It is incumbent upon us to adapt our lives according to the
guidelines that Maran HaRav Elozor Shach zt'l taught
us. Let us keep in mind that Rabbeinu always demanded from
every individual that he contemplate his aim in life and
strengthen himself in Torah learning and yiras
Shomayim, and demanded that the public at large to be
careful about other significant matters.
During the sheloshim of Rabbeinu zt'l, Maran
HaRav Yosef Sholom Eliashiv said that it is essential for us
to continue clinging to what Maran bequeathed us, and we must
exert ourselves to our fullest to accomplish this. Maran
HaRav Eliashiv asserted that through guarding carefully the
traditional way of the Torah, through assuring that no
changes are carried out in chinuch and other sacred
areas, Rabbeinu's neshomoh will undoubtedly be
elevated in Shomayim.
Maran HaRav Eliashiv stressed this point of preventing
changes, which formed the basis of the Torah hashkofoh
that Rabbeinu handed over to us and was the very heart of his
guidance. All those who heard Rabbeinu's droshos and
shmuessen and were in some measure connected to him
can easily affirm that this was the theme he repeated
endlessly.
To preserve the correct way each individual should look at
things according to the Torah, it is essential to focus our
efforts in fortifying this preeminent point that Rabbeinu
struggled to implant in our awareness. Incontestably, every
strengthening in Torah study and yiras Shomayim, every
plan we resolve to implement to better ourselves, every
tefillah we daven with additional
kavonoh and fervor, every refinement of our character
traits--"even studying one mishnah or delving into one
thought of Mussar"-- will elevate Rabbeinu's
neshomoh.
Nonetheless, preservation of the Torah from any alterations,
modifications or revisions whatsoever, is the all-inclusive
foundation that he wanted to instill in us. Our clinging to
this principle guards and sustains the yeshivos, the botei
midrash, the Torah education institutions and insures
correct guidance for how Klal Yisroel should conduct
itself.
At the time of Rabbeinu's petiroh we mentioned that at
every opportunity he indefatigably repeated that our
existence as a Torah community, our being securely tied to
those who received the Torah on Mt. Sinai, is dependent upon
our being loyal to our tradition without introducing any
modifications.
Besides our duty to act according to how Rabbeinu instructed
us for his illui neshomoh, we must remember that
basically we are doing this for ourselves, to guarantee our
continued existence as the am HaTorah. He warned us
persistently that any deviation, no matter how minor, from
our tradition will, chas vesholom, put in danger the
whole Torah World.
*
For decades Rabbeinu ztvk'l labored to erect the
present-day Torah World and community of Torah-observant
according to the yardstick passed down to us by the
gedolei Torah from Mt. Sinai until this very day. He
set standards, limitations and restrictions regarding how
bnei Torah and chareidi Jews should behave. All his
many thousands of talmidim, those bnei Torah
who heard his shiurim and shmuessen, both those
who had a direct connection with him or only read what he
wrote, all Torah disseminators and every Jew who ever heard
and took to heart what Rabbeinu directed us -- all knew that
he passed on to us a complete Torah, intact without anything
missing.
They were aware that he was reconstructing and reviving
traditional Judaism and the Torah World that was destroyed in
the horrific Holocaust, and almost made extinct under the
atheistic Communist rule, and through the harmful influence
of the many spurious ideologies that were so prevalent at
that time.
At the time of Maran's petiroh we wrote that
gedolei Torah shlita agree that maranan the
Brisker Rov and the Chazon Ish ztvk'l revived the "dry
bones" of Klal Yisroel, took the survivors from the
Holocaust and those who remained "to call in the Name of
Hashem" -- and with them established anew the Torah World.
Those Torah giants were the ones who placed the foundations,
and Maranan the Steipler Rov and Rabbeinu
ztvk'l continued faithfully to lead us in the way that
they had paved for us.
Maran the Rosh Hayeshiva ztvk'l would concern himself
with every detail involved in shaping the Torah World. He was
occupied in building up Torah centers, spreading
kedushoh throughout the world and strengthening the
foundations of the pure Torah outlook, together with holding
high a sword to wage war against the various groups and
individuals trying to falsify the Torah for one reason or
another.
Rabbeinu conveyed to us a crystal-clear picture of how
Klal Yisroel and the Torah World should look, how we
are to build yeshivos ketanos and gedolos, how a
yeshiva and kollel should properly function, what a
real Jewish home is like, what the role of a Jewish mother
is, and the nature of a suitable education program and
behavior pattern for cheder children and Beis Yaakov
girls. Furthermore, he clarified to us how communal
institutions ought to fill their sacred responsibilities, the
right way to take care of communal problems, and how a ben
Torah and frum baal habayis should appear.
Rabbeinu formulated plans and goals according to the
tradition he received from earlier gedolei Torah. He
unselfishly gave of his precious time in order to delineate
the exact details that he wanted us to know, so that we would
not have any doubts, any vagueness and ambiguity. He
bequeathed us crystal-clear daas Torah.
