Learning in Anonymity
Children & shidduchimTorah learning
About thirty-five years before his passing, Rav Pam visited Eretz Yisroel with his wife. They went to Bnei Brak to see the Ponevezh Yeshiva, which was hosting its Yarchei Kallah at the time, and the beis medrash was alive with the kol Torah of the participants. He told his Rebbetzin that he would like to join them on one condition: the moment anyone began calling him the rosh yeshiva of Torah Vodaas, he would leave.
They moved into the dormitory and lived together with the other participants, and for two weeks Rav Pam learned in total anonymity. Then there was a pidyon haben in the yeshiva. Someone approached him and suggested that, as a rosh yeshiva, he ought to sit at the head table for the seudah. His anonymity was broken, and he left that very day for Yerushalayim, where he had originally been staying.