This is the 1st yahrtzeit of the Rosh Yeshiva ztz"l where there are no living descendants in the world.
How tragic...
........... Rabbi Hutner removed himself from the
world of the newspapers; not only because
he felt that, under the best of circumstances, they smacked of sheker, of falsehood,
but because he wished to teach his students
that emes, truth, had found its last refuge
in the Bais Medrash, the yeshiva study
hall, in the echo of the thunder of Sinai.
When I inquired at the yeshiva if I might
arrange for the publication of a report of
his passing in the New York Times, I was
told, "You know that he would not want
it." The Times therefore made no mention
of his passing even though his funeral in
Jerusalem brought tens of thousands who
carried his aron by foot to his resting place
on the Mount of Olives. Even in relating
the following feeble words of subjective
evaluation, I may be violating his rules.
The Rosh Yeshiva did not permit public discussion of himself during his lifetime, certainly not after his passing. I never once heard
him introduced, described, or praised at a
banquet of his own yeshiva or in a yeshiva publication. He wouldn't permit it. But
just as he wrote many volumes of Torah
thought, his very life is now Torah, and we
are obliged to learn from it.
This unusual and gifted man was an
extremely private person. Rav Hutner
avoided conventions, delivered few public
addresses outside the yeshiva, wrote few
articles but was famous for his letters. In
his early years before he developed a worldwide reputation, he was largely known
to his self-imposed circle of students and
disciples. He concentrated his unbelievably
rich talents and energies on his students
because of his conviction that by literally
pouring his rich personality into them, he
might succeed in creating authentically
deep Torah personalities, that one ingredient which was most needed to nurture and
transform the barren and stillborn wasteland of American Jewry. He appreciated
that more than anything else, the American
Jewish community and the world cried
out for a Jewish leadership steeped in the
eternal sources of Torah learning and committed to its perpetuation. He was keenly
affected by the tragedy of Europe, he had
lost his neighborhood, his family, his loved
ones in churban Europe. He was one of the
first to believe that America could produce
a native talmid chacham who did not fall
short of his European antecedents. In this
respect, Rav Hutner can properly be called
America's first authentic Rosh Yeshiva.
His time, his scholarship and his energies belonged primarily to his students;
even the mesivta, which he built from
scratch to new proportions took second
place to his desire to oversee the development and maturation of each student as an
individual. From early morning 'till late at
night there was a long line of students outside his room waiting to speak to the Rosh
Yeshiva about a point raised in a Talmud
Shiur, a question which grew out of his frequent maamorim, his highly intricate and
deep philosophical discourses on Jewish
thought and ideology, of which he was the
world's recognized master; or on a public
or personal issue which required the razor
sharp, piercing intellect and concern of the
Rosh Yeshiva.
If you did not maintain regular contact,
a message inevitably arrived through a fellow student, "The Rosh Yeshiva would like
to see you." Most of the discussion matter
of these sessions would deal with personal
topics. His interest in each student's welfare and progress was unwavering and
unceasing. He was a supreme student of
the mind. He understood each individual
and his own personal needs. He possessed
that unusual magical capacity to create an
intensely intimate bond of kinship, of fellowship, indeed of love, which gave him
the ability to bring out the best in each individual and to motivate each individual to
develop his unique potential to the fullest
extent possible. Indeed, this was one of his
greatest talents; he sized you up and saw
right through you. He understood who you
were and the true nature of your talents.
I once asked him to meet with an individual to convince him to become a student at Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin, and
he replied, "As a principle, I never attempt
to convince or ask anyone to become a
student in my mesivta, only to become a
student of Torah."
On another occasion he described the
uniqueness of Chaim Berlin. "Our mesivta is nisht a vorsht fabrik: we are not a
salami factory." You don't come in and
then emerge as a carbon copy of everyone
else. Everyone was unique. Everyone was
special. Each person was endowed by His
Creator with a unique face, a unique voice,
unique potential, a unique future. And it
was his task to make sure that your talents
developed and reached their potential.
Sitting before him, a student was humbled to think that this great man would
devote his personal time to his problems;
yet that was his strength. A student felt a
mixture of both love and awe. It was difficult to say No to the Rosh Yeshiva; it was
a combination of his stature, his forceful
personality, the conviction that the Rosh
Yeshiva genuinely cared and knew what
was best for you. Because there was nothing in it for him. But more. The conviction
of each student that this man who with his
penetrating eyes, charismatic and larger
than life personality, brilliant insights and
unceasing interest and concern literally
could see into your soul. When you sat
before him, he knew all there was to know
about you; and what you were about.
