The Journey to Vilna That Never Took Place

Near the end of his life, already past ninety, the Chofetz Chaim stayed in a summer cottage near Radin. His student Rav Avrohom Hillel Goldberg, later the rav of Kfar Pinnes in Eretz Yisroel, remembered how deeply the persecution of Russian Jewry pained him. To the Chofetz Chaim it was as though an entire limb had been severed from the body of Klal Yisroel, cut off from the Torah and mitzvos that give it life.

He said that only one hope remained, that Mashiach would come soon. The Redemption will surely arrive in time, but we are meant to bring it closer by showing how much we want it. How many religious Jews who declare Ani Maamin every day, he asked, really yearn for Mashiach? Why had no one cried out to Hashem for help? Silence was not the answer now. In Egypt, the Torah tells us, Bnei Yisroel’s plea rose up only once they cried out, and the same was needed today. He announced that he would travel to Vilna, to Reb Chaim Ozer, since nothing could be accomplished without him.

His family and students were alarmed. At that age he could barely stay out of his armchair for a single day, and the trip might cost him his life. They begged him to drop the idea, but he would not be dissuaded, because such a goal was worth self-sacrifice. They argued that Reb Chaim Ozer dealt in halachah and practical action, and that such ideas were not his sphere. The Chofetz Chaim only smiled, as if asking what they really knew about Reb Chaim Ozer. Sadly, the journey never happened.