Maran HaRav A.Y.L. Shteinman zt"l
The well known educational figure, HaRav Moshe Blau, related: "I was once standing near to the Rosh Yeshiva when I heard one of his confidantes, HaRav A. Z., a recognized talmid chochom who was close to him, asking Maran to do something to help a bochur from a Chassidic family in Bnei Brak who had been arrested upon arrival in Israel for smuggling. He was asking the Rosh Yeshiva to request the President of Israel to release him at least for the Seder night.
"Maran said, `Yes, that is really important,' and he began thinking over whom to approach. He enumerated several names of public figures who might be able to help.
"Suddenly, he turned to the one who had made the request and asked him, `Who is asking for this?' and was told, `The boy's uncle.' Maran surprisingly said, `An uncle? That is not sufficient reason. If it was the father, it would be different, but an uncle...'
"The one who made the request demurred and said, `What difference does it make? It's the uncle who is involved in the matter and taking the initiative and he is familiar with the problem.'
"At that moment, I allowed myself to interfere and said that I was also acquainted with the story from close hand and that it was far more complex than the uncle imagined. I said that I knew that the parents were not interested in having their son released for the Seder because the whole situation is very complicated and is liable to shake up the situation in the home for the duration of the entire Pesach."
HaRav Moshe Blau continued, "I was very surprised to see how the Rosh Yeshiva had taken in the whole situation to a hairsbreadth of finely tuned understanding. It was a degree of Ruach Hakodesh through his wisdom of Torah.
"And this was not the first time that I was witness to this," he summed up, "and each time, it was an amazing phenomenon in of itself."
HaRav Chaim Kanievsky writing a letter in a sefer Torah dedicated to HaRav Shteinman zt"l
