The Steipler Gaon
Rav Gamliel Rabinowitz told a story. There was a Talmid Chacham who lived in Tel Aviv. Every morning, he would get up early and travel to his Kollel in Bnei Brak. He would Daven Shacharis and remain the whole day to learn until evening. One morning he had to take care of something, and he left to Bnei Brak after he had Davened in Tel Aviv.
Because of this, he missed his usual ride, and he was forced, to his dismay, to take the bus filled with young college students travelling from Tel Aviv to Bar Ilan University, which was on the way to Bnei Brak. Those secular boys were noisy and joking around the entire time, but he paid no attention to them. He sat to the side and learned the Sefer Mishnah Brurah, which he always learned when he traveled.
One boy from the group who was sitting near him was taken by how the young man was concentrating on his studies, and how he was not interrupted by the noise and commotion that was going on around him. He wanted to know what this young man was so involved in, to the extent that he was unaware of anything that was going on around him, and he was not at all distracted. He wanted to start a conversation with the young man, so he asked, “Excuse me, please. What is that book you are holding? I see that you are so absorbed in it!”
Since the boy asked his question respectfully, the young man decided to reply and explain about the Sefer he was learning. He described in detail about the amazing Sefer, the Mishnah Brurah, that was known all over the Jewish world, and he explained about the author, the Chofetz Chaim.
But the boy was not satisfied. He became more and more interested, specifically about the text at the top of the page, which is the Shulchan Aruch, and the two sections that are below it, the Be’er Heiteiv and the Sha’arei Teshuvah, and the two sections below that, the Mishnah Brurah and the Biur Halachah, and the section that is below them, the Sha’ar HaTzion, and also about the above side column, the Be’er HaGolah.
The young man patiently explained every detail, the order of the generations of the various commentators, how each section was added one after the other, how every author saw the authors before him and only then added his own commentary to it. He showed him the layout that was set up by the Rama, which was printed using Rashi’s script, on the Shulchan Aruch, which was arranged by the Mechaber. He then explained all the letters added in the Shulchan Aruch to direct the reader to the correct commentary on the bottom, each commentary using a different form of the alphabet. They sat and discussed these things until the bus arrived at the stop before Bnei Brak, where the boy got off the bus together with the rest of his friends going to Bar Ilan.
Afterwards, the young man thought about the conversation he had with this college boy, and his heart filled with regret. He said, “Why did I waste my precious time on this whole long trip? If the conversation was in words of Torah, or at least in words of Chizuk or Mussar, then that would be fine, but all we talked about was history and the layout of the text on the page! It was just a college student who likes to investigate dry topics like the history, the authors, and the different formats on the page of the book, but he had no interest in the Sefer itself. I wasted all my time!”
This young man had a pre-arranged appointment with the Steipler Gaon, zt”l. Since he was still disturbed by his conversation with the college student, he decided to ask the Rav about it to settle his mind. The Steipler told him that in his opinion, he did the right thing and the time was well spent, as it is not possible to know what effect his words would have, or when they might affect the boy. Who knows what was implanted in the heart of this college boy.
As it says about the great Tanna Rebbe Akiva in Avos D’Rebbe Nassan (6), about the origin of Rebbe Akiva. He was forty years old, and he had not yet learned anything. Once, he was walking by a rock and he saw that over time, dripping water had made an indentation in the rock. He said to himself that if something soft like water can damage something hard like a rock, then words of Torah can penetrate even into his own heart! He immediately went to learn Torah.
The Steipler explained that even a small conversation like this one, about the author and his book, can make an impression, and it is not possible to know what the results will be in the future. He said, “Perhaps in a few years this boy will come upon a Mishnah Brurah, and then since the Sefer is already close to his heart because there is some familiarity already due to the conversation that you had with him, he will be interested to look into it. Perhaps this conversation was only the first drop of many that the Hashem wanted to come about, in order to save a Jewish Neshamah and bring it closer to the truth, and return it to its rightful place.”
The young man was indeed calmed from the insightful words of the Steipler Gaon!
Reprinted from the Parshas Va’eschanan 5785 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefillah.
