Hesped for Rav Yisrael Belsky zt”l: A Rebbe’s Torah, Ahavas Yisrael, and Personal Chesed

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Today we're going to give the zecherin, hesped, on the gedolei haTorah, gedolei haposkim of our generation that we lost last week, Mari d'Rabbi, HaGaon HaGadol, Rabbi Yisrael Belsky, zecher tzaddik livrachah. I begin by saying, Rebbe, Rebbe, avi, avi, rechev Yisrael ufarashav. The Chasam Sofer used this pasuk to lament, to be maspid, his great rebbe, Reb Nosson Adler. Avi, avi, rechev Yisrael ufarashav. The Chasam Sofer quotes from Chazal. What's the double lashon, avi, avi? Avi. The repetition, avi, avi, rechev Yisrael ufarashav. And he explains that there's two avis, there's two fathers. There's a father that brings you to this world. And is concerned about your well-being in this world. And then there's avi, which is l'eilam haba. He's concerned with the ruchniyus, to bring the child to olam haba. Avi, avi, olam hazeh. Avi, avi, the double lashon is also olam haba, this world and that world. Ata das is, vas elisha screamed out when he saw Eliyahu Navi's avek, Avi, avi, avi b'olam hazeh, avi l'olam haba, father for this world and a father to bring you to the next world. And ata das, ata elisha, the kohenin given, when he sees that Eliyahu Navi went up b'saarah hashamayim. Fragt a sefer, the Gemara in Bava Metzia tells us that rabbi is kodem l'aviv. Say for the din of kavod, say for the din of hashavas aveidah, a rebbi comes first. And why does he come first? The Gemara says, she'aviv mevi'o l'eilam hazeh, v'rabbo mevi'o l'eilam haba. Fragt a sefer, so then what's the pshat avi, avi? A Rebbe is l'eilam haba, mashenkein daltateh is l'eilam hazeh. So why is he using a double lashon to connotate that he was ovi b'eilam hazeh? This is what the Chasam Sofer is me'oir. Ovi, ovi. Ovi b'eilam hazeh and ovi l'eilam haba. But the Gemara says the tata is l'eilam hazeh, and the Rebbe is l'eilam haba. U'meileh, avodas rabbi, kavod rabbi is kodem. The dor shtelt zich, the Chasam Sofer in the drashes on his hesped on Rav Nosson Adler, zecher tzaddik livrachah. And the Chasam Sofer explains, avadeh the Rebbe, his shvek is supposed to be to bring you l'eilam haba. But it doesn't take away the fact that he's also ovi b'eilam hazeh, that he's mechuyiv. The Rebbe does the avodah of a Rebbe. What is the job of a Rebbe? It's takke b'eilam hazeh also. It's takke to be busy with the tog-teglicheh, the needs, the problems, the problems.

Sai di Torah dike problems, and say even the gashmiyusdike problems. A Rebbe carries ovi ovi, ovi b'eilem hazeh, and ovi l'eilem haba. Yes, ovi, I don't know, a tatte real is l'eilem hazeh, the physical world. Un der Rebbe, officially, is l'eilem haba, but it doesn't take away the chayus, chayus, a real Rebbe. What is a Rebbe, rabosai? What is a Rebbe? Rebbe means he cares about the talmid, he cares about every part of the talmid's life, every day, say his ruchniyus and say his gashmiyus. Vos er darf hoben in Leben is echad, the chayus, the responsibility of the Rebbe. Rebbe, you talk ovi ovi. You ovi ovi to me, you ovi to ovi to all the talmidim, and you ovi ovi to the whole dor. Got involved. The Rebbe used to get involved in simple, mundane things. Tachkeven a goy in adi. Ganz halacha, the halacha she part of Klal Yisroel was all on his shoulders, and yet you could see him being busy, simple things, from talmidim, from people, people that had no shaychus to him. They come in gebeten, Rebbe, and he got involved. Of the pshat is, Rechev Yisrael ufarashav means ovi ovi. He carries the burden, side the ruchniyus and side the gashmiyus. And I want to tell you another thing. We find by Moshe Rabbeinu that Moshe Rabbeinu was sitting min haboker ad erev, and Yisro comes and asks him, Madua atah yoshev levadecha, vechol ha'am nitzav alecha min haboker ad erev. Here, from morning to night, min boker ad erev. It's not a guzma. Min boker ad erev. Some of them didn't take any breaks. It was mamash min boker ad erev. And Moshe Rabbeinu answers, What's the shaylah? Levad. Ki yiheh lahem davar, davar. They have something, davar, epis, davar. What is davar? Zeh haben epis. Vayodati chukei Elokim ves Torosav. Vayomer Moshe lechosno, the first