What Is a Rebbe? Remembering Rav Yisrael Belsky’s Torah, Chesed, and Achrayus

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. I come here tonight with a great task, to say divrei zikhron for my great rebbe, hagaon, hagadol, Yisrael Belsky, zecher tzaddik livracha. What is a rebbe? I called him rebbe. Many called him rebbe. What is a rebbe? People walk around and they say, He's my rebbe, he's my rebbe. In Shulchan Aruch, it's clear that anyone who teaches something to somebody, it's his rebbe. But what's really a rebbe? What is a rebbe? What does it mean to be a rebbe? What does it mean to have a rebbe? The pasuk tells us, Veshinantam levanecha. Torah, you need to teach it to your children, bonecha, your children. Yet Chazal say bonecha does not mean your children. Bonecha is eilu hatalmidim. It's your talmidim. Your children are your talmidim. That's what the pasuk is referring to. I'd like to share with you an interesting halacha, which is brought in the Gemara, it's brought in the Rambam. The Rambam in Hilchos Rotzeach, perek zayin, halacha aleph. The Rambam tells us a very interesting halacha, and it speaks to, rabosai, what does it mean to have a rebbe, and what is a rebbe. The Rambam says, we know that if someone is a horeg b'shogeg, he kills somebody by accident, he has to go to galus. When that person goes to galus, they send the rebbe with him to galus. The Rambam, perek zayin, Hilchos Rotzeach, u'shmiras nefesh, halacha aleph: Talmid shegalah l'ir miklat, migaleh rabo imo. The rebbe must go with him, shene'emar, because the Torah says that when you send somebody to galus, vachai, it's in order that he should live. Assei lo k'dei sheyichyeh. It needs to be a situation where he could live. V'chayi baalei chacham mevaksheh alav b'lo talmud Torah k'misah chashuvah. I'm coming to tell you what I saw in my rebbe. He was my rebbe, and I learned so much from him. Most of all, I learned what it means to be a Rebbe. When the Jew, unfortunately, is a hoyrek b'shogeg, he goes to galus, to arei miklat. And who goes with him? His Rebbe must go with him. Why? V'chei, he needs to live. Without his Rebbe, he cannot live. And the Rambam adds, V'chayei baalei chochmah mevaksheha b'lo Talmud Torah k'misa chashuvim. When a person is not with his Rebbe, which means he's not learning from his Rebbe, it's as if he's dead. And when he goes to galus, we got to make sure that he should live. The Rambam adds that the reverse is also true, that if the Rebbe goes to galus because he was a hoyrek b'shogeg, then the talmidim, the yeshiva, follows him to galus. They all uproot where they live, and they all go to galus. Why? I understand that the talmid needs the Rebbe, because without the Rebbe, he can't learn. Or al kol panim, he thinks he can learn, but not the way.

