Fifth Yahrzeit Azkarah for Rav Aharon Walkin zt”l: Torah, Chesed, and His Living Legacy

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Here we are, the fifth yahrzeit, azkarah of Morenu Rabbeinu, HaGaon HaRav Aaron Walkin, zatzal, zecher tzaddik v'kadosh livrachah, our dear rebbe in our yeshiva at Chazak. Very, very, very shocking that five years have already passed. We'll never forget all that the Rav rosh yeshiva has done for our community, for our kehillah. And as we'll hear from the various different rabbanim and speakers, one point that I would like to mention is the Rebbe's vision. The Rosh Yeshiva had a vision, and that was as follows: that we at Chazak, we would organize, till today, a lot of shiurim, events, lectures, world-renowned speakers coming, inspiring dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people in person and now with the online world, hundreds if not hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of more people, many, many more people, Baruch Hashem, chasdei Hashem. And the Rosh Yeshiva, I'll never forget, said that that's amazing. Baruch Hashem, chasdei Hashem, yishtabach Shemo la'ad, that's great, so many people being inspired. But the Rosh Yeshiva said it's time to take the community to the next level and have the chevra open up the sefarim, open up the books, to learn inside, open up the Gemara. And I remember reaching out to the Rosh Yeshiva saying that the siyum hashas, the big one in the stadium... Tens of thousands of people, I think close to a hundred thousand people, are going to be there. And I was shocked to hear that the Rosh Yeshiva never went to one of these, and understandably so. You know why? Because he was always ameil b'Torah, always learning and shteiging. And I told the Rosh Yeshiva, I think it's important that the Rebbe comes, Baruch Hashem, have a seat in the dais. And Baruch Hashem, the Rosh Yeshiva agreed to come. And I had the zechut, the merit, to bring in the Rosh Yeshiva and help him come to his seat. And what a simcha, what a joy the Rosh Yeshiva had seeing so many Yidden. The Rebbe, as we all know, loved teaching Torah with love, loved Yidden, loved Jews, loved everyone, and it was very inspiring. And then I remember I mentioned to the Rosh Yeshiva that there's the Dirshu siyum. And then Baruch Hashem I had the zechut, the merit, to bring the Rosh Yeshiva there as well, and to have the Rosh Yeshiva on the dais, along with many other Gedolim and Rabbanim and Rosh Yeshivas. And the point I'm trying to make is that it was very inspiring. The Rosh Yeshiva felt it was very inspiring, and he took action. That day, it was January 1st of 2020, the siyum hashas, he told me, We're going to go and we're going to do Daf Yomi. We're going to start a shiur. It was actually the beginning of the shul, now it's called Charm Circle. Back then it was just a minyan on 136th Street on the second floor. Baruch Hashem, the first day, Masechet Brachot, daf bet amud aleph, a full house, so many people came. And Baruch Hashem I'll never forget the siyum. After finishing, full house, in all simcha, so many people came, and the Rosh Yeshiva made a special drive like he did many, many times from Lakewood to Queens. And Baruch Hashem, we were on a mission. And that mission was teaching Torah, opening up the sefarim. That's the whole idea of the Bais Midrash and the kollel that Baruch Hashem, till today is still going, chazak v'ematz, Baruch Hashem, ad. And that's the message that I want to give over on the yahrzeit, the fifth yahrzeit. Many people are watching, and Baruch Hashem, it's a yahrzeit, divrei zichronos of the Rosh Yeshiva. But if the Rosh Yeshiva would be able to come and speak, and that would be to increase in your learning of Torah. Torah, it's Torah, it's the way of life. And I'll never forget that the morning Beis Medrash and kollel and the night kollel that we did, two daf Yomi shiurim the Rosh Yeshiva gave, one in the morning, one at night, for people that couldn't make it, those that couldn't make it. What happens is we had approximately, more or less between the two shiurim, those that couldn't make it, that listened to the recordings, we had about a hundred people, Baruch Hashem, chazak v'ematz, that were listening to the shiurim or coming to the shiurim. And unfortunately after, we all know Masechet Brachot by Shabbos, by Menucha was the joke that a lot of people fall off because it was a hard masechet. But unfortunately...

