26 Av – Yahrzeit of the Satmar Rov Zt”l, Rav Yoel ben Rav Chananya Yomtov Teitelbaum Zy”a
Guarding His Eyes
The Satmar Rov was a kadosh who was renowned for his tzidkus and prishus from a very young age. He practiced shemiras einayim to an extreme level. R’ Chaim Yehuda Lowy z”l, a resident of the city of Satmar and a student of the Rov’s father, the Kedushas Yomtov zy”a, related that once on an extremely cold day, he saw the Rov, who was a young boy at the time, pacing around outside near his home. He was shaking from the cold, but he was not going inside.
R’ Chaim Yehuda asked the boy why he was standing outside in the cold, but he modestly tried to avoid answering the question. He finally realized that two young non-Jewish girls who worked as maids in the house were standing next to the door, and he understood that the boy did not want to walk past them to get in. He asked the maids to step aside to allow the boy to enter, and only after they moved did he go into the house.
Serving Hashem Without Sleep or Food:
Rav Hillel Lichtenstein zt”l, Rov of Krasna, once asked the Satmar Rov how he was able to deal with communal issues and help people in so many ways all day with little to no sleep. Most people who miss a night of sleep are unable to function the next day, yet, somehow, the Rov had a clear head and firmly led his flock, despite his lack of sleep. How was this possible?
The Rov answered, “I am used to it. This is how I was raised in my father’s house.”
On another occasion, the Rov said that one needs a lot of zechus avos to be able to serve Hashem properly without much sleep or food.
When One Goes to Bed, He Puts Himself at Risk:
It is well known that the Rov did not lay down in a bed for many years. His doctor once asked him why he never slept in a bed – instead dozing off in his chair for short periods of time – telling him that he was harming his health by doing so.
The Rov answered, “Sleep is a thief. It steals a person’s time. One could spend his time learning or davening, but he can’t do that when is asleep. If a thief forces a person to give him his valuables against his will, he has to obey; but why would anyone willingly give himself over to a thief if he doesn’t have to? So too, if sleep overcomes a person against his will, he has no choice in the matter. But why would I lie down in bed and give myself to the thief?”
Middos:
The Satmar Rov once said, “The benefit a good middah provides a person cannot be provided by the biggest mitzvah. The detriment a bad middah causes a person can’t be replicated by the worst aveirah!”
Doing a Favor for a Jew:
He once was told that bochurim in his yeshiva had been asked to bring some food to a sick man in the hospital and they didn’t want to do it. He chastised the bochurim and told them, “If the bochurim don’t know that one must do a favor for a Jew, what is the entire yeshiva worth?”
In general, this was his way. He would instill in his students the importance of doing chesed whenever they could.
May the memory of the tzadik be blessing for all of Klal Yisroel.
