Rav Wolbe

“A ‘Chidush’ is attained when the person himself

becomes renewed from his / her understanding. If a person says a ‘Pshat’ in a verse

but on the person it makes no impression, that’s not a Chidush. If a person really

says a Chidush in Torah he should feel an internal exhilaration from it. Obviously,

the Chidush has to be well founded. If one ‘pulls from his finger’ an idea in Torah,

that’s not a Chidush, a Chidush must be well grounded with proofs.”

(Verbatim from Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe z”l)

Rabbi Wolbe recalled that after Mincha on Erev Yom Kippur, in the Mir Yeshiva in

Poland, there was uproar in the Beis Medrash. The young R Wolbe asked his friend

what the commotion was about. His friend responded that anyone who was insulted,

had a complaint, or felt hurt by a fellow Talmid’s act or words, opened up the

topic with his friend at that time. The two would talk it through, each explaining

his intentions or mistake and in this way; they would come to peace before Yom Kippur.

One may think, what kind of complaints did they have in the Mir; were they not Talmidei

Chachomim, Baalei Mussar and Middos Tovos? But the truth is that mending is often

necessary between any two people who are in close proximity of each other, even

those who enjoy a close and friendly relationship. As two people with two minds

and two sets of feelings, they may have inadvertently caused one another unintended

insult or hardship, and that should be expressed.

“You can’t bear a grudge on your friend. If he does something hurtful to you, you

must tell him,” the Mashgiach would say.

This is not an easy thing to do, but retaining a grudge is forbidden.

(Verbatim from Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe z”l)

“I used to live in a small village situated between Nes Tziona and Ramle it’s called

Be’er Yaakov. When we moved to this village there was no religious Kindergarten,

or religious school. My children didn’t have who to play with – and they were beaten

because they were religious.

I rushed to the Chazon ish and asked ‘What should I do? I can’t stay in Be’er Yaakov

for my children’s sake, I must be Mechanech them!’

The Chazon Ish replied, ‘To run away is not the solution, you should stay in Be’er

Yaakov.’

‘So what should I do with my children?’

The Chazon Ish replied, ‘At the next local election, join the community council

and make sure that there should be also a representative of the observant people.’

‘And what should I do with my children, with the neighbors hitting them?’

‘Have your children teach them to say Berachos,’ the Chazon Ish replied.

The Chazon Ish didn’t let me leave Be’er Yaakov.

I’m sure that the Chazon Ish cared about the Chinuch of the children, but he still

felt that leaving would mean running away. You come to a place; you must fill in

the needs of the Chinuch in the place.

Obviously, later Be’er Yaakov greatly developed, and it didn’t have just one religous

Gan (kindergarten), but three religious Gan’s, and two religious schools.”

(Verbatim from a Q & A forum with Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe z”l)

“This story is pure invention”

I heard this story from a close talmid, a swiss Yekkeh, who doesn’t make up stories.

Rabbi Wolbe thought before he spoke, causing him to be meticulous about what came

out of his mouth (whether speaking in public, or in private).

A teenage grandson frequented Rabbi Wolbe and would ask him many of his relevant

questions. The grandson spoke ‘freely’ like most people – who when they speak,

keep in mind the general idea which they want to transmit, but not the words which

they intend on using.

Time and again, this grandchild found the Mashgiach noting things he said that weren’t

of importance, or were implying an idea other than the one he intended.

A Talmid would go with the Mashgiach for walks in the forest during Bein Hazmanim.

“We normally went around Shkiah time [dusk, when the view is extraordinarily beautiful].

The Mashgiach would look at the view and just stand still for a few minutes and

then comment on the marvels of Hashem. We would walk sometimes for a half hour without

saying one word. The Mashgiach’s silence was a form of speech; it didn’t feel as

if we weren’t talking,” said the Talmid.

Rabbi Wolbe would bring to the awareness of his Talmidim that modern technologies

distract a person from his natural ability to connect to Hashem and deters him in

building personal relationships.

He once told his Talmidim, “When Moshiach will come riding on a donkey, everyone

will be standing in line taking pictures of him!”

(Instead of standing in awe and understanding and appreciating that Hashem has just

sent His messenger to redeem us from this bitter Galus, and absorbing every word

he has to say.)

As was mentioned last week, the Chinuch Rav Wolbe gave his Talmidim was that Bnei

Torah don’t run.

This he learned in the Mir.

Rabbi Wolbe told his Talmidim that no one ever ran in the Bais Hamedrash. Once,

in middle of learning, Rabbi Wolbe’s Chavruso suddenly closed his Gemara saying,

“There’s a fire, we must run to help.”

(Since in the old Shtetel the homes were built from wood, and in those primitive

areas there was no fire department, if a fire ever broke out, it endangered the

entire village. The Yeshiva Bochurim were the first, and usually the most instrumental

in putting out those fires.)

Rabbi Wolbe was amazed how he knew that there was a fire, there wasn’t an announcement

made in the Bais Hamedrash! His Chavruso replied simply, “Didn’t you see someone

running now? As soon as I saw him running I knew that there must be a fire.”

“When I studied in the Mir (Poland) there were 400 Bochurim in the Yeshiva, 100 of them were on the level that they could be Roshei Yeshiva. The objective in Yeshiva was to (translated)CHANGE,” Rabbi Wolbe said in a Shmuess.

[Changing; the Mashgiach elaborated at many other opportunities, refers to one’s adapting to the climate of the Yeshiva.

“The Yeshiva doesn’t want you to be ‘Frummer’, the Yeshiva doesn’t want you to be ‘Better’, the Yeshiva wants you to Change”, he would frequently quote the Alter of Slabodka. Changing means that one’s value system is not the same as it was when he entered Yeshiva. One’s interests, topics of conversation, goals in life are all formed and adapted by the Torah and the Rebbeim, not the street.]