The Rest of the Story
By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Here
we are into the third week of Sefirah, the second perek of Pirkei
Avos, and studying Parshas Kedoshim, all intertwined and
charged with the theme of the posuk found in this week’s parsha of
“Ve’ahavta lerei’acha kamocha.”
The
obligation to love our fellows as we love ourselves is fundamental to being an
observant Jew. The story is often repeated about the man who came to Hillel
Hazokein and asked to hear the entire Torah while standing on one leg. Hillel
told him, “Mah de’aloch senei lechavroch lo sa’avid, v’idoch zil gemor -
Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do to you, and the rest go
learn.” Basically, he told him, “Ve’ohavta lerei’acha kamocha,” to treat
others the way he would want to be treated.
I
never really understood Hillel’s response. What does he mean that the entire
Torah is wrapped up in the command of “Ve’ohavta lerei’acha kamocha”?
There really is much more to the Torah than one mitzvah. The Torah is,
as the posuk states (Iyov 11:9), “Arucha m’eretz middah
urechova mini yom.” It is “longer than the earth and wider than the sea.”
What, then, is the understanding of Hillel’s response to the man?
I
saw an anecdote involving Rav Chaim Soloveitchik that answers the question. It
happened that in his city of Brisk the community was searching for a chazzan
to lead the Yomim Noraim davening. They interviewed many candidates
as they sought to find someone who fulfilled the conditions usually sought,
namely that the chazzan preferably be virtuous, excel in Torah, be over
30 years of age, be married, possess a nice voice, and be acceptable to the
people in the shul etc.
In
the end, they hired the person who filled the most criteria. The only box he
didn’t check was that his voice was not all that great. When Rav Chaim was
informed of the decision, he said that he would not have chosen the person they
chose. The committee didn’t understand his objection. The man was a fine
person, an outstanding talmid chochom, and had every condition the job
required except one. That was a lot more than the other candidates.
Rav
Chaim explained that the other attributes sought for in a chazzan are
advantages for a chazzan. But a person who doesn’t have a good voice is
not a chazzan at all. Once you find a candidate with a good voice who
knows how to lead the davening, then you check to see if he has the
other attributes, but without the voice, he is simply not a chazzan.
That
was what Hillel was teaching the impatient man who wanted to convert. To be a Yid,
you have to love the other Yidden. That is the Alef-Bais. Everything
else is commentary.
As
we count down towards Shavuos and Kabbolas HaTorah, we not
only need to engage in introspection to prepare ourselves for the great day,
but we also have to consider our lives as Jews. We are all no doubt proud bnei
Avrohom, Yitzchok, v’Yaakov, but sometimes we forget what it is all
about. We become engaged in pursuits that take over our lives and fail to
remain dedicated to Torah study and behavior. We become consumed with
ourselves, our families and our immediate buddies, and are apathetic to other
people’s needs and desires.
Everybody
wants to be appreciated. Everyone wants to be noticed. Nobody minds a
compliment every now and then. People want friends. They want to be included in
things. And sometimes, people need help. They need someone to talk to, someone
to understand them, someone to lend them money, or time, or a shoulder to cry
on.
There
is much more to being a Yid, but being thoughtful and caring and
treating other people the way you like to be treated is where it starts. And it
should become our second nature.
The
Alter of Kelm would say that included in the mitzvah of Ve’ohavta
lerei’acha kamocha is that we care about the other person not because we
are commanded to do so, but because we really love him. He would explain that
the mitzvah is to love the other guy as you love yourself, and just as
you love yourself because that is your nature and not because anybody told you
to, we are to love others as part of our nature.
And
just as there is no limit to how much people love themselves - it’s not as if
they love a certain amount and with that they have fulfilled their obligation
of self-love - so too, when it comes to loving other people, the same applies.
We need to be preemptive in anticipating the needs of others, caring about
them, celebrating with them, grieving with them, assisting them, and helping them
achieve a sense of satisfaction and happiness.
It
is something we can all do, or else it wouldn’t be a mitzvah in the
Torah. Let no one say, “This isn’t for me. I’m not that guy. I don’t have
patience or I’m too busy or I can’t be bothered going to other people’s simchos
or, lo aleinu, shivahs. I can’t be nice to everyone.”
It
is who we are meant to be and what our essence should be.
The
great gaon, Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, was an uncle to three roshei
yeshiva of the Chevron Yeshiva, Rav Aharon Cohen, Rav Yechezkel Sarna, and
Rav Moshe Chevroni. At the levayah of Rav Isser Zalman in Yerushalayim
in 1953, Rav Moshe Chevroni was maspid and told a fascinating story
about his uncle’s love of Torah. This is the story he told.
During
the period of British control of Eretz Yisroel in the lead-up to the founding
of the State of Israel, a bitter guerilla war was ongoing between the British
occupiers and the Jewish underground. In an attempt to curtail the activities
of the underground, the British imposed strict overnight curfews, forbidding
anyone to be out of their homes between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. British soldiers
would patrol the streets, and anyone who was found disobeying the curfew was
taken to jail and locked up, no questions asked. If the person looked
suspicious to them, they would shoot him on the spot.
During
one of these curfews, Rav Moshe Chevroni was learning in the yeshiva at
2 a.m. when he heard knocks on the door. He became frightened, afraid that
British soldiers were looking for weapons or suspects. He did not understand
English and had no way of communicating with them. He feared that they would
take him away. As the knocking continued, he said a tefillah, asking
Hashem to protect him, and approached the door. He stood by the door and, in a
shaking voice, asked who was there.
“Der
feter. It is your uncle,” said the voice on the other side in Yiddish.
