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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
In the first part, we discussed R' Abba Berman's younger
years in Europe and America.
Sterling Character Traits
His pursuit of truth was no less intense when it came to
interpersonal dealings than when seeking comprehension in
learning. He once commented that he had never let a false
word leave his lips, even in the specific situations where
halochoh permits veering from the truth.
He never allowed himself to be swayed by regrets if he felt
that a piece of Torah he'd composed did not have the ring of
truth, and he would set it aside. He would repeatedly review
discourses that he'd already prepared for publication,
examining them with perfect objectivity despite the immense
toil that he'd already invested. If, after all, he felt that
they did not illuminate the topic in a true light, he would
retract them or set them aside.
When the yeshiva ordered receipt books from the printer, he
gave instructions that the design of the receipt incorporate
the words of the Bircas Shmuel, namely, that each and every
individual has an obligation to see that his sons and
grandsons grow into great Torah scholars. When it was
suggested that the receipts bear the sort of message that
donors might be happier to see, he retorted, "But the words
of the Bircas Shmuel are something that the donors have to
know!"
He was not in favor of the yeshiva hosting a dinner at which
the donors would be seated together with their families. He
maintained his objection, insisting that this was not the way
to further Torah even though it was clarified to him that
many other yeshivos did so, relying upon a heter
received from Torah authorities, and despite his own
yeshiva's extremely precarious financial situation.
When he opened his yeshiva in America he took in several very
fine bochurim indeed, but only a handful. It was
explained to him that one couldn't run a yeshiva
gedolah in America without also having a yeshiva
ketanoh (high school) whose graduates entered the sister
institution. Reb Abba would not hear of this however, because
all the yeshivos ketanos in those days also taught
secular subjects. For this reason, his yeshiva remained one
of the only yeshivas in America that had no yeshiva
ketanoh, though he could have found supporters who would
have helped him open one.
Although he served as rosh yeshiva, Reb Abba refused to take
a penny from the yeshiva and he drew no salary. When his
rebbetzin needed to make a phone call from the
yeshiva, she kept a record and he paid for it. He only
allowed himself to take a salary when the yeshiva started
receiving government support.
To Show That I Bear No Grudge
The family refrained from inviting a certain individual to
the bar mitzvah celebration of one of Reb Abba's
grandsons because the man had caused him problems on a number
of occasions. When Reb Abba heard about this he gave
instructions that the man should be invited and he was not
satisfied until he'd called to check that the invitation had
already been sent out.
For the wedding of one of his daughters, he wanted to honor a
certain well-known person with saying a brochoh under
the chuppah. When the chosson's side learned of
this they asked him to refrain from inviting that person
because he had caused their family much trouble. When Reb
Abba heard what the man had done to them his response was,
"You should know that he's caused me personally far, far
greater trouble than that and that is precisely the reason
that I seek to invite him to say a brochoh under the
chuppah of all my daughters — to show that I
bear him no grudge."
His daughter once told him about an older woman who had been
her student, who wanted to receive a blessing from him. "Do I
have pockets filled with blessings?" was his initial
reaction.
His daughter explained that her student was already a mature
woman and was very broken-spirited. She badly needed some
encouragement, which his blessing would certainly provide.
Reb Abba agreed to see her.
When the student arrived, Reb Abba spoke encouragingly and
openly to her telling her, "There's nothing terrible about
marrying at an older age. I myself married when I was thirty-
two . . . It's not that getting married that is the main
thing, so much as what one manages to achieve through the
marriage."
He explained that the most important thing was to build a
home of Torah. "If you undertake right away to help your
husband develop into a great Torah scholar, you will already
be taking a very important step towards achieving the purpose
of marriage."
Later, Reb Abba's daughter told him that his words had
greatly encouraged the woman and had transformed her whole
outlook about her situation. He was very happy to hear this
and it was evident that having been the means of helping a
fellow Jew was a source of renewed vitality to him. It was
not long before the woman established a home with a
bochur with an outstanding reputation in Torah and
yiras Shomayim.