Corona and COVID came. It was very, very difficult. And just a few days before the Rosh Yeshiva's passing, we were able to fix the Zoom. Rebbe was on Zoom. We did a Zoom shiur, and a lot of people, Baruch Hashem, joined and got inspired. But many people, again, fell off. Today I can count on my fingers how many people of those hundred that started are still doing it. I myself, Baruch Hashem, chazak Hashem, thank you Hashem, I'm able to continue on. Baruch Hashem, it's five and a half years, I believe it is, more or less, and it's great. Baruch Hashem, it's the best thing in the world. And as the famous saying is going around is that it's not about the daf. It's not about learning the Gemara. It's about the yomi. It's about the daily. It's the famous question in the Gemara that when a person goes up to Shamayim, what are they going to tell him? Kavata itim laTorah. There's going to be a question: Have you set aside time for learning Torah? So the Daf Yomi movement is great in the fact that people have kviut, they're kovea itim laTorah. They have a set time for learning Torah. They do a daf a day, no matter what the situation is. And the message that I'm trying to get to is the importance of learning Torah, to open up the sefarim, open up the books. Ameilut baTorah. And the famous question is that with regards to Rivka Imeinu, she was in the womb—sorry, she had Yaakov and Esav in her womb. And Midrash tells us that she would pass by a beis medrash, a kollel, a shul, Yaakov Avinu would be kicking. Whenever she would pass a beis avodah zarah, a house of worship of avodah zarah, Esav would be kicking. And the question is, okay, Esav is a rasha, he's a wicked person. We understand why he's kicking. Get me out. Why? Because what does a baby do in a mother's womb? We all know that he learns with a malach, with an angel, the entire Torah, kol haTorah kulah, from A to Z, from beginning to end. And Esav doesn't want—he wants out. But what's the reason Yaakov Avinu, ish tam yoshev ohalim, he sits and learns Torah. What better learning than from an angel? And there's many answers, but we'll discuss two. Number one is that you have to be aware of your surroundings. Who's Yaakov Avinu with in the womb? None other than Esav Harasha. And he didn't want to be influenced, chas v'shalom, God forbid, from a bad surrounding. But another answer is given by the Chachamim is very, very powerful, and that is that Yaakov Avinu, Yaakov our forefather, he was in the womb, he was learning with the malach, and when he saw a ben Midrash, he would kick. You know why? Because he didn't want to be spoon-fed. The malach, the angel, was spoon-feeding him the Torah. He said, Oh, I do not want to be spoon-fed. I want to open up the sefarim. I don't want to be amel b'Torah. I want to toil in the Torah. Ashrei mi sheba lekan v'Talmudo b'yado. How important is that a person grasps and works hard on his learning. As the famous saying goes, Easy come, easy goes. If a person has it easy, not really trying, not putting so much effort, it's going to go easily. Lefum tzaara agra. No pain, no gain. The harder, the more difficult it is, the more a person is going to be growing. And as we know, the Gemara in two places tells us, in one place that aleph oyl makes a person remember, and the alephs makes a person forget. Where does aleph oyl come from? It comes from the aleph. What's pshat? Why is it that? What's the reason that alephs make you forget and aleph oyl makes you remember? And again, pshat, the reason is very, very powerful, is because alephs, you take it off the tree, borei pri ha'etz, you eat it. Very simple. You didn't work hard. But on the other hand, aleph oyl, you take off the aleph from the tree and you crush it and you squeeze it and you stamp on it until the juice, until the oil comes out. Because you work hard, then it makes you remember. Olives are easy. Olive oil is harder to get. If it's easy, you're going to forget easily. If it's hard, you're going to remember better. And again, for those that are not learning at all, let's just remember what the Chazon Ish, Rav Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, said over to an individual. He was collecting. He was going around from community to community. Back then, pictures of rabbanim and gedolim were not as popular as it is today. People didn't know who the Gedolei Yisrael were. So a person, a shliach, was going around collecting tzedakah. He saw an individual in Bnei Brak, a short individual, and he got whatever he got from him, and then he would ask an interesting question. Well, and that was, Nu, how long do you learn? Or when do you learn? When do you learn, I believe was the question. And the Chazon Ish, not knowing that it was the Chazon Ish, had a powerful answer, and that is whenever he has an opportunity. And that is the answer for every single one of us. Every single individual, whenever you have an opportunity, you should open up the sefarim, you should open up the books.