It is with the Rebbe. But why does the Rebbe need the talmidim? So many mefarshim say, because mitalmidai yoser mikulam. Just like the talmid learns from the Rebbe, the Rebbe learns a lot from the talmidim. Haboisai, I believe that maybe we could say another pshat, that the reason why the talmidim need to go with the Rebbe, l'chai, the Rebbe needs to live. The talmidim, who are the banim, they're the life of the Rebbe. V'chei, the Rebbe has to live. How does the Rebbe live? The Rebbe lives because his talmidim. That's his life. And that's the pshat that they uproot the entire yeshiva. I told this pshat to Rebbe. I told this pshat to Reb Belsky, and I was hinting to him, Rebbe, that's you. Your life is your talmidim. There was no day and there was no night. Let's see, am I right about this? There was no day and there was no night. And I looked at him and I said, and he smiled, and he said, Du farshteyst gut. You understand what a Rebbe is supposed to be. A Rebbe's whole life, and that's the taich of v'shinantam levanecha, just like a parent's whole focus his whole life, all he thinks about, and all he's busy with is his son, his own child. The Talmid needs to be the focus. Nothing else. The talmidim, the talmidim, the talmidim, the talmidim. That's a rebbi, rabosai. I want to tell you what Rebbi, Reb Shlomo, told me something very special. And he taught me something, and I try my best to emulate. He once told me, A rebbi is not just someone who teaches. A rebbi is someone who connects nefesh b'nefesh to the talmid. It's a deep kesher. You have to be able to connect to the talmid. Let me tell you what he told me. He told me a story that there was once a menahel that came to Reb Shraga Mendelovitch, zecher tzaddik livrachah, the great mechanech. And he said, There's a boy in my shiur, in my yeshiva. I have to give... I tried everything. I tried everything. I don't see more what I could do. It's not working. Maybe should I send him to another yeshiva? Reb Shraga Mendelovitch, the great mechanech, thinks and he says, Tell me, what color eyes does this bochur have? What? Maybe he didn't hear him right. He said, No, tell me, what color eyes does he have? I don't understand. He says, If you never looked him into the eyes, you never connected with him, you don't know what color eyes he has. How do you expect to change him? How do you expect to reach his neshama if you don't connect and you don't look him in the eyes? You don't know what color eyes he has. I want to tell you another thing, rabosai. V'shinantam levanecha. And I hope everyone knows the color of the eyes of their children. We gonna test them as they go out now? Okay. Rashi says that just like the bonim, the talmidim are bonim, so too, Rashi continues, that the rebbi is a father, like it says, Avi, avi, rechev Yisrael u'farashav. The meforshim ask, well, if it's his ben, then farshteit zich the rebbi is the tata, yeah? Taka, dafke nishah ben, a special limud that this is the ben and the father is the father, right? Goes without saying. This is if it's his son, then he must be the av. Rav Shach, zecher tzaddik livrachah, says a meyridike pshat. The same way the rebbi has to feel that the talmid is his son, in order for—

To work, in order for it to be a kesher, in order for it should be learning of Torah between them, you need both, that the son, the talmid, the talmid should feel that the rebbe is his father. It has to work both ways. This we all felt by Reb Delsky, by Rebbe Reb Delsky. We felt not only we were his son, we felt the connection that he was our father when he taught us Torah. I'll soon tell you beautiful stories, story after story. I saw this firsthand. But this is a tremendous insight of Rebbe talmid. Rebbe talmid is a deep kesher, rabosai. The Maharal says that the greatest kesher between two human beings, says Maharal, is rebbe talmid. I want to read you over a nusach the Alter from Kelm brings from the author of the Lechadodi, Reb Shlomo Alkabetz. V'taskil mima'aseh davar inyan hatalmidim shenikru banim. I want you to understand what it means that a talmid is called a ben. It's not just an expression. It literally says, the Alkabetz, the Reb Shlomo Alkabetz, ki heim banim mamash. They're mamash the children, asher hisnotzetz bahem nitzutz nishmas hamelamed vnis'atzem bo. The spark of the neshama goes from the Rebbe to the neshama of the talmid, ki haTorah v'hanefesh davar echad. So the connection between rav and talmid is not just an expression, He's my son, I love him. It's deeper than that. It's mamish Rebbe-talmid. I want to tell you a story, rabosai. My great-grandfather, the Beis Aharon, was a talmid of the Netziv. Reb Boruch Ber, the Birchas Shmuel, everybody learns the Torah of the Birchas Shmuel. He said about the Beis Aharon that the reason why he was zocheh, the reason why he was zocheh to such greatness in learning is because he was mekusher b'lev u'nefesh to his Rebbe, the Netziv. The person who heard this brought this back to the Beis Aharon, and he said that the Birchas Shmuel said about you that you were kasher b'lev u'nefesh to your Rebbe, the Netziv. And the Beis Aharon said, It's true. I was completely attached to my Rebbe. My hand never left his hand for one year after his petirah. My eyes kept on dripping tears. Rebbe, it's three years. I can tell you, I'm still dripping tears. Every time I hear a vort, I say, Oh, my Rebbe rebbelski. Every memory I have of the conversations... It's a part of my life. That's a rebbe. A rebbe is a big part of a person's life. It's a part of his neshama. And this is the bonim, the connection. I want to tell you one more point about this, and then we're going to go, b'ezras Hashem, to the ma'asim. Afterwards, we'll go to ma'asim back in the rebbe. Being a rebbe carries on a achrayus also. It's a tremendous responsibility. The Kovetz Shiurim, Reb Elchonon says that when it says, V'shinantam levanecha, they're bonim, it's chiyuv. That's your responsibility. It's not just that it's a nice thing and it's a feeling, and no, it's a chiyuv. You're mechuyiv to treat them like bonim. I believe that we can answer a very interesting she'eilah. The mefarshim ask, you're schlepping the rebbe to galus. But what did the rebbe do wrong? Why should he move? He has a home, he has a family, he has a yeshiva. We take the rebbe and we drag him into galus. So many mefarshim learn that somewhat the rebbe is responsible.

