By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com

Rav Yeruchem Levovitz zt”l writes something absolutely fascinating (Daas Chochma uMussar Vol. I page 76) about the Megillah.  He writes, basing himself on the Vilna Gaon’s pshat on the last pasuk in Megilas Esther, that the entire Megilah is a mussar sefer – wherein we derive lessons in both inspiring behaviors that we should imitate, as well as horrible behaviors that we should stay away from.  Everything act and character trait that Esther and Mordechai do in the Megillah are perfect prototypes for us all to follow.

Conversely, every character trait and act that Haman and Achashveirosh do are examples of horrible character traits from which we must distance ourselves.  Examples abound.  Vechamaso baarah bo – and his anger seethed within him.

So what we should be doing, writes Rav Yeruchem, is we should carefully note all of these traits and learn to imitate the good and stay away from the bad.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Mashgiach – he was an individual, who, by dint of his personality and intellect, was able to literally change the topography of Torah life. He was the famed mashgiach of the original Mirrer Yeshiva in Poland.

Almost all of us were shaped by someone, who was shaped by someone that came under his influence.  It is somewhat strange, however, that very little has been written in English about this remarkable Mussar giant.

Rav Yeruchem was a close Talmid of the Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel zt”l as well as the Alter of Kelm, Rav Simcha Zissel.  Indeed, one of the great Mussar giants of this past generation, Rav Shlomo Volbe zt”l once stated that a single mussar shmuess of the Mashgiach had given him the strength and fortitude to withstand the fearful years of the second world war.  Rav Volbe zt”l had helped thousands of refugees in Sweden and was deeply involved in the rescue effort to save the bochurim of the Mirrer Yeshiva.

What follows is a brief overview of the Mashgiach’s life and some of his thoughts, sayings and practices.

Rav Yerucham was born in Luban in White Russia (next to Slutzk).  His date of birth was approximately in the year 1873. His father, Reb Avrohom was a cheder Rebbe.  His first learning was in Fahust near Minsk in the yeshiva of Bobroisk.

Somehow during this time, the young Rav Yerucham was sent on a very important task involving Pidyon Shvuyim deep in the heart of Russia.  The person who was imprisoned was a Talmid Chochom and Rav Yerucham extended every effort that he could in freeing him.  Rav Yoseph Leib nendik, an early student of Rav Yerucham, once said that his Rebbe attained greatness on account of this remarkable act.

Later, Rav Yerucham travelled to study in the great Yeshiva of Slabodka.  The Alter of Slabodka recognized his enormous potential as a pedagogue and became close to him.

Rav Yerucham also developed a close relationship with Rav Yitzchok Blaser, one of the greatest students of Rav Yisroel Salanter, the founder of the Mussar movement.  Rav Yerucham adopted Rav Blaser’s method of Mussar study.

In 1897, at the urging of the Alter of Slabodka, he left Slabodka to study in Kelm under Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv.  He spent the next eight months with the Alter of Kelm until he passed away.  His connection with the Alter of Kelm changed his life.  The Alter of Kelm was in failing health but he still continued to give to his Talmidim.  He had a special group of Talmidim with which he shared his remarkable insights.  They were called Devek Tov and Rav Yerucham was a part of that.  Indeed, later in his own teaching Rav Yerucham would share special ethical insights with his own Talmidim in a manner in which the Talmid was to realize that this ethical insight was something special. On erev Tisha B’Av, Wednesday July 26, 1898 – the eve of Tisha B’Av, shortly after Shma, Rav Simcha Zissel was Niftar.  Rav Yerucham’s sense of loss was profound.

After learning in Kelm, Rav Yerucham married his wife Rivkah, a relative of Rav Simcha Zissel, from Ozovnet.

At that point, Rav Yerucham was offered several positions as a Mashgiach Ruchni to help students develop.  He felt, however, that deep lomdus was a prerequisite to effectively leading others in the path of Mussar. He then returned to Kelm and studied Shas and Shulchan Aruch in great iyun for the next eight years.