And you should be learning, and you should be shtiging, you should be growing. There's so many, ... today, so much Torah going out there, so many shiurim and batei midrashim and kolels. Believe me and trust me, you walk into any place, they'll be more than happy to work with you, be'ezras Hashem, to learn. If for whatever reason you can't find one, you're somewhere, I don't know, wherever you are in the world, reach out to Chazak. We'll be more than happy, be'ezras Hashem, to help you any way we can, to help you, be'ezras Hashem, take your learning to the next level, be'ezras Hashem yisbarach. In the words of divrei Torah should be the nishmas morenu v'rabbeinu, HaGaon Rav Aaron Walkin, zecher tzaddik v'kadosh livrachah, blessed memory. And we should all take this lesson of learning, of growing, and be'ezras Hashem we should all be zocheh, we should all merit to ... along with the techiyas hameisim, the resurrection of the dead, with all the tzaddikim and loved ones, and they should all, be'ezras Hashem, come back to life, and we should be zocheh to have the third Beis HaMikdash, the third Beis HaMikdash should come במהרה בימינו, speedily in our days. Amen v'amen. Rabbi Walkin was one of the most amazing people I ever met. We were to be roommates almost 40 years ago in Torah Vodaath, Rechov Chagai in Yerushalayim, and being with Aaron was such a special experience for me. I come from a non-religious background. I didn't grow up with friends who were religious, and Aaron represented every good mean I could possibly think of. He was warm. He was kind. He was a furious lion in Torah. He would scream his sevaras, and then he would give you a hug. He was somebody who I'll never forget. Aaron came up to me one day and said, Rabbi Travis, I see you're a writer. I want to confide in you. My grandfather was one of the Gedolei Hador of Aaron Walkin. He was put in jail, and while he was in jail for two years in Russia, he wrote an entire sefer on Bava Kamma about peh. He was definitely one of the Gedolei Hador. Now, as a posek and a rosh kolel, I'm learning Rabbi Walkin's teshuvos, and I see what Rav Aaron Walkin said is completely true. We sat down together, and he told me the story of his grandfather. We wrote it up and we had it printed, and it was with tears in his eyes, because Rav Aaron Walkin wanted to walk in the footsteps of his grandfather. He wanted to show the world the Torah that his grandfather brought into the world and the ... of Torah. There's the fire of Torah and there's the warmth of Torah. You don't often find them together, but Rav Aaron Walkin, senior and junior, they both represented that greatness of Torah, the warmth, the beauty of Torah, together with that tremendous fire and bren of a true Talmud Chacham. I want to finish off with one important point over here. The pasuk and Chazal talk about Eli Shore. Yosef HaTzadik was so beautiful that the women of Mitzrayim would stand on the wall to get a glimpse of him. Rav Wolbe in the sefer Eli Shor writes that the true ben Torah is such a pristine being, is so beautiful in his penimius and his chitzonius, his outer and inner self, that people want to see him. They want to come close to him. I myself am zoche to be close to 25 gedolim, many, many gedolim, and I'll just give you one example of Rav Moshe Sternbuch. When I speak to Rav Moshe Sternbuch, I see the light emanating from his face. This reminds me of Rav Aaron Walkin. Rav Aaron Walkin was such an incredible personality. I was in so much pain when I heard he passed away. It was the greatest tragedy that I could possibly imagine in my life, to know that Rav Aaron was no longer with us. And during these 40 years that I've had a connection with him, I would call him up about talmidim that have passed through. He used to send me talmidim to my kollel, and he would say, Rav Daniel. He would talk about them. He knew how to get into the kishkes of a personality, to size somebody up, and to find out exactly who he was and what his true ratzonos in life were. Rav Aaron, I know you're in Shamayim begging Hashem to bring the Mashiach. Your tefillos and your requests should be answered soon, and we'll be zoche to be back together again. I want to give you a hug in Shamayim. Bezrat Hashem, we'll be together soon. Amen, kein yehi ratzon. We're speaking about Rabbi Wolkin, zecher tzadik livracha, that he was here for a few years in this beis. He was here for a few years in the Beit HaMedrash over here, passed away five years ago. Can't believe that it's already his fifth yahrzeit. And he was a great inspiration to all of us, to our community. And not only that, he was a great inspiration to all of his friends. I think we go...

Back to the year 1983 was the first time I met him, or 1982. And since then, every time we met, the way he was mekabel panim b'sever, he was mekabel kol adam b'sever panim yafot. He accepted everybody with respect. He always had a chiyus to him. He always had a good word to say about somebody. Not like today, it's hard to hear a good word from somebody. He was there, always say a good word, never said a harsh word. And he was a talmid chacham uflag. There wasn't a topic that you couldn't discuss it with him. So I would just like to say maybe a secret of how he influenced people in such a big way. There's a story that the Sar Sholom of Belz, the Rabbi of Belz, the great Belzer Rebbe, was building a yeshiva, building his beit knesset. And while he was building his beit knesset, he had a custom that he was very involved in the actual building, and he went to oversee the building. He believed that when you build something of kedushah, you have to put in the kedushah when you're building it. He had a custom that while he was building the beit haknesset, he had a pushka next to him, a box, a box, a box. And people used to come in, and they used to check and see the building, and when they would come by, they would put envelopes in it. The only thing is that sometimes he had to leave. Let's say for tefillah, but he always wanted a Jew overlooking the construction. So when he left, he had another Jew come and sit and overlook the construction of the building. But when this guy came by, people used to also come check out the building, but nobody left envelopes. So he asked the Rebbe, why when you're there, people bring envelopes? I'm doing the same thing. I'm watching it. I'm sitting there. There's a box there. Why don't other people bring envelopes to put inside? So the real reason is maybe people were influenced by the Rebbe. But the Rebbe answered to him a very, very beautiful thought. It says when they were building the Mishkan, and everybody was bringing their donations, it says, Vayomru el Moshe lemor. They said to Moshe, Marbim ha'am lehavi. The people are bringing too much donations, and we don't want to waste it. We don't want to have to give it back. And they're bringing too much. Midei ha'avodah lamelachah asher tzivah Hashem la'asot otah. They're bringing too much things for the Beit HaMikdash. In the Midbar, Vayetzav Moshe. Moshe made a decree. He told everybody. Vayaviru kol bamachaneh lemor, and they told everybody, Ish v'ishah al ya'asu od melachah litrumat hakodesh. Nobody should do work. Vayikaleh ha'am mehavi, and everybody stopped bringing in the donations. Says the Belzer Rebbe. It says in the pasuk that Moshe Rabbeinu told them, Stop working. He put a stop-work order. What should he have really done? Told everybody, Stop bringing the donations. Why did he have to go and tell them, Stop working? And when he put a stop-work order, then they stopped bringing the donations. If we're looking for donations, we say, Stop going to work. We tell you, Don't bring donations. Right? That's also a problem. So the question is, why does it say, Al ya'asu od melacha litrumat hakodesh? And he said a beautiful concept. He said that when they saw the people working, when they were working for the Beit HaMikdash, they weren't working, have to work, have to work. You know how they were working? With excitement, with happiness, with looking forward to work. You know what happened after that? If people see how excited you are in serving Hashem and building the Beit HaMikdash, they automatically wanted to bring their donations. They automatically wanted to bring it, says the Belzer Rebbe. He says, When I was there, I was so excited.

