On Sunday 17 Kislev, thousands of people visited the final
resting place of the Avi Ezri, Rabbenu Maran HaGaon Elozor
Menachem Man Shach, ztvk"l, to mark the closing of the
thirty-day mourning period following Rabbenu's passing on the
16th of Marcheshvon.
From the early morning hours, hordes streamed to the
gravesite in the Ponevezh Yeshiva notables' section in the
Bnei Brak cemetery.
Talmudei Torah students were joined by
avreichim who arrived after davening shacharis
kevosikin. Numerous buses transporting avreichim
to their places of study out of town came before their
regular morning study session, so as to not cause bitul
Torah, in fulfillment of Maran's aspirations.
Towards the afternoon thousands of people came to the
cemetery, where a memorial service began at 2:30. Following
mincha at the Ponevezh yeshiva, thousands of
talmidim from the yeshivos gedolos and
ketanos used the afternoon hours to pour out their
hearts, to entreat, and to pray before the One Who Dwells on
High. They asked that He deliver the entire Jewish people and
every individual with mercy, in the merit of Rabbenu,
Shepherd and Leader of Israel.
Everyone felt the loss of the guide, the pillar of fire, the
holy, lofty person sent by Divine hashgocho in His
infinite mercy to our generation, a generation of orphans.
Boys and young men stood alongside old and elderly men at the
large tsiyun that had been built to mark of
kever of Maran, ztvk"l.
Following the recitation of Tehillim by the entire
gathering, the crowd listened intently to the inspiring words
of the niftar's son-in-law, HaRav Meir Tzvi Bergman,
rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Avi Ezri-Yeshivas Rashbi in Bnei
Brak.
He spoke of everyone's obligation to cleave to the ways of
Rabbenu Hagodol and his legacy in all areas. HaRav Bergman
noted, ". . . I simply can not withstand the many pleas of
those asking me to say words of his'orerus at the
culmination of the thirty days of mourning marking Rabbenu
Hagodol's stormy ascent to Heaven."
HaRav Bergman discussed what we learn when the Elisha Hanovi
left his rebbe, Eliyahu Hanovi. Elisha answered Eliyahu
before the latter's passing, "May twice as much as your
spirit be mine."
"`Twice as much,'" Rav Bergman said, "that is, every
talmid has his rav's spirit within him, for the rav
nurtured him and taught him the wisdom of the Torah. . . .
Although the student is the spirit of his rav, the Torah was
given to each individual's intelligent mind, and a student
may understand matters differently than his rav at times.
Even though he has his rav's spirit within him, he may
interpret things differently than his rav. If this is the
case, how can the student be sure that he learns and
understands in accordance with that of his rav?
"As long as the rav is alive, he can learn from him. But when
the rav has left this world, the student seems to lack his
rav's understandings. Although Elisha's learning was rooted
in his rav's spirit, Elisha wanted to be assured that
whatever he would say was not based on his own opinion, but
on `what would Eliyahu say.' This is why he requested, `May
twice as much as your spirit be mine:' not to have only his
own conjectures based upon what he had received from the rav,
but to merit to know his rav's actual opinions. Eliyahu
answered him, `If you see me taken from you, it shall be so
for you; but if you do not, then it will not happen.' If you
experience the absence of the rav in every single mater that
arises, you will keenly feel my absence and the fact that I
was taken away from you. Then you will receive my opinion
about the matter at hand, therefore you will have, `twice as
much' of the rav's spirit in every matter.
"We saw this so many times in Rabbenu Hagodol, who weighed
every matter by questioning what our forebears would have
said about it--for this reason he merited `twice as much.'
Dear teachers and rabbonim, . . . if we constantly consider
and feel his loss, we will always merit his tremendous spirit
in every matter that comes up, and we will be able to
continue his holy ways. For we have merited that the Rosh
Yeshiva bequeath us definite directives for Torah, from which
we can ascertain his opinions in these subjects."
HaRav Bergman commented on the explanation by Chazal that the
death of Miriam proceeded the account of the poroh
adumoh in order to teach us that just as the poroh
adumoh atones, so does the death of tzadikim. The
rishonim explained that the poroh adumoh atones
since the Torah calls it a "chattos," as in,
"lemishmeres lemei nido chattos hi, . . . as a
safekeeping, for water of sprinkling; it is for
purification." The . . . [special comparison to] . . .
poroh adumoh is . . . "lemishmeres," meaning
that it atones whenever one is dealing with it [even long
after it was originally brought]. The death of
tzadikim is similar. It has within it the power to
bring us to heights long after the petiroh. HaRav
Bergman noted, "Even a long time after the petiroh we
can be in a state of, `If you see me take from you,' and in
this way, we can merit, `twice as much:' to know what the rav
would have said."
Rav Bergman then discussed how Rabbenu Hagodol frequently
said to his students that he repeatedly learns the beginning
of the chapter Kol hazevochim, having in mind the
Heavenly Court. He explained that perhaps Rabbenu did so
because the beginning of the chapter discusses the great
trait of truthfulness ascribed to Moshe Rabbenu, o"h,
and as so many attest, Maran the Rosh Yeshiva viewed
truthfulness as the foundation of man's character.
"Accordingly, it is incumbent upon us to cleave to Rabbenu's
love of truth; this will be merited to him and serve as
illui nishmoso." And he will be a meilitz for
us in our current awful situation. As horrible attacks worsen
daily, we must strengthen ourselves in Torah, according to
the words of Rabbenu that this is the only guidance for us,
and the One Who said `enough!' to His world will say
`enough!' to our troubles, and death will be forever
destroyed.
He should be a meilitz yosher for the family, for all
of his talmidim, in particular those of Yeshivas
Ponevezh where he served as the rosh yeshiva for fifty years
and was moser nefesh for it, and for the Torah
institutions in Israel and outside of Israel, and for all of
the Jewish people."
The many thousands of people present received booklets
published by Degel Hatorah containing chapters of
Tehillim and prayers to be recited at the
tsiyun. Loudspeakers carried the eulogy to the crowd
of thousands, as well as the Tehillim that were
recited by HaRav Moshe Dovid Lefkovitz, with the crowd
fervently joining in. Following the recital of Kaddish
by Rabbenu's son, Reb Ephraim, Keil moleh rachamim was
said.
The crowd then dispersed and went back to the yeshivos.
Booths were set up near the exit of the cemetery with divided
books of Mishnayos and Shas Bavli to be
completed each month for the period of the year of mourning
for Rabbenu.
At the initiative of his close students, thousands of young
men took upon themselves to learn ten pages of gemora
each month, thus completing Shas Bavliand the
Mishnayos many times over during the year. This is in
fulfillment of the last testament of Maran, ztvk"l,
who asked his students to learn one mishnah or one
mussar thought in his memory. Rabbenu promised, bli
neder, to be a meilitz yosher and to be meilitz
letovah for anyone who learns in his memory and for
illui nishmoso.
Scores of memorial gatherings were held throughout the
country during the following week, at the end of the
sheloshim period for Maran, ztvk"l.
