Rabbi Aryeh Levin, known as the "Father of Prisoners," was born in Orla near Bialystok (now in Poland) in the 1880s to his father Binyamin Beinush and his mother Etil. He studied Torah in the Yeshivot of Slutsk, Slonim, Brisk, Pinsk, and Halusk, and finally in the Volozhin Yeshivah. He made aliyah to the Land of Israel in 5665 (1905) and after a brief period in Jaffa, settled in Jerusalem. He studied at the Torat Chaim Yeshivah and was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Rabbi Shmuel Salant, and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. He married Tziporah Chanah, daughter of Rabbi David Shapira. During the famine years of World War I, the couple lost two of their daughters. From 5677 (1917), he served as the spiritual supervisor of the Etz Chaim Talmud Torah. He became renowned for his humility, love, and acts of kindness, particularly for his regular visits to prisoners from underground movements captured by the British. He supported them wholeheartedly, devoting himself to their physical and spiritual needs, and was even the rabbi of the religious Brit HaChashmonaim underground movement, the religious underground movement established by Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Segal (HaRav Ginsburgh’s father-in-law). Rabbi Levin was close to Rabbi Kook, despite the harassment directed at Rav Kook, and all the great rabbis of Jerusalem held him in high esteem. In 5708 (1948), he established the Beit Aryeh Yeshivah. He passed away on the 9th of Nisan, the eve of Shabbat HaGadol 5729 (1969) and was buried in the Sanhedria cemetery.
In 5730 (1970), a year after the passing of Rabbi Aryeh Levin of blessed memory, his biographer, Rabbi Simchah Raz entered for a private audience with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He was allotted ten minutes, like the others invited that night for a private audience with the Rebbe. He entered the Rebbe’s study at two-thirty in the morning and introduced himself. The Rebbe said: “A short while ago, I read an article in the Panim el Panim weekly about the righteous Rabbi Aryeh Levin of blessed memory, written by Simchah Raz. Are you the author?”
When Simchah Raz answered affirmatively, the Rebbe asked him to tell him about Rabbi Aryeh Levin.
After twenty minutes, the Rebbe suggested they sit beside his desk and asked the author to continue telling him stories about Rabbi Aryeh. After an hour had passed, the Rebbe’s secretary entered the room, astonished at the length of the conversation. The Rebbe said: “Leave him be! I asked him to stay.” The secretary left.
The Rebbe leaned towards the author and asked: “Do you have another story for me?”
Another hour passed, with story after story. The Rebbe inquired if Rabbi Aryeh had written any Torah novellae. At that time, Simchah Raz was not yet aware that Rabbi Aryeh had indeed written, in his youth, a commentary on the entire Mishnah. He replied: “I don't think Rabbi Aryeh left behind written Torah teachings, but our sages say, ‘When one parts from his friend, let it be only with a matter of halachah (Jewish law), for through this he will remember him.’ We remember Rabbi Aryeh through his stories and his way of life. For us, he was like a walking Torah scroll.”
He added: “Here we are now in New York. Let me tell you something Rabbi Aryeh once told me about New York: The first blessing of the morning blessings is ‘Blessed are You, God... Who gives the rooster understanding to distinguish between day and night.’ Rabbi Aryeh asked: ‘Do we have nothing else to thank God for, that we thank Him for giving a rooster the sense to cry cock-a-doodle-doo? Is this the first worthy prayer for a Jew?!’
But if we bring a rooster from Jerusalem to New York, when will it crow? According to Jerusalem time or New York time? According to New York time! This is what we’re saying: Master of the Universe, give us the wisdom to say the right thing, in the right place, at the right time, just as You give the rooster understanding to distinguish between day and night.’” The Rebbe smiled in delight at hearing the question and its resolution.
