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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
Our meeting took place during the shivoh week, when
the feelings of heartbreak and helplessness were at their
most acute. Our attempts at evaluating HaRav Shach's life and
his leadership were punctuated by outbursts of crying,
shedding tears of longing for the light that had dimmed and
gone out just a few days before.
At the outset, HaRav Braverman noted the extreme difficulty
in arranging thoughts at a time of emotional turmoil. He also
pointed out that there were episodes that could not yet be
publicized. All we could do would be to cite examples, to try
and capture some of the highlights of his half century of
association with the Rosh Yeshiva.
To begin with, he said that there were two main features that
were especially prominent in the giant mosaic of HaRav
Shach's life. First, his tremendous ardor for Torah, which he
instilled into his talmidim and which he infused into
the yeshiva as a whole. Second, his firm fixture on
mussar as one of the linchpins of a ben Torah's
life. He never ceased searching for supports for his "demand"
for the centrality of mussar, or for seeking the means
to strengthen it, whether in outlook, or in actions. He built
almost all his shmuessen around this idea.
HaRav Braverman's recollections are presented here with very
little alteration to the conversational style of their
delivery.
At Sunset
HaRav Braverman: . . . It was on the day that the Chazon Ish
zt'l, passed away. The tiny city of Bnei Brak was
plunged into mourning. People's gloomy faces showed that
everybody felt the gaping hole left by the loss.
After the levayah, when the last of the crowds had
made their way home, I went to the yeshiva. The deep and
painful impression of the past hours and of the great loss
were still keenly felt. I went into the beis
hamedrash. It was empty. The workers had moved all the
benches aside to clear space for the hespeidim that
were scheduled to be held that day. And lo . . . in a corner,
near the bookcase, our master was standing learning. I went
over to him and he began to speak.
"Oi . . . " he sighed, "it says, `A living dog has it
better than a dead lion' (Koheles 9:4). The only
consolation we have is Torah study. How can we possibly be
comforted over such a great loss? What can console us for
`the dead lion'? The only thing we have left is [the
knowledge] that `it's better for a living dog,' meaning that
as long as we remain alive, we are able to fulfill the Torah
and to kill ourselves in toiling over Torah and unraveling
its intricacies."
Right now, following the death of the great lion, the Rosh
Yeshiva, this message has relevance for us too.
He then went on to tell me about his acquaintance with the
Chazon Ish. He repeated in detail the story of the period
when it had been necessary for him to serve as a maggid
shiur in Tel Aviv. The episode is well known [Note: It
was included in the biography that Yated published the
first week after the levayah.] but he added a point
that isn't so widely known. When, eventually, he repeated the
Chazon Ish's words to the Brisker Rov zt'l, that,
"when you get to Heaven and they ask you how you could
abandon a source of livelihood, tell them that I told you to
do it," the Rov's reaction was, "Only the Chazon Ish could
say that!"
The truth is that if you think about this story, you realize
how amazing it is and what a lofty level it portrays. What
humility, what self-effacement it shows! At the time it took
place, the Chazon Ish had not yet attained the renown that he
would one day attain. The fact is that in the controversy
over the dateline and the times [of Shabbos] in Japan, you
can see how they didn't accord him the proper respect in
Yerushalayim. The Rosh Yeshiva however, with his keen
insight, accepted the Chazon Ish's authority unquestioningly
and acted upon it, tendering his resignation from the post
before he even returned home, like the person mentioned by
the gemora in Bovo Metzia, who immediately ran
to stop his workers from working in the vineyard, and he was
praised highly in the gemora for that.
The poverty and penury that existed at the time in Eretz
Yisroel were indescribable. It's awe inspiring, if you think
about it.
The Rosh Yeshiva said that the Chazon Ish told him, "Vie
mir kennen eich fun Vilna, past dos nisht far eich,
(According to your reputation in Vilna, it [the post] is not
[a] fitting [one] for you)." The Rosh Yeshiva expressed his
astonishment as to how the Chazon Ish knew him and the latter
explained that HaRav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky zt'l used
to pass the Rosh Yeshiva's questions on to the Chazon Ish. I
remember him once telling us an amazing story about Reb Chaim
Ozer that took place on one of his visits there.
A Genius in Torah and in Good Character
"I spoke to Reb Chaim Ozer at length about topics related to
Kodshim and then I asked him, `Efsher ken men yetzt
reden a fremden inyan -- Perhaps we could now speak about
something else (literally "strange") altogether?' and I asked
him a question on the sugya of Tokfo Cohen.