pasuk, Ki yavo elai ha'am lidrosh Elokim. So there's actually a few things here in the pasuk, lidrosh Elokim, to be doresh the Eibishter. And then, Ki yiheh lahem davar bo elai. So it's obviously a second thing. Pshat in the pasuk, rabosai. So there's two things, though. The first thing is, Vayoymer Moshe lechosnai, why am I sitting mit boyker ad erev? Ki yavo elai ha'am lidrosh. Lidrosh, what does lidrosh elokim mean? And then, Ki yihyeh lahem davar ba elai, v'shafatti bein ish uvein rei'eihu. So the Ramban says that what's the pshat that they come lidrosh Elokim? Heishiv Moshe lechosno, tzrichim heim sheyaamdu alai zman gadol min hayom. They have to take that time. It takes that much time to stand min haboker ad erev. Ki lidvarim rabim ba'im lefanai, because they come for a lot of things. That's ki yihyeh lahem davar. What does davar mean? Anything. They have eppes. I have an eppes. Today, we scream, who comes to the... Is it important? What is it? Rabbi, all the years there was no screening, there was no shamashim, anybody, any kid, just stand there and ask, Rabbi, I need this, I need that. Eppes, whatever it is, ki yihyeh lahem davar. And davar is a lot. If you open the doors to davar...

It's dvarim rabim boi lefanai. Ki yavo elai ha'am lidrosh Elokim, lehispalel al choleihem, ulahodiam mah yidaber lahem. And he tells them what to do, gives them hadrachah eitzah, lehodiam mah yidaber lahem. But the chiddush of the Ramban, rabosai, is, ki zeh yikarei drishas Elokim. That's called drishas Elokim. You would think drishas Elokim means, mizol hern, starke Torah, mizol hern ichreis, sisrei Torah, greatse zachin. That's not what it says here. They have problems. They have issues. Ki ilem davar, and that davar is a lot. Klal Yisrael tzarchei merubim. And they come lehispalel al choleihem, to daven for their cholim, ulahodiam mah yidaber lahem. Ki zeh yikarei drishas Elokim. He brings a raya that Shaul went to the navi to ask him where his donkeys were. Zei, bringt a raya, a peledike zach. Shaul doesn't know where his donkeys are. She tells her, before you go over to a gadol hador, say, Rebbe, something bothers me, ich veis. In my house the electricity is not working, ich veis. Prakt him, vos bothers to the gadol? What are you bothering the gadol for? What are you... Dos heist drishas Elokim, tzorkeiha, their needs. Rebbe had a meirdige koach, mandein things. He was there to help. And no matter who asked, things that most people would say, What's botherstach? ... Got involved in it. ... Rebbe needs this, that. I myself saw so many times, someone told him the car broke down. Rebbe started asking him about the car and how he can fix it, where he should go to fix it. ... Dafn lernen is called lidrosh Elokim, v'al dos is tzorchei klal Yisroel. It's very hard for us to understand that the tzorech of Klal Yisroel becomes so important. It's an important thing. ... When dos is a navi, Eliyahu. When dos is a rebbe, avi avi, azoy vi a tatte. The same way you come to the tatte. ... the electricity, the this, whatever the simple need is, kumt gein tzu a tatte. Der greser rebbe is able to shtellen zikh tzu to that. This becomes lidrosh Elokim to him. Azoy vi kumt fregn a Rebbe ... mit a psak halacha. Your needs becomes his trishas Elokim. Now, the greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu was fanun mit dem. The greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu was fanun mit dem. I want to tell you a meiridike pshat. You know, there's another thing also I saw by the Rebbe, something very special. He took on everything. I never saw him say no to anything. Anybody that came to him, whatever the problem was, whatever. But it's not so much that he did it, but it's how he did it. He took it on as if it's his own problem. He became involved in it. Now it becomes my issue. And I want to tell you a meiridike vort. In pasuk states, Ves Moshe Rabbeinu gezagt that, Why do I stand min boyk v'ad erev? Why do I stand min boyk v'ad erev? Ki yielem davar bo elai. A problem in pasuk. Yielem is lashon rabim. Nu, abeiseit. Ki yielem is lashon rabim, so how can it be bo elai? It should be boyim, boyim, zei kumen, they're coming. How do you read the pasuk, Ki yielem davar bo elai? They come.

