A large crowd gathered in the Yeshiva Letze'irim Manchester
Beth Medrash and adjacent rooms on Monday to hear words of
Torah and his'orerus on the gaon and tzaddik
Reb Chaim Shmuel Lopian, zt'l.
The rosh yeshiva, Reb Yosef Brandeis, a close
talmid, vividly described Reb Chaim Shmuel's Torah
genius, his outstanding character traits, his shleimus
in humility and anovoh, relating many moving stories
and giving everyone present the feeling of having lost a
living sefer Torah.
Once someone wanted to find a particular ma'amar
Chazal. He asked a rav, a great talmid chochom,
who thought for a while and said, "In the whole Bavli
there is no such ma'amar."
The next morning this person asked Rav Chaim Shmuel,
zt'l who said, "It's in the Yerushalmi!"
Rav Pinsky, zt'l, the brother-in-law of Rav Lopian,
once asked him why he bought so many seforim that he
didn't have time to learn from. Rav Chaim Shmuel said, "Test
me."
Three seforim were taken out at random. Wherever he
opened them, Rav Chaim Shmuel just quoted that page by
heart.
A talmid chochom in Kelm referred to someone who was
fluent in all Shas with Ketzos, Nesivos and
Machaneh Efraim -- Rav Chaim Shmuel once said.
His gentleness and good middos were astounding.
Staying by a relative in Manchester when he was over 80 years
old, he was seen bending down under the table. "What are you
looking for?" he was asked.
"It's erev Shabbos," was his reply. "Surely the room
has been swept already. I just had some cake, and being an
old man I might have dropped some crumbs."
A neighbor in Yerushalayim was blessed with the birth of a
child. When Rav Chaim Shmuel, zt'l went to wish him
mazel tov, he apologized that he couldn't offer normal
neighborly help, due to his advanced age. In all sincerity,
he begged the new father to tell him how much bread and milk
he could buy for him from the local shop. . . .
He once arrived late at a Pirchei Siyum in London. As
everyone rose to their feet, Rav Chaim Shmuel turned around
to see who else had just entered, not dreaming that people
had gotten up to honor him.
His seiver panim yafos was legendary, under any --
often difficult -- circumstances.
A mashgiach told an awesome story. A certain
bochur had become lax in his davening and Torah
study. One day, while he was on his way to perform a
particular aveiro, he met Rav Chaim Shmuel on the
street. The latter greeted him with his usual warm, caring
smile. The bochur could go no further. He turned back,
wept profusely and changed into a new person: a serious
talmid chochom, newly imbued with yiras
Hashem.
We are not consoled by the fact that Rav Chaim Shmuel
zt'l was taken from us at an elderly age. When a
sefer Torah burns does it make a different whether it
is a new one or an old one? Mi yitein timuraso?
HaRav Avrohom Gurwitz, rosh yeshiva in Gateshead and
the nephew of Rav Chaim Shmuel, zt'l, spoke words of
great insight. He explained that if one views everything that
happens in the correct manner, a person will always realize
that this world is only a corridor to the palace and that
death is the goal, the passageway to the real world.
HaRav Gurwitz quoted: "Happy is the man who is great in
Torah" (Rav Chaim Shmuel published a wonderful sefer
Ravcho Shmaiteso in his young years); "happy is the man
who toils in Torah" (as he did all his life); the man that
gives nachas to his Creator (in so many ways Rav Chaim
Shmuel zt"l did) and has a good name in both
worlds!
He continued quoting from Ben Yehoyodo, "Who is called a
ben olom haboh? He who is humble in his own opinion
behaves humbly to others, is not jealous of others, and truly
rejoices with other people's good fortune."
Having possessed all these qualities, Rav Chaim Shmuel will
remain in everyone's memory the example of a happy person
according to Chazal as well as a ben olom
haboh. May his memory be a blessing for Klal
Yisroel.
