Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein
Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein told over a remarkable story. One night, the phone rang in his home. One of biggest supporters of Torah in the generation was on the line. It was a man who donates vast sums of money to Mosdos HaTorah. He said that he urgently needed to speak with the Rav. Although he wasn’t feeling well at the time, Rav Zilberstein agreed.
The man said that the night before, he had been to Rav Zilberstein’s father-in-law, Rav Shalom Yosef Elyashiv, zt”l, and he introduced himself as one who donates generously to Yeshivos. Then he asked for a Brachah that his descendants should all become Bnei Torah. He said, “Rav Elyashiv gave me this Brachah with great joy, but then I asked that he add a Brachah for them to have a strong desire to learn Torah. He shook his finger and indicated that he was not going to give that Brachah.” Rav Elyashiv said, “That is not up to me. If you want children who have a strong desire to learn Torah, then it is clearly up to you, not me.”
The man was deeply disappointed and upset with this remark, and he wanted Rav Zilberstein to explain what it meant. “Why did Rav Elyashiv refuse to give me this Brachah?”
Rav Shalom Yosef Eliyashiv
Rav Zilberstein tried to comfort him. He told him that it was clear that Rav Elyashiv had nothing against him, he was just expressing the Torah’s view that only a father can instill a love of learning Torah into his children. He further told him that if his children saw him use every possible moment for learning Torah, and he did it with a desire, and not like one who was being forced to do it, they will learn that Torah is the most important thing.
“They will see that you learn Torah with more drive than you do anything else, and they will want to do as you do.”
Just so that he could understand what it means to have a strong desire to learn Torah, Rav Zilberstein told him about something that had happened years before, just before an important, official state event, an event that everyone went to see, and even many Yeshivah Bachurim couldn’t resist.
Rav Zilberstein said: One of the best Bachurim in the Slabodka Yeshivah said to me, “This is a great opportunity. Precisely now, when so many people are not in the Bais Medrash learning, let’s go and get a taste of true Torah. Let’s go to the Ponevezh Yeshivah and listen to a Shiur given by Rav Shmuel Rozovsky, zt”l.”
Rav Shmuel Rozovsky was someone who personified a real drive for learning Torah. Where did Rav Shmuel get that incredible drive and love of Torah? Rav Shmuel’s father, Rav Michel Dovid Rozovsky, zt”l, did everything possible so that his son would become a Talmid Chacham. He paid one of the best Bachurim in the Yeshivah to learn with his son. This bachur was brilliant. When he was eighteen years old, he served on Rav Chaim Ozer’s Bais Din in Vilna.
Rav Yisroel Gustman and Rav Shmuel Rozovsky
The Bachur’s name was Rav Yisroel Gustman, zt”l, who went on to become one of the greatest educators and Roshei Yeshivah of the previous generation. One could see on his face just how much he enjoyed learning Torah. After a few days of learning with the young Rav Shmuel Rozovsky, Rav Yisroel Gustman told his father that he did not wish to accept money for learning with his son anymore.
Rav Michel Dovid implored him, but it did not help. Rav Gustman said, “I did not say that I wasn’t going to continue learning with him, it’s just that I was taking money on a false understanding. When I accepted the money, it was because I thought it was going to be an effort, a real job for me to learn with a young boy. But this is no job! I could never take money for learning with such a delightful Chavrusah!”
One evening, Rav Michel Dovid saw them learning together with such pleasure, that he decided to join them. He didn’t hold himself to be too high for this. He sat down to learn with his son and the Yeshivah Bachur. What did Rav Shmuel learn from that? That an intense desire to learn Torah removes all thoughts about oneself, so that his father could sit down to learn with his child and a young man.
Rav Zilberstein explained, “That is what Rav Elyashiv was telling you. If you show your children that you have an intense desire to learn Torah, and you set a personal example of doing so, believe me, they will imitate you. They will also have a strong desire to learn Torah, and a Brachah is not what is needed for this!”
Reprinted from the Parshas Bamidbar 5784 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
