Moreinu HaGaon R' Aharon Lichtenstein TZUK"L

I do not have a better (or any other) outlet where to write this. Nor do I really know how to write about this.

The sense of loss that the world feels today is only heightened by the sense that the world cannot truly comprehend what it lost. R’ Aharon was an Adam Gadol without compare. But because of the style of his Gadlus, it is easy to be overlooked. He did not publish Halachic Tshuvos, though if he had they would be world-renowned. He wrote and published how he learned–Sugyos with tremendous Amkus that even the highest-caliber of Talmidei Chachamim would have trouble grasping.

R’ Aharon’s Gadlus was not only from his Torah knowledge, which was already evident from when he was a teenager. It was immediately apparent from how he acted and comported himself. His humility was, ironically enough, legendary.

He was never Machzik Tovah to himself. When he was younger, he enjoyed driving R’ Amital and other Roshei Yeshivah around. He felt it was a way he could be Meshamesh major Talmidei Chachamim. There are countless stories of the times he was mistaken for just a driver. He never once corrected anyone. He was more than happy to just be a Talmid Chacham’s chauffer when, in reality, there is no one here worthy of being his.

He was a Zaken from a young age, but nothing was ever Aino L’fi K’vodo. There are again stories of the countless times he would get on hands and knees to help a Talmid search for a lost object or help clean up after the Bnei Yeshivah. He was happy to be able to help, no matter what.

His most defining characteristic, which is overshadowed by his tremendous Torah knowledge, was this. He just wanted to help anyone he could, wherever possible. It was his driving force behind everything he did and the only reason he took charge in the world the way he did. I am sure he realized that he had an unparalleled level of Torah knowledge. But that was not why he became a Rosh Yeshivah or a Rebbe to thousands. He didn’t do it because he could or because of what he know. He did it because he had to. His necessity to be an Ish where there was no other like him overcame his supernatural Anavah–which I am sure tempted him daily to stop giving Shiurim because maybe there was someone better.

His Anavah is impossible to describe without having known him. But anyone who saw him recognized it immediately. He was one of a kind in a way this world really no longer sees.

And the loss of his Torah knowledge is a blow to the entire world. His incredible Bekius in Rishonim, both the more classic ones and the esoteric, was possibly paralleled only by R’ Ovadia Yosef. There was not a word of a Rishon that he could not recall. His Iyun in Shas was possibly paralleled only by R’ Elyashiv. He had all of every Sugya at his fingertips at all times. He was a Gaon Atzum whose true value is only really appreciated by those other Geonim who could actually understand his Shiurim.

And we would be remiss to leave out his knowledge in everything else. I once heard Bishmo a Mashal for the concept of Torah Umadah: a bagel with a little bit of jelly. The Torah is the bread, we cannot live without it. And when, when we properly add a bit of a topping, it can have even more of a rich flavor. But if you add too much jelly, you are nothing more than a spoiled child.

This is an impossible ideal to live. It doesn’t exist. And yet, R’ Aharon did it. One of the few times I was privileged to hear him I remember he mentioned the Korbanos on Sukkos. It was so offhand how he mentioned we know there are 70. You add the endpoints of the sequence (7 and 13), divide by 2 and multiply by the number of numbers in the sequence (7). For him, Maddah was always a means to enriching the Torah. To understand and learn the world in order to understand the Torah.

He was an uncompromising Masmid whose devotion to Torah was only enhanced by the knowledge that he spent time on other things when he was younger. This create more of a necessity in his mind to learn Torah every second, not less. But every iota of English, philosophy, math, and science that he learned was in the pursuit of Torah itself. He was a Yachid Shebiyichidim. He was the last of the Eshkolos as the Rambam describes in the Peirush Hamishnayos in Sotah. He left no one who can even hold close to a candle to him.

And I have not even begun to describe his Yiras Shamayim. The only way I can attempt to was to say what it felt like to watch him Daven. I was Zocheh to do so once and will never forget it. He was a Malach Hashem Tzva-kos even in the simple act of putting on his Tallis. I deeply regret that I never saw him Daven on Yom Kippur, which I have heard was an Avodah in and of itself. Chaval Al D’avdin.

I do not need to be a Navi or Ben Navi to know that when he entered Yeshivah Shel Maalah his three Rebbeim (R’ Yoshe Ber, R’ Aharon Soloveitchik, and R’ Hutner) greeted him and escorted him to where all of the Lamdanim of the last 2 centuries were. And all of them cleared the path for R’ Chaim Soloveitchik to come to him, kiss him on his head, and say “Shalom Alecha Talmidi V’Rabbi”

T.N.TZ.B.H.