And I was so into the building of the Beit HaKnesset that everybody saw the excitement. They wanted to give donations. But if you sit there, nobody wants to give the donation. Says the Belzer Rebbe, when Moshe Rabbeinu wanted them to stop donations, the only way he was able to stop them is stop working. If you don't work, you're not excited. If you're not excited, nobody donates. But to go and tell a person when he's on a high, stop bringing, is impossible. I would think to say that Rabbi Wolkin's influence that he had on everybody comes from this ingredient, that everything he did in avodat Hashem was with excitement. Everything he did was with happiness. Everything, he was always like b'simcha to serve Hashem. So if you're always b'simcha and you're always excited to serve Hashem, it automatically influences others that you know serving Hashem is an enjoyable thing. If that's an enjoyable thing, I want to join it. And that was his big success. Yehi zichro baruch, that we should take this koach of having simchah in avodat Hashem, give it over to our families, give it over to ourselves, and with that it would influence all the people that are surrounding us, and it should be for him l'eilui neshamah. Very good Shabbos, my friends. My words are dedicated in tribute to my friend, Hagoen Rabbi Wolkin, zecher tzaddik livrachah. Although it is already five years since his petirah, but to me it seemed like as if it happened yesterday. Because you realize there's a tremendous void in the community. Actually, the contribution that he made is something which is irreplaceable. I'm not sure, bichlal, if ever this is going to be the same as it ever was. One of the main, main features of Rav Aaron Walkin, which really, to just speak to his talmidim, was the tremendous love that he had for his talmidim and the love that the talmidim had for him. I still remember the time when he was niftar. Many, many talmidim came over to me actually crying as if they lost a father, and each one trying to explain in their own way the mesirus nefesh that he had, staying here in the neighborhood. He lived in Lakewood, but he was sleeping in certain places which they said to me was not even comfortable at all. It didn't make a difference to him because he was here for one purpose. His purpose was to teach and to be a marbitz Torah, and that way he really had the tremendous siyata dishmaya to be able to convey what he believed, Torah, yiras Shamayim, and gemilus chasadim, in a very, very special way. See, rabosai, this week's parsha, which is Vayikra el Moshe. HaKadosh Baruch Hu calls out to Moshe Rabbeinu, and Rashi says, Lechol dibros vitzivuyim, before HaKadosh Baruch Hu called upon Moshe Rabbeinu to speak to him, it was Vayikra, which is a lashon chibah, a lashon of love. Which means before HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself spoke to Moshe Rabbeinu, He conveyed there's a love that HaKadosh Baruch Hu had and Moshe Rabbeinu should feel it. And the question is, why was it necessary? If HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted to give Torah and mitzvahs for Moshe Rabbeinu to teach, HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself is the all-loving Father as it is anyway. Why was it necessary to emphasize this, Vayikra el Moshe? HaKadosh Baruch Hu really is calling upon Moshe and showing him how He loves him. So Hagaon Rav Shmuel Birnbaum, Zecher Tzadik Livrachah, Rosh Yeshiva of Mir, pointed out that from here we see that even if you have a talmid like Moshe Rabbeinu. And the teacher is none other than HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself. But if you want to be able, the teaching to penetrate, there has to be a love, a feeling of a ahavah between a rebbe and a talmid, even if the talmid is much rabbeinu, and even the rebbe happens to be HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Because only when there is a love, when one teaches Torah to a talmid and the talmid feels it, then he absorbs it and really goes deep down and transforms him and turns him into a different person. And that is something which is really very evident many, many times and by many talmidim, so many, who have really truly expressed, of all the things they'd want to say, he had the mesiras nefesh for each and every talmid. The talmid had a problem. The talmid needed a eitzah. The talmid needed advice. He knew there was someone to turn to, because they saw that he was not only, first of all, he was smart. He knew and was able to give advice, but also felt there was somebody who cares. And when you feel that there's somebody who cares, then you're able to open up to him. And that was a feeling which is a rarity even today, where you have many, many, you have roshei yeshivas, but the truth is not all of them really match up or live up to this type of a madreigah which you saw by Rav Aharon Walkin. This, and to that, of course, it goes without saying, he was a tremendous talmid chacham, a lot of chidushim, chidushei Torah, that he actually, there was mechadesh, and he taught sefarim that came out now, Leiv Aharon, which is a couple of volumes and more.