If someone is chayrik b'shaygeg, there's something with the Rebbe. Others ask, But what do you mean? He's only a shogeg. Didn't do it on purpose. Good, megalgelin zechus al yedei zakai. I did tell this pshat over to Rebbe as well, and he agreed. It's not that the Rebbe did anything wrong. It's the responsibility of the Rebbe to be there for the talmid. If the talmid needs to go to galus, then the Rebbe's got to go with him. Achrayus. Rabosai, I don't know how to tell it to you in stronger words. A Rebbe is a tremendous responsibility. Ribono Shel Olam gives you diamonds to protect, diamonds to polish, diamonds to clean. You have tremendous responsibilities. ושננתם לבניך, בניך אלו התלמידים. It's your chiyuv, and that's why we sent the Rebbe to galus. I could tell you, Reb Tzvi, you could be meidah to this. Rebbe felt an achrayus for every bochur. He would go to the ends of any... the talmid. My talmid needs me, and I'll be there. And he fought battles for talmidim. Achrayus, achrayus, a Rebbe, responsibility. Rabbi Krohn pointed out a good thing, a good point, and I was going to touch on it tonight: to talk about Reb Elsky's genius, and to talk about his yedias haTorah, and to talk about his koach hapsak, all you had to do was to listen to the question-and-answer shiurim. You got up there, and you could ask whatever you want. It never happened that there should be questions. You don't have to give the questions in advance. I asked this once, Rebbe, should we bring you the questions in advance? He said, What questions in advance? freg! Ask! And it went on and on. The questions could went on for two hours sometimes. You know, on Yom Kippur, when we talk about Dasan and Aviram, Malchus, Rabbi Shmuel Kohen Gadol sees Reb Shimon, that his head is laying on the floor. They cut his head off, and he cries out, Ayeh halashon hamemaheres l'horos bimrei shefer. The tongue that was quick to answer, to speak, l'horos, to pasken inrei shefer. I have to tell you, every Yom Kippur when I come to this, I think of my Rebbe. The koach, the ability, on the spot, pasken. This is the halacha, to bring all the bekius and all the genius into one second, a question, you got an answer. Ayeh halashon hamemaheres l'horos bimrei shefer. We could talk about Rebbe's yiras Shamayim, we could talk about Rebbe's dikduk halacha, but as Rabbi Krohn pointed out, and I agree with him, we have no shaykhes to it. This is something that we—what are we going to say, that we could emulate him? What are you going to emulate? So therefore, I'd like to talk tonight, something that we could walk away with emulating and learning from and growing from. And that is, Rebbe Reb Elsky had a very big heart. Unbelievable. His lev tov, his toiv u'meitiv, was something unbelievable, his middos tovos. And I want to tell you, a Rebbe to teach Torah needs to have a good heart. Then you teach Torah with all your heart. Listen to me again. When you teach Torah, because you have a lev tov, and you teach it with all your heart. You know, the Gemara in Sukkah, mem tes says, V'soiras chesed al leshonah. We say in Ashrei, pasuk in Mishlei. What is Torah chesed? There's Torah that doesn't have chesed? I see you shaking your head, Reb Tzvi. There's a Torah that there's such a thing called Torah with chesed. Lelamdah la'acherim. When you teach it to others, it's Torah of chesed.

