The Gaon Rabbi Aryeh Levin zt"l, the Tzaddiki of Jerusalem, was a mashgiach in the Talmud Torah "Etz Chaim" in Jerusalem. There were those who called him "the father of prisoners" because of his wonderful concern and special devotion to Jewish prisoners who had been imprisoned many years ago in British prisons, but Rabbi Aryeh Levin was also a genius and great Torah scholar, and he toiled in Torah for many hours every day.
Once, children gathered around Rabbi Aryeh and asked him to tell them a story. Rabbi Aryeh said to them: "I will tell you something that happened to me when I was very young: Many years ago I lived abroad. When I finished my studies in Torah school, I asked to go to study Torah at the famous Volazhin Yeshiva. My dear parents were very poor, and when I left home on my way to the yeshiva, I had to take the train. Because the yeshiva was far from my home, but my parents didn't have the money to buy me a train ticket. "Rabbi Aryeh," the children asked, "so how did you get to the yeshiva?!" "I walked! I walked for many days, until I reached the Volazhin Yeshiva, where I wanted to study so much.
The day passed, we prayed Mincha, Ma'ariv, and night came and I wanted to get on my bed, but it turned out that I didn't have a bed! "Once upon a time, the young men who studied in the yeshiva had to look for a place to stay for themselves, and one of the solutions was to sleep on the benches of the yeshiva..... Because they had no other place to sleep. On one occasion. At the beginning of the study time in the yeshiva, I was late to the yeshiva, I didn't even have a good bench left to sleep on, only a small bench in a small corner. I decided that next time, at the beginning of the study time, I would arrive early and take a bench! A bench – to sleep. '
Ahead of Passover, I drove home to Bein Ha-Zamanim, and managed to save some money to buy a train ticket. Indeed, after Passover, when it was time to return to the yeshiva, I purchased a ticket, packed my luggage, said goodbye to me with great excitement, and suddenly I noticed that it was late! In a few minutes, the train will be on its way, and I... My bed, my bench, I might be late for sitting!' Young Aryeh grabbed his belongings in one hand, held the casket on his head with the other, and began to rush quickly to the terminal. As he ran, one of his shoes fell off... He almost stopped his run to pick it up. But the train whistle urged him to move on, with only one shoe at his feet... At the end of the ride I arrived at the yeshiva on time with one leg barefoot, this time I had a bench, but I didn't have a shoe...
There were days when it was very difficult to learn Torah. There was not always anything to eat, there was nowhere to sleep, and I even had to walk for a few days to get to the yeshiva. B.H. that today it is possible to study the holy Torah in peace, peacefully, without such difficult trials. The halls of the beit midrash are air-conditioned, most of the furniture is modern. The young men are rewarded with delightful foods, and what is required of the yeshiva students and kollel students is to sit and study Torah with love and loyalty!!!
