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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
Part Two
Introduction: A Gallery of Heroes
The establishment of major Torah centers throughout the world
that perpetuate the great yeshivos of Eastern Europe, is one
of the greatest contemporary miracles. This began over sixty
years ago. It was wrought by a handful of great builders who
single-mindedly, often alone and against the prevailing
trend, created, from scratch, environments where spiritual
growth could take place and Torah greatness could be worked
for. The significance of their achievements lies not in the
size of what they left behind them, for the most striking
growth came later, but in its very existence. Because of
their tremendous self-sacrifice, the foundations they laid
have proven enduring and today support a larger-than-ever
edifice. Whether they built, transmitted, inspired, or did
all three, they all effected genuine change. They breathed
life into a nation's dry bones and infused soul into its
spiritually wasted frame.
HaRav Zushe Waltner zt'l, earned a place on this list
by any reckoning. While his work as a Torah disseminator
began early in life and continued into advanced age, he is
principally associated with the great achievement of his
middle years, the creation of a Torah center in Tangiers.
Most Tangiers alumni are grandparents today. Many of them
fill important communal positions around the world. Virtually
all are sincere, genuine bnei Torah. Who was the man
that achieved such results and how did he do it?
The first part discussed HaRav Waltner's youth in Hungary
and his travels through Cracow and Switzerland until he
eventually was admitted to England in 1937. There, Rav
Waltner developed a very close relationship with Rav Eliahu
Dessler, who took his meals with the Waltners for several
years while his wife was stranded by the war in Australia.
After the war, Rav Waltner and Rav Aryeh Grosnass traveled to
Europe to help the shattered remnants of European Jewry, and
founded the yeshiva in Sunderland to accommodate some of
them. Traveling to Tangiers to recruit talmidim for
Sunderland, he met R' Shmuel Toledano who soon built a
yeshiva building and then invited Rav Waltner to come and
found a yeshiva. He sent Rav Waltner a telegram: "It's all
ready. Come." At the advice of Rav Dessler who consulted with
the Chazon Ish on the matter, Rav Waltner accepted the
challenge.
Dawn of an Era
R' Shmuel Toledano undertook the support of the yeshiva for
the first two years. Subsequently, Rav Waltner won the
support and confidence of the American Joint Distribution
Committee (JDC -- or "Joint") and of Mr. I. Shalom
z'l, who supported the Otsar Hatorah network.
With Rav Waltner's arrival, there began a period of over
twenty years of steadily expanding Torah achievement which he
pioneered, not only in Tangiers but throughout Morocco.
Following the yeshiva's growth, a kollel was opened,
then a Teachers' Seminary for girls and finally, a talmud
Torah. Given the favorable material conditions in
Tangiers and the generous cooperation of financial backers,
this might seem straightforward. However in fact, it was
anything but that. That things developed in the way they did
is testimony to Rav Waltner's great wisdom and his personal
integrity and sincerity.
Several other Jewish groups were also at work in Morocco,
vying for the community's soul. The Alliance school system
had already become part of the fabric of Jewish life, raising
an elite of communal leaders who were cultured but ignorant
of Judaism and who were naturally opposed to full-blooded
Torah education, even when it cost them nothing. The Zionists
were there too, working to lure unsuspecting parents into
sending their youth ahead of them to the Jewish State.
Usually though, even before the youngsters' arrival in
Israel, they were attacked for their religious sympathies and
traditions, which most of them swiftly abandoned.
Persuading the guileless native Jews that secular learning
and Zionism would not deliver the salvation that their
proponents claimed was only a first step though. Great skill
and insight were needed in order to create environments in
which even those parents who desired Torah chinuch for
their children would feel comfortable placing and leaving
them.
Rav Waltner's singular success in this respect was not
confined to his own institutions. A community grew up,
centered around the Torah institutions, which is said to have
been akin in atmosphere to Bnei Brak. Last but not least,
success in achieving the aim for whose sake all these efforts
were made -- the superlative chinuch in Torah and
mussar that was offered within the institutions --
required dedication and sensitivity.
Unpolished Diamonds
Rav Waltner's arrival in Tangiers in 1952, ushered in a
period of remarkable flourishing of Torah life there, which
had an effect on the whole of Jewish Morocco. An
acquaintance, Mr. E. Rothschild, describes the Moroccan Jewry
that Rav Waltner encountered upon his arrival.
"He found a warm community, numbering two-hundred-and- fifty
thousand souls, virtually all of whom were at the very least
traditional. All of them had the deepest respect for parents,
chachamim and rabbonim. Nobody would dare to criticize
a rov, or to speak disrespectfully to his father.
