The following are summaries of the hespedim
delivered during the levaya of HaRav Broide at the
Givat Mordechai campus of the Chevron Yeshiva where the Rosh
Yeshiva learned and taught for decades.
HaRav Aharon Leib Steinman, in his remarks noted that, "The
Rosh Yeshiva was a talmid chochom who studied Torah
constantly and surely had qualities and traits which he
concealed. Chazal say that following Rabbi Akiva's death
kovod haTorah was nullified. The spiritual discrepancy
between the generation of Rabbi Akiva and ensuing generations
is so great that it is impossible to describe. Kovod
haTorah of our generation is naught in comparison with
the kovod haTorah of the generation of the
tanoim. The small amount of kovod haTorah which
we have -- minute in comparison with the generation of Rabbi
Akiva -- is [embodied by the concept] that a talmid
chochom is limud haTorah and kovod haTorah.
We must strengthen ourselves and pray that everyone will fill
the lack of kovod haTorah and that many talmidei
chachomim will develop for the sake of Klal
Yisroel. We must pray that kovod haTorah and
limud haTorah proliferate."
HaRav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz cited the verse, "If they ask
you, `Why do you sigh?' you will say: Due to the rumor which
has come, and every heart shall melt, and all hands will
become weak." He explained: "The body could not [withstand]
the rumor they heard. What was that rumor? A great prince had
fallen in that day in Israel. The rosh yeshiva of
Hevron was an illustrious gaon who toiled in Torah and
taught Torah for more than fifty years, to numerous students.
His teaching did not begin when he became rosh
yeshiva, but rather even in the period I studied there,
when he would speak in learning among the chaburos and
students. The Rosh Yeshiva was, even at that time, the one
who decided and determined every thing. `Zichru Toras
Moshe avdi.' Why did he merit all this? Because he
possessed the trait of humility."
HaRav Shmuel Berenbaum, the rosh yeshiva of Mir in the
United States, was the next speaker. He said: "According
halocho when a talmid chochom is niftar,
all are [considered] his relatives. Everyone is a relative
and the feeling we have is even deeper than our knowledge of
this fact. Moshe Rabbenu asked Hakodosh Boruch Hu:
`Show me your glory.' Rambam explains that Moshe Rabbenu
wanted to understand [the meaning of the concept] kovod
Hashem. The Creator of the world answered him: `A human
cannot see me and live.'
"As long as a man is in a body it is impossible for him to
understand the difficult topic of kovod Hashem. Chazal
say that the Torah calls whoever teaches his fellow's son
Torah his progenitor, as if he gave birth to him, because
that is the only possible way to teach Torah [to give of
oneself like a father gives to his son]. When we see students
from Hevron who are great in Torah, it is because the Rosh
Yeshiva gave each one of them part of himself, as if he were
his progenitor." Regarding the command, `veshinantom
levonecho,' HaRav Boruch Ber said, `Those who teach Torah
and educate their sons are obligated to inculcate them with
the idea that every man must become a godol
beTorah.'"
HaRav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the rosh yeshiva of Mir,
cited the words of Rabbi Yochanan when Rabbi Eliezer fell
ill: "Hai shufra deboli afro." HaRav Finkel then said,
"The Rosh Yeshiva HaRav Simcha Zissel was hai shufra
(beauty). His Torah was shufra. As a talmid
chochom he was shufra. His quality of greatness
was shufra. The Torah beautified him. A man's face
testifies to his wisdom. He illuminated the Torah and the
Torah illuminated him. `Toras Hashem temimo meshivas
nofesh.'"
HaRav Boruch Shimon Solomon, rosh yeshiva of Nachlas
Dovid and Chief Rabbi of Petach Tikvah, delivered a
hesped in the name of the yeshiva's students from all
the years. He said: "Chazal say that when Moshe Rabbenu
passed away, Hakodosh Boruch Hu kissed him and took
his soul away with a kiss of the mouth. Hakodosh Boruch
Hu, so to speak, wept: `Mi yokum li im merei'im. Mi
yisyatzeiv li im poalei oven.' Heaven cried: `Ovad
chossid min ho'oretz.' Earth wept: `Veyoshar bo'odom
ayin.' The entire world wept.
"There are two explanations to Hakodosh Boruch Hu's
cry of `Mi yokum li im merei'im.' One means, `who
will rise up against the merei'im (evildoers),' and
the other, `who will pray on behalf of the merei'im.'
When Yehoshua sought his mentor and didn't find him, he wept.
Yehoshua, the disciple of Moshe Rabbenu who never left the
tent of Torah, cried: `Hoshia Hashem ki govar chassid, ki
pasu emunim mibnei odom.' Yehoshua wasn't eulogizing
Moshe Rabbenu; he was praying for himself: Hoshia
Hashem. He asked for a yeshua from Hashem. So too,
we, the students, beseech: 'Hashem hoshia, ki gomar
chossid, ki pasu emunim mibnei odom.'"
The next to speak was HaRav Moshe Mordechai Farbstein, one of
the roshei yeshiva of Hevron. With weeping and deep
emotion he cried out the verse in Shir Hashirim, "Hishbati
eschem benos Yerushalayim, mah tagidu lo, shecholas ahava
oni." This, he explained, refers to the love of
talmidei chachomim of houses of learning and Torah.
"All of us were familiar with the great extent of the Rosh
Yeshiva's love for Torah and the yeshiva from the aspect of
cholas ahava."
HaRav Dovid Cohen, one of the roshei yeshiva of Hevron
said: "I can't deliver a hesped over the Rosh Yeshiva,
zt"l. I am not worthy to eulogize, but can only cry
out: `The crown of our heads has fallen. Woe to us, we have
sinned.' When Eliyahu Hanovi went up to Heaven, Elisha Hanovi
cried out: `Ovi, Ovi rechev Yisroel uforoshov.' The
gemora in Moed Koton says that `Ovi Ovi'
means, `my father and my mother.' Students are called sons of
the one who taught them Torah. In addition to the father who
taught them Torah there is the aspect of the mother, who
expresses the geniality, the love and the warmth of the
rosh hayeshiva. [He was not only] a father who taught
his students Torah, but also like a devoted mother who was
concerned for her only son."
The final hesped was delivered by his son-in-law,
HaRav Shmuel Segal, who pointed out that everyone was weeping
over the loss of a great man who was a ben olam haboh.
"My father, zt"l, said in the name of HaRav Chaim
Vital that the Torah doesn't mention middos because
derech eretz precedes Torah -- derech eretz and
middos. Without this basis, it is impossible to
receive the Torah. `Derech eretz kodmo leTorah.' The
middos are the foundation upon which we build the
edifice of Torah. The Mishnah says: `Eilu devorim
she'odom ochel peiroseihem bo'olam hazeh vehakeren kayemes lo
le'olom haboh: kibbud ov vo'eim, gemilus chassodim, vetalmud
Torah.' That is the order. The family knows the extent of
my father-in-law the Rosh Yeshiva's filial respect and
gemilus chassodim. A brief while before he was
niftar he spoke about gemilus chassodim with
his nephew. Such glory, such grandeur, such beauty, such a
baal mussar,, such a yirei Elokim. Such great
character traits. With them one acquires such brilliance."