Meirdike vort from Sam Sofer. Sam Sofer says, you know what Moshe Rabbeinu was? You know what a gadol is? Kiyeh lahem. When the problem becomes between two people in Klal Yisrael, and then they come to the gadol, bo, it's not the people anymore. The problem comes to me. It's not their problem anymore. It's not boyim anymore. It's bo. It comes, it, it comes to me. The problem comes to me. Zogt the Sam Sofer. It becomes personal, that I'm mamish as if it's my problem, it's my child's problem, it's my brother's problem. We saw this all the years by Moshe. We saw this all the years. Min boy k'vad erev. There was no morning, there was no night. That room in Torah Vodaas—I don't think the oilam understands. Every Rosh Yeshiva has his room. It's like his office and his room, right? It was his eleventh grade classroom. That's where it was. It was an eleventh grade classroom where he started teaching in Torah Vodaas. That was his room. And there was a refrigerator there. Refrigerator. A cup of milk and a coffee. I don't know, are you from Torah Vodaas? You know what I'm talking about. There was no frills, there was no... He was able to come, anybody, any kid in Torah Vodaas, a yeshiva was able to walk in. The gadol shel yeshiva, the gadol... Do you know what went through his ospeses, what his hashgacha was about, that went through his hand on a regular day? It was a world. Toivah das is simple, okay? He went, he sat, the blackboard behind him with pictures, but he drew about Gemaras, nothing. And that was boi life. The problem, everything came to him, and it became his personal problem. You know, rabosai, there's a lot of points that we're going to touch on, because I think those that were close to him saw a different Rebbe, Reb Delsky, than what the world, I think, knew. And it's very important, because it's also part of gadlus, it's also part of lidrei shel ikim. Everyone knew he was a gaon, and he knew everything, and his photographic memory, and then who didn't know? Olam dos gevist. But I don't know how much the olam knew, how much chesed, tangeisah hartz, how much ahavas Yisroel he had. It was unbelievable. You stood there, and you watched on a constant basis, you saw tremendous things. I want to tell you three stories, three maises that I myself witnessed. There was a bachur by me in yeshiva that used to come. You know, he needed a lot of kiruv, a lot of warmth. Good boy, fine bachur, but, you know, he was shy, and he needed varmkeit. I was metapel with him. Yeshiva was in Queens, so he would eat Shabbos by different people in Queens. One Shabbos, Erev Shabbos, he comes over to me and he tells me, This week I'm not going to be in Queens. I'm going to Brooklyn. So I asked him, Where are you going to Brooklyn? By whom? By Ushtei Stein? He says, I'm going to sleep by a relative. I'm going to eat the meals by Rabbi Belsky. Cook him money, he's going to eat the meals by... Where did you come? We got invited? Who comes to bechalal to Rabbi Belsky? I see you smile, because you know. He looks at me, You don't need an invitation to eat by Rabbi Belsky. Whoever shows up eats by Rabbi Belsky. Whoever needs a place... I said, What? He doesn't know? Gone? I was fascinated. I was moved by it. So I waited till after, you know, for the next week when he comes back, Vas is geven dort? How was the Shabbos table? He says, Nobody knew anybody there. You could tell that no one had anything to do with anybody. Rabbi Belsky was busy...

