Rav Aharon's "Tayreh"

Rav Hutner didn't enjoy rabbinic meetings, and once, he returned to the car after a long, drawn-out meeting with various roshei yeshivah, clearly discouraged.

“If these meetings are so unproductive, why does the Rosh Yeshivah attend?” asked the talmid.

“I go,” Rav Hutner replied, “to hear the way that Rav Aharon Kotler says the word ‘Torah.’ ”

He attended a similar rabbinic meeting in Jerusalem, and as he left the room, he whispered to the talmid who had accompanied him, “You must never divulge what happened in this room today.”

“But Rosh Yeshivah, nothing even happened!” the confused talmid exclaimed.

“Exactly,” Rav Hutner replied, “that is precisely what you must never tell anyone.”

A father, inquiring about a prospective match for his daughter, called for information about one of the talmidim. Rav Hutner spoke glowingly about the young man and said, “I’m not like other roshei yeshivah, who say the same lies about every bochur. I say a different lie about each one.”

The father chuckled. But talmidim understood that it was more than just a cute comment. Every bochur, a different story.