Toward the end of his life, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach would say “Der kop arbet nisht, ich fargessen—the head isn’t working, I’m forgetting.” One of his talmidim, Rav Yehuda Ades, the rosh yeshivah of Kol Yaakov in Yerushalayim, once asked Rav Shlomo Zalman, “What does it mean that the rosh yeshivah is forgetting?” After all, Rav Shlomo Zalman could start talking about something and throw out dozens of mekoros without end.
“Whenever a sh’ailah would come up, Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave me the ability to zero in on what is applicable to it,” Rav Shlomo Zalman said in his very humble way. “In the last year, this ability became a little bit rusty.” His direct instant recall no longer included kol haTorah kulah.
At one point, Rav Shlomo Zalman stopped giving the shiur klali in the yeshivah, giving only gave the shiur yomi. He explained to his son-in-law, “In the shiur yomi, the everyday shiur, people know I am just speaking in learning and don’t intend to pasken anything. But in the shiur klali, which is more public, people might think that I am paskening. And since now de kop arbet nisht, maybe I will forget a Tosafos.”
“Do you realize what this means?” Rav Shlomo Zalman’s son-in-law continued. “Until then, it was not possible for Rav Shlomo Zalman to forget a Tosafos! But now, maybe he will forget a Tosafos somewhere in Shas and perhaps say something that he should have remembered more information on, so he was afraid to say a shiur klali!”
He had such yiras shamayim that he was afraid to speak at all in case he might forget a Tosafos.
Courtesy of Agudas Yisroel of America
