“RABBI’S
MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh
Parshas Tazria/Hachodesh
Shabbos Rosh Chodesh
Nissan
29 Adar II 5776/ April 8,
2016
As readers of this column
are aware, a few weeks ago my son Shalom and I had the great fortune to spend a
week and a half in Eretz Yisroel in honor of his bar mitzvah. During that time
we had the great zechus to meet some of the foremost Torah leaders of our time.
My
cousin, R’ Izak Cohn, is a talmid of Rav Meir Soloveitchik zt’l, the great Rosh
Yeshiva and son of the Brsiker Rav, who was niftar this week at the age of 86. [I
purposely wrote that he “is a talmid” and not “was a talmid”,
because the impression and influence of a rebbe continues to inspire his
students long after he is gone.]
On
Shabbos mornings, a small group would come to Rav Meir’s apartment in
Yerushalayim for Kerias HaTorah and Mussaf. Anyone who desired could join but
there was very limited space. Izak informed me about where I needed to be and
when, and on Shabbos morning, together with my brother Yaakov and Shalom we
joined the exclusive assemblage at Rav Meir’s minyan.
It was
tight, stuffy, and somewhat uncomfortable, with some twenty people squished
around the dining room table. It was a small room lined from floor to ceiling
with a combination of new and old sefarim. It was humbling to stand in the
presence of a man who is not only the son of the venerable Brisker Rav, but a
giant in Torah in his own right.
Throughout
Kerias HaTorah, the aged Rosh Yeshiva stood with absolute focus in the chumash
before him (he sat briefly between aliyos). He read along with the every word
that was read. The ba’al korei was seasoned and meticulous, and in any other
shul his reading would have been deemed perfect. But on a few occasions Rav
Meir corrected him for slight mistakes of trop and dikduk (grammar).
The
Soloveitchik family is renowned for their incredible and impeccable precision
and attention to detail in regards to halacha. I was given the honor of
performing hagbahah (raising the Torah for all to see). I must admit that I was
sweating profusely. I was concerned that I might not perform it according to
every nuance of halacha, in the presence of a man whose life was dedicated to
the optimal and ultimate fulfillment of it.
I tried
to analyze every move Rav Meir made, knowing that it was all based on halacha
and mesora (tradition), even in regards to a ‘run-of-the-mill Shabbos morning’.
We all
have things that ‘make us tick’ and ‘get us going’. Rav Meir Soloveitchik zt’l was
motivated by the complete and perfect fulfillment of Torah obligations and
halachic expectations. That’s what excited him and mattered most in his life,
with all else a very distant second.
Such
people are few and far between and his passing this week creates a tremendous
void. I am ever grateful to have had the zechus to spend a few minutes with him,
and to glimpse a man who lived in complete immersion in Torah and Avodas
Hashem. It was a tremendous opportunity and experience and a memory that I hope
Shalom will continue to appreciate in years to come.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum