Interesting facts and stories about our Gedolim

don’t we already have a thread like this somewhere?

speaking of pesach, there’s a story i think about Reb Yaakov that he was once in someone’s house for pesach and he didn’t trust the kashrus so he told them he doesn’t eat gebrokts. from then on – for the rest of his life he did not eat gebrokts.

The Brisker Rav, Rav Yosef Ber Soloveichik (1820-1892) was asked a halachic question regarding Pesach. He asked the Rav if it would be permissible to use milk instead of wine for the arba kosos at the Seder.

The Rav asked him if there was a medical reason that prevented him from drinking wine. The Rav continued to ask more questions to get to the root of the problem of drinking wine.

Finally, the man replied in a shaky voice that he could not earn enough money this month to buy wine for the Seder. Once the Rav heard this his heart opened and almost involuntarily he gave the man 20 rubels as a “loan” to purchase wine.

Wow! These stories are amazing. Keep them coming!

A more contemporary story; a chashuva guy was getting a haircut for Yom Tov. Next door there was a shoemaker. When he left, the shoemaker begged the guy to please buy a pair of shoes. Although he didn’t need another pair as he had Yom Tov shoes already, the choshuva guy bought the shoes anyways to give another yid some parnossoh before Yom Tov. To which the shoemaker replied with a huge grin “Thank you! Now I have money to buy matzos for Pesach”.

Here’s a humorous one I once heard from a scion of the Ksav Sofer who happens to be a red-head:

When the Ksav Sofer was a child, he was kind of cheeky and very often up to mischief.

He decided to do a little ‘shtickel’ on his father. He was walking through town one day, and whenever he encoutered someone with a red beard he told him’My father would like to see you in his office today at 4:00 pm.’

At precisely 4 oclock that afternoon, the Chasam Sofer opened the door to his waiting room, and to his surprise saw about 30 red bearded men sitting there waiting to be called in. Meanwhile , his little son, stood in the corner laughing himself to tears.

His father then took him aside and told him that because he played this trick on his father, he will be ‘Zoiche’ to have red heads as descendants…..and so it was. Many of his einiklich are gingy!

speaking of pesach, there’s a story i think about Reb Yaakov

It was R. Ya’akov Kaminetzky.

He didn’t say that he didn’t mish for the same reason that he stopped eating gebrokts… he always told the truth. When he said that he doesn’t eat gebrokts, he immediately accepted that stringency upon himself — for the rest of his life.

It should also be noted that he did not impose this on his family — he allowed his family to eat gabrokts — just he himself did not.

The Wolf

R’ Noach Weinberg was really an introvert, but he saw a need in Klal Yisroel and therefore changed his nature. He also started 8 yeshivos before Aish HaTorah. When he went to get a brocho from his Rav, I think it was Rav Hutner, the Rav gave him three pieces of advice. He followed the first two, but only suceeded when he listened to the third which wasn’t to take on partners.

A yungerman came to Rav Shmuel Berenbaum withand a complaint. The man told rav Shmuel, that he tries to follow in Rav Shmuels ways, but sometimes it’s too hard because he doesn’t have money. R’Shmuel said to him, whenever it’s hard come too me. R’Shmmuel took out his own personal Check book and Wrote out a check for the yungerman. The whole time the yungerman assume that it was the yeshiva check book. After four times that the yungerman recieved a check, he finally looked at the check, and he read Shmuel Berenbaum.

Name: Rav Elchonon Wasserman

Former position: Dean of Yeshivas Ohel Tora Of Baranavitch

On a fundraising trip in America, Rav Elchonon was being brought to a generous philantrophist. In order to get to this philantrophist he had to pass through Time square. Rav Elchonon never open his eyes in the street in order to ovoid forbidden sites. A couple of feet into Times Square, Rav Elchonon Screames STOP! get me out of here. This place has an awful smell. A smell of Tumah.

Rav Yosef Shalom Elyahiv

Former Position: Mahanig Hadar

Died: 2012

Age: 102

A grandsone relates that when he was bring his grandfather a cup of tea, he accidentally spilled it. Rav Elyahiv was learning then and did not even flinch, he just kept on learning.

Rav Aharon Kotler

Dean of Lakewood and kletz

Nice story!

Do you have any others?

(im partically intrested in stories about rav shmuel berenbaum.)

R’ Shmuel Berembaum had a heart attack on shabbos and walked to Maomonidies , a good 1 to 2 hour walk.

I learned in South Fallsburg years ago, and R’ Elya Svei came for shabbos bc his it was his grandchilds simcha. Anyways, he stayed up the whole Friday night learning and giving chizuk to the bochrim. It was truly amazing. In both stories, they were not young men.

A yungerman came to Rav Shmuel Berenbaum withand a complaint…looked at the check, and he read Shmuel Berenbaum.