*
Although sometimes a change in our tradition did not appear
to us as so terrible, he totally forbade it. We can never
know what will be the indirect implications and influences of
such changes. The Chovos Halevovos (Shaar Yichud
Hama'aseh ch. 5) writes: "When wisdom is properly used it
is a remedy for every malady. But when one turns it aside
from its straight path it becomes a disease that spreads
through the entire body, for which there is no remedy or
cure. The Torah is therefore compared to fire . . . Just like
fire it enlightens the eyes . . . but anyone who deviates
from the right way it burns with its flame . . .
"Therefore be careful not to deviate from the ways of the
forefathers nor from the path of the ancients that alone will
be conducive to your well being. Do not fully rely on your
understanding, nor take advice only from yourself. Do not
distrust your fathers in what they have transmitted to you as
to what is good for you. Do not act contrary to their advice.
No plan occurs to you that they have not already thought
about and all the consequences of which -- good or bad --
they had not carefully weighed. You may, at first, be
impressed by the advantages your plan will bring you at the
outset, but you fail to think of the damage it will
eventually cause you, so that with your lack of sufficient
contemplation, you only see what is right, but miss what is
erroneous and detrimental."
Maran the Mashgiach HaRav Yeruchom ztvk'l explains
that the Chovos Halevovos is warning us not to "fully
rely on your understanding, nor take advice only from
yourself" since such independence causes each person to
create "his own Torah." We must remember that our fathers did
not hold back anything from us, "what they did not build, you
will never succeed in obtaining. Whatever you have is from
them. They built it, they handed it over to you, and you
inherited it from them. You must hold on tightly to the
inheritance of your fathers" (Daas Chochmoh Umussar,"
ma'amar "Yerushas Ovos").
***
This yesod, that we can only hand over the Torah when
it is whole, without any changes, and that only in that way
will we constitute a continuation of the chain in which,
"Moshe received the Torah from Sinai and gave it over to
Yehoshua (Ovos 1:1)," was always evident in the way
past and present gedolei Torah acted.
It is only proper to cite sublime principles concerning
transmitting the Torah in its purity and our duty to cling to
our tradition, that Rabbeinu presented at the opening meeting
of the Executive Committee of World Agudath Yisroel of 5740
(1980).
He stressed that we must be aware that our Torah is not like
the wisdom of the nations. With other nations, as the years
go by their wisdom develops. Each coming generation is
considered greater than the previous one in its knowledge and
achievements. This is because the new generation builds on
the knowledge that the previous generation gathered and they
only need to add on it.
Am Yisroel, however, lives with the awareness that
each generation declines in spiritual stature from the
previous one. Every previous generation is greater than the
following one: Nevi'im, Zekeinim, Tanoim, Amoraim, Geonim,
Rishonim, Acharonim -- until our generation. "If the
previous generation were like mal'ochim we are like
people, and if they were like people we are like donkeys
(Shabbos 112b)." Why is this so? "Because our wisdom
is the Torah that was handed over to Moshe on Mt. Sinai, and
it is Torah from Shomayim. Hence those who stood on
Mt. Sinai and heard from Hashem what He Himself spoke, heard
clearly, and each generation closer to mattan Torah
have a clearer picture of what was said. Moshe who received
the Torah, received it from Hashem, and therefore his Torah
knowledge did not lack anything. He did not add anything to
it and all he knew was from the hand of HaKodosh Boruch
Hu. Nothing is above His knowledge.
"This was not true for coming generations. For them the Torah
was only transmitted from one person to another. It is
therefore understandable that following generations declined
in stature from the previous ones, and `if the first were
like mal'ochim we are like people.' "
Maran ztvk'l explained that this is the reason the
Tanna in Pirkei Ovos writes: "Moshe received the Torah
from Sinai and passed it over to Yehoshua and Yehoshua to the
Zekeinim... and the Nevi'im passed it over to
the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah."
The Tanna writes that Moshe "received" the Torah but when he
mentions Yehoshua, he writes that he "passed it over." This
is coming to teach that if the Tanna would have written
"received" by Yehoshua we might mistakenly have thought that
he did not receive the correct tradition since he did not
receive it straight from Hashem but rather from Moshe.
Perhaps something was added or subtracted, chas
vesholom. Moshe Rabbeinu, who received the Torah from
HaKodosh Boruch Hu, surely received the whole Torah.
Therefore the Tanna writes "and he passed it over to
Yehoshua." He passed it over exactly as he had received it
from Hashem.
Likewise, Yehoshua passed it over to the Zekeinim, without
any change or addition. No detail was left out until this
very day. We are obligated to act in the same way--to pass it
over as it is without adding or subtracting anything.
This is the uniqueness of Toras Yisroel. Nothing was added to
the Torah from when it was given to Moshe on Mt. Sinai.
Although wisdom of other nations changes continuously
according to the period in which they live, the way of am
Yisroel needs to remain on its same status and
uniqueness, and in this way we will be different from other
nations.
***
Interwoven in all of Rabbeinu's discourses, something he
constantly repeated, was his incredible yearning for past
times. He was terribly disturbed by our present spiritual
decline that he saw in the course of only one generation.