Acting and trying to make sure that everyone was comfortable. And he says, You know, I'm shy. It's a hard time talking. He made me talk. He made me be part of the conversation. That's the chesed, the open chesed. I used to go there for Chumash shiur. Soon I'll tell you about my kesher, how I came to. I never learned Torah daas. I'm going to tell you my kesher. But I used to go to a Chumash shiur Friday. He used to give Erev Shabbos, he used to give a Chumash shiur. And after the Chumash shiur, I would sit, and this was a tremendous matan scharah b'tzidah that I had. It was Erev Shabbos, he had no place to run, and he didn't have big appointments. There was no chasunes, no meetings. So I was able to talk to him and learn shailos. I was once sitting there, and meshulachim started to come one after another. Ein anachanami. He took out a checkbook. He didn't even hear most of what they were telling him. It wasn't a geya, a problem, okay, good. He took out a checkbook, and he started to write: check, one, another one, another one. So I looked at him. You know, it's a lot of money gave out, one after another. So he looks at me. He was very smart. He looked, he understood what was bothering me. So he says to me, Vos fil tefregen? Maaseh? Hamevazez, yevazez yoser mechomesh. That's only what's negea to tzedakah. But he has another chiyuv. He has another obligation, and that's Ahavas Yisrael. Ahavas Yisrael is mechayev that you give a lot more than maaser, and there's no problem of v'yavaz yoser mechomesh. And he said to me, I'll never forget the words, Az dein bruder kumt tzu dir, er zogt dir, hot a shvere matziv, vest im zogen you already had your maaser limit. Would you say that? Maaser has nothing to do with this. Das hot eyns. He says, You gotta— I think you remember the words he used was, Du darfst a hot tzeichit. You have to have a heart. Forget about it. Forget about maaser. Touch maaser. This was greatness that we saw. Brilliance in learning, brilliance in havanah, brilliance in Klal Yisrael, betzalkei Klal Yisrael. I want to tell you another maaseh. I used to go to the OU occasionally, not a lot, but occasionally. I used to go with Reb Yosef Fund. I used to go to sit, fascinated to see what went on, the shailas. Unbelievable, from an ingredient to a velt shaila. You know, he took me about everything. So I mentioned to him something about someone that's in Lakewood that was going through a parsha. He stopped, קומט, close the door. Now who was in the room? I was in the room, Reb Yosef Fund. We brought another talmid chacham, the sofer, the dayan, someone that used to sit and type, and he said, Close the door. I want to tell you something. What this person's going through, I poshut can't take it. This person's passion causes me so much pain, sleepless nights. Anything I could do to help him, I would do it. Anything. I just can't take it. It's something I can't take. Tremendous ahavas Yisrael that he had. Tremendous. Personal. Boye layu was his. It was his problem. Came his, his... That's how he tackled Yenem's problem. How did he become my rebbe? I became rebbe over the years. I never learned Torah. But I could say most of my learning, I think I learned from him. There's no question about it. Most of big chelek of it. It began in Camp Agudah. The summer that I was there, Rav Ruderman was there with Rav Gifter, the daily Yisroel. Reb Delsky was a young person at the time. He was no less gadol. Stood out.