I find this amazing. So typical of Rav Shmuel for those who knew him!

av Chatzkel Levenstein was summonsed to court to give testimony in a certain case. The judge turned to him in the middle of his testimony and said “is it true that you are considered one of the greatest most revered Rabbi’s in your community?” R’ Chatzkel answered yes it is true. The judge said, “but Rabbi, doesn’t your faith teach you to be humble?” yes R’ Chatzkel replied, but I’m under oath, and our faith says we must tell the truth.”

I dont know what kind of story this qualifies as but anyway,

A rav (possibly R’ Aryeh Levin -maybe someone could confirm it) once went to a doctor with his wife, who hurt her foot. When the doctor asked what the trouble was he replied, “Doctor, my wifes foot is hurting us.”

I think this is the way this story goes:

A man walked into a store and saw the owner working and his two sons learning with much enthusiasm. he asked the owner why he was zoche to sons like that and he answered with a story. he was known as a popular philanthropist and many years earlier he went to a certain rav and said he would like to do something to merit sons who would learn torah. the rav told him there were two boys, both learning in a local yeshiva who had “outgrown” the learning at a very young age and needed to be sent somewhere else. unfortunately due to lack of funding they were unable to go, but if this philanthropist would put up the money then he would merit sons as he wanted. the man put up the money and his sons were learning torah, just as he wanted. the listener asked who the boys who received the money were. oh it was, (R’)Moshe Feinstein and (R’)Ahron Kotler (I have also heard a variation with R’ Yaakov Kamanetzky)

-At Rav yaakov Kaminetzky’s levaya there was a Nun.The family members asked her in a polite way how come she came to Rav Yaakov Zatzal’s levaya.She answered that everybody ignored her because she was a nun.However, ever morning Rav Yaakov would pass the nunnery on his way to somewhere and would say good morning to her.She said I just had to come to the funeral of such a great man!

-Once at Rav Gifter Zatal’s house they had a choshuva guest over Chanukah.The guest told Rav Gifter that they have to light because it was way passed shkiya.Rav Gifter answered that they will wait for Rebbitzen Gifter to come home to light because Shalom Bayis is more important!

My brother was in line to a brocha from Rav Kanievsky.There was a man there who was pouring out his heart to Rav Kanievsky.My brother said that he saw tears pour down Rav Kanievsky’s face in front of everyone!

There was once a bachur who was going to America, and R’ Scheinberg asked him to get him a certain type of soap for the shower. So the bachur looked for that type of soap, and he couldn’t find it, so he decided that R’ Scheinberg probably wanted to get the soap because he had a skin condition, so he got him all types of creams for the skin. He came back to Eretz isroel and told R’ Scheinberg that he got him the creams because he assumed he had a skin condition. So R’ Scheinberg replied,”No, B”H my skin is fine! But the reason why I wanted this type of soap is because I realized that this type of soap washes off a little quicker than regular soap, and the faster the soap washes off, the faster I can get back to learning!!”You see how R’ Scheinberg zt”l was machshiv even one minute of learning Torah!!

A bochur learning in Beth Medrash Gevoha was once in the library, and overheard someone saying the following story (about himself). After many years trying unsuccessfully to have a child he went to Rav Scheinberg for a Brocha. Rav Scheinberg asked him to give his maaser money (I don’t remember if he said some or all) to his kollel, which this person agreed to do. Very shortly thereafter, as he put it, “the yeshua cam”e. He had a child

Told by Howard Shultz the founder of Starbucks :

When I was in Israel, I went to Mea Shearim, the ultra-Orthodox area within Jerusalem. Along with a group of businessmen I was with. I had the opportunity to have an audience with Rabbi Finkel, the head of a yeshiva there. I had never heard of him and didn’t know anything about him. We went into his study and waited ten to 15 minutes for him. Finally, the doors opened.

What we did not know was that Rabbi Finkel was severely afflicted with Parkinson’s disease. He sat down at the head of the table, and, naturally, our inclination was to look away. We didn’t want to embarrass him.

We were all looking away, and we heard this big bang on the table: “Gentlemen, look at me, and look at me right now.” Now his speech affliction was worse than his physical shaking. It was really hard to listen to him and watch him. He said, “I have only a few minutes for you because I know you’re all busy American businessmen.” You know, just a little dig there.

Then he asked, “Who can tell me what the lesson of the Holocaust is?” He called on one guy, who didn’t know what to do-it was like being called on in the fifth grade without the answer. And the guy says something benign like, “We will never, ever forget?” And the rabbi completely dismisses him. I felt terrible for the guy until I realized the rabbi was getting ready to call on someone else. All of us were sort of under the table, looking away-you know, please, not me. He did not call me. I was sweating. He called on another guy, who had such a fantastic answer: “We will never, ever again be a victim or bystander.”