(The Rosh Yeshiva said that Reb Chaim Ozer was slightly taken
aback by the term "fremde," applied to divrei
Torah since the word is usually used to denote something
foreign or alien. But this was characteristic of the Rosh
Yeshiva's way of expressing himself, as his acquaintances
know.)
"After I told him my question on the sugya of Tokfo
Cohen he got up and went into his inner chamber where his
large library was, and he brought out an aged volume by an
earlier Sephardic author (I think he said it was Bris
Yitzchok) and he showed me that my question appeared
there. After we parted I travelled by train and I happened to
meet one of the gedolei hador (I think it was Reb
Elchonon Wasserman zt'l). I told him the question that
I'd asked Reb Chaim Ozer and about the obscure sefer
that he'd shown me. Then I noticed a look of astonishment on
Reb Elchonon's face and he said in amazement, `But that's
Rabbi Akiva Eiger's question right there on the
gemora!' And I had indeed forgotten that he asked it.
I was surprised though, that Reb Chaim Ozer had to go all the
way to such a sefer. Had he also forgotten that Rabbi
Akiva Eiger asked it?"
[That couldn't be for,] as the Rosh Yeshiva put it, " . . .
with Reb Chaim Ozer, there was no such thing as forgetting.
The true reason was his lofty character. Evidently, he hadn't
wanted me to be embarrassed at forgetting Rabbi Akiva Eiger's
question, so he showed me that the question appeared in an
obscure sefer, that it was no embarrassment for me to
be unaware of it!"
This is an example both of Reb Chaim Ozer's incredible genius
-- he knew who asked which question, even in works from
several generations before -- and of his sublime character in
his care over preserving someone else's dignity.
Let's go back to our encounter on the day that the Chazon Ish
passed away.
The Rosh Yeshiva mentioned his bond with our master HaRav
Isser Zalman Meltzer zt'l, and he told me something
that I don't think people know. It's known that Reb Isser
Zalman took the Rosh Yeshiva into his home while he was in
Kletsk. [However,] the Rosh Yeshiva told me that Reb Isser
Zalman told him at the time that he was taking him in as a
kameiah to save him from the Bolsheviks who used to
wreak havoc with the local rabbi wherever they came. By
taking him into his home, he would be protected from them . .
. this is something wonderful.
(On that occasion, he also mentioned to me in passing that he
was upset that they had not asked the Ponevezher Rov
zt'l, to eulogize the Chazon Ish because he would have
been able to rouse the large gathering to love of Torah and
respect for those who toil in it.)
Kindling a Fire of Torah
He set the yeshiva ablaze with a brenn, a fire of
toiling in Torah. He inspired us and aroused us, slowly at
first but in the end it burst into a great blaze of love and
desire for Torah. It's impossible to explain it fully in all
its details. It was a combination of personal example -- his
very being cried out "Torah!" -- and his way of learning, the
shiurim and everything about their delivery, his
preparations before the shiur on Dienstag (the
Tuesday shiur keloli), his tremendous profundity and
his absolute concentration on the topic, to the point where
nothing else in the world existed for him in those hours.
During the shiur we saw the innermost fruits of this
concentration break forth and the joy of divrei Torah
that illuminated them, "Like when they were given at
Sinai!"
I remember well the first day that he came to the yeshiva. As
I said, it's hard to describe but there was some kind of
natural aura of brenn, of fire and ardor, about him in
his very appearance.
After he came into the beis hamedrash the
mashgiach HaRav Dessler zt'l, went over to him
and had a very warm conversation with him. One could see
their admiration for each other from afar.
He said his first daily shiur in a room adjoining the
beis hamedrash (the old one, of course). The
shiur was on perek Hanizokin and his unique
approach was immediately evident. I remember that in that
shiur he asked to be brought a Rambam and he commented
lightly, "In der Rambam iz doch gornit shver; muz men doch
zeien dem Rambam (There is of course nothing difficult in
the Rambam, so we should take a look at it)," and the tension
in the shiur dissipated a little as smiles appeared on
the faces of the bochurim. This was part of the joy of
living with which he infused the learning of the
bochurim.
He trained towards absolute truthfulness in Torah, without
any veneer [of superficial understanding]. He told me that he
had difficulty in understanding the posuk (Devorim
29:10), " . . . from your wood hewer to your water
drawer" -- what was the Torah adding with this? (Although
Rashi gives an explanation, he felt it was still unresolved
and he wanted to understand the simple meaning.) He told me
that he'd asked this question to many talmidei
chachomim and that they'd all had answers but "when I
asked Reb Velvel [the Brisker Rov], he thought and said,
`S'iz shver (It's a problem)'!"