The Gra in Mishlei, on this pasuk, says, Torah to teach is only a chiyuv because of chesed. What? But isn't the mitzvah of Torah, lilmod u'lelamed, to teach Torah is the mitzvah? I saw Reb Chaim Kanievsky is me'orer this shaila on the Gaon. The Rambam says clearly, what's the mitzvah of Talmud Torah? Basic, lilmod u'lelamed, right? Chayav adam lilmod u'lelamed Torah, the Rambam. So what does it mean to teach Torah is only chesed? Says Reb Chaim Kanievsky, a big chiddush, that the Gaon argues on this Rambam. That according to the Gaon, v'shinantam levanecha is just an asmachta. Mamash a chiddush, mamash a chiddush. Teaching Torah is just chesed, no chiyuv. Azoi zogt Reb Chaim Kanievsky, you have to learn like that in the Gaon. I showed this to my rebbi, Reb Belsky, zichrono tzaddik livrachah, and I said, Rebbe, efsher k'man d'zagin nacha pshat? Here, of course there's a chiyuv to learn Torah, and of course there's a chiyuv to teach Torah. But the chiyuv of teaching Torah needs a se'iras chesed, that you want to do chesed, you want to help. It needs a lev that's mischased. We saw so much lev and chesed that Rebbi Rebelsky did. It comes from a deep-rooted chesed and love of chesed. The teaching of all his Torah. If someone would ask anyone, why are we here in this world? It's a loaded question, right? What's the tachlis habriyah? Reb Chaim Volozhin tells us, in the name of the Gra, why we're here, why we were created. Lo nivra adam — does anyone know the rest of this Reb Chaim Volozhin? Lo nivra adam ela l'ho'il la'achrini, to help others. What? We're here in this world to help others. That's it. That's the tachlis habriyah. Reb Chaim Volozhin, hakdamah to Nefesh HaChaim, that that's why we're here. Rav Mattisyahu Solomon, on a hesped of Rav Shach, quoted this Reb Chaim Volozhin, and he asks, Who's saying this? Who? Reb Chaim Volozhin, in the name of the Gra, people who sat at a sefer and never left. So where is the l'ho'il la'achrini? I don't understand. They sat in a room and they learned. If the person was an askan — see, can I throw out a thank you to Yaniv? Yaniv is a l'ho'il la'achrini. A person who's learning day and night, he's l'ho'il la'achrini. So many roshei yeshivas, I mentioned this, Reb Chaim Volozhin, they say, okay, learning Torah is l'ho'il la'achrini. That itself is helping, because the whole world stands on Torah. If anyone reads about the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Moshe, zecher tzaddik livrachah, his hasmadah was unbelievable, yet he found the time to help and run and come and do. It doesn't work out. There's not enough hours in the day to learn the amount of Torah he learned. Could a person learn 24 hours a day and help people 24 hours a day? And the answer is, there is no pshat. It's l'maalah min hateva. I told this to Rebbe Rebelsky, and he said, Yeah, the yeshiva of Moshe was a peleh. Gedolim like Reb Moshe are a peleh, how they able to be completely immersed in Torah and at the same time helping everyone all day. You said Reb Moshe was a peleh. Rebelsky was the same peleh. Rebbe was busy learning day and night, and he was busy helping everybody day and night. The l'hoya lachrini, to care, to care, to care, to help other people, at the das is Torah, rabosai. You know, Reb Chaim Brisker once said, and I know I owe you soon the stories, they're coming. You have to understand, I have so much in my heart that I want to say. There's so much that I want to thank and appreciate what I saw, give it over to you. Reb Chaim miBrisk once said that if someone cannot close his Gemara to help another Yid, even when his Gemara is open.