Raising Talmidim
All his life he sacrificed himself for the sake of his
talmidim and he was one of the very few of his
generation who succeeded in fully shaping and molding
talmidim. HaRav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt'l, once
remarked, "The only one capable of producing talmidim
in this generation is Reb Abba" (repeated by his
talmid, Rav M. Wolpin).
While traveling to Reb Abba's levaya, several
talmidim were discussing how much time they had each
spent learning with him. "I only learned with him for nine
years," said one of them. "I only learned with him for
fourteen years," said another. It was virtually unknown for
someone to be his talmid for just a year or two. His
talmidim were firmly attached to him and spent many
years learning from him, during which they fully absorbed his
approach, each on his own level.
His talmid Rav Chaim Z. Malinowitz relates that while
the yeshiva was situated in Far Rockaway, Reb Abba would
deliver three regular shiurim in the course of the
week, besides Friday's shiur keloli.
The talmidim signed a petition asking the Rosh Yeshiva
to deliver an additional regular shiur every week
because they wanted to hear as much as they could from
him.
Despite their firm attachment to him, Reb Abba encouraged his
talmidim to hear shiurim from other maggidei
shiur. He maintained that either way it was a good idea.
"If you feel you'll have more benefit over there, then fine!
Stay there! If you conclude that you have more to gain from
me it'll make you value the shiurim all the more."
His talmid Rav Refoel Wolpin, a maggid shiur in
Yeshivas Kol Torah, relates that when listening to one of Reb
Abba's shiurim the participants felt at first that
"darkness covers the earth" (Yeshayohu 60:2) —
the questions that he asked and the problems that he found in
the sugya seemed insurmountable. Once he revealed the
underlying principles though, they felt a bright light
illuminating everything — now the sugya beamed
and sparkled on its own.
The depth and strength of the bond that his talmidim
felt with him arose from the fact that together with him,
they forged another link in the chain of Torah's
transmission. Many of them tore keriah when he passed
away. His foremost talmidim, among them Rav Yisroel
Eliyahu Weintraub, are saying Kaddish for him (Reb
Abba only had daughters). Talmidim say that when he
was niftar, they sat on the ground in mourning,
feeling that his loss surpassed even that of parents.
Reb Abba also had talmidim who never saw him —
those who learned from his seforim, especially the
volume on Kodshim. Preparing his seforim for
publication was a special task. His son-in-law Rav M. Altusky
did the editing and Reb Abba reviewed each and every word.
There were scores of shiurim that he left out because
he felt that only those that conveyed a distinct approach to
learning a sugya in depth ought to be included. The
work of publishing his writings is still at an early stage.
He left a huge legacy of written chiddushim, besides
the notes that his talmidim made.
A Home Whose Heart Beats to Torah
Reb Abba invested a great deal in raising and educating his
daughters. Although the family lived in the America of two
generations ago, in a far weaker Torah environment than there
is today, the girls were raised as if they had still been
living in Lodz. The atmosphere in the home was suffused with
love of Torah and yiras Shomayim, which the family
absorbed. Important events were remembered according to the
masechteh that the yeshiva had been studying when they
took place: "We moved during Bava Kama," "That
happened during Kiddushin."
He was very particular about his daughters' modesty. In those
days, there were many observant homes where a TV. could be
found. Reb Abba's daughters were not allowed to visit such
homes. So long as he had unmarried daughters he refrained
from inviting talmidim to his home. While the yeshiva
was in the mountains during the summer months, the girls only
left the house while their father was delivering
shiur.
He had his daughters educated in Yiddish because, he said,
Yiddish protected the Jewish nation throughout the exile. Reb
Abba's daughters studied in Eretz Yisroel and upon returning
to America found positions as teachers in Bais Yaakov. One of
them was offered a job in an office but Reb Abba would not
allow it, although the family's financial situation was
precarious. She eventually found work in teaching.
