Rav Chaim Kreiswirth was well known to dance on Simchas Torah with great hislahavus, aflame with excitement and joy! He was careful not to lose time from learning and often danced with an open Gemora, a sight that left its impressions on many.
He once observed a father holding the Sefer Torah and lowering it to allow his little boy to kiss the holy scroll. Rav Kreiswirth was not in favor of this practice, and lovingly admonished the father, explaining his reasons for opposing the father’s well-intentioned, but in his opinion, misguided actions. “When you bend down and lower the Torah to your son, you’re teaching him that the Torah can be lowered or bent down to suit his needs, Heaven forbid. Instead, he needs to stretch himself or be lifted to kiss the holy scroll, so that he learns to accommodate and adjust himself to the Torah and not the other way around,” a profound lesson that became forever inscribed on the father’s heart. (Mayim Chaim p. 148)
