(by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com)
In observance of the yartzeit (today 24 Kislev) of Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman zt”l, the following hesped and words of inspiration were delivered this past Thursday to Mesivta Shaarei Chaim in Far Rockaway by Rav Avrohom Schorr Shlita. Mesivta Shaarei Chaim has fast become one of the leading Mesivtos in the New York area and is located in the Five Towns/Far Rockaway community. It is under the leadership of Rav Yerachmiel Scheiner and Rav Nosson Zupnick, master mechanchim hailed by leading Gedolei Torah. The yeshiva has just gone to contract on a property in Inwood, in Nassau County and has embarked upon a building campaign. Rav Schorr’s words below were transcribed by Rabbi Yair Hoffman, a parent of the Yeshiva.
Rav Scheiner introduced Rav Schorr and explained that the osios – the letters of hesped is hefsed – loss. The idea of hesped is to understand what we lost. If we can understand the true impact and nature of the odom gadol, we can use it to make the loss a little bit less.
Rav Schorr:
The person who has gashmius – who do you look up to? Do you look up to a talmid chochom that finished shas – that knows shas and lives in a basement and doesn’t have olam hazeh? Who do you look up to as someone who has hatzlacha in this world? The person who built himself a fancy house? Who do you look up to a person driving a lexus? If your hatzlacha in this worl di s gashmius – then Rav AL palace doesn’t mean anything to you. A wooden chair. Walls that were never painted. Food that he ate – that’s not gashmius. That;s not His ptirah does not mean alot But if we realize that the tachlis of a yid of the world is olam habah – the tachlis of this world is not this passing world of gashmius. But to grow in ruchniyus.
And you can’t start growing in your 30’s or 40’s and 50’s, but 10 or by 12. And if you don’t start growing then – then nothing will develop from you.
When Rav Aharon Leib walked into the house of the brisker Rav as a young bochurel and learned with the brisker rav’s son rav beryl – zichron tzaddik livracha. his son, Rav Dovid testified that the fire of Torah of these two yingelech – everyone stood and looked at it. Gadlus doesn’t start in the later years. Gadlus starts in the bochurish yahren. when you realize at 13 or 14 : Why are we here on this world? What is my tachlis? For what did I come to this world? And then I make a decision – where I am headed to.
Let us repeat an important point – When Rav Aharon Leib zaicher tzaddik vekadosh livracha was in Switzerland before the war, during the war.. I am not going to talk about his separation from prishus of saying no to olam hazeh. We are going to talk about his sh’ifah – his desire to grow.
There came a letter to two Gedolei Olam. To the holy Satmar Rav and the holy Belzer Rav – both of them written from Rav Aharon Leib. What was his request? What did he want?
His request was that he should become a merkava (chariot) of the Shechina. A merkavah l’shchina. A bachur. He was taka in his older twenties. That was his request from two gedolei Yisroel. They were both shocked that there was somebody asking to become a merkava of the shechina.
Do you know where you become a merkava of the shechina from? You probably think of all that you have to do.
The Gemorah that is laying in front of you – that’s where you become a merkava l’shechina. Do you know when? When you are engrossed in the Gemorah and nothing else interests you. When you learn Torah and you live in Torah. You become engrossed in Torah. It is not some high unattainable thing. then you become a merkava of the shechina. It is a darga of limud hatorah that you are completely engrossed in Toah
And you know what? Every single one of you that are sitting here has a shaichus to it and have the ability to reach it. To learn 15 minutes a day, a half hour a day
Nothing will disturb me. Nothing will take me away from Torah.
To learn 15 minutes a day. A half hour a day – where nothing disturbs you. In those few minutes you become davuk to the Aibershter’s Torah – davuk to the borei olam.
Do you know where self control starts? In the Beis Medrash.
A bachur sits and learns. Someone enters and the door klaps. The door makes a noise. The bachur sticks up his head and looks who enters the bais midrash that means he is not engrossed in Torah.
Do you know what else that means? It means he cannot control himself in other ways as well
15 minutes a day. This is what I am doing. That’s a dveikus in the Torah of Rab Aharon leib.
That’s how you become davuk to the aibeshter. That gashmius doesn’t mean anything.
Do you know that the entire time there was a certain shprach – The Rosh Yeshiva of Chevron Reb Dovid Cohen told me that the entire time that Rav AL was living we never spoke to a bachur of the lowliness of Olam Hazeh. Reb Aharon Leibs petirah awoke the world. It told us that there is something new to talk about. Because if you look at how he lived, and upon what he sat and what he ate and how much the gashmiyus of the world didn’t mean anything to him – it was mechayev the dor to pick themselves up. And a whole generation of Bnei Torah in Eretz Yisroel suddenly moved at a higher level. Because Rav AL’s petirah awoke them– Olam hazeh is naarishkeit. Olam hazeh is hevel. It is not how you grow to become a gadol b’yisroel.
A year later we still have to remember the dmus of a Jew that lived in this world without having hanaah tfrom this wolrd. And said no to every amenity and to every hanaah and to every bit of olam hazeh. To give us hasaga of how an erlich yid lived. A picture That is what we have to remind ourselves and that picks up a person to a little bit of holiness. A little bit higher than the world. Not everything that the world has to offer is for me. Because I am a yid and I live higher than the world. That is the yerusha that Rav AL gave us and if you want to be’etzem have a connection to that hanhaga to that dmus that the aibershter took away from us a year ago.
Why did Hashem take him away from us? I don’t know, but I will take the liberty to say something to make you think.
All the shprach that was said about Rav AL after his petirah – no one would have talked about these things.
The Aibersheter wants you to become better. He wants his children to become erlicher yidden – to elevate yourselves He took away an adam gadol so that we could talk about him and to hear what emeseh gadlus means what gadlus requires. Realize that we do not have a measuring stick to measuring gadlus because gadlus is bigger than anything we can imagine.
Have a desire to grow.
Holy bochurim. Lekavod the yartzeit Make a kaballah. One stupidity in Olam Hazeh to throw away. Make a kaballah that one stupidity of olam hazeh you will take out of your life.
You have no idea how chashuv this is in the eyes of the Rebono shel Olam. You have no idea what it means.
And you all have the ability to do it. Because of the koach and the zechus of Rav Aharon Leib. – You will have the koach to take one stupidity – kol echad lefi dargaso.. everyone on his level to take one thing of olam hazeh and take it out of your life. You will see what kind of shinui difference it will make. That one step. Not a giant step. A baby step. No one is asking for groiseh zachin. One thing. One small move. But one small move in the right direction will elevate you to such an aliyah. You will feel so much higher. That it will give you the drive to continue to grow. And do the aibeshter’s ratzon. That is the tachlis and toeles of every single yid that his desire should become to become closer to Hashem. That is the tachlis and his sheifah to become better and better. A bigger yarei shamayim and a bigger shakuah in Torah.
And you will be zoche to have a dveikus in this gadlus and you will have the koach to beable to grow and you will be a nachas ruach to yourself, and a nachas ruach to your parents and a nachas ruach to der aibeshter.
The transcriber can be reached at [email protected]
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
“And you can’t start growing in your 30’s or 40’s and 50’s, but 10 or by 12. And if you don’t start growing then – then nothing will develop from you.”
This runs contrary to everything we learn – Rabbi Akiva BEGAN his journey at age 40. It is never too late to become great!