To come out from droshes, either from tapes or from writings, we're still going to see a lot, a lot of Torah that actually, that he produced actually in a relatively short time of his life. He certainly left this world far too long because there was so much more that he would be able to accomplish, and he was ready to accomplish. He was willing to accomplish. Nothing stood in his way: traveling, distance, hardship, not eating, yes, eating. This was not part of the equation. If he saw an opportunity, he took care of it, and he seized that opportunity to be able, again, to be marbeh Torah and to teach and to build, and truly, truly to build talmidim who were able to grow up to be talmidei chachamim and to get married, have a house, and build a bayis shel Torah. When we say in the davening, we say, V'chol banayich limudei Hashem, all your children will be learning Torah, we say, Al tikri banayich, don't read it banayich, ela bonayich, your builders. What does it mean, don't read it this way, read it this way? It says one way. It says v'chol banayich. It doesn't say bonayich. On what basis are we trying to change the nature of the word by saying don't read it banayich to mean children, but read it bonayich? But I think there's a very deep meaning over here. The fact is, you know, when we have talmidim, there are all type of different levels of talmidim. Some happen to be smarter, some are weaker, but the pasuk says v'chol banayich. It doesn't make a difference. All your children will be able to learn Torah. And the question is, what do you do about the shvacher talmidim? How are the shvacher talmidim going to be able to learn Torah? You're telling me v'chol banayich, all of your children are going to be able to be limudei Hashem. And then the question is, how do the weak talmidim, the so-called weak talmidim, they just don't have it. It seems they don't have it. How are they going to be able to learn Torah? No, the answer is, Al tikri banayich. You're not going to have all children learning Torah, ela bonayich. You have to build them up. And that is really the sign of an excellent rebbe. An excellent rebbe takes even a weak talmid, but he builds him up. He finds the strong point that this particular talmid has. He does not give up. It doesn't look here, it doesn't look over here. Maybe it's weak over here, maybe, but you have to build him up. You give him feeling, build his self-esteem, let him feel good about himself. Let him know that he can be matzliach. It may take a while, but give him chizuk. Don't let him fall apart. This is the kind of a chizuk that Rabbanim walking gave, and it's something that we surely, surely miss. And a bracha, this is the Yom Tov, Pesach, the Chag HaGeulah, that Hashem, when Mashiach comes, will be zocheh to have him back together with all the many gedolei Yisrael. But Hashem should come as quickly as possible, sooner, not later. But Hashem, we should be zocheh to geulah shleimah, and meantime let him be a meiles yosher on behalf of his choshuve family, wife and children, all of his talmidim who are like his children. Bezras Hashem, should be zocheh very, very quickly to be zocheh to the bias HaMashiach bimheirah v'yameinu, amen. It's a big zechus for me to be asked to speak at the yahrzeit, the fifth yahrzeit, of my brother, zatzal, Rav Aaron ben Rav Moshe Yoel, zatzal, Walkin. My brother was a big gadol. He was a very, very special person. But what made my brother unique, more than most people I've ever met, was that his greatness wasn't just in his limud haTorah, but his greatness was in his love for Klal Yisrael, in his passion that he had, the personal ability to take people's problems and make them his own. He literally carried the burden of any person that came to him with a tzarah. He took it upon his own shoulders, and he felt literally— Like it was his own sarah, and that is a tremendous, tremendous quality that my brother had. Now, I just want to mention a few things that people know about, but it's things that have touched my heart since my brother's petira. When I meet people in the street, the first thing I love to mention when I mention my name is actually, Did you know my brother? I am the brother of Rabbi Aaron Walkin, zatzal, because I know when I mention my brother's name, people look at me in a different light. Now, my brother actually is ben gedolim, the Beis Aaron, Rav Shmuel David Walkin, the grandfather, my father, the tzaddik, Rav Moshe Yoel Walkin. So my brother has tremendous, tremendous lineage, tremendous lineage. I also have that lineage, but my brother used to bask in the beauty and the greatness of his yichus. He took it as a pride, he took it as an honor, but what he did was he carried that torch with him, and he loved to hear stories about his grandparents, about his family. But not just that, he created the perfect chain for that legacy. I am nothing compared to my brother, which everyone knows that, but my main point is that my brother wasn't just my rebbe; he was my—