Simcha Raz continued, relating that the downtrodden and dejected would come to Rabbi Aryeh. Once, a synagogue shamash (caretaker) came to him and complained: “What kind of life do I have? I'm constantly lugging benches and washing floors.” Rabbi Aryeh replied to him: “What are you talking about?! Do you know who you are?!” The man answered: “Of course! Who am I? I am a lowly caretaker.” Rabbi Aryeh said to him: “It's stated in the Talmud that after Moses died, Joshua was appointed to lead the people. The elders of that generation said: Moses’ face was like the sun, Joshua’s face is like the moon. Woe to that shame, woe to that disgrace! This passage is not clear. Is it possible that the sages speak disparagingly of Joshua?! Rather the meaning is, they were asking, how did Joshua merit to replace Moses?
It was not because of his greatness in Torah, for it's said of Otniel ben Kenaz that he was sharper in Torah. But because he used to arrange the benches in the study hall, meaning he was a caretaker! It follows that the elders of the generation were speaking in praise of Joshua. Their intent was to bemoan their own behavior: We too could have replaced Moses, but what? We were ashamed to be caretakers! And since we were ashamed, we didn't merit it. This is the meaning of the Talmud's ‘Woe to that shame!’”
The Rebbe was deeply moved by Rabbi Aryeh’s explanation. He grasped Simchah Raz's hand and said to him: “This is the first time I'm hearing this interpretation, and believe me, this is the correct meaning of this passage.”
As the second hour passed, the secretary entered for the second time, stood behind the writer, and began to scratch his back with the bunch of keys he held in his hand, hinting that it was time to finish.
The Rebbe fixed his deep blue eyes on his secretary and said to him: “I've already asked you to leave him be, It is I who have asked him to stay!”
After the secretary left the room, the Rebbe leaned towards Simchah Raz and said to him: “Do you have another story for me?”
Thus two and a half hours of stories about Rabbi Aryeh Levin passed, with the Rebbe listening eagerly. It was already five in the morning. Raz, who was young at the time, said to the Rebbe: “Among Rabbi Aryeh's virtues, his door was always open. There was no ten-minute limit when coming to see him!” The Rebbe burst into child-like rolling laughter.
Raz added, “You are the Rebbe of the chasidim. Rabbi Aryeh was the Rebbe of the mitnagdim.”
In our story, three significant figures are present, which can be corresponded to the well-known statement from Sefer Yetzirah: "With three books the Holy blessed One created His world: with the scribe, the book, and the story.” The Scribe is Rabbi Simchah Raz, who as a result of that meeting wrote his first and famous book about Rabbi Aryeh Levin titled, A Tzaddik in Our Time; the Book is Rabbi Aryeh, who according to Rabbi Simcha was “a walking Torah scroll” and whose story the Scribe tells; and the Story is the Rebbe himself, immersing in the narrative and uniting with it with great desire to hear more and more.
Why did the Rebbe, whose main connection with Rabbi Aryeh was their remarkable love for the Jewish people, immerse himself in the stories instead of receiving the people, the Jews waiting outside his study to speak to him? We find the answer in the first part of the sentence with which we began: “The Holy blessed One created His world....” Created (א רּב) is cognate with “healthy” (יא רּב) and “to heal” (יא רְבַהְל), and the three “books” (the book, the scribe, and the story) through their meeting indeed heal the entire world.
But for this, the Rebbe, who is the all-inclusive soul of Israel, and the “Story” needs to internalize the stories in a deep connection of Supernal Knowledge that transcends ordinary intellect and its considerations.
Thus, by listening to the stories about Rabbi Aryeh Levin, the Rebbe became one with his figure and could illuminate (in his unique way) Rabbi Aryeh’s deep messages to the whole world. Incredibly the values of Simchah (ה חְמִׂש), Aryeh (ה יְרַא), and Menachem Mendel (לּדְענ ם מֵחַנְמ) together equal the phrase, “The light of Mashiach” (יחׁשָל מׁשֹרוֹאו) and the phrase “Your wellsprings shall spread outward” (ה צּחוָיךֶתֹנְיְעַ מּצוּפוָי).
