The Order He Left Behind
After the yeshivah closed, the Netziv gave his son a last instruction about the Torah of Volozhin.
A story ofRav Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin of Volozhinהרב נפתלי צבי יהודה בן יעקב ברליןProfile ›
It is told that when the Russian authorities pressed the Netziv in the winter of 5652 (1892), they did not ask for a small change. They wanted teachers with state diplomas, secular subjects from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon, no learning at night, and no more than ten hours of study each day.
He had already shown how far he would bend. He was willing to allow outside studies, if they were taught by a God-fearing teacher, in order to save the yeshivah. But these demands would leave a building with no Torah in it. He chose to close Volozhin, and its leaders were sent away from the area.
The years afterward were heavy. He had given thirty-eight years to the yeshivah and was left with its debts, a body that was failing, and a dream of Eretz Yisroel that his health no longer allowed. He went from city to city to clear what was owed, and then rested in Warsaw.
Rav Chaim Berlin, his son, later reported what his father said before he died. The Netziv forbade bringing secular studies into the yeshivah. Even with the doors shut, he gave the next generation a clear instruction about what Torah study must remain.
Volozhin closed, but the rule about what could not be traded remained.
Source: Rav Ben-Zion Yadler, Tuv Yerushalayim (Netzach, Bnei Brak), p. 373, reporting the words of Rav Chaim Berlin, as cited in the Volozhin Yizkor book (Sefer Volozhin).
Take a quiet minute today to name one thing in your life that gives your Torah and your home their character, such as a fixed time for learning, Shabbos as it should be, or a standard in how you speak. Decide in advance that you will adjust almost anything around it, but not that. When a request comes, whether from work, a schedule or the pressure of what others are doing, you will already know where you stand. Say it calmly, and without anger.