Rav Yechiel Spero related a great story. A man was walking in a Bais HaChaim (cemetery), and he saw engraved on a Matzeivah (tombstone) the name R’ Eliezer Yosef Lederberg, and under the name it was written that he learned Masechtos Beitzah and Rosh Hashanah over 4,000 times.
This man was very intrigued by this unusual inscription, and he tracked down the family to find out more about this Talmid Chacham. He found Rav Eliezer Yosef’s son, and he was happy to share the following story about his father.
At some point, Rav Eliezer Yosef started to experience headaches, and when it would not go away, he realized it was time to go to the doctor. The doctors ran some tests and determined that it was necessary to perform a surgery to correct the problem. However, the surgery was a little risky, and it may cause him some discomfort and temporary blindness that would last for a few months, but there was also a strong possibly that it may leave him completely blind.
R”L. Rav Eliezer Yosef was devastated by the news, and he asked the doctors if he had to have the procedure as an emergency, or if he had some time to prepare for it. The doctors told him that he had some time, but he shouldn’t wait more than six months.
Spent Every Moment Reviewing Beitzah and Rosh Hashanah
Rav Eliezer Yosef understood that after the operation, it was quite possible that he would never be able to look inside a Gemara again, and the thought of that was unbearable. However, if it was indeed true, he had work to do. For the next six months, Rav Lederberg spent every moment of the day focused on one thing — learning two Masechtos by heart. He reviewed Beitzah and Rosh Hashanah over and over again, day and night.
The day of the operation came, and his family cried and Davened for the best possible outcome. Rav Eliezer Yosef cried as well. He gazed one last time at his dear family, and at the words of his beloved Gemara, knowing quite well that this may be his last time to see them. He thought of all the moments he had wasted during his lifetime, time he could have spent doing more, and learning more. Now he had done all he could. He had mastered these two Masechtos, and he knew that he would always have them close to his heart, and forever in his mind.
He was wheeled into the operating room, and he was cast into a world of darkness. When he woke up, Rav Eliezer Yosef’s eyes were bandaged, and he was told that until the bandages were removed in a few days, he would not know whether or not the operation had blinded him.
The Day the Bandages Were Taken Off
Finally, the day arrived, and the bandages were taken off. He opened his eyes and began to weep tears of immense happiness. Baruch Hashem he could see! When he eventually came home, Rav Eliezer Yosef realized that since he was prepared to learn the Masechtos of Beitzah and Rosh Hashanah without his eyesight, he should certainly continue learning them with his vision intact! For the rest of his life, wherever he went, Rav Eliezer Yosef continued to review the Gemara he had studied so diligently during those six months when his eyesight hung in the balance.
After he passed away in 1955, his children found an unusual request in his will regarding what he wished to have inscribed on his Matzeivah. He asked that it be written that he had learned the Masechtos of Beitzah and Rosh Hashanah over 4,000 times. After this, the following words were to be engraved: “In his will it was written that this accomplishment be engraved on his Matzeivah, so that perhaps one day, someone will read this and accept it upon himself to do the same!”
Reprinted from the Parshas Noach 5784 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
