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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
Part Two
Rekindling Lives
The Mashgiach's Regret
In a shmuess HaRav Wolbe once gave in the Beis
Hamussar on the topic of sharing others' burdens, he
mentioned a regret that he still retained from his years in
Sweden. It was during the period that he would travel the
country between the various institutions in which thousands
of Jewish girls were housed.
Those visits were extremely difficult. The girls were
physically and emotionally shattered after their bitter
ordeals in the camps and even the efficient care and
attention of their Swedish hosts were not always enough to
restore them to life and health. Sometimes, after visiting an
institution for a couple of days, there would be nobody left
to come back to for the girls had simply passed away in their
grief and anguish. The atmosphere was unbearably grim.
"On leaving the institution and getting into the car that
would take me back," recalled the Mashgiach, "I felt
relieved. I regret that [feeling], for I hadn't sufficiently
implemented the trait of sharing others' burdens . . ."
A Home in Lidinge
One day HaRav Wolbe learned that missionaries had visited one
of the institutions and had been preaching their faith to the
Jewish girls. He set out for the home, to try to save the
girls from trouble. Upon arriving he met the persons in
charge, who asked him what his intentions were. He replied
that he wanted to speak to the girls and when they saw his
determination he was allowed to do so.
When he began speaking, the girls' initial response was to
smile. Then, when he started describing how their parents in
Heaven were yearning and beseeching that they observe the
mitzvos and strengthen their Yiddishkeit, all the
girls arose and started singing Hatikvah. That was the
only symbol of Judaism that they knew.
HaRav Wolbe once arrived to speak to the girls at one of the
homes after a long and tiring day of traveling. He had a
sandwich with him to still his hunger and when the girls
approached him upon his arrival he asked them where he could
wash his hands. He went and washed and made the brochoh,
al nettilas yodayim. The girls watching him were
hypnotized. He then took the sandwich and made a fervent
hamotzi. This sent tears rolling down the girls'
cheeks and brought expressions of powerful longing to their
faces.
Later they told him that it was the first time since the war
that they had seen an observant Jew who reminded them of
their way of life before the war. They were gripped by a
strong yearning for the life they had known.
HaRav Wolbe lost no time; he started talking to them,
explaining their religion to them from scratch. When he saw
the thirst with which they drank in his words he resolved to
open a seminary where girls like them could absorb
Yiddishkeit and prepare for future life. That incident
provided the impetus for the opening of the school at Lidinge
which HaRav Wolbe started together with his friend HaRav
Jacobson zt'l.
To begin with, HaRav Wolbe would pay the seminary a weekly
visit in the course of which he would teach the girls and
guide the staff regarding the traditional and timeless
instruction that they were to provide. Shortly thereafter,
when one of the teachers had to leave for Eretz Yisroel,
HaRav Wolbe began to arrive much more frequently.
In later years Rebbetzin Jacobson, who acted as the school's
director, cited the hundreds of letters that HaRav Wolbe
wrote to students and staff members as evidence of his
dedication and strength of character. One letter might
contain a detailed report on a girl who required particular
attention, another on a girl to whom some brief words of
admonition were to be directed. Other letters infused the
recipients with spirit and gave them powerful encouragement
in their efforts to set themselves squarely on the path of
Torah and mitzvos.
One of the students later recalled, "A single Shabbos in
Lidinge in the presence of the Mashgiach reminded us of all
our Shabbosos at home and of all the mitzvos and obligations.
Together with HaRav Jacobson, HaRav Wolbe created all our
Yiddishkeit. We were like lost sheep. Even I, who came
from a chassidishe home, had no idea what would become
of me after the Holocaust. It was enough to simply look at
him for one's yiras Shomayim to be strengthened. His
shiurim on Tehillim provided a firm foundation
for our [spiritual] development. We would all sit in a
circle, listening carefully . . ."
It was HaRav Wolbe who succeeded in igniting the spark of
life in girls over whom the shadow of death still hovered
even after their emergence from the camps and furnaces. His
shiurim and guidance imbued them with renewed faith
and trust, enabling them to learn how to smile once again.
Sowing Barren Land
From the day he arrived in Eretz Yisroel the Mashgiach became
involved in guiding and strengthening Torah institutions on a
fundamental level. He was something of a novel character in
the country's fledgling Torah world of those days, but his
activities and guidance laid the foundations for many Torah
centers.