It's really closed. As I used to say this over, Reb Shmuel Dovid Walkin told me this. He was also such a person. Afilu when the Gemara is offen, is es farmacht. Torah is Torahs chesed. My kesher with Rebelsky began that way. I was 18 years old. I was in Camp Agudah, and I used to give a shiur for the bachrim, the 13-year-old bachrim wearing tefillin. It was an excuse because I wanted to get close to Rebelsky. I was fascinated. The moment I saw him, I said, This is somebody I have to... So as an excuse, I came up and I said, You know, Rebbe, I'm giving a shiur in Hilchos Tefillin. I'm only 18 years old, so maybe you could brush me up on halachos so I could be able... P'sak halacha? I don't—what do I know? I'm a yeshiva bochur. What do I know about p'sak halacha? Open up the Mishnah Berurah. I know which way you're supposed to open it, the right or the left. Today, baruch Hashem, the oilam learns Mishnah Berurah, but in my days, the oilam was learning Eruvin and Lomdus. I said, Rebbe, I don't... So I said, maybe I can learn twice a week for 20 minutes. He said, Good. Every day after Shacharis. That's what he told me, every day after Shacharis. And I was wondering, what's the pshat? And the answer is, there was no cheshbonos. If he knew that he could help and teach, make a cheshbonos? Uncheshbon, come every day after Shacharis, and so was it. This was his big heart and his achrayus. Achrayis. Boys, we can talk a little bit about this point because this is something we can learn: responsibility. Helping others is a responsibility. A big heart with achrayis, you do a lot. I noticed that all the non-acceptables in Klal Yisroel and all the nirdafim always hung around Rebbe, and Rebbe was there for them, because he had a big heart and also achrayis, responsibility. When I was in yeshiva, I was talking to him once, and there was a kid screaming in the hallway, making so much noise. So Reb Elsky turned—Rebbe turned to the, Run outside and tell him to be quiet. Vos shrait azoi? The bachur that went, mistama gave it over the head to that kid, right? And he came back, and Rebbe asked him, Why was he screaming? So he said, He said that his friend hit him and punched him. ... What did you tell him? He said, I told him to be quiet. He says, How could you tell him to be quiet? He told you he was hurt, that someone hurt him, and you tell him to be quiet? Call him in here. The kid comes in. He says, Come here. What happened? And he listens to him. He says, Don't worry. Make up with him. Which rosh yeshiva, which Rebbe? This is when you have a big heart and you feel achrayis, rabosai. I had once a situation where somebody called me with a shaila chamurah. And it was minutes before Shabbos. I said, I can't answer it. I'll call Rebbe Rebelsky. I called. It was minutes before Shabbos. I was told that he's not available. Minutes before Shabbos, right? So I said, maybe he can call me back if he has one minute, because it's mamish chamur, it's negea to Shabbos. It wasn't more than 20 seconds. The person went and said to Rebbe that it was a shaila chamurah. He came out of the shower for it. He comes running to the phone. ... and I answered, Amen, and I asked him the shaila. I said, How many are a Rebbe for Klal Yisrael like that? Such achrayus. Selfless achrayus, selfless, selfless achrayus. I'll tell you another beautiful story. I was once sitting with him after a shiur, and he was hungry. So he prepared, you know, from the refrigerator in the back, the coffee and the whole, okay. And then a meshulach came, and then another one came, and then another guy came. So I told him, Rebbe, bis hunger, you're hungry, you need to eat. You know what he said to me?