Psychologist, he was my chaver. He was everything to me. He really was. Whenever I had a shaila, the first person, if my father wasn't around, would be to call my brother. And then years later, it would always be my brother. I'd call him directly, and he always had time for me. And when he didn't have time, because he was giving shiurim all day, he apologized profusely. Avram, do you mind if I call you back in a few minutes? I'm giving a shiur, and in the middle of a shiur, is it important? I'll stop now. The love that he had for me personally and for the rest of Klal Yisrael was something to behold, really, really special. But I want to leave you a little—I want to tell you over a maiseh. When my brother was niftar, I remember I was sitting at a table preparing a shiur for my JWave Chazak students. I was sitting there, it was Sunday night, I think it was. Monday night, when was it? Do you remember? I think it was a Sunday night. I was sitting at a table. Obviously it was before Pesach, and I see a text that goes out that the Rosh Yeshiva had a heart attack, the Rosh Yeshiva is this, the Rosh Yeshiva is that, there's hatzalah there. We couldn't get through, obviously. And then literally, I don't know, it was an hour later, they posted that the Rosh Yeshiva was niftar. So I didn't get to say goodbye to my brother. I didn't get to speak to him literally that day. But I did speak to him a day or two earlier, and he was so—when I spoke to him, he was just in a different light. He almost—he just felt like he's, he's poshut not preparing chas v'shalom to leave the world, but there was a certain kedusha that I felt he had in his voice, and the fact that Pesach was coming up, and there was a certain loving behavior that he showed towards me and the rest of our family that was really, really special. But I had a question that I wanted to ask my brother that Sunday night when I was going to call him. I wanted to ask him. I wanted to ask him about the Chasam Sofer. And I was learning Chasam Sofer's Torah at the time, and I love to always ask my brother about certain gedolim because I loved the knowledge that he knew about gedolim, the kesher he had with certain gedolim. I would literally call him up about any kind of gadol, any kind of sefer, any kind of rav, and I wanted to hear the beauty of that rav, and my brother would always tell me the greatness of that rav. And I rather wanted to ask him about the Chasam Sofer. I wanted to know how much he used to learn the Chasam Sofer's Torah, because I was reading, actually, the ArtScroll came out with a book on the Chasam Sofer. That's what it was. I wanted to have my brother's take on the Chasam Sofer. Anyway, I didn't get to ask him that, but I do remember that Monday I was in a daze. I was in a daze the whole day after my brother's maisah, after what happened to him, nebach. And I felt bad that I couldn't ask him. I felt bad. I don't know why, but for some reason, I was, like I said, middle of reading the ArtScroll on the Chasam Sofer, and I wanted to ask him so much about him. Anyway, Monday night, Monday night, I don't know, it was like two, three in the morning, I wake up and I go to my phone and I turn on WhatsApp, and I wanted to hear my brother's Torah. It was two, three in the morning, I think it was. I wanted to hear my brother's WhatsApp on Pesach, something that he gave to the Chazak talmidim, to his kollel, to his yeshiva boys. I wanted to hear the message he gave. And as soon as I turned it on, as soon as I turned it on, I was zoche to a message. I felt like my brother was in my room because he started to talk about the greatness of the Chasam Sofer. And to me that was just like, it just blew me away, and I almost felt like my brother understood that was something that was bothering me, and that he knew that I wanted to hear his take on it, and he brought up a few things about the Chasam Sofer, and he said over divrei Torah. On the Haggadah shel Pesach, a few things from the Chasam Sofer, and I was just very, very nispael, as if my brother, even though he wasn't here physically, but emotionally and spiritually, he was with me. He was guiding us, guiding his talmidim, and he still does, and he still does. There's a famous question that's asked about Yaakov and Yosef's relationship. When Yosef was taken away from Yaakov, when he was sold to Mitzrayim and he was brought down there, it says that Yaakov Avinu lost ruach hakodesh for 22 years that Yosef was away from him. For the 22 years that Yosef was away from his father, he did not have his ruach hakodesh. Now, it's a fascinating thing to understand this, that how can it be someone on Yaakov Avinu's level, the bitachon, the closest to Hashem, the other children that remained, the imahos that were still around, the Klal Yisrael that needed him, how could it be that Yaakov Avinu was not able to rise up above it and be b'simcha, because everything Hashem does is for the best, and get back his ruach hakodesh?