The Chazon Ish and the Birth of Yeshivas Be'er
Yaakov
Following his marriage, HaRav Wolbe settled in Petach Tikva
and devoted his entire day to Torah study. He was offered a
position as head of an educational institution for
olim founded by the Ezra movement, but he hesitated to
accept. Was he suited to head an institution, he wondered,
and an Ezra institution at that?
He resolved to consult the Chazon Ish and abide by his
advice. The Chazon Ish told him to accept and, when a puzzled
HaRav Wolbe tried to elicit some explanation, the Chazon Ish
declared, "You'll turn them into bnei yeshiva . .
."
Indeed, it was not long before the governors of the school
and the officials of Aliyat Hano'ar realized that
there had been a gross misunderstanding in engaging HaRav
Wolbe. The students whom they had expected him to train
according to their movement's outlook, were instead swiftly
finding their niche learning Torah in holy yeshivos.
One day, his employers paid HaRav Wolbe a visit and informed
him that he was being given notice. They took every
bochur that they found away with them except for three
whom they were not supporting and a fourth who had become so
firmly attached to HaRav Wolbe that he removed himself from
their authority. With determination uncharacteristic for one
of his age, he told his rebbe that he wished to stay
with him wherever he went.
Once again, HaRav Wolbe went to consult the Chazon Ish, who
had originally urged him to accept the position.
The Chazon Ish was unequivocal. "Open a yeshiva for them," he
said.
"How on earth?" the Mashgiach wondered.
To begin with the Chazon Ish negotiated an agreement with
Ezra whereby they left HaRav Wolbe with a Shas, ten
beds, ten plates and ten sets of cutlery. Then he personally
visited several well-to-do individuals, and succeeded in
raising an initial amount of fifty lirot. Giving the
money to HaRav Wolbe he said, "Take this sum. With it, you'll
be able to continue putting the yeshiva together."
That was the beginning of Yeshivas Be'er Yaakov, which went
on to produce legions of talmidei chachomim who owe
HaRav Wolbe their legacy of Torah and mussar, which is
so unique in the Torah world.
Despite early difficulties in finding a suitable building,
the bochurim began learning in the beis
hamedrash. Looking back in later years the Mashgiach
observed, "One can build a yeshiva once there are a rosh
yeshiva and a mashgiach. One rents a beis
haknesses or, if there is no choice, one builds the
yeshiva its own building. If, though, one first builds the
building and then expects to establish a yeshiva — no
siyata deShmaya has been experienced doing it that
way."
During the yeshiva's initial period the Mashgiach was asked
to accept a group of bochurim who had come from
Teiman, and who were interested in joining. Fearing that
their lack of proficiency in learning could jeopardize their
chances of being accepted, they first approached the Chazon
Ish and asked him to recommend them. The Chazon Ish did so,
sending explicit instructions that they were to be accepted
into the yeshiva.
The rosh yeshiva who was serving alongside HaRav Wolbe
at the time was reluctant to comply. He expressed his doubts
as to whether it would be to the yeshiva's benefit. The
Mashgiach could not understand what room there was for
discussion. They had received a ruling from the Chazon Ish
telling them what to do and he, for one, had no remaining
doubts whatsoever on the matter. In consequence, that rosh
yeshiva left and his position was filled by HaRav Moshe
Shmuel Shapiro.
The Mashgiach's talmid, HaRav D. Breuer, related that
when he wanted to join Be'er Yaakov he was turned down
because shiur alef, the level that he needed, did not
yet exist. He turned to the Chazon Ish who gave him a note
for the yeshiva's leaders instructing them to open a shiur
alef. The shiur duly opened with a handful of
bochurim. However by the beginning of the following
zman, the number was much greater.
In Time of War
Rav Shabsai Weiss was learning in Be'er Yaakov during the Six
Day War. He recalls, "When the war began many people were
deeply worried. Many thought that it spelled the end of the
state that had only recently been established in Eretz
Yisroel. During those days we all sat together in a shelter
in Be'er Yaakov. I asked the Mashgiach what we should be
thinking at such a difficult time. He told me that we ought
to realize that we should be preparing to sacrifice ourselves
for the sanctification of Hashem's Name that would come about
through the shattering of the deception that the Zionists had
perpetrated in relying on their own power and their ability
to establish a state and take their destiny into their own
hands.