While Reb Abba prepared shiur in the morning, his
daughters knew that there had to be absolute silence so that
his deep concentration should not be disturbed. When they
heard him clap his hands in joy, the sign that he had
fathomed the profundities of the sugya and had
attained clarity, his delight was felt throughout the
home.
One rainy day, his rebbetzin arrived home to find
their youngest daughter, who was then in seventh grade,
sitting outside the house. The girl explained that the door
was locked. "Why didn't you knock for someone to come and
open it?" her mother asked.
The girl explained that Father was busy preparing
shiur — "How can I disturb him?"
Reb Abba provided a great deal of guidance as to how to learn
and compose novel insights, especially to maggidei
shiurim. This is what he would tell them:
When starting a new perek, rather than just learning
the first topic and spending a long time on it, it's more
worthwhile to learn through the entire perek in the
ordinary way. Whenever there's some comment or difficulty,
one should pause and spend five minutes thinking about it. If
one finds an answer — well and good. But if not, one
should make a note of his thought and continue. The entire
perek should be learned this way.
After that, one should start to learn the perek once
again, stopping wherever there were difficulties the first
time. New points will undoubtedly present themselves because
one is approaching it from a different angle and with new
ideas, as a result of having learned through the whole
perek. The entire perek should be learned that
way and then it should be learned again — all in all,
several times over.
The first few times it is preferable to engage in minimal
reflection, rather than probing deeply. In fact, all the
questions that one has already noticed will point in the
direction of solutions and make it possible to discern some
of the underlying concepts.
After learning through the perek a number of times
with gentle reflection, one should apply one's mind fully to
the topics that need further clarification.
Another piece of advice, which Reb Abba gave his son-in-law
when he started delivering shiurim in the yeshiva: it
often happens that in the middle of giving a shiur,
one has a flash of inspiration and a new idea or approach
suddenly presents itself. Be aware that the yetzer
hora is at work! Under no circumstances should you share
such an idea with your talmidim. One should not repeat
any idea until one has turned it over a number of times in
one's mind!
Reb Abba would advise his talmidim as to how they
should review their learning in order to remember it. He told
them that while in Shanghai, when the doctors forbade him to
engage in strenuous learning, he read a research paper on the
subject of memory, from which he learned that the major
proportion of what one forgets is forgotten immediately after
learning.
For example, one day after learning something, a person will
have forgotten thirty percent of the subject matter. A day
later, he won't have forgotten another thirty percent but
much less than that. It is therefore important to review what
one had learned straight after learning, in order to prevent
the first, major bout of forgetting.
He advised his talmidim to review what they had
learned as soon as they finished learning it, to review again
at the end of the week and again at the end of the month and
at the end of the year. They would thus retain their learning
well.
He also used to say: "Memory favors brevity." It is important
to condense what one has learned and review it in that form.
He would also say that whatever a person thinks about
directly before falling asleep remains in his memory. He
therefore advised talmidim to briefly review the day's
learning before falling asleep. Some of them attest to
remembering things they'd learned forty years earlier, thanks
to Reb Abba's advice.
The last shmuess that HaRav Abba Berman zt'l,
delivered
Isn't Torah Study One of the Mitzvos?
"If you proceed [by following] in My laws and keep My
commandments and fulfill them . . ." (Vayikra
26:2).
Rashi (quoting Toras Cohanim) comments, " `If you
proceed in My laws' — maybe this refers to keeping the
mitzvos?
"When it says `and you keep My commandments,' keeping the
mitzvos is already discussed. So to what do the words, `If
you proceed in My laws' refer? That you should toil in
Torah."
At first glance this answer is astonishing. Rashi asked that
observing all of the Torah's mitzvos is covered by the words
`and you keep My commandments,' leaving the posuk's
opening words seemingly redundant. How does his answer help?
Isn't toiling in Torah part of the six hundred and thirteen
mitzvos that are already referred to?