His public forum was his Bais Medrash,
the wedding of a student, or the celebration of the holidays. There he was majestic
and imposing. When he entered a crowded
room, all rose instantly. If the room was so
packed that it was impossible for another
person to enter, despite that, a wide path
would nonetheless appear the moment he
approached the entrance. This insistence
on respect was an educational strategy designed to enhance and raise the honor of
Torah. To make Torah so important, that
his students would be prepared to devote
their entire lives to it. He once said that,
"a yeshiva is much more than a place for
the study of Torah, limud hatorah: it is the
place for kovod haTorah; for creating the
stature and honor of Torah." This magnetic,
charismatic man in private was a warm father and friend. It was only when you were
alone with him, did he make his speeches
and tell his jokes and stories. Here he was
effervescent, overflowing, warm, generous, humorous, lively. Here too, he could
be critical, demanding, and insistent. He
would spend all the time that was required
to explain a difficult Talmudic or halachic
point, until the problem vanished, or as
generally was the case, until you realized
that he had replaced your problem with a
much more sophisticated problem because
he had enlarged and expanded your perspective, by putting your problem into the
context of your potential and your place in
the world of eternity.
Beyond his stature as a gadol baTorah;
a preeminent Talmudist; a leading thinker, a great Jewish philosopher, a statesman
who carried the concerns of Klal Yisrael on
his shoulders, he was primarily a builder
and molder of men. He has been properly called the great planter - not the great
builder. He was determined to plant trees
which would bear living fruits, which in
turn would create new forests. He invested
all of his energies into the creation of individuals. "A builder" he would say "assembles materials and constructs a building
in accordance with a set plan and design.
He may, if he wishes, rush his workers to
complete the structure quickly. Not so the
planter. He must plant each seedling, nurture each growing tree, and wait patiently
until it matures and bears fruit. He must
water it, prune it, protect it against disease and the elements each and every day;
year in and year out. A man in a hurry is
capable of being a successful builder, but
he can never be a successful planter." Rav
Hutner saw how popular the construction
of buildings had become in America. Many
men build buildings and institutions, but
few are engaged in the tedious work of
planting.
Many of my friends at the Orthodox
Union who heard the name Rav Hutner
spoken with awe by his students wondered
why they did not have the opportunity to
hear him, to see him, to feel the impact
of his personality, as would be expected
of a great leader of the Torah community.
"Why," they asked, "was he so very involved
with his students. And why did he relate almost exclusively to the limited circle of the
initiated?" The answer lies in his evaluation
of the needs and priorities of American
Jewry. And probably, with his own estimation of how best to invest his strengths,
time, and talents. While all Roshei Yeshiva
and Gedolim concentrate on their students
and yeshivos, Rav Hutner carried this to an
extreme. He believed that American Jewry
could not survive the gradual normal process of communal development. It has
been said by historians that any new settled
Diaspora community required a period of
approximately 300 years before it was capable of producing native Torah giants.
Rav Hutner was driven by a determination
to accelerate this process; to push as hard
as he could, so that the accomplishment of
this goal might be achieved within the span
of one generation. Indeed, he succeeded.
As Torah institutions and communities
in Europe went up in flames, he realized
that Jewish survival was dependent upon
the creation of American born Roshei
Yeshiva, talmidei chachomim, rabbonim
and manhigim. He was determined to create authentic, deeply rooted Jewish leaders. To accomplish this required a force
that would compel, that would motivate
young students to make a qualitative jump
in their commitment and lifestyle within a
relatively short period of time. With this in
mind, Rav Hutner decided to concentrate
his influence on his students as one would
concentrate the rays of the sun through a
focused magnifying glass, so as to create
the intensity, commitment and the idealism that was required to achieve this goal.
Examined in historical terms his accomplishment was nothing short of miraculous. Within the span of one generation, he was able to take students; many
of whom came to him from non-orthodox
or lukewarm orthodox backgrounds to
the point where they were capable of establishing their own major Torah institutions. Not only did he create scores of
such individuals, he created an entire society - a human and social environment; a
pressure cooker, whose long-term effects
on the Jewish community are such that it
cannot be imagined that one individual
could have accomplished this qualitative
and quantitative leap in the short span of
one lifetime.
Rav Hutner must be described as a
"one man movement" - he single-handedly changed the outlook, complexion, and
character of a broad segment of American
Jewry. To examine a list of his students;
the numbers of outstanding rabbis, roshei
yeshiva, poskim, authors of seforim; creators and leaders of Torah organizations
and educational institutions, is simply
astounding.
The key to his success was his ongoing
campaign to convince as many students
as possible that they could indeed become
gedolei Torah, gedolei Yisrael or manhigei
Yisrael; leaders or giants in Torah or in
Jewish leadership.