"On Thursday, rumors arrived from the front that they had
been successful in capturing the Kosel Hama'arovi, an
event for which some wanted to offer thanks and praise to
Hashem. I went over to the Mashgiach and asked whether we
ought to do so.
"He replied, `Certainly, certainly one should. We should say
Tehillim chapter 79: " . . . Hashem, nations have
entered Your inheritance . . . they have defiled Your holy
chamber . . ." ' "
The following morning, Friday, the instructions were still to
stay in the shelters. Reb Shabsai asked the Mashgiach about
the electric bulb at the entrance to the shelter that was not
connected to the special Shabbos generator that provided the
yeshiva with its own non-chilul Shabbos electricity
supply. What were they to do under the circumstances?
The Mashgiach replied that they should think of what the
Chazon Ish would say. He felt that the Chazon Ish would not
permit the use of the general electricity supply for an
emergency of that sort. Later on, word arrived that people
could leave the shelters.
Rav Y. Leitner remembers the Mashgiach posting bulletins of
war news on the yeshiva's notice board so that the
bochurim would have no need to listen to the radio.
All the talmidim felt a bond with the Mashgiach. At
the levaya, HaRav Sariel Rosenberg met a friend who
asked him if he'd had a connection with the Mashgiach. He
replied, "In Be'er Yaakov there was no such thing as an
ordinary talmid not having a relationship with the
Mashgiach. Some had a closer connection than others but
everyone had a relationship with him."
On the Threshold of an Era
HaRav Wolbe had been working since his youth at drawing
estranged Yidden closer to our Father in Heaven, which
he always saw as an endeavor of the first priority. He
recognized the irreligious public's potential for return to
their ancestral faith and held out constant hope that the day
would yet arrive when it would become reality.
He seems to have been among the trailblazers of the
"teshuvoh revolution" that got underway in Eretz
Yisroel following the Six Day War. Well in advance, he saw
that times were approaching when many would seek to return to
the embrace of faith and observance. He laid the groundwork,
in order that the process, when it got underway, would
produce a bountiful yield.
A talmid recalls that following the Six Day War HaRav
Wolbe started to implement his master plan, that included the
opening of new institutions and frameworks, publishing
literature and holding lectures to attract the irreligious
public.
He opened a nonprofit organization through the proper legal
channels to raise funds for the work. At the time, Israeli
law required all new organizations of this type to notify the
public of their opening through notices in two national
newspapers. One of the talmidim in the yeshiva worded
a notice in Hungarian, which the Mashgiach placed in the
Hungarian language Ujkelet, while a second one was
placed in the irreligious Al Hamishmar.
A great talmid chochom who heard of the Mashgiach's
program expressed his surprise at its accommodating
orientation. He remarked that if the day indeed arrived when
baalei teshuvoh would seek to join us, they would have
to work long and hard on their own in order to find a way of
penetrating our spiritual world. He even sent one of his
talmidim to inform the Mashgiach that he was unhappy
about the program being advertised in an irreligious
publication and with the whole idea of opening institutions
for baalei teshuvoh.
The emissary put his teacher's viewpoint to the Mashgiach,
who replied with his customary straightforwardness that his
opinion was quite justified in former times when only a few
individuals would try to rejoin the religious public. Now
however, he maintained, many thousands of baalei
teshuvoh were about to join our community. Were
sufficient preparations not to be made and we found ourselves
unprepared, the results would undesirable for both them and
ourselves, for they would chas vesholom have a
negative influence on us.
Someone asked the Mashgiach, "So where are all those
thousands today? Why don't we see them crowding at the doors
of the yeshiva?"
HaRav Wolbe replied, "Now they're in India or involved with
Buddha, roaming around trying to `find themselves.' They'll
discover nothing there that will satisfy them and after
another year of seeking themselves they'll come to try and
join us and get to know what Judaism is all about."
Shmuessen in Degania
Together with HaRav Sholom Schwadron zt'l and HaRav
Chaim Brim zt'l, HaRav Wolbe traveled to the
kibbutzim in Degania and to other places to lecture to
a public that was thirsting for some genuine spiritual
content in their lives — in so doing they launched the
teshuvoh Movement. These talks in irreligious
educational institutions and kibbutzim had a powerful
effect on the listeners.