On the mishnah's words (Pe'ah 1:1) "And Torah
study equals all of them," the Yerushalmi brings the
following difference of opinion. "Rabbi Berechyah and Rabbi
Chiya of Kefar Techumin [disagreed]. One said, `Even the
entire world is not equal to one piece of Torah knowledge'
and the other said, `Even all of the Torah's mitzvos are not
equal to one thing from the Torah.' "
How are we to understand this? The entire Torah, all of the
six hundred and thirteen mitzvos are unequal to a word of
Torah?! What about the mitzvah of milah, over which
thirteen covenants were made? What about Shabbos, "a sign
between me and bnei Yisroel" (Shemos 31:17),
the equivalent of the entire Torah, whose observance is
powerful enough to earn pardon for someone who "serves idols
like the generation of Enosh" (Shabbos 118)? What
about Yom Kippur? How can it be that all of the mitzvos
together are unequal to a single word of Torah?
Were the Yerushalmi to have said that Torah is the greatest
mitzvah out of all six hundred and thirteen, we could
understand. But how can it be that all the mitzvos together
are unequal to a single word of Torah? How are we to
understand such a statement?
Cleaving to Hashem
The explanation seems to be based on the posuk, "For a
mitzvah is a lamp and Torah is light" (Mishlei 6:23).
A mitzvah is compared to a lamp which is a means of producing
light, while Torah is compared to the light itself (see also
the Zohar, Terumah 166 — ed. note). This too
requires explanation. How are we to understand that all the
mitzvos are simply the means to attaining an end, rather than
an end in themselves?
We have to consider the nature of the light that is Torah.
It's not illumination like the sun's light or some similar
kind of light. It's "the light of Your countenance" —
the light of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Chazal tell us that
"Hakodosh Boruch Hu, Yisroel and the Torah are one
unit." The Torah's light is the light of Hashem shining in
this world. The only way to attach oneself to Hashem is by
cleaving to the light of Torah, for it is one and the same as
cleaving to Hashem — thereby, Hakodosh Boruch
Hu, Yisroel and the Torah are one.
This is the purpose of the world. The purpose of all the
mitzvos is to render those who fulfill them fit to accept the
light of Torah. This in fact shows us how sublime Torah's
light is. In order to become worthy of receiving the Torah's
light one must fulfill all six hundred and thirteen mitzvos.
If some of the mitzvos are missing it affects a person's
ability to serve as a vessel for Torah's light.
This is the meaning of the Yerushalmi's comment, "Even all of
the Torah's mitzvos are not equal to one thing from the
Torah." For all their exalted level, the mitzvos are only a
means to rendering a person capable of absorbing Torah.
I remember my father and teacher, the gaon Rav Shaul
Yosef ztvk'l (who was rosh yeshivas Toras Chesed in
Lodz) telling me about when he was with his master and
teacher the Chofetz Chaim zy'a. One of the rabbonim of
the Mizrachi had come with complaints that the yeshiva
bochurim weren't coming to settle in Eretz Yisroel to
strengthen the yishuv. Settling Eretz Yisroel is a
very great mitzvah, he argued, equal to all of the others.
The Chofetz Chaim expressed himself very sharply and said,
"All the mitzvos are blotte (mud) next to the Torah.
Even the greatest mitzvah is not worth any weakening of Torah
study, choliloh."
This accords with what we have said, namely, that all of the
mitzvos are a means to facilitate Torah study.
Mitzvah Merits and Torah Merits
The gemora (Brochos 17) asks, "What merit do women
have? That of their sons who learn to read in the beis
haknesses, of their husbands who learn in the beis
hamedrash and of waiting for their husbands to return
from the beis hamedrash."
There is a commonly asked question on this gemora. Do
women lack mitzvos to keep, to the point where the
gemora has to ask what merits they have? There are
many mitzvos that they fulfill: believing in Hashem, loving
Him, fearing Him, Shabbos, Pesach as well as all the positive
mitzvos that are not time-bound. Why is it a problem to find
merit for women?
According to what we have said, the explanation is that while
women are of course filled with mitzvos, mitzvos without
Torah are like an empty vessel. We could not say such a thing
on our own unless the posuk said it but it is written
explicitly: "For a mitzvah is a lamp and Torah is light."