"The friendly Moroccan Jews received him warmly. Although Rav
Waltner was a strong character by nature, who stood up for
his Torah principles without compromise and who fought
corruption and disgrace of Torah single-mindedly, they
accepted him because they recognized him as a fair man and as
a talmid chochom who loved others.
"The tradition of Torah study in Morocco was utterly
different from the norm in Europe. They learned a lot of
Zohar, medrashim and Tanach. Those talmidei
chachamim who took an interest in gemora, learned
`on the daf,' without much sophistication. Their
shiurim culminated in a precis of the halachic
conclusions of the topic studied. They started with the
gemora and finished with the four volumes of
Shulchan Oruch.
"Of course, tefillah in Morocco was utterly different.
There was much more song and much more communal
participation. Different paytanim from among the
kahal would take the place of the shaliach
tzibbur. Whoever went up to the Torah knew how to read
the pesukim from the sefer with the
cantillation. They were fluent in grammar and in the
commentaries to Tanach . . .
"Before Rav Waltner came, the idea of spending years learning
in yeshiva was foreign to them. Gifted talmidim
learned in a yeshiva framework for a year or two at most and
then left to earn a living . . .
"It's true that there were chadorim and yeshiva high
schools in Morocco even before . . . but the approach to
teaching there was very primitive. The teachers were devoted
and were good Jews but they didn't know how to educate.
Hitherto, the strap and the stick had enforced discipline in
the schools. They learned by rote and by heart, more than in
depth . . . The Lubavitch movement also had a thriving
educational network but there was room and a need for
something else too."
*
Many who became acquainted with Moroccan Jewry recognized the
community's great potential for spiritual growth. The local
Jews' warmth and sincerity, their straightforwardness and
deep, simple faith, were qualities that were far less
frequently encountered among the rank and file of the Jewish
communities across Western Europe and the United States.
Rabbi Yitzchok Meir Halevi zt'l, (whose years of
service as Otsar Hatorah's head coincided with Rav Waltner's
first years in Morocco) once commented that Morocco had the
potential to become a second Poland.
The Revolution
Several groups of Moroccan bochurim had left to learn
in yeshivos abroad -- Rav Waltner himself had already taken
some to Sunderland -- and more would yet go (HaRav Avrohom
Kalmanowitz zt'l and HaRav Zeidel Semitaicki
zt'l took boys to Mir, New York and to HaRav Moshe
Schneider's Yeshiva in London, respectively).
A number of them did later return to Morocco to teach Torah.
Most however, settled in the predominantly Ashkenazi
communities that had adopted them where, while they and their
families flourished spiritually, they were isolated as
individuals and could never totally blend in. No rejection on
the personal level is meant, chas vesholom. Rather,
where spiritual goals are uppermost among the members of a
group, differences in background and culture often tend to
recede. A tiny minority will adapt itself to the prevailing
atmosphere, even at a certain cost to self- identity. The
inner challenge involved in living as a ben Torah is
rightly perceived as being of far greater importance than the
preservation of predominantly outward forms and customs.
In inviting Rav Waltner to found a yeshiva gedolah in
Tangiers in order to reverse the defection from Torah in
Jewish life in Morocco, R' Shmuel Toledano was responsible
for an unexpected payoff. Rav Waltner brought the Eastern
European tradition of Torah study in breadth and depth,
ambition for Torah greatness and the self-discipline of
mussar and planted them, for the first time, in
Moroccan soil. He thus wrought a real and startling
revolution in the minds and characters of many among the
local Jewish population.
Hitherto, a mother's greatest ambition might have been to see
her son a chazan, a shochet, or a successful
businessman. Now, parents and youth alike began to see a new
ideal -- the talmid chochom, the ben Torah, the
Jew whose calling in life was his quest for Torah knowledge
and for self-improvement. They tasted the sweetness of
lomdus and of comprehension. They experienced the
tranquility that comes with introspection and self-knowledge.
They saw the happiness that prevails in Torah homes and they
were fired to try and achieve the same in their own lives.
Rav Waltner's real genius as an educator lay in knowing how
to maintain the fine balance, both within the yeshiva and
without, that enabled this to happen. He and the talented
staff that he built up, transmitted Torah and mussar
alone, calling forth personal growth without imposing in
any other way.
His arrangements for the tefillos on Rosh Hashanah
serve as a particularly striking example, among others that
will be encountered in this article. Shacharis in the
yeshiva was conducted according to the local nusach,
but for musaf, Rav Waltner would approach the
omud. In his powerful and moving voice, he would
conduct the tefilloh in his own nusach. Copies
of the Ashkenazi piyutim were handed out and the
gathering was spellbound by the depth and feeling of his
davening. Years later, many made a point of mentioning
their memories of those special tefillos and the
strong impression they left.
