Three years ago today, on the 25th of Cheshvan 5775, a singularly unique individual – someone about whom HaRav Aharon Feldman shlita said “he left no one his age to take his place” – was lost to Klal Yisrael. Rav Twersky embodied a burning, undying aspiration for perfection in every aspect of what it means to be a good Jew, to be an eved Hashem. His father in law, Rav Abba Berman zt”l – a prominent Rosh Yeshiva of the old, Litvisheh stock – once remarked that, in general, he is not impressed by people who keep a lot of chumros. One of the two people that did impress him, though, was his son in law, Rav Twersky. Why? “Because he is just as machmir on bein adam la’chaveiro as he is on bein adam la’Makom!”

A Malach in Our Midst is the book that provides a glimpse into Rav Twersky’s life. Written with the tears of a bereft talmid, this book has impacted people in an almost indescribable way. Rabbi Dov Stark, mashgiach of Yeshivas Aderes HaTorah, said, “I don’t know what it is, but this book has affected me in a way that I don’t think any other Gadol book ever has.” Usually, Rabbi Stark elaborated, one reads a book, it’s nice and it’s inspiring, and life goes on. “But this book,” he said, “I felt was actually compelling me to grow. After reading about how intensely Rav Twersky cherished every second of Shabbos, my own sense of the importance of using my time on Shabbos to the maximum grew much stronger.”

Rabbi Chanoch Teller – the “king” of Jewish short story books and internationally acclaimed speaker – had this to say in an email to the author: “I saved your book to be my Mussar sefer for the aseres yemei teshuva, and I have been totally blown away (and I am only up to p 327). I can’t stop talking about it and recommending it. You did such a fantab job! The notes make it mamash like a sefer. I intend to write you more bl”n, but I wish to register with you already how overwhelmed I am by the job you did.”

And it is not only prominent Torah personalities who are raving about this book. People across the spectrum – from young to old, both women and men – have powerfully expressed the sentiment that this book has touched their lives in such a deep way. If you haven’t read the book yet, now – as we mark the third yahrtzeit of the Har Nof Massacre – is the time to see to it that you do.

Of course, I hope that you will buy yourself a copy. But if you feel like you cannot afford it, then make sure to borrow it from someone. Rav Twersky was a nistar in his lifetime, but Hashem saw to it that Klal Yisrael should come to know him after his death al kiddush Hashem. Don’t miss this opportunity to be touched for a lifetime.

Get the book today. Buy it. And if you can’t buy it, then at least borrow it.

May Hashem send Mashiach very, very soon and all sorrow should disappear,
Yehoshua Berman 25th of Cheshvan 5778