The rabbi said, “You guys just don’t get it. Okay, gentlemen, let me tell you the essence of the human spirit.

“As you know, during the Holocaust, the people were transported in the worst possible, inhumane way by railcar. They thought they were going to a work camp. We all know they were going to a death camp.

“After hours and hours in this inhumane corral with no light, no bathroom, cold, they arrived at the camps. The doors were swung wide open, and they were blinded by the light. Men were separated from women, mothers from daughters, fathers from sons. They went off to the bunkers to sleep.

“As they went into the area to sleep, only one person was given a blanket for every six. The person who received the blanket, when he went to bed, had to decide, ‘Am I going to push the blanket to the five other people who did not get one, or am I going to pull it toward myself to stay warm?'”

And Rabbi Finkel says, “It was during this defining moment that we learned the power of the human spirit, because we pushed the blanket to five others.”

And with that, he stood up and said, “Take your blanket. Take it back to America and push it to five other people.”

Howard Schultz is chairman and chief global strategist of Starbucks. Schultz received the Columbia Business School’s Botwinick Prize in Business Ethics last September. This article is excerpted from his acceptance speech. Reprinted from Hermes magazine, Columbia Business School, Spring 2001. Reprinted with permission from the Yated Ne’eman.

fortheloveoftorah

Thank you very much for these inspiring stories! Btw the one with Rav Chatzkel Levenstein was actually with Rav Yechezkel Abramsky.

When the practice of ritual slaughter was under attack in Great Britain, the famed Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky was called to court in its defense.

The judge read from the deposition which lay before him: “Rabbi Abramsky,” said the judge, “it says here that you are the foremost authority of Jewish Law in the British Empire. Is that true?”

“That is true, your honor.”

“And that you are the most eloquent spokesman for Jewish Law in the British Empire?”

“That is also true, your honor.”

“It also says here that you are the most senior rabbi in the British Empire. Is that correct?”

“That is correct, your Honor.”

Taken aback by the Rabbi’s straight-forward responses, the judge said, “Rabbi Abramsky, how do you resolve your answers with the Talmudic teachings of humility?”

“It is indeed a problem, your honor,” said the Rabbi. “But I’m under oath.”

I think that stories like the ones above should be classified into different categories (Learning, davening, middow, mofsim, etc.) when they are told over. Personally, I like stories that show extraordinary character, and I like the ones that you’d hope to see from every adult less inspiring. I also don’t believe the mofsim.

Two stories (one of which is posted somewhat differently above):

R’ Moshe was hounded by someone who disagreed with something that R’ Moshe had paskened. The man went out of his way to pursue his cause against R’ Moshe. A few months after the issue subsided, another posek (I think the book said R’ Tuvia Goldstein) came to visit R’ Moshe and he saw that antagonist leaving the house. He asked R’ Moshe if the man had come to apologize, and R’ Moshe indicated that the man had not. It turned out that the man had come to ask R’ Moshe for a letter of recommendation because he was trying to find a job. R’ Moshe had written the letter. R’ Tuvia(?) expressed surprise at the man’s chutzpah, and at R’ Moshe’s acquiescence. R’ Moshe said, “The gemara says, “yeish koneh olamo b’sha’ah achas. Maybe this is to be my sha’ah achas.”

(Story was in a book by Rabbi Frand An Offer You Can’t Refuse.)

The other story is about the Satmar Rebbe z’l (R’ Yoel). A collector came to him with a terrible sob story. His wife was sick, and couldn’t deal with their special needs child. His other children were suffering as a result, and the state was threatening to place them in foster care. He himself had gone through painful medical treatments. He was desperate for help so that he could keep his family together and allow his wife to recover.

The Rebbe gave him substantially more than was his custom, and the man left. Shortly thereafter, a chosid came in proclaiming that the man was a fraud. The chosid was disappointed when he saw that he hadn’t managed to warn the Rebbe in time, but when the Rebbe heard the man was a fraud, he said, “So he didn’t have all those tzaros? Baruch Hashem!” (Specific facts were embellished.)

He heard the doctor telling the Rosh Yeshiva that he has a growth in his foot that must be operated on immediately. Although the surgery would take a few hours the anesthesia would knock him out for the rest of the day.

The second story:

Once, while Rav Schach was sitting in the Bais Medrash, a man came over and whispered in his ear. Rav Schach began to cry, heartrending sobs. Later the man told the talmidim that he informed Rav Schach about a helicopter accident involving Israeli soldiers who were all killed. Rav Schach had such depth of feeling for every Jewish soul that he cried bitter tears over these soldiers he never met.

He didn’t cry over his own pain yet he cried over his fellow jews pain.