Mamish like one of the Gedolim. I think Gedolei Yisroel have gifted. He was young. I met him at the first few years, he was young. The hashpa that we had. I was 18 at the time. And a smidgen, if you had a shiur, if you gave a shiur, so I guess it was, I don't remember if you half price or you had the summer for free, I don't remember. I gave a shiur, the night seder. I would give the night seder of Hilchos Tefillin for all the bar mitzvah boys, 12-year-old, 13-year-olds, Hilchos Tefillin, and I was only 18. And I felt uncomfortable. I didn't know, you know, how do you teach halacha l'maaseh? I was a bachur yeshiva. So I walked over to Rebbe and I tell him, Rebbe, you know, I don't know if I'm up to paskening halachos, kids. He tells me, What's the big deal? I'll learn with you. I said, One on one? Yeah. Why not? When? After Shacharis. So every day after Shacharis, I would sit there. It began with Mishnah Berurah, and those that know Rebbe, it doesn't stay with just Mishnah Berurah. It was all over. And then the phone calls would come. I was mesmerized by the caring. One on one was the psak. One on one. Just literally one on one. The chachmah, yedias haTorah, and that was it. Ever since then, I knew, gadlus. Mesmerized by his gaonus. But there was so much about Camp Agudah, I don't know, mustam it will come out. He was down to earth to the sense that he would take us on nature walks. Take us on nature walks, and then he would take us in the night to see the stars, and he would teach us about the constellations. You know, he would sit there Fridays nights, teach us nigunim of years past. So much niggun, everything, the niggunim that he used to sing. He was a baki muflag in all the niggunim. Maybe later on it was different. When I was in Camp Agudah, Friday nights, one of the highlights, I'll never forget, the niggunim from Yahrzeit, and he would tell us where this niggun comes from and where this niggun comes from, the gaonus, the brilliance. Harachech from Amol, appreciate the Frierdiker doros. It was a whole world, spectrum of chochmah between telling us about Kiddush HaChodesh to niggunim, and at the same time to take care of Moshe Abba Kamin. The whole summer he was busy with Moshe Abba Kamin, the whole summer, the whole summer. So Moshe Abba Kamin, I don't remember Moshe Abba Kamin. The talmid chacham that Nebech went through the war. It wasn't easy to sit with him. It wasn't. He used to sit on Reb Elsky's table. Reb Elsky was busy with him, and he cared about him. I remember how many times Reb Elsky would tell me, that he would tell me machzikeh, that for Shabbos that he's taken care of, machzikeh that he has clothing, a change of clothing for Shabbos. And he instructed us. One hand is a givened the himmel, the moon and the stars, and at the same time, it was ovi ovi, took care of the pratim of the person. Later went to Eretz Yisroel. Came back, I learned in Mir, I came back, learned in Lakewood. And then I moved to New York, a shtel, like a shtel, I moved to New York. And as soon as I moved to New York, I knew my heart drew me back to Rebbe. I knew I had to go back. I was ready, had a shteller ready, yeshiva. But the first Shabbos was the first week I moved into Brooklyn, back to Borough Park. I went to Torah Vodaath, and I met him in the hall. On assuming those days there wasn't even a frock, it wasn't a homburg, this blue jacket. I told Rebbe, I'm back. I'm back. Tell me any shiurim that Rebbe gives that I could come to. He says, Shiurim? Bist a chashashe yeshiva. Chashashe yeshivas don't come to shiurim. So I told Rebbe, you know, you're never too old, and you're never too learned to learn by an adam gadol.

He smirked. I don't know if he didn't like the compliment chveyst. But he told me, Okay, I give a Chumash shiur. I give a Chumash shiur. And so I came to this Chumash shiur. Went every week. Anybody who knows the Chumash shiur, it was on the spot. We didn't prepare it, in the raayones. And like I said, afterwards I had the matnas chinam b'tzidah that I was able to ask him she'eilos, and patiently, I felt like empathy. We sat there, another one, okay, it's Erev Shabbos, it's Erev Shabbos. I don't think it ever happened. I'm telling you the truth. If you know me, I say the truth. I say it the way it is. I don't think he ever told me, Okay, it's time to go. It was always the other way around. I always used to tell, Okay, Rebbe, I think it's too much. I think I'm bothering Rebbe too much. It never happened. I think all the years, I must have sat there five years, and every Friday after the shiur I sat there with— I used to make up the she'eilos. The she'eilos most of them were made up just like able to get halacha from him. And he would answer me and answer and answer and then show me and explain to me. It never happened they should say, Okay, okay, it's time to go. Shain genug. Shain genug. I hope that doesn't mean that the Rebbe's going to tell me, Shain genug, it's 2:30, it's time to go. Nachat pamenut, I'm telling you, special few moments. It's a gadlah adar that I blocked my words. These next few years, don't start to look back and don't realize what we had and what we lost. It's going to take a while, I'm telling you. Feels like a chap. Take a while, because there's no temurosi. There's nothing like this. It's unique. It was something big, special. To do what Rebbe was, poysek. What is a poysek? It fits into Avi Avi. I want to tell you two stories, rabosai, two meredike ma'ases. Talmid