Every Difficulty Fell Away

Rav David Attiya recalls that one of the Ashkenazic sages of Yerushalayim once came to learn a complicated sugya with his father, a sugya that had left many questions. As was his way, Rav Ezra did not begin with the questions. First he went back with his guest over the basic sugya itself, the Gemara, Rashi and Tosafos. Then he brought the words of the Maharsha, which he considered a fundamental part of understanding any sugya.

Rav David was a boy then, and he remembers watching as the difficulties seemed to melt away one after another once the sugya was learned in its simple meaning. He says this was his father's trademark, to teach students to master the pshat and then to be very careful with Rashi and Tosafos. Rav Ezra often told his son that many questions are avoided when a person learns the plain meaning patiently and in depth, taking care with every word and even every letter.