Dedication to Every Bochur
There is another point, which he himself dwelt upon on many
occasions. The Rosh Yeshiva made a point of being in the
yeshiva for every seder. It was an innovation, as the
[Ponovezher] Rov zt'l, remarked at the time, to spend
so much time with the bochurim and to be so immersed
in the topic that he was learning himself, and yet to answer
any bochur's question on whatever sugya he was
learning.
However, he saw this as an obligation. He was devoted to the
talmidim with his whole heart. He once told me that
while walking from his home to the yeshiva, he would decide
which bochur or chavrusa he would speak in
learning with that day.
He viewed latecoming by a maggid shiur in a very
serious light. Apart from any considerations of stealing [by
not keeping to his terms of employment] he saw it as setting
a negative example to the talmidim. Interestingly, he
was once asked to speak to the teachers of [the Sephardic
girls' school] Or HaChaim and the first thing that he
stressed to them was this point about arriving late for
lessons.
I remember a kiddush once being held for the
aufruf of one of the bochurim of the yeshiva,
in the Gesuhdeit Hall and naturally, all the yeshiva's
rabbonim were there. The kiddush stretched on and an
interesting exchange took place between the Ponevezher Rov
and the Rosh Yeshiva on the subject of "How were the earlier
generations different from the later ones?" (Yoma
9).
After the kiddush, everybody went their own way. The
Rov went to his home which was in the yeshiva building and
the Rosh Yeshiva accompanied him. The Rov thought that the
Rosh Yeshiva was walking with him out of respect (the Rosh
Yeshiva lived at that time on Rechov Wasserman) and he
immediately told him that he shouldn't bother. He was amazed
when the Rosh Yeshiva told him that he was returning to the
yeshiva to continue learning.
There was once an initiative which the Ponevezher Rov was
leaning towards adopting, whereby a kind of kollel
would be formed for outstanding avreichim who would
comprise a separate, special group. The Rosh Yeshiva was
adamant in his opposition to the idea. His opinion was that
this went against the tradition of the yeshivos. We heard him
make this point many times -- on one occasion, he even
expressed his view at a meeting of the Moetzes Gedolei
Hatorah -- namely, that his experience of fifty years in
yeshivos had shown him that it was impossible to predict, or
to determine in advance which talmid was better than
which, and who would be successful and who not.
His dedication to bnei yeshiva extended even to those
who did not learn in his yeshiva. One incident involved a
relative of mine, a ben yeshiva, who was weighing
plans to leave the beis hamedrash, Rachmono litzlan.
His rosh yeshiva came together with him to the Rosh
Yeshiva, for him to offer him advice and persuade him not to
leave. This was indeed what happened.
However, after the conversation had ended and the
bochur had gone home, the Rosh Yeshiva felt that there
was something else that he urgently needed to tell him in
order to fill in something that had been missing in their
discussion. He found out the address of the bochur's
home, which was in Tel Aviv and, taking no notice of the
trouble involved, he travelled there and engaged the
bochur in further conversation for a long while. At
the end, he told him, "I promise you that I'll come to your
chuppah, be'ezras Hashem . . . "
This bochur made great progress and developed into an
outstanding talmid chochom.
Transmitting Torah as We Received It
There was an additional factor to his influence on the
yeshiva, namely, his emphasis on the purity and integrity of
Torah study. He fought like a lion against the plans that
some bochurim had, to complete other studies alongside
Torah study.
One should be aware that things then were not like they are
today. There was a certain lack of clarity about these
issues. He boldly fought to maintain the authentic character
of a ben Torah and the authentic form of Torah
learning.
There was an incident involving a bochur from chutz
lo'oretz, who left the yeshiva in order to complete a
course of other studies. As I mentioned, he was looked upon
forgivingly by a number of the bnei hayeshiva, who
maintained contact with him, to the point that when he got
married, he decided to hold his aufruf in the yeshiva.
At maftir, when the chosson arose
ceremoniously, I saw the Rosh Yeshiva looking. When his gaze
fell upon the chosson he seemed to tremble and he
buried his face in his hands. He spoke to the other roshei
hayeshiva excitedly, and he seemed to be extremely
agitated. I felt that he was unable to remain in a place
where such a thing was taking place. Indeed, after
kedushoh of musaf he left the beis
hamedrash.