mine once called Erev Shabbos, an hour before Shabbos, with a shaila chamurah me'od. Mamash, it was negeia to Friday night, a shaila b'emes, a very complicated shaila, very difficult. It's really a chamudike shaila. So I told the talmid, the emes is, I don't feel old enough to pasken such a shaila, and I don't have the experience. I know I'm your Rebbe. I know it's my responsibility, but I don't think that I could take a chrayus. You want, I could call Reb Belsky. Now, I met him before. Had I known I would have brought it to him, I'll call Reb Belsky. Are you willing to follow the psak? Stam Reb... He said, Yeah. Okay. I called up the Rebetzin. She picked up the phone, and I didn't tell her daas style. You know, today, when you call, even if the rav is available, he's mimeila not available. Not available, that's the way it works today. Even if he's unavailable, call back. It's always... Standard, you know. Rav Meisha used to pick up the phone. Today it's not that simple. Unavailable. Remember the zeideflech zogn a shafe veltel. Uvoi lecha kol habrachos v'hi sigucha. So they all laugh. If the brachos come, what do you mean v'hi sigucha? They'll reach you. So you see, when a person becomes big, famous, makes money, he's unreachable. So the bracha is, Uvoi lecha kol habrachos v'hi sigucha. You should be able to be reached. You should be able to be available. Azoi flegt der zeide bezogn, Available. Okay. Rebbe was available. He was available. Unless he was busy with a thousand other shailos, but he was available. He picked up in true form. It's not the rebbetzin picked up, he's not available. But you got a true answer. Rabbi Belsky is in the shower for Shabbos. I can't tell you how I appreciate and how I'll miss that honesty. Belsky's in the shower for Shabbos. So I tell him, Rebbetzin, is it okay if I call back right after he comes out, you know, the right moment after he comes out of the shower?

Because it's, I said, it's not a pikuach nefesh. It's not pikuach nefesh, but it's a really a shaylah chamurah, it's a Shabbos. She says to me, Rabbi Belsky, runs into the shower. He runs out of the shower. He quickly gets dressed. He runs to shul. To be mechaven that moment, boom, you're not going to make it. It's impossible to catch the moment. So she sees that. What do we do? So she says, It's really urgent. I said, Yes, Rebbetzin. Okay, I'll call him out of the shower. Before I had a chance to say, Rebbetzin, no, no. She put the phone down. She ran. Reb Belsky runs from the shower, comes out of the shower. He tells her, Give me a minute. He makes an ashi yatzar, and he thinks a minute. It was a she'eilah chamurah. Usually a rebbe never had to think. You know, he thought a half a second and gezagt. He thought. To me, he came running out of the shower, out of breath, like he was running. He says, Give me a minute, ashi yatzar, ashi yatzar. That's a pesik. You know what a pesik is? People don't realize that part of the mesiras nefesh, what a rebbe has for a dor, when he carries a dor. When we look at people, yeah. We look at the picture. ... Those are the easy things that they do. ... ... light candles, Chanukah. The real world of the gadol, the real gadlus. The real heilikkeit, drishes elokim, is these things that nobody will ever know about, unless you experienced it firsthand. I want to tell you another story. Rebbe had people that, because he said what he felt, he had misnagdim. He had people that, you know, nobody wants to hear the truth, and nobody wants to accept when the gadol puts his foot down. They don't want to hear it. I was once sitting by a Chumash shiur. After the Chumash shiur, I was sitting there, talking to him and learning Chumash, and a guy walks in into the room. Yes, the 11th grade classroom in Torah Vodaath. He walks in with a crowbar, and a fainting kitchen. He starts screaming, Rabbi Belsky, and I'm putting in the rabbi, because I can't repeat it any other way. I added the word rabbi. Rabbi Belsky, I'm gonna beat you. I'm gonna whack you. He was being meicha for a psak that the Rosh Yeshiva, Rebbe, gave. I was sitting there, ich hob gezittert. I thought for sure there's gonna be bloodshed. I was sitting there. I said to myself, how did I be in the wrong place at the wrong time? I mamish thought that. And if Rebbe remember, Rebbe, the neck, he had a little bit—he wasn't able to turn his neck completely, like I said, because he was tall. So I saw he gave like a little bit of move to the side. He saw the guy. The guy ran out. So maybe the guy was just trying to be meicha. I don't know. I don't know what this—there's no heilige nes, mofes maiseh. The guy ran out. Okay. He turns to the people and he says, I don't recognize this guy. He's not one of the regulars. He's not one of the regulars. I was terrified. I can't tell you how terrified I was. I came home, I told my wife, I was mamish traumatized by it. He told, I think it was Heshi Wolf, Call him back. Call him back. Ask him. I'll tell him I'll talk to him. Let me see what he wants. Loy saguru mipnei ish. He was not afraid. Not afraid. He was strong. He was tough when it came to... And the truth is, I don't have those middos. I talk the truth. I'm not so tough and I'm not so stark and fearless. But I was attracted to it. I was attracted to that middah, maybe because the opposites. But then I realized the middas ha'emes, that there was the shoresh of all this gevurah, so strong. He believed with full conviction that this is the emes.

