Rav Moshe Yehoshua Yehuda Leib Diskin of Brisk

The Maharil's Birkas HaTorah

Rav Yosef Chaim Scheinberger related that he once watched the Maharil Diskin say birkas haTorah when he was honored with an aliyah. As the Maharil made the berachah, he was so aflame that he looked as one might imagine the Kohen Gadol looked when he pronounced the Divine Name, his face burning like a pillar of fire.

The Rav brought such intensity of awe to the moment that the sinews and veins of his face stood out. The sight made such a strong impression that its effect lasted for half a year.

Torah Worth More Than Gold and Pearls

In the Maharil's yeshiva, Ohel Moshe, four talmidim once held a joint siyum. Two had completed shorter masechtos, such as Taanis and Shekalim, and the other two had completed longer ones, Shabbos and Bava Basra. They made a festive meal together in honor of their simchah.

The Maharil spoke at the siyum. "We say that Torah is mipaz umipeninim yekarah, more precious than gold and pearls. Why this comparison? Each has its advantage and its drawback. Gold is worth by weight, so heavier is worth more, and double the weight is worth just double. Its advantage is that even a small sliver of gold still has value if you break it. A pearl is valued by size, and a pearl of double the size can be worth many times more. But if you break a pearl, it can lose its entire value.

"Torah surpasses both, because it has all the advantages and none of the drawbacks. A short masechta is worth Olam HaBa. A long masechta can be worth a thousand times more than its number of blatt, like a pearl. And unlike a pearl, it cannot be broken and lose its value, because even a single daf of Gemara is priceless, and if you learn only that, you receive sechar and do not spoil the masechta."

A Holy Hat

It is told that the Maharil Diskin was once in Lomza when he passed a sick Jew in the street. The man was mentally ill and was walking about with his head uncovered. The Maharil asked him, "Where is your yarmulke?" The man answered that he had none.

Without hesitating, the Maharil took off his own yarmulke and placed it on the man's head. Chassidim relate that the man's illness left him at once, and his mind began to work normally. From then on he always wore the Maharil's yarmulke. He never took it off, and he even wore it to the mikveh.

A Shabbos Segulah

It is told that Rav Diskin once used a Shabbos food as a segulah to heal a sick child. Rav Yisroel Dovid Braverman, as a young child, had an illness that attacked his throat, and it was so serious that his mother feared for his life. It was erev Shabbos, just before shkiyah.

At her wits' end, she took the sick child and ran to her neighbor, the Maharil Diskin, and begged him to save her son. The Maharil took the child and hurried to a pot of hot Shabbos soup simmering on the stove, and fed him one spoonful. The child calmed immediately, and he improved until he made a full recovery.

A Remarkable Memory

It is told that the Rav was walking past a big tree when he named the exact number of leaves growing on it. His companion objected that nobody could ever check such a claim. The Rav answered that the man should snap off a branch while the Rav's back was turned, and count the leaves in his hand. Then the Rav would state how many were left on the tree. The man did as he was told, and the Rav gave a new figure, which was precisely the earlier total less the leaves the man held.

Chassidim also relate that a shaila about a piece of cloth once reached him, and he gave his psak immediately. The questioner suspected that the Rav had decided too hastily without looking carefully, so on the following day he sent a friend with the very same cloth, presenting it as a fresh question. The Rav glanced at it and said that it was the cloth from the day before. He recognized it by the weave, and he stated how many threads ran across and how many ran lengthwise. It is also said that when he walked by an Arab restaurant, he took in at a glance how many diners were seated inside and mentioned the number in passing.

Forty Days on One Page

Rav Yaakov Orenstein, a talmid of the Maharil, related that after the Rav settled in Eretz Yisroel, he gathered a small circle of outstanding talmidim and learned Bava Basra with them. He spent forty days on one daf. He never went back over what he had said and never altered it, and in that time they explored the sugya from beginning to end. When the forty days were over, every talmid grasped the daf as far as his ability allowed. The Rav saw that they were satisfied, feeling that at last they had earned an understanding of the page and could leave it behind.

Gently, he told them that if they believed they now understood the daf completely, they were mistaken. They were like little children in cheder who have just learned the alef beis and are certain that nothing more remains to be learned. All that they had grasped was a drop in the ocean next to the depth of the Tannaim and Amoraim. Still, a person cannot remain on one page forever, because then he would never finish the whole Torah. Rav Yaakov concluded that whatever pride had begun to creep into the talmidim's hearts vanished at that moment.

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.