For over twenty years, Rav Waltner taught, guided, directed
and inspired thousands along their own individual Torah
paths. He brought his fire with him from Europe but the new
flames that he kindled with it burned brightly with their own
characteristics and radiating timeless light. He thus raised
legions of Sephardi rabbonim, roshei yeshiva, dayonim,
Torah disseminators and bnei Torah, who are active all
over the world today.
The number of his direct talmidim, together with
their talmidim, has been estimated at thirty thousand.
Moreover, the roots of the independent Sephardi movement that
emerged in Eretz Yisroel a decade after Rav Waltner left
Morocco, have been traced to the process that he set in
motion in Tangiers.
Pathways to Growth
"When delivering a sichah, he wouldn't speak about
insubstantial things. He would always discuss sublime ideas.
He always liked to speak within a framework of greatness, not
of smallness. He wanted bachurim to be aware that
matters of great consequence were under consideration. He
wanted to fire them with ambition. Whether or not they fully
understood didn't matter so much. A bachur's very
realization that he was sharing a discussion of important
concepts, showed him that there was deep content here, that
had to be toiled over -- not something that could be had by
casual talk.
"He knew how to spark a current in a talmid so that
he'd be capable [of achievement]. This was how he shaped the
men who worked with him . . . They should be the type that
would always inject a living spirit, for he always
particularly sought this kind of approach . . ." (From a
hesped delivered by his talmid, Rav Yosef
Azran, rov of Rishon Letziyon)
HaRav Yissochor Meir, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas
Hanegev, also noted the way in which Rav Waltner utilized
lomdus in order to fire the talmidim: "He set
himself to saying lomdus. Repeating the simple
understanding is good, but lomdus is needed in order
to give a bochur ambition and desire."
Rav Shlomo Farrache, a talmid, who later served as a
maggid shiur, recalled his own chavrusa with
Rav Waltner: "In the early years, I also learned with him
privately . . . He was utterly amazing; he would dissect
everything. I was very impressed by his way of learning . . .
In shiurim he was very deep. He didn't cover a lot [of
ground] but he would take a point in the sugya and
really delve into it. He didn't say chaburos or
ma'arochos [surveying arrays of different sources]; he
preferred going deeply into comprehending something.
"His motto was always excellence. He sought excellence. He
couldn't bear pshetlach or incorrect things. [Such was
his] trait of truth and his depth . . . [He would often ask,]
`Nu, how do you explain this Maharsha, or Rashash?' If
you didn't give a genuine and acceptable explanation, he
couldn't listen to it. This was the way -- to explain and
delve deeply, without any superficiality."
This was his approach in mussar as well. Rav Farrache:
"In his sichos, he used Sefas Emes al Hatorah a
lot and [would quote] from Rav Dessler. He might start a
sichah like this, `Why does a person feel shame?' He
would take a point, [for example], `What is the origin of a
sense of shame? From feeling a contradiction in one's
personality. One thought a certain way and now one feels a
contradiction . . .' He was a great analyst."
Rav Yissochor Meir: "[He expounded] the lomdus of
mussar. Rav Dessler made [lomdus] of
mussar and chassidus (meaning sifrei
Kabboloh, not what we know as chassidus). When Rav
Dessler came to him, the Ponovezher Rov told his
talmidim, `[Now] you've got a rosh yeshiva for
mussar.' "
Rav Farrache: "He greatly stressed how important it is that a
person be genuine and not do things that are merely external.
One's deeds should come from [the prompting of] one's inner
self. Sometimes one can be excited by something but the
excitement should be directed inwards . . . There was a
bochur in Tangiers who grew a beard. I remember that
he called him to the office and shouted at him to remove it.
I was very close to him and it hurt me that he shouted at
him. What was wrong with growing a beard? He said, `He's not
on the level to grow a beard. What will happen later? Someone
will laugh at him and he'll remove it and that will affect
him adversely.' . . . He insisted that [a person be] honest
with himself, that his deeds fit his level -- not that
chas vesholom one shouldn't do mitzvos [if one felt
unworthy], for a chiyuv is a chiyuv -- but with
respect to frumkeit and stringencies. He demanded that
one be wholehearted about things."
Guidance for Life
Rav Waltner was described by Rav Moshe Schloss as having
been, "an interesting combination . . . Critical but [at the
same time] gentle. He never pushed anyone away completely. He
voiced his criticism but he saw that it was done with love.
He had a love for the person."
