A Walk Home with the Rosh Yeshiva

A talmid of Torah Vodaath later described his last walk with Rav Schorr. Second seder had just finished, and he was due to tutor someone on the far side of Flatbush within the half hour. The day in Tammuz was beautiful, and by setting out at once he could still arrive on time. Then he heard a familiar voice behind him. It was Rav Schorr, inviting him to accompany him home and to share a shmuess along the way, and greeting him with his usual warm smile. The young man decided that he would see the rosh yeshiva to his door and then take a taxi, and that it would be worthwhile.

He wondered why he had been chosen, but in truth Rav Schorr was warm to anyone who approached him. The talmid had seen this from the day he arrived at the yeshiva, five years before. He had often taken the chance to talk with him about Torah and hashkafa, and before long he received an invitation to Shabbos at the rav’s home that became a regular one. The rosh yeshiva was open to everybody. One only had to make the first move.

He recalled one Shabbos in particular, when the talk through both meals was filled with learned discussion between Rav Schorr and one of his guests. As the meal was ending, Rav Schorr became thoughtful, then smiled and said that he remembered a story about the Rizhiner.

It happened once after Yom Kippur that the Rizhiner declared he would tell any person what he had asked for on Yom Kippur and how the heavenly court had received the prayers. The chassidim were too respectful to test him, but a man who was not a chassid took up the challenge. The Rizhiner shut his eyes and described him: he was a fine Torah scholar who had studied diligently in his youth, but now the burden of supporting his family had drawn him into business, and he was distressed that he could no longer set aside long, uninterrupted hours for learning and prayer. He had begged Hashem to make his business succeed so that he could return to Torah and tefillah.

The man was shaken by how exact this was. He quietly asked what the heavenly court had decided. The Rizhiner answered gravely that, while learning and praying without disturbance would have been a great achievement, Hashem takes more pleasure from the effort of one who studies despite obstacles.

Rav Schorr ended with tears in his eyes, saying that no one can know for certain which Jew gives Hashem the greater nachas ruach.

Eventually the walk ended. Rav Schorr asked the talmid in for refreshments, but he declined because of his appointment. The rosh yeshiva apologized and said that had he known, he would not have allowed him to escort him. The talmid answered that the choice had been his, and so was the benefit, and he turned to go.

But Rav Schorr called him back for one more moment, saying he had heard a remarkable story. The Sadigerer Rebbe, a descendant of the Rizhiner five generations on, had recently passed away in Eretz Yisroel, and Rav Schorr had met someone who was present on the night of the petirah. Late that night the Rebbe woke and asked for water, recited Shehakol, lay down again, and within moments gave back his soul to Hashem. The seforim teach, Rav Schorr added, that a tzaddik whose whole life is lived with a vivid belief that everything happens by Hashem’s word is granted that his last words proclaim exactly this: Shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro, everything exists by His word.

The talmid noticed a hint of envy in his teacher’s eyes, and a yearning for that level of living and of leaving the world. After a moment Rav Schorr smiled and waved him on his way.

A few days later the talmid stood in the Torah Vodaath Bais Medrash, waiting for the eulogies to begin, unable to believe what had happened. Hundreds of memories passed through his mind, but he kept returning to that last meeting and wondering what the rosh yeshiva had meant. Then he remembered another story Rav Schorr had once told him.

A talmid of the Rizhiner was with him before Shalosh Seudos when the Rebbe casually asked whether he could fulfill his obligation with fruit. The talmid promptly quoted the halacha permitting it. The Rizhiner said nothing, and the talmid suddenly understood that the Rebbe was alluding to his approaching death, when his children, the peiros, would take his place. The talmid cried out in protest that the world still needed him, yet the moment had passed. The Rebbe sighed and said that they were very good peiros.

The talmid wondered whether the talmid could be blamed for not grasping the hint at once, and whether it would have changed anything had he understood. In the end, Hashem counts the days that tzaddikim must remain in this world, and when the time comes, He summons them back to Himself.