Every night, Eliezer would drench his pillow with tears. His learning just wasn’t going. Despite all the energy he put in, he kept coming out with nothing. Zero.
One day, the mashgiach called him over and guided him how to proceed: Take all your energy and put it into one perek. Learn it. Review it. Master it. And that’ll give you sipuk (satisfaction). I recommend that you take the second perek of Bava Metzia and make that your perek. It’s a very enjoyable perek, and you’ll feel great fulfilment with it.”
Eliezer took the advice and began learning Eilu Metzius. He learned it line-by-line, and every Rashi one at a time until he knew them cold, but he didn’t stop there. He continued learning it over and over until he started having chiddushim on it. At the beginning, his notebook had just a few questions, but as the years went on and he reviewed it more and more, the chiddushim started to multiply and get bigger and bigger until, one day, he authored a sefer with many insightful chiddushim.
As time moved on, so were his friends. They were all finding shidduchim, but Eliezer just wasn’t finding the right one. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when one of the shadchanim remarked that his shidduch is being withheld because he’s still learning only one perek for many years. Anyone would jump for him if he’d just move on with his learning, but as long as he’s stuck on that one perek, he’d remain an outcast.
That comment shattered him.
The next time the mashgiach noticed Eliezer in the yeshiva, he realized that something was on his mind. Hearing him out, the mashgiach felt for him, especially since he had been the one who referred Eliezer to that particular shadchan. That shadchan was in a class of his own, and the mashgiach felt that he might have been the right one to find Eliezer his shidduch. All that seemed to come of it, though, was disappointment and heartache. His enthusiasm was over. He was done.
Seeing the severity of the situation, the mashgiach sought the guidance of the Steipler Gaon. Besides for his gaonus, the Steipler understood people very well and was sought after by all for his sagely advice. He instructed the mashgiach to bring the boy to him for a visit. At the visit, the Steipler told the mashgiach that he should wait outside while he was talking to the boy. The mashgiach couldn’t resist hearing what the Gaon would tell the boy, so he left the door a crack open.
The Steipler took the boy’s hand, and these are the words that the mashgiach heard coming out of the room: “I guarantee you that when you sit and learn, Hashem puts aside the Kehillas Yaakov (the sefarim that the Steipler himself wrote) and listens in to your learning. Your Torah is so special to Him, more than the greatest shiurim given in the biggest yeshivos, and you’re more dear than other great talmidei chachamim learning.”
The Steipler continued while the bachur was shedding tears. “There’s nothing more valuable to Hashem than the Torah that is learned when someone is heartbroken, and there is nothing more significant than Torah learned amidst toil and challenge. Remember that there is nothing as valuable to Hashem as the Torah that you are learning.”
Eliezer left the Steipler’s home with a sack full of chizuk. Till today, those holy words of “there’s nothing as valuable to Hashem as the Torah that’s learned when someone is heartbroken” reverberate in his heart. They give him the energy to continue pursuing the important task that he’s doing.
Several months passed, and his bashert was found. Talking to his father, his father-in-law mentioned that just before Eliezer was suggested, there were other names that they had come up for his daughter, and yet when he heard how Eliezer sat and learned one perek time and time again, he was moved to the point that he put all the other names aside and looked into him first. Today, B”H, they have a beautiful family, living with the unforgettable message of the Steipler and continuing to offer Hashem the greatest nachas.
