Stories Of Greatness

The Yamim Noraim tefilos in the Chevron Yeshivah in Jerusalem were always a rousing experience. Opening the beis medrash door on Rosh HaShanah felt as though one were standing on the brink of a fiery furnace. The Shemoneh Esrei sounded just the way it is described in the Shulchan Aruch: not spoken aloud, but rather in a hum, trembling and prolonged. Krias HaTorah was unhurried and articulate, and the shmuess before shofar blowing, given by the Rosh Yeshivah, R’ Yechezkel Sarna ZT”L, was awe-inspiring, leaving the tzibbur with an almost palpable wave of fear and trembling.

Many times, in the spring and summer months, pigeons or doves would nest on the air-conditioner box outside the home of R’ Chaim Kanievsky Shlit’a. Since the mitzvah of shiluach hakan is brought in the Medrash as a segulah for having children, many childless couples would perform the mitzvah of shiluach hakan (sending away the mother bird and taking the chicks) on the air conditioner, as both R’ Chaim and his Rebbetzin performed the mitzvah many times.

A young married man living in Jerusalem began to experience symptoms of a serious illness, and although at first he hoped it was nothing to be concerned with, it soon became clear that he required medical attention. He was friendly with a prominent and influential Israeli layman who had contacts with numerous doctors in various hospitals, and he turned to this man for advice.

The Mishnah tells us that the Almighty, out of His great compassion, informs us that we, the Jewish people, are His children. The reason for this, explains R’ Leib Chasman zt”l, is that without this important tidbit of knowledge, we might never know who we really are. Imagine a man who, in theory, is the owner of great riches. He can have all the money in the world, but if he cannot access it, what good is all that wealth? We, the children of Hashem, however, were informed about this excessive gift, enabling us to access it, appreciate it, and elevate ourselves with this unduplicable gem.

The Gemara recounts how the Sages told R’ Zeira, “One should always reject with the left hand and embrace with the right” (Sotah 47b). R’ Zeira, however, preferred to focus on the sin, not the sinner. He had faith that even a hard-core sinner, even a hoodlum who is wicked towards G-d and wicked towards people, has a very positive seed hidden away in his soul, which over time can eventually overpower all evil and hooliganism. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 37b) quotes Reish Lakish, who taught, “Even the empty among you are as full of virtuous deeds as a pomegranate.” R’ Zeira went even further and deduced the notion of highlighting the positive even in negative people.

Jewish life in the city of Nikolsburg reached a peak in the early 19th century, outshining that of other towns in Moravia. Jews benefited from the relatively benign regime of the Prince von Dietrichstein family, and a thriving community developed on the western slopes of the imposing hill on which stood the princely palace. Nikolsburg, the seat of the Moravian Chief Rabbi, had a well-known yeshivah, many shuls, and a large graveyard in which many of the famous rabbis of Moravia are buried.