Now the gemora's question makes sense. Women have no
obligation to study Torah — in fact it is forbidden for
a father to teach his daughter Torah. What merit do they have
without Torah? The gemora answers that they are
partners in the Torah study of their husbands and sons.
The Light of Torah — Separate from the
Mitzvos
The Nefesh HaChaim makes a well-known statement: were the
world to be without Torah study for an instant, it would
become void immediately. There are times of the year when
people are preoccupied with mitzvos, such as erev Yom
Kippur when the meal is a Torah obligation. Yet the
Nefesh HaChaim says without qualification that if everyone
were to be busy with mitzvos and nobody was learning Torah
the world would cease to exist.
This requires explanation. Those who are busy with mitzvos
are doing the right thing — a mitzvah whose time will
pass takes precedence over Torah study. Why then, should the
world be punished with destruction?
The answer is that it's not a punishment — it's a
natural consequence. Hashem's light in the world is the light
of Torah; without it, the world has no existence.
This is the meaning of the words, "If you proceed following
My laws," which Rashi tells us means, "that you should toil
in Torah." We asked that toiling in Torah is part and parcel
of the mitzvos that are referred to by the words, "and you
keep My commandments." In fact, learning Torah without toil
is also a mitzvah. However, in order to cleave to the light
of Torah — and thereby to Hashem yisborach —
one must toil to learn Torah and "inscribe them [words of
Torah] on the tablet of your heart" (Mishlei 3:3).
Only by dong so can one attach himself to Torah.
Chazal are extremely precise in interpreting the
posuk's words. For mitzvos, the word "keeping" is
used, implying observing them in one's outward conduct. The
beginning of the posuk however, speaks about
"proceeding in My laws," implying making one's way
forward in life within Hashem's laws. This only
denotes toiling in Torah, through which a person puts himself
squarely inside Torah. By contrast, one can fulfill
the other mitzvos, but not in the sense of proceeding
within them. Only by receiving Torah's light can one
proceed from within.
External to Time
This enables us to explain Chazal's statement
"Tzaddikim are still called living, even after their
deaths" (Brochos 18). A tzaddik is certainly on
a sublime level but what does that have to do with calling
him living after he's died? Surely, he's dead!
The Rambam presents his famous difficulty on the subject of
foreknowledge and free will (Hilchos Teshuvoh 5:5).
How can there be free will, he asks? Hakodosh Boruch
Hu knows everything that is going to happen beforehand,
so He also knows whether a person is going to be righteous or
wicked. The Rambam does not provide a clear answer to this
problem. The Raavad comments, "Avrohom says, he has not
conducted himself in the manner of scholars; one should not
embark upon a subject unless one knows how to conclude it. He
begins asking questions and raising difficulties and leaves
them unresolved etc."
Although the Raavad finds the Rambam problematic, if one
reads the Rambam carefully one sees that he does discuss the
subject at great length. He prefaces his comments with the
words, "Know that the answer to this question is very lengthy
indeed etc." He explains the difference between the kind of
knowledge that humans possess and Hakodosh Boruch Hu's
knowledge, writing that a person cannot fully fathom it. In
conclusion he writes, "But we should know without any doubt
that a person is in control of his behavior and Hakodosh
Boruch Hu does not sway him or decree that he should
behave in a certain way. It's not only because we have a
religious tradition that we know this to be true —
there are clear proofs to it from the teachings of
wisdom."
If human beings cannot understand the type of knowledge that
Hakodosh Boruch Hu has, how can the Rambam conclude by
saying that we don't only know this to be true because of our
religious tradition but also from "clear proofs . . .from the
teachings of wisdom"? How can worldly wisdom show us that we
can't fathom Hashem's knowledge? We would only expect it to
help us know things that we can understand, not those
that we can't.
The Rambam seems to mean as follows: Our problem with
foreknowledge and free will only arises because our
conceptions are limited by our existence within a system that
is subject to time flow, with the consequent distinction
between "before" and "after."