Why didn't he have ruach hakodesh? Because when a person is not b'simcha, he loses that ruach hakodesh. He loses the greatness of ruach. The Shechinah can only rest on someone that's b'simcha. And therefore, the fact that he was b'aveilus over Yosef, he lost that greatness of ruach hakodesh. And the real question also is regarding that ruach hakodesh, that Klal Yisrael needs Yaakov at his best. The other rest of the brothers needed Yaakov at his best. How could it be that he didn't find the chamah? How could it be that the shichcha that the Eibishter causes for people, that after their niftar, there's a certain amount of shichcha that Hashem causes that a person could go on, how could it be that Yaakov Avinu wasn't zoche to that shichcha? Why wasn't he able to rise above his suffering and get back the ruach hakodesh that he needed for the rest of Klal Yisrael? So Rav Moshe Shternbuch says an unbelievable yesod. He says when a person loses a personal friend or relative, somebody personal to him, for that the Eibishter will cause shichcha. For that there is the possibility of someone to be able to rise above. But when Klal Yisrael loses a tremendous piece to its existence, when Klal Yisrael loses an individual that Klal Yisrael needs for future generations, for that there's no shichcha. For that there's no overcoming, and for that there's no rising above, because it's a constant loss. It's not over. It's a constant loss. And therefore, the fact that Yaakov Avinu, of course, understood the importance of Yosef's role, not just for the shivtei Kah. That alone is a missing piece. We don't have the shivtei Kah. We don't have the foundation, the meeting of the twelve shevatim. But the fact that Yosef was the carrier and the barrier and the one that gives over, Yaakov Avinu's Torah, Yosef was Yaakov's greatest talmid. The fact that that— Cut that short in the chain, in the wire of the mesorah, for that there's no forgetting, because it's a constant loss. There is no forgetting a loss that you feel every single hour of the day. Therefore Yaakov could not find the chama. Yaakov could not find the chama because of the loss that Yosef wasn't just for the past, but loss for Klal Yisrael for the future. And for my brother, my rebbe, my therapist, my chaver, everything my brother was to me, there's no shikcha on something like that. You're constantly feeling his loss. Every time I want to ask a sheilah, I don't have the right person that can understand a unique situation like my brother did. My brother had a tremendous koach that when people came to him for she'eilos, it wasn't a one answer fits all. It's unbelievable. Only a real posek can do this. The rabbei shafeinsigs of the world, that there's many poskim, but only a real posek, Reb Elyashiv, Reb Chaim, whatever it is, I don't want to go into the list, but only a real posek can be able to define a situation and pasken lahalacha correctly for each individual. Every person my brother understood who was standing in front of him and understood what the halacha would be for that individual. There wasn't a one-size-fits-all halacha, and that's an incredible, incredible level that my brother had. And therefore my brother would actually take it personal, because in order to pasken, you need to feel also what that person is going through. We see many situations where talmidei chachamim gedolim from Europe, when a she'eilah was asked to them about a certain kashrus issue, whether it's a chicken, whether it's shechted right, the gadol was able to see into the person and pasken lahalacha for that individual, which was correct. And that was something my brother had, a tremendous, tremendous yesoid and depth and broad knowledge of not just the halacha, but the person standing in front of him. That you don't find that much today. It's very rare to find individuals that can actually think and think and think and come to the right conclusion for each person, individual. That was something my brother had, tremendous yesoid. My brother's knowledge also, not just in Ashkenazi halacha, but in Sephardi halacha, all the Yalkut Yosefs, the Vad Yosefs. He knew how to pasken not just for an Ashkenazi individual in front of him, but a Becharian Sephardi individual, what according to his halacha it would be. And he knew all the shitas and all the deos. Mind-boggling to know both. Mind-boggling to know both. What made it even greater, there was my brother was niftar at 54 years old. It eats me up to a certain degree that I would have loved to have seen the greatness of my brother, the knowledge of my brother, the Torahs of my brother if he lived.

