HaRav Moshe Bergman zt”l was one of the 45 people who were tragically niftar in the Meron disaster three years ago. In honor of his 3rd yartzheit his father asked me to include the following, I hope this serves as some chizuk for us and as an iluy neshomah for R’ Moshe.
Here are two areas he was particular about:
- He was extremely makpid about other people’s possessions and time. His chavrusa related that whenever they were finished using a sefer that they had got from the communal shelf, he would immediately get up to return it, he was concerned that ‘someone else’ might need it, and why should that ‘someone else’ have to come look for it at our table, how can we waste ‘someone else’s’ time?!
In many Shuls and Botei Medrash, there are seforim left lying around. Some places even pay someone to put the seforim back on the shelves! It would be so beneficial if everyone who used a sefer replaced it immediately. In addition, it is even better if the sefer is put back in the correct place of its set. We all know Bereishis is the first chumash, so why not put it back at the start of the set to save the next user a few seconds? Similarly, we know that Gemoro Shabbos belongs in second place of its set - why should the next user have to scan the whole shelf to look for the volume he seeks?!
- Moshe zt"l was very particular with the halochos of Oseh Sholom at the end of Shmonei Esrei:
- i) Bow,
- ii) Step back three full steps while bowing,
- iii) "Oseh Sholom Bimromav" to left, "Hu Yaaseh Sholom Oleinu" to the right,
- iv) "V'al kol yisroel" to the front,
- v) Wait before returning to original place,
- vi) Not to step back if someone was davenning Shmonei Esrei behind him, within 4 amos.
He would often wait a long time before taking his steps back. It seems he wanted to be sure that nobody even diagonally was still davenning. It could be that he did not step back as soon as the person behind finished, so as not to make that person feel bad that he was waiting for them.