The truth is that time is not absolute; it's also something
that was created. The Creator is above time, so His knowledge
is no contradiction whatsoever to our free will. It is
incorrect to think of His knowledge as already being there
before we exercise our free will, because in Heaven
there is no time flow whatsoever.
In other words, our whole problem with free will only arises
because we cannot fathom the idea of being above time, or
external to time; this is the point about Hashem's
foreknowledge that the Rambam is making. The fact that time
also had to be created is not only known to us through
religious tradition. There are indeed "clear proofs to it
from the teachings of wisdom." (Especially nowadays,
scientists' research and Einstein's laws demonstrate that
time is a creation and has no fixed, independent existence.)
In Teshuvos HoRashbo (siman 9) it is written
explicitly that time is a creation that is dependent on the
celestial bodies and that the Creator is above time.
This explains why tzaddikim are called living after
their deaths. The whole concept of death relates to time
— a person lives until a certain point in time, after
which his life stops.
This however, only holds true within the time-bound system of
the creation. A tzaddik who is attached to Torah and
is part of the Unity of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, Yisroel
and Torah, is above time. He cleaves to Torah which is
eternal — and external to time — and is therefore
unaffected by death.
On another occasion, R' Abba explained the answer of the
Chofetz Chaim, "Ein hochi nami, Eretz Yisroel is a
very big mitzvah. But compared to limud haTorah, all
mitzvos are blotte," in the following manner.
R' Abba explained that the Chofetz Chaim's answer was based
on a Yerushalmi that the Rash brings at the beginning
of maseches Pei'ah. It says (Mishlei 3:15): "Kol
chafotzecho lo yishvu boh" — all your things that
you desire are worthless compared to it (referring to Torah).
Adds the Yerushalmi: Afilu cheftzei Shomayim —
even the desires of Heaven [are worthless compared to Torah].
This clearly refers to the mitzvos, and the Yerushalmi
is saying that they are worthless compared to Torah.
by Mordecai Plaut
Once at a dinner R' Abba said that in the piyut about
the Ten Harugei Malchus (the Ten Martyrs killed over
the generations) it gives, as a short description of Rebbi
Akiva ben Yosef, "He was oker horim vetochonon
besevoro," — he would uproot mountains and grind
them with his reasoning.
Is this the essence of R' Akiva, asked R' Abba, that he could
grind dirt, as it were? What is the meaning of this
moshol?
The gemora says that around Kabolas HaTorah in
the Desert, Hakodosh Boruch Hu showed Moshe Rabbenu
how R' Akiva was teaching, and Moshe Rabbenu could not
understand what he was saying. Is that outstanding level of
learning contained and summarized by the metaphor of
uprooting mountains and grinding them one against the other
with reason?
Yes, he answered. This metaphor shows us what Torah is. A
mountain does not let us see past it. The difficulty blocks
our line of sight. The oker horim takes away the
mountain so that we can see past it.
How? He uses the difficulty to work at it from the inside
out. He enlightens our eyes so that we may see properly.
HaRav Mordechai Altusky said that some leave the mountain in
place and build upon the mountain. In effect, they build upon
the lack of understanding.
It is often easier to leave the mountains in place. It is
hard for a person to uproot his assumptions. Sometimes after
discarding his old, familiar way of thinking, he is left with
nothing.
But that is not the way of learning. One has to uproot the
obstacles and grind them away.
In his shiurim, said HaRav Altusky, one could see how
he uprooted the mountains. One mountain after the other was
uprooted, until eventually the truth was exposed. The Torah
became a plain across which one could see far and wide.
That is grinding one mountain on the other. He takes one
difficulty and then throws it up against another difficulty,
and by working on both he comes to the truth that applies
universally. Then we can see the true nature of the thing
itself. The main thing is to see. How do you see? From
within. Not to enter from the outside.
R Boruch Ber said that if we understand the question well
that is half the answer. This is also a similar idea.
In English we say "I see." It means to see with eyes and also
to understand it.