That emes attracted many people, attracted me. That's what a posek is. I want to tell you another thing about posek. Rameir Shach Yankiv, by him was every third word. Rameir, Reb Yankiv, Rameir, Reb Yankiv. You hung around long enough, you got a tremendous yiras hakavod for Rameir Reb Yankiv. His pesakim was always Rameir Reb Yankiv, Reb Henkin, Rameir Reb Yankiv, right? With humility, it was a certain Rameir Reb Yankiv. He once told me that he believed that Rameir Reb Yankiv didn't belong in this dor. He told me that Rameir Reb Yankiv was from doros before. Now the Ribono Shel Olam gave us a gift after the milchamah, Rameir Reb Yankiv, k'dei uvdin klal Yisrael vaiter, uvdin Torah in America. Told this to me. He says they had no shaychus. They were way bigger. They didn't fit bichlal in the dor. He says they were matnas Elokim u'matanah. I remember I was once talking to him about a sugya in halacha about a fetus. It was controversial topics, Rameir, a mahalach, and revolves around the Gemara, bitka d'maya. It revolves around d'maya b'alma—I'm sorry, not bitka d'maya, d'maya b'alma—that the first forty days is maya b'alma. It's a very controversial topic. So I remember he said to me something hafla vafela. He said, This is emes la'amito. This is what Rameir said about the inyan of abortion. It's emes la'amito. He says it's about how to read a piece of Gemara. Kipshutai, it seems like the opponents are correct. But in reading of the Gemara, there was no one like R' Moshe, and I would follow blindly what R' Moshe read a Gemara, because nobody was able to read a Gemara like R' Moshe. It's halacha l'Moshe miSinai. Zayin pshat in the Gemara. Such conviction. Moshe, Moshe, Moshe, and he defended R' Moshe. People don't realize what the Erev—forgive me if I bring it up—hurts me terribly. He's staunch because there was shiver of Moshe. And Moshe said it was by him daas Torah. This is what it is, and he went to give up his own kavod for it. You think it's easy, rabosai? You think it's easy to stand there and get attacked? It's not easy. He's a smart man. He was bright. And I'm not getting into the shaila, rabosai. Really, this is not the point. The point is to show you when a person believes that this is what's right, and he fights for it. If you don't mind, give me two more minutes, rabosai. Yeshiva Rebbe was a tremendous baal daas Torah. He went to Queens to my yeshiva, the questions and answers, he did them all over. Remember, he went to Westgate, we had to see him hashas, all over. He never said no. I once asked him, Rebbe, you don't get tired? And the truth was, he was tired. That's the real truth. He kept on answering and answering. There was never a time limit. I said, Rebbe, you don't get tired? He says, I want you to know something. To me, my passion in life is to educate people in Torah. It's educating. And he kept on repeating, Understand? Educating, educating, educating people in Torah. Dos iz mayn gantze... dos iz mayn gantze... He never said no. He never ever said no to a shiur. I want to tell you, I once came for a Chumash shiur. It was two, three days before Pesach. Two, three days before Pesach. My children already were out of school because it was already... My wife wanted them out of the house. Had to clean for Pesach, so I had to take them with me if I wanted to go to the shiur. So I bring them with me to Torah Vodaath, and I tell them, You'll come, you'll see Reb Velvel, you'll get a picture with Rebbe, you know. I gave them an incentive. All right. Kids, I come in there. There were two other people. It was mamash right before Yom Tov, right before Pesach. There were two other people. He comes in there. He says, Is the Chumash shiur? No. He goes, Ah, drei, which means me and the two other...

