At the end of the shiur I told this powerful story:
But we know that even if the Torah scroll is gone, the Torah teaching of the Rav will always live on with us. I recently heard of something that happened some years ago at the Brisker Yeshiva in Jerusalem, led by Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik, son of R. Velvele Soloveitchik, זצ”ל. The details may be fuzzy, but the essential story, I am told, is true.A very, very old, bent-over man wandered into the yeshiva one day and sat down and began to learn by himself. Reb Dovid came over and greeted him. The old man asked, “is this the Chevron Yeshiva?” No, answered Reb Dovid, this is the Brisker Yeshiva. At which the old man opened his eyes wide and, in disbelief, asked, Reb Chaim lebt noch, “Is then Reb Chaim still alive?”
It transpired that the old man had studied in Brisk when Reb Chaim was still alive, and left in 1913. Caught up in the Russian Communist Revolution, he was exiled to a remote area in Georgia, completely cut off from any contact with fellow Jews, especially those from Lithuania. He continued his studies for some 75 years all by himself until the great Soviet emigrations to Israel began. He had just arrived, and that is why, upon encountering the Brisker Yeshiva, he thought that Reb Chaim was still alive….
And, indeed, Reb Chaim still lives….
And we are here to testify and promise that “moreinu verabbenu R. Yoshe Ber lebt noch,” our Rebbe still lives, and always will, in our midst!
And, indeed, Reb Chaim still lives….
And we are here to testify and promise that “moreinu verabbenu R. Yoshe Ber lebt noch,” our Rebbe still lives, and always will, in our midst!