Another incident involved a Belgian bochur whose
parents were supporters of the yeshiva. This bochur
would repeatedly tell the others that he and his parents had
definite plans for him to go and study in the following
zman. When the Rosh Yeshiva heard of this, he
instructed him to leave the yeshiva immediately since his
remaining in the yeshiva was a contradiction to the character
of the yeshiva and of bnei yeshiva.
This order wounded the bochur's honor terribly, and
even more so that of his parents. Pressure started being
brought to bear to have the decree rescinded. The rov of the
community in Belgium became involved and he suggested a
compromise: in the meantime, the bochur would continue
to learn in the yeshiva's kollel [not as part of the
yeshiva proper] just so long as he wouldn't feel that he had
been shamefully expelled. The Rosh Yeshiva however, remained
firm in his opinion that this bochur and the yeshiva
could not remain together and the bochur was compelled
to leave.
To sum up his influence upon the yeshiva, and upon the
bochurim in general through which he influenced the
Torah world in its entirety, one can point to three things:
first, his special zest in learning, and his love and desire
for it; second, his forming the character of the authentic
ben Torah and the character of authentic Torah study;
and third, his giving mussar study central prominence
and his use of character refinement as a yardstick of
greatness.
The Foundation of Man
Perhaps we can dwell on the subject of mussar. To
which particular contribution of his were you referring?
(HaRav Braverman is visibly agitated.) Oi . . . "a
single mussar thought" . . . these words from his
testament are earth shaking. They encapsulate our holy
teacher, the Rosh Yeshiva's great campaign over character
refinement. One could write and write on the subject. This
penetrates one to the depths: "One mishnah, or a
single mussar thought, for the elevation of my
soul!"
For him, this was the acid test of how to relate to a person,
even to people knowledgeable in Torah. One could say that the
Rosh Yeshiva reduced everything to one single issue:
character traits!
His fearsome response to the question of the gaon and
tzaddik HaRav Chaim Friedlander zt'l, who asked
him which area of avodas Hashem he should concentrate
on during the last period of his life, is well known. He
replied that the first thing to know is that in the Heavenly
court, everything is measured according to the extent to
which a person has refined his character. Who would have
imagined he'd give such an answer? It's awesome if one thinks
about it.
One could speak and speak without exhausting the subject of
our master's work in this area. When I speak of his "work,"
I'm referring to both his overall influence and to his deeds,
his very own deeds in the course of day-to-day living.
Oi! "Who will make my head [flow with] water and my
eyes a source of tears?" (Eichoh) . . . Who can
appreciate his holy ways, the care he took to respect others,
with graceful modesty and gratitude. His ability to forgo --
he once told me that when he arrived at the yeshiva, the Rov
wanted to seat him on the mizrach wall, next to the
Oron Hakodesh . . . "But," [he said,] "I refused, even
though this was a kind of signal from Above, I nevertheless
refused." Then he looked at me and said, "Nu, un ich hob
epes derleigt? (Well, did I lose out on anything?)" One
never loses a thing by forgoing and giving in!
It is known that he saw a need to write about the importance
of the existence of the yeshivos, in whose merit Torah is
transmitted from one generation to the next, in his
introduction to Avi Ezri. He noted the merit of the
great luminary, Rav Yisroel Salanter zy'a, who
instituted mussar study in the yeshivos.
I remember when one of the talmidei chachomim who was
close to him asked him why he had felt this an important
thing to note. The Rosh Yeshiva answered with conviction,
"Because that is how it was! In the merit of mussar,
we were able to withstand the travails of the times and the
alien influences!" Then he added, "None of the approaches
remained in the long term with the sole exception of
mussar, which survived and retained its standing for
later generations as well."
In passing, I recall him saying that he learned with Rav
Itzele Ponovezher zt'l, for several years before his
bar mitzva, this was before the First World War, which
broke out in 5674 (1914). He would often note Rav Itzele's
prayers, which were uttered with great inner toil.
The Farthest Reaches of Good
When speaking about the purity and refinement of his
character, it is in place to mention that there was a period
when he would go every erev Rosh Hashonoh to the
middle of Rechov Rabbi Akiva, to wish a certain widow "A
gut yor." This woman used to live near his home in Rechov
Wasserman and when his rebbetzin had been sick, she
had cared for her and helped her. To show his gratitude, he
was careful to give her his good wishes every year.
It is also fitting to relate the following story, which is
instructive: One erev yom tov, one of my family came
into our house, which is on Rechov Rashbam, and told me
excitedly that the Rosh Yeshiva was walking down below in the
street. As this was not a common occurrence, I went down to
him straight away to ask if I could help, or at least
accompany him.
