On this past Friday afternoon, HaRav Dov Lando visited the yeshiva camp located this year in Moshav Shaalvim where masses of yeshiva bochurim awaited him as the gates. He was greeted with thunderous singing in honor of Torah and Mussar. The students sang full throated, hailing the guest who represented Torah tradition as handed down through the generations and was transmitting it to this present one. He came to uplift and fortify, among others, those high school students who have been captivated by the magic of Torah and decided to cleave to it.
"I, too, was a yeshiva student and have remained thus," the Rav began his address. "We are all bnei yeshiva. A ben yeshiva who studies Torah knows that this is the only way: to study and study more. To study and be immersed in Torah and continue thus for the rest of his life. This is what I witnessed so exceptionally by my childhood friend, HaGaon (HaRav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi zt"l), erudite and sharply brilliant, of outstanding character, devoted in his friendship, outstanding in his love for Torah which burned within him to an extraordinary degree.
We became friends from the moment I came to Yeshivas Chevron but it was a friendship completed centered on Torah, nothing else! Yeshiva bochurim have lots of topics to talk about but by us, it was only and purely Torah. Another insight, another innovation or comment and always with joy, a continual smile on his face. It was something very unusual, and always like this whenever we met: Torah — only Torah. That was all — even during his period of poor health.
"As HaRav Moshe Deutch, who was close to the Chazon Ish, said when he was once asked to tell over something about the Chazon Ish. He said that he had nothing to say. 'What? Everyone has endless stories to tell about him and you have nothing?' was the surprised comment. "There are two hundred miracles tales on the right, and three hundred on the left, and you cannot tell any?"
"Finally he said, 'Yes, I have one story. Both very short and very long.' 'But that is a riddle, a contradiction.'
"Nevertheless, he replied, 'The Chazon Ish studied and studied and studied some more. This is the short story about an endless stream of study. I wish the same upon us all! To study and keep on studying!'
"This is what we saw as the very essence of my friend, the eminent Rav Boruch Mordechai. who studied incessantly with a deep love for Torah which he successfully transmitted to those who were distant from Torah. He befriended them, drew them near until they, too, became great in Torah and established exceptional families, thanks to his deep love for them. He inspired them from within his very soul.
"My friends, being dry is not a good thing. One must be full of life, full of joy, joy of life."
To learn and to learn, that it life. It is the purpose of life and the essence of life. This is what our great leaders were. They did wonderful things, in all ways, but the root, the basis of it all, was learning Torah. Maran HaGaon HaRav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi zt"l embedded and embodied all this. He created bnei Torah with his hands, with his great heart, with his soul. All this through the great influence he had. How wonderful it was to hear everything he said, every remark, since everything came from the depth of his heart.
