Rav Abba's personal goal in learning was truth. His goal in
educating his talmidim was to teach them to think. He
used to say that the biggest yetzer hora for laziness
is to be too lazy to think. Thinking is hard work. People
have to be educated to know how to do it, and they have to be
inspired to do it with exertion — omeil.
In his shiurim, the Rosh Yeshiva often dealt with
concepts others do not — perhaps in part to show his
talmidim that they must think deeply about everything.
In approaching a sugya, Rav Abba often asked and
answered questions such as: What is the nature of the
transaction between man and woman that results in marriage?
Why is it called "kinyan"? How does it compare to
other kinyonim such as hekdesh, buying material
possessions, or avodim? In what ways is it similar and
how is it different?
The shiur keloli was often constructed along classical
lines: the Rosh Yeshiva would ask a number of questions and
then carefully build up a conceptual framework that would
answer them. But the talmidim did not only take away
the yesodos that he developed. They were also
developed in that they acquired skills in analysis and
understanding ideas that they could later apply by
themselves.
by Mordecai Plaut
Although R' Abba was never blessed with masses of
talmidim it can be said that he made up in quality
what he lacked in quantity. This is true both of the quality
of his talmidim and the quality of the Rosh Yeshiva's
relationship with his talmidim.
Among the roshei yeshiva and marbitzei Torah of our
generation, talmidim of R' Abba occupy a very
respectable place, both in America and in Eretz Yisroel. He
was self-consciously engaged in building talmidim, as
is evident in the following story told by R' Meir Hertz of
Lakewood.
When R' Meir was learning at the yeshiva, there was a
bochur in whom the Rosh Yeshiva seemed to be investing
a lot of effort. To Meir, that bochur seemed to be a
baal ga'avah, and in view of that serious character
flaw he did not understand why the Rosh Yeshiva was spending
so much time on him.
He approached the Rosh Yeshiva and asked him about it.
The Rosh Yeshiva explained, "If you are building a house, it
takes maybe six or eight months and then it is finished. You
see exactly what it is. But when you are building a
skyscraper, sometimes even after two years all you have to
show is a pile of steel and concrete. It does not look like
much for a long time. In this case, I am building a
skyscraper."
R' Meir says that in subsequent years the career of that
bochur as a prominent marbitz Torah bore
testimony to R' Abba's efforts.
by Mordecai Plaut
HaRav Chaim Malinowitz recalled that the second seder
of the yeshiva was spent reviewing the shiur of
that day. They would spend hours thinking about and
discussing a sevoroh that the Rosh Yeshiva had said.
They would work at it until it was perfectly clear to
them.
How clear did it have to be? The Rosh Yeshiva had also given
guidance about that. He said that we have five bodily senses.
We can talk about smell ("I smell a pshat"); we can
talk about feeling that something is correct; sometimes we
say that we can taste a sevoroh or that we hear what
is being said. But, explained the Rosh Yeshiva, until you can
actually say, "I see it," it is not clear enough to you. In
fact, the Rosh Yeshiva taught his talmidim to actually
visualize even an abstract sevoroh, until it was real
to them.
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