Rav L. Zaitchik related that a young man once came to the
yeshiva from the prestigious Haifa Technion asking to hear
one of the Mashgiach's shmuessen. After the
shmuess he commented, "I've heard hundreds of lectures
from many different speakers but never have I heard such a
well-organized and instructive talk."
After a time Rav Boruch Horowitz came to consult with the
Mashgiach about opening a yeshiva for baalei teshuvoh.
HaRav Wolbe encouraged him, strongly recommending that the
Torah community ready itself for a large-scale return to its
ranks. He also transferred the organization that he had set
up to Rav Horowitz, together with the forty thousand
lirot that he had collected for working with baalei
teshuvoh. Thus, Yeshivas Dvar Yerushalayim, the first
yeshiva for baalei teshuvoh, was opened. To this day,
the Mashgiach's organization serves the yeshiva's important
work in his field.
Rav Mordechai Krashinsky relates that when he was young HaRav
Wolbe would deliver talks for irreligious pupils who were
living in the makeshift transit camps in Be'er Sheva. With
his friendliness and warmth he would kindle the Jewish spark
in the children.
He once asked them, "Do you know what the difference is
between a school and a yeshiva? A father who takes an
interest in his child's progress in school asks whether his
son is `making progress.' But if the son is in yeshiva the
father asks whether his son is becoming `worthier' —
that's the difference."
A grandchild asked HaRav Wolbe one Isru Chag Pesach whether
he would be traveling that year to Bnei Brak for the annual
gathering of Lev L'Achim as he usually did. He replied that
he certainly would, for there was much that he needed to do
for the sake of estranged Yidden. He then added, with
a tinge of regret, "In the past I did a great deal in order
to draw people closer but now I can't."
"It sometimes upsets me greatly that I'm not involved in
meriting the estranged," he remarked to a grandchild on
another occasion. "Nu, what can I do about it? At the
moment I'm busy drawing those who are already near even
closer. Yet one can always do more . . . There's no doubt
that anyone involved in kiruv today is an emissary of
Moshiach . . ."
What About the Children?
Rav Benzion Kook was close to him and once asked him whether
his involvement in raising his own family exempted him from
working to draw others closer. Raising children is also a
form of kiruv!
The Mashgiach's answer was clear. "It doesn't exempt you, it
makes your obligation all the greater," he said. "When
children see their father go every week to draw others closer
and he comes home and tells them about it, it adds a lot to
their education."
An avreich once told him, "Chilul Shabbos is
visible from the windows of our home. I am unsuccessful in
preventing my children from seeing it. What shall I do?"
The Mashgiach replied, "Tell them, `These are Jews who have
left the path and do not know how sublime Shabbos is. With
siyata deShmaya when you are older you will help draw
them closer to Torah and mitzvos. Then everyone will do
teshuvoh and there won't be anyone driving here on
Shabbos.' "
by R. Re'eim
One day in Be'er Yaakov, the Mashgiach received an unsigned
letter complaining about how he filled his role. Since he did
not know who the writer was, he posted his reply — in
which he set out his view of the functions of the yeshiva and
of the mashgiach — on the notice board. One of
the bochurim copied it down at the time and has
submitted it to us.
Erev Shabbos parshas Shemos 5728
To the ben yeshiva who wrote to me [without] signing
his name,
Greetings and abundant blessing!
I would like to reply to you but since I don't know whom to
send my reply to I have chosen this way [of responding] and
the subject is of general concern anyway. By the way, I want
to point out that it does not befit the Torah's code of
general conduct to write a letter without signing one's full
name. Gird yourself like a man and say what you think in a
straightforward manner without being afraid!
You ask a question that many have asked, "Why doesn't the
Mashgiach approach the bnei yeshiva, when so many of
them are in low spirits and need [to speak to] him?" You
write that the reason that I gave on erev Yom Kippur, that
for technical reasons it's impossible to come over, is
insufficient.
Let me then give a more detailed reply to the question, "Why
doesn't the Mashgiach come over?"
Apart from serving as an incubator for growth in Torah and in
fear of Heaven, a yeshiva should also prepare its students
for future life. Those at the helm of a yeshiva, especially a
yeshiva gedolah, must be very careful to avoid giving
the bnei hayeshiva a false impression of what life is
like. How can someone who has been trained with faulty ideas
make his way in life?