He says, I know I need to eat, but I need to do this more. This is also my need. This is what I need. I need to eat. I need to do this too. Here, rabosai, selfless, health, l'hoya lachmini, that's Torah, rabosai. You ask, how does such a thing happen? How did... When a person learns Yom of alayla, you become a different person, rabosai. Torah straightens out a person. He makes it a beautiful person, a person that's there. My zeide zatzal, maybe some of you still remember him, he used to say, and I heard this many a time, that the hardest thing for him, making the change from Europe to America, he moved from Europe, was the nusach, the people say, Mind your own business. You walk over to a guy, you tell him, Mind your own business. Mind your own business. Zeide said, What are you talking about? I care so much about—it's my business. What are you saying? What do you mean, mind my own business? By Rebbe there was no such a thing as mind your own business. He went after every case, every thing that was brought to him, he went at it like it was his own problem. We were once sitting in the OU. I used to go to the OU to see shimush, to learn. I said something which had one word related to it, and it reminded Rebbe about a certain person, a business, that the person was having a very, very difficult time. I wasn't talking about that fellow, but it was like word association. All of a sudden, I see that he's, like, not paying attention to what I was saying. And so I'm looking. He goes, I have to stop. I said, What? He says, You said that, and that business reminded me, and therefore it reminded me of this person's problem. And he began to cry. He said, I can't take that guy's tzar. I can't take it. What should I do? He tells me. Those are the words he said. I don't sleep. I have a hard time eating, he says. I can't take it. I can't take it. And he was crying. And I was the only one in the room. The people in the room were, like, uncomfortable. He was real, and he was telling me his real hargashah. He couldn't take it. I want to tell you, Rebbe fought many battles, fought many battles. He went on the radio many times to talk about these battles that he had. And I went over to him and I said, Rebbe, ... You don't care that it's not nice for you to be on the radio. The radio. Radio. ... goes on the radio. His response, rabosai, was so eye-opening. He asked me if I care that I'm going on the radio and it doesn't look good for me. I care. I care a lot about the issues that Klal Yisroel needs. And when you care that much, you don't care, and you go even on the radio. It's because I care, I don't care. No one ever said, ... Does anyone ever say, I don't feel... It's not. It's your kid, you help him, right? You do what you have, you got to do. When a Rebbe, a gadol hador, sees every child and every boy and every... it's his own, so you do what you have to do. That's the big achrayus. I'm going to end, rabosai. What could we take? Like I said, there's so much. There really is so much. It was fascinating to be in his daled amos. Fascinating. Simple people like me—I don't want to say you, but yes. Rav Pam once told me such a nusach, so I guess I'm allowed to say it. I once asked my Rebbe, Rav Pam, ... and I was talking to him about some concept about bitachon. So Rav Pam looks at me, he goes, ... It's a groyse mench. Simple people like me and you, we should have just simple bitachon. ... That's what he told me. Simple people like me and you. So I don't feel it's that bad saying.

Simple people like me and you care for another person. V'ahavta l'reacha. Torah makes us am hanivchar, am segulah. You know what the greatest ma'alah we have is? We can be selfless. We can be mekayem v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. It's you. It is your business. And this I heard from Rebbe also. V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. One of the taichin is kamocha, that it is your business. A goy could never understand v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. It's so... The ger. What was he told, the ger? The ger came to learn Torah on one foot, which is the amud. He wanted on one foot the whole Torah. What was he taught? And everybody will say what? V'ahavta l're... It's not, that's not what it says in the Gemara, boysai. The Gemara says, מה דסני לך לחברך לא תעביד, what you don't want to do. Why don't you just say straight out, v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha? And the teretz is, er is a goy. He'll never get it. There's no way for a goy to understand what it means to care. V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, with Torah, yeah. And that's yesod haTorah, l'hoya lachrini. I believe that's where the goyim got it from. Rebbe spent your whole life l'hoya lachrini, to help, to help and to do with all the gadlus. I hope tonight, as hakaras hatov, I paid back a little bit the kavod that you deserve. Let's take the lessons of Gedolei Yisrael. Let's better ourselves. And with this we'll be zoche that the Ribbono Shel Olam will have rachmanus with us, on us in the galus, and we'll be zoche, as an am echad, united. Very important. Unification. You didn't have to come as one for geulah. Be'ezras Hashem, bimheira b'yameinu, amen. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.