Rav Mordechai Schwab and Rav Zev Smith
Rav Paysach Krohn shared a story. Rav Mordechai Schwab, zt”l, the brother of Rav Shimon Schwab, zt”l, was the Mashgiach in the Bais Shraga Yeshivah in Monsey. Every year on Chol HaMo’eid, his close Talmid, Rav Zev Smith, would travel from Brooklyn to Monsey to visit him.
The year just before Rav Mordechai passed away, Rav Zev received a call from the Schwab family, warning him to expect that his Rebbe wouldn’t have the same appearance as he always did. They said, “Recently, he’s been very frail and weak, and we don’t want you to be in for a shock when you see him.”
He thanked them very much and hung up the phone, but he wasn’t very concerned. He thought, “I know my Rebbi, and I’m not going to be surprised.”
However, when he entered the room to see Rav Mordechai, he understood immediately what the family was talking about. His usually vibrant Rebbi was frail, weak, and pale.
Rav Mordechai was very perceptive of his Talmid’s reaction, and knew that he was in shock. He told him the following: “I’m living B’Simchah, with real happiness. I couldn’t even go to Shul on Yom Kippur, and yet, I’m living very happily. Who made me sick? Hashem. If Hashem made me sick, then that is His will, and therefore, I am overjoyed, content, and perfectly fine with it.
“Dovid Ha’melech taught us in Tehilim (30:6), ‘Chaim B’Retzono,’ and the meaning is that I am living with Hashem’s will, whatever Hashem has planned for me. Do you think that the reason I can’t learn Torah now is because I decided so? No. It’s the Ratzon Hashem, and therefore, I am not broken, but rather, I happily accept the will of Hashem!”
Rav Krohn commented, “What an incredible understanding of a Gadol! This is what comes out after living a life of doing the Ratzon of Hashem, and that is to be able to serve Hashem in every situation that faces us in life!”
Reprinted from the Parshas Toldos 5785 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefillah.
