B'chasdei Hashem, over the past almost 20 years, Beis Mevakesh Lev has produced over 13,300 audio shiurim and over 31,000 written posts, unmatched by any one-person website - all completely free of charge. There are no paywalls or anything else. Now we are turning to you for help so we can continue - any amount will help. Even 99 cents! Thank you to my sweetest and most beloved friends!!!:-)!!
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It is impossible to write about the 'Daf Yomi' without mentioning the shiurim of the special gaon Rav Moshe Mordechai Shulzinger ztz"l, who, according to many, has no equal in Torah knowledge in this generation [the other famous Talmidei Chachomim who were great בקיאים hardly dealt with the chiddushim of the Roshei Yeshiva, in which he was also knowledgeable], and the Daf Yomi shiurim he gave for decades in the 'Yarchei Kallah' shul at the foot of the Ponevezh Yeshiva, shiurim in which I was privileged to participate for several years. It is impossible to describe the pleasure I had sitting for about two hours every evening, and listening to these wonderful shiurim, a pleasure for which I did not feel any yetzer hara not to go. The pleasure was twofold, the pleasure of this world and the world to come, in every lesson we, the listeners, were enriched with a huge amount of scholarly knowledge from the expanses of the Talmud, Rishonim and Acharonim, the outpouring of knowledge that he poured out in every lesson was incomprehensible. It should be remembered that in those years the 'Schottenstein' or 'Mesivta' Gemaros, which also contains an abundance of sources and notes on every page, had not yet been published, and you had to come to this knowledge on your own. No less than that, all the listeners enjoyed the wonderful explanation and some of them also enjoyed the witty sense of humor that strung the entire lesson along its length, the winks and allusions he made in half sentences or in strange punctuations were witty that only after a few seconds when you grasped his intention you laughed out loud, even when the barb was at your expense.
On the other hand, when during the shiur he would tell with great emotion stories on the subjects of kindness, perseverance, and devotion to mitzvos, it was a common sight to see the participants' eyes moisten in those minutes, he knew how to describe, tell, and move as only he knew. He was a tremendous Masmid, every morning when he arrived to daven Shachris, his eyes were intertwined with blood vessels from fatigue and it was common to see him asking someone to be motzi him in Birkos Hashachar. He had diverse, different, and colorful talents. And in every talent he displayed you found a genius, a quick grasp that anyone who studies one of his dozens of books stands and marvels at the abundance of knowledge and the level of innovation. His talent for speech was amazing, his annual drashos on the night of the seventh day of Pesach and on Tisha B'Av, lasted about three hours and despite their length no man or boy left the drasha, the audience laughed, cried and was moved alternately, he controlled the audience like clay in the hands of the potter. A man of feeling, a giant of kindness and a benefactor to the poor, the widow and the orphan.
On the other hand, there were quite a few people who were hurt by his kano'us. A man of feeling, we said, I will not forget the opening with which he opened his remarks at a rally of awakening during the Yom Kippur War in the stage of the fierce battles in the north of the country: as he sobbed in tears and called out 'What is the place of sacrifices, the most holy sacrifices, their slaughter in the north ... sacrifices of public peace offerings ... their slaughter in every place ...' For long minutes he repeated these sentences again and again as he choked with tears. And on the other hand, he fired poisoned arrows smeared with humor in his shiurim and drashos, on the state, the army, the Mizrachi, the Agudah, and more. As a student of Rabbi Shach, may his memory be a blessing, the boundaries of legitimate views were narrow and limited.
The attitude towards the 'Baalei Batim' (laymen) participating in the lesson was also complex. On the one hand, from time to time he would respond with sharp humor but without a hint of malice to Baalei Batim who asked an irrelevant question in the shiur, but on the other hand, he appreciated them very much, and when he eulogized those same people when they passed away, he excelled in illuminating wonderful qualities that were hidden deep in those Talmidei Ha-shiur, subtle distinctions that only after you heard the words of the eulogy did you realize what a beautiful personality the members of the shiur had lost in his death. It is a pity that because of his complexity he was not properly eulogized, his funeral was not attended by crowds as befitting a Torah scholar like him. His zeal to cling only to the 'greats' who belong to the sub-sub-sector to which he belonged and to criticize all the others caused all the others to keep their distance from the eulogy gatherings. Because few people are able to contain complexity and know how to appreciate and admire all the positive and beautiful that exists even in your opponent.
