Sunday, January 29, 2023

Rav Drukman ztz"l

Rav Drukman was w/o a doubt in my mind, one of the greatest Baal Maasim Tovim that the universe has seen in a long long time. The stories coming out about him in the thousands are just mind boggling. That doesn't mean that his world view [religious Zionism, Bnei Akiva etc. etc.] was accurate. Most Jews don't agree with Satmar but nobody can deny the insane amount of chesed they do. 

A few examples: When he would go to Chu"l to "spread the gospel", he would come back with gifts not only for his own children but for the neighbors as well. THAT I have never heard. 

He had about 10 children of his own but that wasn't enough. He adopted a few more, including at least one child with Downs Syndrome. 

His home was an open home. Literally people coming and going for close to 24/7. 

He would have endless guests for Shabbos meals. 300 people for the seder while all of the food was prepared by his wife [who must be someone incredibly special - a busy doctor besides her 15 jobs of running the home] and family. When he would have guests, he would put them in his bedroom and find somewhere else to sleep [!!!!]. 

He would sleep about 2 hours a night - preferring to spend 22 hours a day either helping people, davening [he was never ever late and never left early - despite his endless obligations] or teaching Torah. If someone would call at 1am, he would say that he can't talk now and the person should call back at 2. When that happened the person was told to try again at 3.  

He would answer his phone when anybody called and if he missed the call he would call back. Anybody. And he knew that the call wasn't that from a person who wanted to help Rav Drukman but rather the opposite.

He once had a student who was sick in the hospital so he FLEW TO CHUTZ LA-ARETZ in order to visit. 

The Yeshiva didn't have much money so he would pay out of his own pocket for things like taxis for Rabbonim coming to give shiurim etc. [the גרז"ן זצ"ל etc.].

He was constantly on the road traveling in order to take part in smachot and to give shiurim.   No distance was too far. 

I should be zocheh to be a millionth of the Tzadik he was. [Again - not a haskama on his hashkafa and particularly his position on Geirus. I have a much different Mesorah from my Rabbeim. I am talking about his chesed.]

All of his kindness came from the Torah. The more truly Torah'dik one is - the closer he is to the ideal Human.