Young Elazar Tzadok was a masmid with a so-called “average head,” and one day, all that changed. He came into yeshiva, and he suddenly was retaining everything he learned. He could learn thirty blatt of Gemara every day, in-depth, and not forget a thing.
What’s the story behind this success?
One Erev Yom Kippur, he was rushing to the beis midrash to say Tefillas Zakkah in preparation for the approaching day. As he was passing the Tepliker Rav’s home, the Rav called to him, “Bachur’l! Bachur’l! I’m need assistance.” Elazar Tzadok knew that he couldn’t turn down the illustrious Rav’s request, so he came inside and aided him.
When he completed the chessed, the Tepliker Rav told him, “I know you have many things to do on Erev Yom Kippur, and yet you helped me with mesirus nefesh. Therefore, Hashem will certainly help you beyond the rules of nature this year.”
From then on, Hashem granted him with astonishing kochos, and he grew to be none other than Reb Elazar Tzadok Turchin, zt”l, the devoted chavrusa of R’ Chaim Kaneivsky, and together, they wrote the Shoneh Halachos.
To inspire bachurim to study Torah, he would tell them, “Recite any line of Gemara.” They would tell him a few words, and he would say the rest without looking inside. And he did more than that. They would read a few words of Rashi, and he would tell them, by heart, the words of the Gemara that is printed next to Rashi’s words, and then he would tell them Tosafos’s words and the Rabbeinu Chananel’s words, as they are printed on that line in the Gemara. (Torah Wellsprings — Yisro 11)