The Vilna Gaon is reputed to have been
requested to give his own formula for developing himself to reach the unbelievable
heights he achieved. His famous reply
was, "I am called the Vilna Gaon, which in
Yiddish means 'vill nor' just desire it - just
will it; with enough intensity." If you are
possessed of sufficient drive and will power
you, too, can become a gaon. Rav Hutner's
efforts were directed at creating this motivation and the intense Torah environment
in which this motivation could flourish and
flower. While Rav Hutner was uncompromising in setting forth his own standards,
principles, and styles, he possessed the
singular ability to establish strong relationships with a broad spectrum of students
of diverse orientations and from a multiplicity of backgrounds. The Chaim Berlin
Bais Medrash was anything but monolithic in its student composition. Among
its students were many who were active
in Bnei Akiva. The Rosh Yeshiva did not
insist that they leave the movement until
such time that it became clear to them that
this was in their best interest. For a while,
Chaim Berlin was a magnet for students
who were registered at the Conservative,
Jewish Theological Seminary. On the other
hand, many students were sons of famous
rabbinic leaders or Chassidic Rebbes.
Some came from foreign countries. One
had Neturei Karta leanings. Chaim Berlin
attracted a broad spectrum of rugged individualists. Instead of serving as a melting pot, the Rosh Yeshiva nurtured and
encouraged the individuality of each person by reinforcing and underlining the
special qualities of each. I recall students
who loved music, who played instruments,
who pursued various secular professions
and careers, with the encouragement of
the Rosh Yeshiva. This ability to relate to
so many diverse individuals representing
so disparate a human spectrum; yet have
everyone who left his presence feel that the
Rosh Yeshiva was my rebbe, my mentor,
that each enjoyed a unique and special
relationship with this special individual.
Frankly, if you did not develop that relationship, very often, you left Chaim Berlin.
But the number of individuals with whom
he developed and retained a close and intimate relationship for twenty, thirty and
more years after they left the yeshiva is
astounding! Each of these individuals felt
that he was a ben yochid; an only son of the
Rosh Yeshiva. Indeed, the Rosh Yeshiva
had but one child, his daughter Bruria; indeed we were all his sons.
Because of his unique life's work, the
world has been enriched with hundreds of
rabbis, roshei yeshiva and rebbeim. Chaim
Berlin has been called "the yeshiva of one
thousand classrooms." Hundreds upon
hundreds of Jewish families are miniature
Torah kingdoms because he gave rise to
them. He was one of the most resourceful
and successful creators of the foundations
of Torah in America. He, among a handful of American Torah giants created the
revolution we see before our very eyes.
His encouragement of NCSY and the Baal
Teshuah movement knew no end. Not
only did much of the teshuvah movement
emanate from his own students, he saw in
it a unique phenomenon. When encountering yeshiva or Bais Yaakov students who
were baalei teshuvah, he would say that we
live in a generation of which it could be
said that Eliyahu Hanavi is walking among
us. Once reflecting on the importance of
the unique task of NCSY, he said to me
that "only once in many generations does
an individual have the unique opportunity
for such mighty accomplishments". When
he heard a rumor that I might give up the
leadership of NCSY, he spent an hour impressing on me the urgency of not doing
so. I'll never forget the booming sound of
his voice. He said to me, "If you're tired
zolst foren in Honolulu arein!" Travel to
Honolulu! "Zolst leigen oifen beach!" Lie
on the beach! He said, "Nisht lernen!" Don't
learn Torah! "Zolst leinen romanin!" Read
novels! But gather your strength to return
to the work you are devoted to.
Rav Hutner's multifaceted family and
educational background helps explain
his versatility and originality. His father
came from a prominent Lithuanian family, among the members of his family
are the Gaon Rav Yosef Zundel Hutner,
from Eishoshuk near Vilna; (interestingly, the town from which my father's
mother comes). Author of the Chevel
Yosef and Bikurei Yosef; commentaries of
the Shulchan Oruch. And the Gaon Rav
Yehuda Seigel, rav and posek in Warsaw for
fifty years. His mother's family Wiedenfeld,
were Chassidim with ties to the dynasty of the Kotzker Rebbe, one of the most
extraordinary, original, and daring of the
Chassidic masters. At age 14, Rav Hutner
was sent to the Polish yeshiva in Lomza.
As a young prodigy he was figuratively
snatched away from Poland to Lithuania
to study in the world famed Mussar yeshiva of Slabodka, the most prestigious
Lithuanian yeshiva, successor to the yeshiva of Volozhin. Despite his youth, he soon
stood out as a central figure in the yeshiva
and became known as the Varshaver Illui;
the prodigy from Warsaw. He became the
protégé of the world-famous Dean, Der
Alter of Slabodka, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi
Finkel, one of the great Ba'alei Mussar, a
giant exponent of the Mussar movement;
as well as the Rosh Yeshiva, the Gaon
Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein. In 1926
when a branch of the Slabodka Yeshiva
was established in Chevron, he moved to
what was then Palestine to study in the