Un tzvei kinder, finif, there's going to be a Chumash shiur. And he set a Chumash shiur for an hour exactly the way the Chumash shiur was supposed to be: five people, three talmidim, me included, two talmidim, me and the two children. That was... I have a talmid, Rabbi Finkelstein, told me a meiridike zach. And I noticed this because I kept on listening to all the different questions and answers shiurim he gave. He was crying by one of them that he gave here in Lakewood, and he said, You don't understand how there was nothing more in the world that I would love, and no other place in the world I'd love to be, than to be here, to talk to you bnei Torah and learn. He said, It's cheilek Hashem. You have a cheilek Hashem. ... Marbeh zayn talmidei chachamim. Listen to the question-and-answer shiurim. He always used to finish with this nusach: Zoche zayn, marbeh zayn, Klal Yisroel, Torah. And like this we'll greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu. I'd like to end with the following. I see the time, half a second, and I'll finish. I can tell you from today till tomorrow, but mamash a nachas... Even the mensch, on a simple level, it's not that he just only loved to teach Torah and he loved Klal, he loved people. He was very devoted. I made a kiddush for the daughter of mine. I was talking to him by the Chumash shiur, after the Chumash shiur, and all of a sudden I got a phone call, and I knew from the phone, it's my wife. She went into labor. So I told him, so I said, Rebbe, I'm sorry that I picked up, but I knew what it was about, and because I had to promise when I went that if she calls, I leave in the middle. That was the upmach. So I promised, I kept my word, I picked up. So I told him, Rebbe, I'm sorry, but I picked up, and I have to leave. He says, What do you have to leave? Don't worry. Nacha pamenut, it's not— instead of saying, Okay, good, he's going. Okay, that's it, train. So he sits there, he's telling me, You know all the halachas of childbirth? It was Erev Shabbos. You know all the halachas of childbirth for Shabbos? And he's sitting there and telling me. I said, Rebbe, I think I have to go. No, no, don't worry, it's good, it's— Nacha pamenut. They make it worse than it is. A kid, the baby was born, it was a girl. I made a kiddush. It was a 20-minute walk from Torah Vodaas. It was a Rabba Batshul, Chatzeles HaSharon. So I tell him, Rebbe, I'm making a kiddush Shabbos. He tells me, You're not going to invite me? Bent chamechutn. You had the baby while you were talking to me, bent chamechutn da. You're not going to invite me? I said, Rebbe, it's a 20-minute walk. It's a kiddush. You think by a kiddush anybody's interested in more than the kugel? You think anybody's interested in more than the kugel? You're not even going to be able to say a dvar Torah. You're not going to get it in. He says, Vos iz shlecht az ich kum nisht geben bracha? I said, Rebbe, even that they don't want to hear for more than a half a minute. The oilam is not holding by— He says, Un a halbe minut a bracha by di a kleinekeit? He tells me. So, cheptes. He walked the 20 minutes. He kept his word. It was under a minute. It was under a minute. Gave the bracha, and he left. I end with this. Chazal tell us a father, a rebbi's a father. I never understood it. I never understood, what does it mean a rebbi's a father? I never understood it. First time, when my rebbi got sick, I started to chap what it is. Av yavi, rechev Yisrael ufarashav, a rebbi's a father. Rebbi should be meilitz yosher. And like I said, the day will come, we'll look back and we'll realize the loss, the aveidah, tremendous aveidah we had last week with the petirah of Rebbi. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.