Hundreds of Sons
Children & shidduchim
It is told that Rav Meir Shapiro, as he prepared to found Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, visited the leading yeshivos of Lithuania, looking for features he might adopt. He came to Baranovitch at Minchah, and the thunderous Amein yehei shmei rabba of the hundreds of talmidim stopped him in the doorway. He embraced Rav Elchonon and said, “This is Hashem’s army.” Rav Elchonon nodded proudly.
Then Rav Meir saw how poor the yeshivah was. He proposed that Rav Elchonon join him in Lublin, where the conditions would be far better. The reply came quickly. Gesturing toward the boys who filled the beis medrash, Rav Elchonon asked, “But what will I do with all my children?”
Another time his son Naftali Beinish requested a new coat, and Rav Elchonon turned him down. “You are not an only son,” he said. “I have hundreds of sons in the yeshivah, and not all of them have coats.”