Accordingly, he would react sharply to any activity or
expression trying to compare our generation to the previous
ones, and any attempt to be wiser than the old ways.
For this reason, Rabbeinu would encourage publishing works
discussing yesodos of Torah hashkofos. He said
that we must study well how the gedolei Torah zt'l
expressed themselves in matters of pure daas Torah,
Divine Providence, yiras Shomayim, ways of learning,
and how to rule in halochoh. All this is to be for us,
an orphaned generation, a faithful guide.
Rabbeinu ztvk'l was of the opinion that all the
ideological flaws that clung to Klal Yisroel in past
generations, were rooted in the false aspiration to discard
our tradition and search for other ways. It is appropriate to
cite what Rabbeinu wrote about our obligation to cling to our
tradition and our splendid past that was full of Torah
richness. (This was said at the eulogy for the Satmar Rebbe
ztvk'l, and printed in Michtovim Uma'amorim,
vol. 1.)
"The Medrash Eichah writes: R' Yochonon would expound
sixty different interpretations to, `Hashem consumed without
pity all the dwelling of Yaakov' (Eichoh 2:2). R'
Yochonon was able to compose sixty droshos on that
posuk that described the greatness of the
Churban. We are nowhere close to being able to do that
but the previous generations, the Tanoim and Amoraim, could.
The Medrash writes that Rebbe would expound twenty-
four explanations on `consumed without pity.' The Medrash
points out that this does not show that R' Yochonon was
greater than Rebbe. Since Rebbe was nearer to the time of the
destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh he would remember
what happened and would expound the droshoh, cry and
console himself.
"What was his nechomoh and how does that answer why he
did not say more than twenty-four droshos?
"It seems to me that the explanation is as follows: Since
Rebbe lived right after the Churban, he would remember
and relive the colossal tragedy that the Churban
caused. He would recall what the Beis Hamikdosh was
for us and what it gave us. Remembering what we have lost is
somewhat of a consolation. When we hold on to the past and do
not look for alternatives, when we do not look for new Toros
and new mitzvos, when we do not formulate new principles so
that we remember the old Beis Hamikdosh -- this is
some consolation, a relief for our grief and sense of
loss.
"But R' Yochonon, who lived much after the time the Beis
Hamikdosh, expounded the posuk describing the
Churban in sixty ways. He had no other way to console
himself, since the Beis Hamikdosh was not engraved in
his memory.
"Our Torah is from Shomayim and every earlier
generation is greater and wiser. In secular studies with
every coming year come new advances. The wisdom of the Torah
is just the opposite. We have a whole Torah of sayings of
Chazal, from the Bavli and Yerushalmi, and from
Rishonim and many other seforim, but with the decline
of the generations we steadily decline. This amazing
phenomenon should be noticed.
"Hashem decreed that people's general knowledge develops, and
every new generation achieves more. Concerning the
transmitting of Hashem's words, the opposite is true. The
highest level were those who heard Hashem speak. Anyone
closer to those who heard Hashem speak is greater, and any
earlier generation is in that sense greater. This is also
true about emunah and about the foundations of the
Torah! We are not allowed to innovate anything! There are no
new principles! Anyone who makes any change, no matter who he
is, his Torah is a Torah of lies and a falsity."
***
The above gains special significance as time goes by from the
petiroh of Rabbeinu. We must remember that we are
constantly declining from previous generations. It is obvious
what a terrible decline Klal Yisroel has gone through
in the last sixty years, since the Churban of the
Torah World in Europe. Rabbeinu ztvk'l was a link in
the chain that tied us to the wonderful period before that
Churban. He was a survivor of that generation of
wisdom. Because of his petiroh we have wandered away
from that generation.
According to Rabbeinu's explanation of the aforementioned
Medrash, the greatest consolation is when we feel
close and still remember the Churban, when we sense
our connection with the near past and realize what we have
lost. The feeling of yearning for the destroyed world
guarantees that we can continue the tradition that we
received from our spiritual Sages and that we will continue
to act according to the guidance of our gedolei Torah
shlita.
HaRav Meir Tzvi Bergman, son-in-law of Rabbeinu, said: "It is
customary to bless our sons with the brochoh, `May he
make you like Ephraim and Menasheh (Bereishis 38:20),'
but it might seem that it would have been more proper to be
blessed to be like our holy Ovos. However, the key point of
this brochoh is that although Ephraim and Menasheh
were the second generation, they were counted as equals of
the other shevotim.
"Every generation declines in relation to the previous one.
We therefore bless our children that they will be like their
father's generation."
This was always the aspiration of the Jewish Nation and that
was the main guidance Maran passed on to us: to observe the
Torah without any changes, to follow how the gedolim
of the previous generations taught us. This was also his own
greatness, his being a remnant of the gedolim of past
generations, and we are obligated to continue in the way of
our splendid tradition under the direction of Maranan
gedolei Yisroel shlita.
This article was originally written for HaRav Shach's
second yahrtzeit, one year ago.