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During the shiur, when the spirit rested upon him, he would take sides in the argument between the borrower and the lender or between the seller and the buyer. In his imagination he would enter into their blood and describe their misery to the rolling laughter of the audience. For example: In Ksubos' 92b: 'Abaye said: If Reuven sold a field to Shimon without warranty and claimants came out against it, before he took possession of it he can retract, but after he took possession of it he cannot retract because he said to him, 'You thought and accepted a sack of knots' - Reuven sold land to Shimon and after a while claimants came out against the sale claiming that the seller sold Shimon a field that was not his, and therefore the buyer wants to cancel the sale, the law is: If the buyer has already taken possession of the field, the seller can claim: These are just legal problems, solve them yourself. You received a sack full of knots and you only need to untie them, in order to enjoy the contents that are yours. When R' Moshe Mordechai, may his memory be a blessing, reached this Gemara, the spirit rested upon him and while reading he described the deceitful seller in short words and with a lot of pantomime, in which he was also excellent, he described his elegant clothes, the expensive pens peeking out of his shirt pocket with an expensive bag in his hand containing only a sandwich and a shopping list for the grocery store he received from his wife at home. And when the buyer comes to him and shouts at him, Thief! What did you do, you sold me a field that has claimants on it that is not yours! The crook answers him in poetry and prose 'You thought and accepted a sack of knots.'
Another example: Rashi Shabbos 116: 'Yoma d'Istana - a northern wind, which is moderate, neither hot nor cold, as we say in Yevamos (72a), and which wind is the most foul, an eastern wind רוח מזרחית in the heat. ..' And as if innocently he reads Rashi with such punctuation: 'Which wind is the most foul, an eastern wind רוח מזרחית. And again he repeats, Which wind is the most foul, רוח מזרחית, referring of course to the 'Mizrachi' movement to which he was so opposed, and then he continues the shiur as if he had said nothing.
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In those years I taught the book of 'Iyov' in Midrashiat Noam in the afternoon. Once, R' M"M discussed the question of which 'year' the Gemara refers to in various issues, 'solar year' or 'lunar year'? I intervened and quoted him three verses in Iyov where the Malbim explains when in the scriptures the intention is a solar year and when it is a lunar year. With arrogance, I also quoted a pasuk before and a pasuk after. He was an artist in distinguishing every subtle nuance of forgery and making an impression on the listener. He heard me, was silent, and with a smile reserved for such cases, replied: "Oh R' Dovid, Iyov huh? Iyov huh?' and immediately continued to read aloud all the psukim of the perek in Iyov with a special intonation to the laughter of the audience, including mine.
A similar story, a young man who participated in the shiur asked him what would be the law in the case .... He looked at the questioner and remarked as if in wonder, is this law not explicitly stated in the Mishnah in 'Eduyos'? The young man's response: Oh, right, I forgot! And immediately Rabbi Remm"sh replied with a smile: I forgot? That's nice! Because at least you knew once because I, for example, never knew there was such a Mishnah ....
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His memory was a wonder and a natural phenomenon, he remembered even after decades who was in the shiur in which masechta and what he asked. Once, towards the end of the shiur, an unknown Jew arrived, who actually came to daven Maariv that took place at the end of the shiur. In those minutes they were dealing with the law of sending away the mother bird. The moment he entered, Rabbi Remm"sh threw at him with a smile: "Nice, I see that every time we talk about birds you arrive." After the lesson when we asked the Jew what his intention was, he told in amazement that indeed about four months ago I also came to daven Maariv and entered the shiur at the end, in those minutes the lesson dealt with the birds of a metzora ......
And a friend told me who was orphaned as a small child that the one who noticed him on Simchas Torah during the Hakafos standing aside and dejected at the sight of his friends on their father's shoulders was Rabbi Remm"sh, may his memory be a blessing, who immediately took him on his shoulders and danced with him again and again in the Hakafos. By the way, he admired Rabbi Kook זצ"ל. In one of the shiurim I heard from him on Tisha B'Av he sharply attacked the Badatz who at the time did not join the boycott of the books of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz and refrained from criticizing him even though Rav Shach led this boycott. [He always called Rav Shach 'the holy elder']. And while warming up the things he said: The Badatz call Rav Kook זצ"ל, derogatory names. Do they even know what a gaon and kadsoh he was? And then he continued and told for a long hour stories of miracles he heard from his father and among other things he told that his father was an emissary to secretly bring money to his opponents even those who fought him bitterly.