When he saw me, the Rosh Yeshiva told me that he was going to
the home of the gaon HaRav Gedaliah Nadel
yblctv'a to buy some eggs in honor of Yom Tov (in Reb
Gedaliah's house they sold eggs for parnossoh). I
asked him, "Does the Rosh Yeshiva have to go himself?
Couldn't he send one of his grownup grandchildren? He
answered me as follows: "Ich farshtei nit. A lulav oder a
esrog geit men koifen alein, un tzorchei yom tov passt
nit koifen alein? (I don't understand, one goes to buy a
lulav or an esrog oneself; is it unbecoming to
buy one's yom tov needs oneself?)"
One should understand that was no mere sharp retort. If there
had been nothing more to his comment than that, he wouldn't
have been walking a kilometer to buy groceries for yom tov.
He quite simply felt that there was no reason whatsoever to
trouble someone else. This was always his way.
His shining countenance and pleasant behavior towards every
individual that he encountered -- he would even speak to
children as equals and would frequently entertain them with
nuggets of wisdom, always with a smile, fostering
closeness.
I remember that when he was sick and underwent surgery --
obviously he was hospitalized for a time -- we saw the
extreme care he took to be polite to the staff at every
opportunity. We asked him, "Rebbe, to such an extent?
Does one have to go to such lengths?" and he told us that Reb
Isser Zalman said that although according to the ruling of
the Shulchan Oruch nobody today has the halachic
status of a talmid chochom [for the purpose of the
special halochos that apply to talmidei
chachomim], since people held him to be a talmid
chochom, he was obliged to sanctify Heaven's Name, so
that people would say, "How pleasant are his ways . . . happy
is the one who bore him . . . " (Yoma 86).
His nobility of spirit, that led him to be so careful about
not availing himself of others help, literally became part of
his nature. How difficult it was for us to assist him at
first. One could fill a book with examples of his refusal to
make use of others. On one occasion he was speaking to HaRav
Shmuel Rozovsky zt'l, about a suggestion that he write
a letter of support for a yeshiva and kollel that
belonged to a member of his family. The Rosh Yeshiva
expressed his distaste at the idea in the following terms:
"S'iz bai mir erger vie der toit! (For me, it's worse
than death!)" And that indeed is how it was with him, without
exaggeration.
He once told me that he'd never written a letter in support
of anything that looked like it was his own. He also stressed
that he had never called anyone to come to him.
When he published Avi Ezri, he was adamant in refusing
to accept any monetary gifts for the expenses. Once, one of
his dear friends pressured him into accepting five thousand
dollars towards the costs of putting out the sefer.
Some time later, this gentleman came to see him again and the
Rosh Yeshiva took the money out of a drawer and gave it to
him. The man thought that there had already been some income
from the seforim and that the money was from the
income but the Rosh Yeshiva told him, "This is the same money
-- the same banknotes." He'd only taken them in order to
please the donor.
As I mentioned, the perfection of a person's character was
the yardstick by which he judged whether or not he would take
to them. There are well-known cases of those from whom he
distanced himself simply because of character defects that he
found in them. He devoted much thought and mussar
study to learning about various human failings.
I was once with him at a bris made by HaRav Noach
Weinberg, rosh yeshiva of Aish Hatorah in
Yerushalayim. Of course, the baalei teshuvoh from the
yeshiva were there and the Rosh Yeshiva was asked to speak. I
should note that he had a special rapport with baalei
teshuvoh. He had a way of speaking to them that reached
their hearts. Many of them had bonds with him.
On that occasion the Rosh Yeshiva said, "When one sees
instances of wickedness, like that of the German evildoer,
one is apt to think, `What depravity lurks within man,' and
one becomes disheartened at the failings of human nature. The
truth is exactly the reverse however. Hakodosh Boruch
Hu gave man free choice. When we see how far a person who
chooses evil and corruption can sink Rachmono litzlan,
we ought to learn from it the extent to which one can elevate
oneself and how far one can reach. The two sides to free
choice are equal and opposite. If man can choose the absolute
in evil, it is also within his power to choose the absolute
in good; this is the Torah that has been given to and for
man."
HaRav Braverman ends with a prayer that his words should
serve as a means of strengthening the Rosh Yeshiva's
achievements in this world, entrenching the mussar
idea in the hearts of bnei yeshiva -- and if one
thinks about it, doing so was neither a simple nor an easy
matter. May these lessons be acceptable and may they bring
elevation to his soul, as a fulfillment of his request for "a
single mussar thought." Omen kein yehi
rotzon.
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