He
opened the door, and there, at 2:00 in the morning, was his uncle, Rav Isser
Zalman Meltzer. Relieved, he let him in and began asking questions. “What are
you doing here at this hour? Why would you leave your house in middle of a
curfew and put your life in jeopardy to walk here? It is dangerous to be seen
outside on the street.”
Rav
Isser Zalman explained that he was learning at home and arrived at a difficulty
in understanding a ruling of the Rambam. As hard as he tried, he could
not come up with a solution to his question, and he knew that he would not be
able to sleep until he understood the Rambam. “I was wondering who I
could ask my question to at this late hour. I told my wife, ‘Our nephew, Rav
Moshe Chevroni, is certainly awake. He must be in the yeshiva learning
now. I will go to him, and together we will review the sugya and the Rambam.
We will figure it out and arrive at an understanding. Then I will return home.’
So here I am.”
As
he was delivering the hesped and recounting this, Rav Chevroni said in
amazement that he was astonished by Rav Isser Zalman’s love for Torah. How at 2
a.m., he left his house, during a curfew no less, to walk to the Chevron
Yeshiva in pursuit of an answer to his question on the Rambam. Then he
continued with the story.
“He
told me his brilliant question and looked at me. I asked Hashem to enlighten me
and help me offer an explanation. A thought came to my mind. I shared it with
him and he was satisfied that he now had the proper understanding of the Rambam.
“He
got up to leave and return home. I said to him, ‘Where are you going? You can’t
go back home. It is too dangerous. Stay here with me and rest until 6 a.m. Then
you can safely return home.
“But
he wouldn’t hear of it. He said that he had to write down the answer. I told
him that he could write the answer there in the yeshiva. I would supply
him with a pen and paper. But he said that he needed to write it in his
notebook and that he couldn’t write it in yeshiva. He had to be home in
order to write it properly. So he went home.
“Look
at that love for Torah! Look how dedicated he was to understanding Torah! What
a wonderful story. What an amazing lesson. What an astonishing person he was!”
He
finished his hesped and everyone was impressed with his story and
buzzing about it.
During
the shivah, when he went to be menachem avel his aunt and family,
his aunt called him over. “That was not what happened,” she said. He looked at
her. “What do you mean that’s not what happened? It happened with me. I was
there. I heard and saw everything. He came to me in the middle of the night
during a tough curfew and asked me the kushya on the Rambam.”
“That
part is true. He came to you during the curfew at night and asked you a kushya
on a Rambam. You told that story to demonstrate the love of Torah of
your uncle, and that is true, but everybody knew that before you told them the
story. Everybody is aware of his love for Torah and his hasmodah. But
now I’m going to tell you the rest of the story, and you will see a different
side of his greatness.”
This
is what she told him.
“He
wrote his sefer Even Ha’azel and I helped him with it. He very
much wanted it to be printed, as did I. But in those days, it wasn’t simple.
The printer had a lot of work and it moved along very slowly. The printer told
him that there would be a multi-year wait to get the sefer out. He was
very upset, but there was nothing we could do other than wait.
“One
day, I was notified by the printer that there was a cancellation. If I would get
him Rav Isser Zalman’s transcripts by 8:00 the next morning, they would
immediately get to work on the sefer. But, they told me, if they are not
there by 8:05, we would lose our opportunity and they would give the slot to
someone else.
“When
he came home that night, I told him the good news. I was thrilled. Everything
was prepared. The kesovim were all organized and ready to go to the
printer. And now, we had an opportunity to have the sefer finally
printed.
“But
when I told him this, he turned white. I asked what happened and he explained:
‘You know that I included in the sefer a kushya and teirutz from
Rav Aharon Cohen. I also have a kushya and teirutz from Rav
Yechezkel Sarna. But I do not have anything from Rav Moshe Chevroni.’
“I
told him that Rav Moshe Chevroni is humble and would not be hurt if there is
nothing from him in the sefer, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He said that
he couldn’t fathom the risk of hurting him, even if it meant not printing the sefer.”
The
rebbetzin related that she was so upset that she almost began to cry,
but she had a brainstorm. She told Rav Isser Zalman that he should go to Rav
Moshe Chevroni. “Ask him to answer a question that you have in your writings on
a difficult Rambam, even though you already know the answer. Then erase
the answer that you wrote and insert his answer into the Even Ha’azel
and it will be ready to go to press.”
The
rebbetzin told Rav Chevroni, “Rav Isser Zalman accepted my proposal and
left the house, arriving at the yeshiva at 2 a.m. to hear your answer to
the question, so that there would be no chance of your feelings being hurt.
“He
came to you with his difficult Rambam and told you that he could not
sleep. And that was the truth. He could not sleep if there was any chance that
you would be insulted. He desperately wanted to print the sefer that he
had worked so hard on. So he went out in the wee hours of the morning, at great
danger to himself, to ensure that he would not hurt the feelings of another
person. He asked the question to which he knew the answer, and then he ran back
home to adjust the transcript and get it to the printer by 8 a.m.”
Rav
Isser Zalman Meltzer was famed as a great talmid chochom, a great rosh
yeshiva, and a great masmid who loved the Torah. But he was also
exceedingly considerate of other people, to the extent that put his life in
danger to prevent hurting another. And that is the greatness demonstrated in
the story that Rav Chevroni told at his levayah.
May
we learn the lesson taught by Rav Isser Zalman, who knew what it means to be a Yid:
kind, considerate, gentle, and unfailingly thoughtful. May we learn the lessons
of Sefirah and the passing of Rabi Akiva’s 24,000 talmidim, the
teachings of Pirkei Avos, and the obligations included in the posuk,
“Ve’ohavta lerei’acha kamocha.”
If we do, we
will be better Yidden, we will make life better for other Yidden,
and we will help prepare the world for the coming of Moshiach, speedily
in our day.
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