At the levaya HaRav Avrohom Orenstein, a son-in-law,
quoted a pshat of the Chofetz Chaim on the posuk:
Yekoroh hi mipeninim (Mishlei 3:15).
Every thing has its experts, the Chofetz Chaim said, the
meivinim who know how to appreciate it. For simple
things, almost everyone is an expert. The necessary expertise
is widely available. Almost everyone can appreciate good
food, for example.
To appreciate pearls however, one needs a level of expertise
that is not widely available. Only the experts who know all
their qualities and nuances truly appreciate the excellence
of an outstanding pearl. That is why the Torah is compared to
pearls, since not everyone truly knows how to appreciate
Torah.
The Rosh Yeshiva certainly knew how to appreciate Torah, but
he was himself like a pearl that requires a special expertise
to fully appreciate.
by Mordecai Plaut
The Rosh Yeshiva was a ba'al mechadesh and he had many
original approaches to the classical sugyos studied in
yeshivas. However what he gave over was not only, and not
even perhaps mainly, his specific innovations. He definitely
and deliberately transmitted to his talmidim the
intellectual tools that he had himself used to produce these
new approaches.
The Rosh Yeshiva used to say that the biggest laziness that
there is, is the laziness not to think. The classical image
of a slothful person is one who finds it hard to move his
body. But the Rosh Yeshiva said that even one who has no
problem with getting around may still be plagued by a
reluctance to think, since thinking is really the hardest
work that there is.
But the Rosh Yeshiva trained his talmidim to think,
and he trained them in how to think. The hardest part may be
getting people to exert themselves intellectually, but the
most important part is perhaps the tools to think properly.
By his example as he explained his reasoning and the process
of arriving at his ideas, the Rosh Yeshiva showed his
students how to think properly and to manipulate abstract
ideas correctly.
R' Binyomin Wolpin in his hesped quoted HaRav Shach
zt"l who said that in many shiurim there are
some who benefit and some who do not. However, from R' Abba's
shiurim everyone benefits.
Rav Wolpin also noted that the Rosh Yeshiva often told his
talmidim, "I do not want you to be another R' Abba. I
want you to be what you can be."
One of the Rosh Yeshiva's chief principles in learning, one
that was almost always on his lips, was, "Vos shteit."
One must approach an inyan totally objectively, and
make sure that all chiddushim and biurim that
one says lie in the words of the gemora or the
rishonim, and are extracted from them and not newly
conceived in one's mind and then put into those words. One
must make sure that one is not coming to the sugya
with any preconceived notions. One must clear one's mind and
always start fresh.
The questions of the shiur, were often original and
were thus lessons in themselves — lessons in how to not
accept things at face value but to question and probe and
challenge.
The Rosh Yeshiva actually stressed — not lomdus,
not analysis, not depth, but rather — bakoshas
ho'emmes the basic search for truth. One must simply make
sure that one understood what one was learning completely and
wholly.
With R Abba there was no concept of a be'erech
understanding of a sugya. By R Abba, be'erech
was treif. One must understand well. He taught his
talmidim not be satisfied with an approximate, vague
understanding but full clarity and even certainty.
HaRav Moshe Wolpin said in his hesped that for the
Rosh Yeshiva, the truth was not something optional. The
emes was simply all that there is.
In his hesped, HaRav Mordechai Altusky said that R'
Abba's very life-breath was his derech in limud.
The keystone of his derech, as he always said, is
that one must always seek the emes.
What does this mean? What does everyone else do? Who looks
for sheker?
Bakoshas ho'emmes burned within him. It was really
like a fire. The way he learned, nothing would stop him from
reaching the truth. Even if "everyone" learned one way, that
would not stop him from considering alternatives, if they led
to the truth.
Even his own past Torah did not stop him. Even if he had a
few shiurim that were based on a particular approach,
it did not stop him from changing his mind when he saw the
need to do so.
He was truly moser nefesh for the truth of Torah. He
once said that even in those areas that Chazal say one may
deviate from emes, he never did so. He just could not
bring himself to do it.
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