Despite his exacting standards, Rav Waltner was neither
austere nor aloof. He was a man of strong spirit, which he
poured into his talmidim in different ways, such as
through his singing, his inspiring tefillos and the
seudah shelishis meals for which he used to be with
them on Shabbos. His bonds to them remained strong, even when
additional responsibilities to Torah chinuch in
Morocco took him away from the yeshiva often. He was devoted
to every aspect of his students' welfare. His active
cooperation with the Joint's advisers about their dietary and
other mundane needs was dictated as much if not more by his
concern for them as it was by the need to conform with his
sponsors' policies.
He knew his talmidim thoroughly and advised them about
their future paths, demanding that each of them properly
fulfill his designated task in life, whether it predominantly
involved either holy or mundane pursuits. He also arranged
matches for many of the talmidim -- often with
graduates of the Teachers' Seminary. His face shone with joy
when he took part in these weddings. The tens, hundreds even,
of fine Torah homes that these couples built were a source of
profound joy to their families and of pride to the community.
In a number of cases, he also shouldered the financial burden
of the weddings. Although the means for effecting a strong
Torah revival in Morocco were available to Rav Waltner,
various other groups, that had very different agendas and
wielded great power, were also hard at work -- and in
general, the financial situation was very difficult.
One talmid related that his parents planned to settle
in Eretz Yisroel and wanted him to accompany them but Rav
Waltner dissuaded him from doing so. "There are tremendous
problems in earning a livelihood over there," he explained,
"and when there's no food left in the house, they'll send you
out to work." The boy's parents could not refute this
argument and he remained behind. Rav Waltner later displayed
special concern for this bochur, arranging his wedding
and concerning himself with all his needs, in place of the
absent parents.
The yeshiva's business in Morocco was hatzolas
nefoshos, in the spiritual but plainest sense. After his
marriage, when Rav Farrache served as a maggid shiur,
he would deal with applications for the yeshiva. He would
travel to the town near Tangiers in order to register
talmidim and speak in the beit haknesset.
There were no examinations or entrance requirements. Every
single talmid who wanted to learn was accepted. There
was a special preparation shiur to raise the level of
the arrivals, whose general level might be zero. One
talmid recalled that upon his arrival, after attending
an Alliance school, he just about knew how to hold a
siddur. Many of those who arrived with virtually no
Torah knowledge whatsoever, developed into highly
distinguished talmidei chachomim.
End of Part II
Manchester
Yom Dalet, Isru Chag Pesach 5703
Beloved and precious friends,
I left this morning without managing to take leave of you but
forgive me, for I did not want to disturb you. B"H, my
departure and arrival here were in order. Tonight, I intend
travelling iy"H, to London and Chesham.
On the way, it occurred to me: Chazal say that travelling
diminishes a person's name. We know that something's name
denotes, "its substance, as it appears to the giver of the
name" thus [this means that] travelling diminishes a person's
inner content. "Name" can't mean reputation, because buffoons
are always travelling around for the sake of publicity. Who
then, can consider himself worthy enough that he is able to
abandon his very own substance [in order to travel] for
Heaven's sake? Who is worthy enough to be able to make such a
sacrifice? Everyone can see that someone who's always
travelling loses something of his inner level -- may Hashem
have mercy on me, that I shouldn't fall among the others who
stumble, chas vesholom . . .
Yom Shlishi,
On my return from Chesham, King's Cross Station [London]
[5703]
Precious friends,
I couldn't write to you yesterday because time was short and
as I write now, I don't know which will reach you first, this
letter, or I myself, in my lowliness. Nevertheless, I am
obliged to show you gratitude for all the tokens of
friendship that you heap upon me, beyond all measure, and I
cannot but write.
A new thought occurred to me, while contemplating that there
is nothing new. Every person imagines that he will achieve
something and bring something new to the world but he is
mistaken. Man is created in the middle and he ultimately
leaves in the middle. ("There is no tzaddik in the
world who does [only] good without sinning [at all].") Man's
task is to elevate himself by degrees, but not necessarily to
reach [perfection], as Chazal say, "it is not up to you to
finish the work." Man's task is not the completion but the
work itself -- "a soul that toils, benefits from its toil."
Someone who thinks he can finish will ultimately despair and
will end up having accomplished nothing. Happy is the man who
recognizes that his work [itself] -- his service of
Hashem, battling the yetzer hora -- is the
purpose for which he was created and is that which
elevates him and makes him great. The greatest among men is a
servant of Hashem [whatever his objective stature] -- this is
the sum total of man's purpose. It is a wondrous purpose, for
man can fulfill it every instant if he wishes, not just at
the end of his life. Every moment that he spends in toiling
to fulfill his Owner's wishes bears the imprint of this
purpose.
This eminently simple idea is known to very few people
indeed. It is a novelty to realize that there is nothing new
-- in the collective sum of all that exists -- under the sun
. . .
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