AT RADIN

Rav Yerucham then joined the Chofetz Chaim’s Kollel Kodshim in Radin.  Soon, in 1903, he was appointed the Mashgiach of the yeshiva in Radin.  His first Shmuess that he delivered to the bochurim in Radin was on the subject of Emunah.  Rav Yechezkel Levenstein zt”l was present at that shmuess.  He later remarked that he never had hesech daas from that deeply inspiring Shmuess.  At Radin, he and his good friend, Rav Naftoli Trop, molded and helped shape great Talmidim.

AT KELM

Rav Yerucham then became the Mashgiach at the yeshiva in Kelm.  He would travel back to his home in Ozovnet for the Yomim Tovim.  In 1908, a son was born to him.  He named him Simcha Zissel after the Alter of Klem.  In that year, he received a letter to come to Mir and be the Mashgiach with the new Rosh Yeshiva, the Alter’s son.

AT MIR

Rav Eliezer Yehudah Finkel, the Rosh Yeshiva of Mir, appointed him as the Mashgiach of the Mir Yeshiva.  It was a position he was to retain for the rest of his life.

At first, the Mir yeshiva was not specifically a Mussar Yeshiva. Under Rav Eliyahu Boruch Kamai the yeshiva wavered as to whether to introduce Mussar into the Yeshiva system or not.  But then in 1903, Rav Kammai’s daughter Malka married the Alter of Slabodka’s son – Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel.  He joined the yeshiva faculty in late 1906. Rav Zalman Dolinski of Radin was appointed as the Mir’s first mashgiach followed by Rav Yerucham in 1908.

IN EXILE

In 1914, after the outbreak of the first World War, the yeshiva moved from Mir to Poltava, Ukraine and found itself wandering throughout the Ukraine.  Rav Yerucham stayed with the yeshiva throughout its sojourn in the Ukraine and helped grow its Talmidim.  Rav Lazer Yudel became its Rosh yeshiva in 1917 after his father in law had passed away.

One stop of the Yeshiva was in Stavitz – the town where a young Rav Avrohom Yishayahu Karelitz, the future Chazon Ish, had resided.  Then he was in his thirties and Rav Yerucham and the Chazon Ish developed a relationship.  The Chazon Ish (Kovetz Igros Vol. I #154) writes fondly about the Saba of the Mir Yeshiva – Rav Yerucham.

REESTABLISHING SLABODKA

After the war, Rav Yerucham travelled to Slabodka in order to re-establish that great citadel of Torah until the Alter of Slabodka was able to return from the Ukraine.  He also served as the Mashgiach of Ponovitch afterward.

BACK AT MIR

Rav Yerucham returned to the city and the Yeshiva of Mir in 1923.  That year – 1923 marked the beginning of the Golden Age of Mir, where the greatest students of Torah began to gather.  Bochurim came from all over – from Western Europe, from Chassidish families in Poland and Hungary, and from the United States.  They grew and were shaped and molded into giants of Torah under the meticulous watch of Rav Yerucham.

Throughout his life, Rav Yerucham maintained a close relationship with the Chofetz Chaim.  He would seek him out for deeper questions regarding the runnings of a Yeshiva.

In 1925, the Chofetz Chaim wished to immigrate to Eretz Yisroel.  Rav Chaim Ozer realized that the Jews of Europe needed him in Europe.  A delegation was sent to speak to the Chofetz Chaim to dissuade him.  Rav Chaim Ozer asked Rav Yerucham to join that delegation.  The others were Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz, Rav Pesach Prusskin (Rav Moshe Feinstein’s Rebbe), Rav Elchonon Wasserman and Rav Eliezer Yehudah Finkel.

One of his Talmidim, Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, married the Rav Lazer Yudel’s daughter in 1929.  Six years later, he joined the hanhallah of the Yeshiva in 1935.

Soon the evil that was National Socialism rose. There were those in Poland that, although opposed to the Nazis wanted to show their anti-Semitic credentials.  Among those was a woman named Janina Prystorova, wife of the Polish Senate’s president.   On March 20, 1936, the lower house of the Polish Senate (the Sejm) passed an amendment restricting kosher shechita. A week later the Polish Senate adopted that bill.

This caused the Mashgiach great anguish.  On the 18th of Sivan, Rav Yerucham passed away from complications of a stroke.  The Yeshiva world had lost one of the greatest expositors of Mussar that they ever had.

