Enlighten My Eyes

One of the Maharil's talmidim wrote in his sefer about the Rav's nights in the years when he was Rav of Lomza. Each day was filled with learning and shiurim, and yet every night he sat for six hours with an exceptional talmid. Whenever a difficult point arose, the Rav sank into deep thought and stood without moving for a long while, struggling with the questions and their answers. Then he emerged from his concentration with shining eyes and offered several explanations of that one problem.

Sometimes, though, no answer came even after all that effort. On those nights he asked his chavrusa to read the Gemara out loud again, one word at a time, while he walked back and forth across the room, completely absorbed in reaching the true pshat, until he wept. Then he faced the wall and called out in tefillah, "Aneini Hashem aneini, enlighten my eyes with Your Torah."

Afterwards he dropped coins into the pushke for the poor of Eretz Yisroel and humbly asked for Heavenly help in the merit of Rav Meir Baal HaNes. Then his holy face lit up, because everything that had been hidden from him was now clear. Like a soldier coming back victorious from the battlefield, he returned to his place and went on learning.