Another 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 years. Who knows? Who knows what knowledge would have come out? Now, I have to give his children credit. They took his writings, this whatever it is, and they put it into sefarim. They put it into sefarim, but not just stam sefarim, unbelievable sefarim. I get phone calls at least once a week from individuals asking me that they heard about my brother's sefer. They opened my brother's sefer, whether it was on Chumash, on Haggadah, on different inyanim, on halacha, whatever it was, Hilchos Niddah. They're just in awe of his knowledge, but more than even his knowledge, his understanding of something, of a dvar Torah, of a yesod, of what a gadol really wanted to say. My brother had a tremendous, tremendous koach to be able to sponge out and squeeze out the juice from a pshat and understand what this gadol probably meant. Tremendous thing also, not just say it over, but understand klar what lies behind what this gadol said, what this Rishon, Acharon, whatever it was said. Tremendous, tremendous, tremendous things from my brother. But one of the greatest ma'alos my brother had was his love for Klal Yisrael. He would cry always when anyone that came to him with a problem. I remember an unbelievable story, actually. I was called by a very special person, Rav Zev Wolfson zatzal. He called me up once and said to me he needs to send me a certain amount of rabbeim. He's from a different program. They're transferring it over to Bein HaZmanim, where me and my brother were teaching at the time. My brother was one of the heads of the beis medrash. I was teaching in high school, and he wanted us to take a few of the talmidim, a few of the rabbeim from a certain program and bring it to our program. So we had to meet with these rabbeim. In truth, I was, what, 26, 27 at the time. It didn't make sense that I should meet with these chashuve rabbeim. Who am I to pick rabbeim, to decide which rabbeim we're taking? And my brother, I asked my brother to come with me, to sit with me. So my brother was sitting with me, and we sat, we walked in, and we saw seven to eight rabbeim sitting there, and they were mamish bnei Torah from yesteryear. They were some of them were 40, 50-year-old rabbeim, and you could see the kedusha in their faces of the avodah that they put in. And we're sitting there, and we started to talk to the rabbeim, and my brother calls me out. He calls me outside, and we both started to cry. And he said to me, Avram, we have to take all of them. Avram, we have to take all of them. Avram, we can't, we can't. Who are we to pick? Who are we to pick on these chashuve rabbeim? They have families. But you should see the pain in my brother's face, that he—and my brother was an adam gadol even at that time, at the age of whatever it was, 30 years old. I was, yeah, I was 28, he was 30. Yet he said to me, We have to take them all. We have to take them all. And we went back in, and we did take them all. My brother felt the pain, literally as if it was his pain, his tzaar. He didn't sleep nights because of tzaar of Klal Yisroel. I really believe that part of what took him away at such an early age, besides the COVID, was the tzaar that he carried with him from all of Klal Yisroel. He literally, literally carried like a burden on his shoulders, and very few people in this world can say that someone else's pain is the exact pain, if not more, than the person that it was told to. And that was one of the greatnesses of my brother. I will tell you that when I was going through a little bit of an emotional, difficult time personally, things were bothering me about something, and I had to speak it over with my brother. And this is many years ago. This may be six, seven years ago. No, actually a year before he was niftar, something, you know, there was a kufa that I needed to have, you know, his comfort and his understanding. And he would call me literally four or five times a day, Avram, how are you feeling? Are things better? Are things better for you? Are you happier? Are things moving in the right direction? And then he would tell me, Just call me whenever you need. Just call me. If I'm in the middle of davening, just have somebody come to me and I'll walk out if I have to, and I'll speak to you. My brother took personal the family. He took it personally. His love, his love for his family was so deeply ingrained that you would see in him tzaar when somebody else had tzaar, or something that needed fixing, or something needed something to get through them, that they can get through. He took it as if it was his tzaar, and everyone in our family did notice that. So there's a lot to say about my brother. The greatness, we can go on and on and on. I know there's many other speakers that need to speak.

But I just wanted to tell everyone that open up my brother's sefarim. Tzadikim b'misasam kruyim chaim. They're called alive. How are they alive? Through their actions, through their Torah. I will end with something Rav Olbaum once said over, a tremendous yesod. I think he said it over from the Gra, said over from the Gra, of Olbaum shlita said over once, I heard him say it. He said, it says, Ki lo yiva mosai, from Tehillim, Ki lo yiva mosai yikach hakol, that a human being, when he dies, doesn't take everything with him. Lo yered acharav k'vodoi. His wealth, his honor doesn't go down with him. Famous song that we sing, Ki lo yiva mosai, famous song. But that's how I know the pasuk well, and we all go through saying it, that a person, when he dies, he takes nothing with him. The Gra has a different twist. He says, Ki lo yiva mosai yikach hakol. When a person dies, he doesn't take everything with him. Lo yered acharav k'vodoi. His honor, his greatness doesn't go down with him. That remains. That remains for generations to grow and to learn from. Therefore, it's not going on the physical wealth. It's going on the spiritual greatness, the real kavod, the real honor of a person that doesn't get buried with a person. That remains. My brother's greatness remains. It remains through his sefarim. It remains through his children that are constantly being marbitz Torah through my brother's actions, through his ksavim. So I ask that everybody try to get my brother's sefarim and learn them, because you're going to see a glimpse of the greatness, a glimpse. Because I believe even in the sefarim, whatever he wrote, there's so much depth that if he was alive, he'd be able to be masbir it even better. He didn't know that. He didn't know he was going to be niftar. He didn't write any sefarim. He could have written hundreds of sefarim. He had mostly ksavim. He had the most. He did write a sefer when he was, I think, 17, 18 years old. He wrote a sefer on Maseches Kiddushin, and he got Rav Shustal, Rav Shiva, to sign it. It was shiurim, it was chiddushim. But at that age, at that age, to be able to write a sefer that was printed is an incredible, incredible accomplishment. How many people can say that their Torahs were not just written on paper, but they actually went to print and the sefarim were used? That's also a tremendous yesod. But learn his sefarim, carry my brother's legacy, understand his ahavas Hashem, ahavas haTorah, and that should be the guiding light and the biggest chus that my brother could be a meilitz yosher on the rest of his talmidim, on his family, and the rest of Klal Yisrael. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.