RELATIONSHIP WITH TALMIDIM

Rav Yerucham had a wonderful relationship with all his talmidim.  He thought of each Talmid as if he was his own child.

The Gemorah in Sanhedrin (19b) cites a statement from Rabbi Yochanan: Whoever teaches his friend’s son Torah it is as if he gave birth to him.  The traditional understanding of this idea is that it refers to the reward that one gets for teaching another person Torah. The Slonimer Rebbe, however, gives a different understanding of the Gemorah. He says that the successful learning that the child experiences can only happen if the teacher displayed the love of a parent toward that student. Only then, can the child fully experience true learning.

Rav Yerucham once instructed a young man who was fearful of the Russian draft to register for that draft at a particular city.  He contacted the doctor who was responsible for the medical exam and ensured that the Talmid receive an exemption.

He kept in touch with his Talmidim by letter.  When Rav Shimon Schwab received his first shteler as a Rav and he subsequently became engaged – Rav Yerucham sent him a remarkable letter of Mazel Tov.  [Letter courtesy of Rabbi Moshe Schwab of Boro Park].  He also travelled to be his Mesader Kiddushin.

av Yerucham was also a repository of the great teachings of Rav Yisroel Salanter, Rav Yitzchok Blaser, the Sabba of Kelm, and the Alter of Slabodka.

He would quote the Sabba of Kelm.  Chanoch lanoar al pi darko gam ki yazkin lo yasur mimeno.  Rav Simcha Zissel asked, “And when he gets older will the chinuch he received as a child suffice?  Rather, the meaning of the pasuk is in regard to self-mastery and self-education.  If he does so in his youth then even as he ages he will grow in that manner.

SAYINGS

Talmidim of the Mir who became Rabbonim and had taken other positions of Torah instruction would often return to the Mir Yeshiva for Elul and or the Yomim Noraim.  They would arrange for lodging and then come to the Yeshiva.

Rav Yerucham would give a moshol from real life incidents. He explained that when he had visited the spas at Marienbad Czechoslovakia, the new arrivals would come bathe in the mineral rich and curative waters of the spa and then they would arrange for their lodgings.  By Torah it should be no different.

Rav Yerucham had a desire that the Yeshiva should be run in the time-tested manner of the Yeshivos of old tzu halten a yeshiva oif a fartzeitigen oifen..

PRACTICES

Reb Yerucham, a product of Kelm, kept meticulous records of how he spent his days.  He kept a log of what time he arose each day, how long it took him to dress, how long it took him to bathe, eat, take care of daily activities, how much time he learned in the Beis Midrash and when he went to sleep.  In this manner, he could better have his saichel control his actions.

Rav Tzvi Hirsch Broide, the Alter of Kelm’s son-in-law explained that Rav Yerucham was his Shver’s greatest Talmid.

His Talmidim included such giants as Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, Rav Aryeh Leib Malin, Rav Dovid Povarsky, Rav Abba Berman, Rav Zelik Epstein, Rav Shlomo Wolbe, and Rav Shimon Schwab.

His son, Rav Simcha Zissel, published his shmuessim and thoughts in nine seforim entitled, “Daas Chochma U’Mussar” which are found in virtually every Yeshiva library in the world.

Rav Yerucham was niftar on the 18th of Sivan in the year 1936 –  at the age of sixty-three. He is buried in the town of Mir, Belarus.

GETTING BACK TO PURIM

Rav Levovitz zt”l explains that Mussar is the very basis of Torah, and without basic mentchlechkeit one cannot build a foundation of Torah.  He bases this on the Vilna Gaon’s explanation that Mordechai taught Divrei Shalom v’Emes.  Divrei Shalom is the Megillah and Rav yeruchem explains that this is the umbrella term for all Mussar.  The Vilna Gaon explains further that Emes is Torah.  Thus, only if a person has a foundation in Mentchlechkeit can he then acquire Torah.  This Dvar Torah was inspired by Rav Yeruchem Olshin’s newest “Yareach L’Moadim on Purim – available now in Seforim stores.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

To read Rabbi Hoffman’s article on Mishloach manos click here.