What happens in real life?
If someone is sick and in need of a doctor, does he writhe on
his bed in pain moaning, "Why doesn't the doctor come over?"
No! He must either approach the doctor himself or call the
doctor to come to him. A doctor doesn't approach a patient by
himself.
When someone has a court case he approaches a lawyer. Someone
with an halachic query approaches his rov. The rov doesn't go
over to a householder to ask whether any shailos have
cropped up in his chicken. The lawyer doesn't approach people
to find out whether they have cases pending. However painful
or embarrassing it might be, the person [in need of their
services] must approach the doctor, the lawyer or the rov and
explain the situation fully to enable them to consider it and
give their advice.
The mashgiach of a yeshiva is exactly the same. If the
mashgiach of a yeshiva gedolah were to go over
to everyone it would give the misleading impression that in
life, someone will always come over to them to offer help
just at the right time without them having to make the
slightest effort.
Moreover, a child is unable to articulate what bothers him,
so he stands and cries. On seeing a child standing in the
street crying, anyone with a heart will go over and ask him
why he's crying.
The older a person gets the better he gets at finding the
right words in which to express himself. This is something
that it is vital that a person learn for the sake of his
development. Let's grant that in yeshiva ketanoh a
youngster hasn't always learned to express himself fully.
There, the mashgiach's coming over when he sees the
signs of inner turmoil is still justified. In yeshiva
gedolah a bochur is mature (even if he's not yet a
senior bochur) and if he hasn't yet learned how to
express himself and approach me when he feels an inner urge
to come over, to chat, or to ask something, when will he
learn to do so?
It thus appears to be a disservice to bnei yeshiva,
quite apart from the technical problems involved, to save
them the bother of coming over to the person who is at their
service and is ready to see them when the need arises.
Let me take this opportunity of saying something else that is
relevant. A rov doesn't possess ruach hakodesh and he
can't know the innermost thoughts of bnei yeshiva if
they haven't revealed them to him. It is not his role to make
demands of each of the bnei hayeshiva. Even when he
spies faults in someone it doesn't mean that he "doesn't
value him." Valuing someone or not is how much one values or
esteems him. A mashgiach tries to ascertain the level
and character of a ben yeshiva but he is extremely
careful about according them esteem. All the guesses about
whether the mashgiach does or doesn't "hold of" this
one or that one are extremely immature — how much more
so engaging him in "politics" . . .
With regard to mussar shmuessen, in our sins the
wellsprings are at present blocked, maybe on account of other
troubles. Be'ezras Hashem, whenever I have something
to say I will say it. However, since last Elul I feel that
there is such apathy on the listeners' part that I am
wondering whether it might not be necessary to change the
whole pattern of the shmuessen. This apathy was not
the cause of the cessation of the shmuessen but it
provided no encouragement to go on with them and, "If a sage
expounds and his words are not as precious to the listeners
as a bride under the chuppah, it were better had he
not said them."
From one who awaits Heaven's mercy
S.W.
To mark the sheloshim, a booklet was printed
containing letters that the Mashgiach wrote in reply to
questions that people put to him over the years. He would
respond to everyone who wrote him. The following letter
concerns the differing approaches to serving Hashem that
exist in Klal Yisroel.
To Mr. . . .,
Greetings and blessing!
I received your letter a while ago but only now during
bein hazmanim am I able to reply, so please forgive
me. In fact, even now I'm unable to reply to your actual
question — what are the differences between the various
paths and approaches to avodas Hashem?
The reason is that my teachers zy'a trained me not to
seek the differences between the approaches. Every such
approach involves life itself; who can discuss the hidden
secrets of life in writing?
Every person should follow in the footsteps of his ancestors
and teachers and serve his Creator wholeheartedly, so long as
he is, "a disciple who has studied thoroughly" and takes on
the path that he has received with understanding and in its
entirety. In the course of his personal avodoh he will
discern the differences between himself and those who serve
according to other approaches. He will also see that those
who are genuine servants are very similar in spirit.
May Hashem yisborach grant you great success in
becoming one who truly serves Hashem!
With Torah blessings
Shlomo Wolbe
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