In Sights: Issue 991      

My first visit was on a Friday afternoon after morning seder. When the Rosh Yeshivah heard my name, he quickly called in his Rebbetzin a”h and asked her to prepare a bed for me, insisting I was going to be their guest that Shabbos. No amount of protest on my part would change the Rosh Yeshivah’s directive.

I stayed that Shabbos, and the one after that, and many more after that. His home was always open to me. I began my weekly Friday visit presenting hundreds of sh’eilos to him, in both halachah and hashkafah, and he never asked me to come back another time, despite the incredible responsibilities weighing on him. I never gave it much thought, though, assuming that since my father had been his talmid, he felt that connection to me as well.

After more than a decade of visiting Rav Scheinberg, as well as other gedolim, and asking them hundreds of sh’eilos, I decided to commit them all to writing and publish them in a sefer. I consulted with Rav Scheinberg, who greatly encouraged me, even offering to help. Ultimately, the Rosh Yeshivah didn’t just help with the project, he completely took it on himself. He reviewed the entire manuscript three times, including one time when he sat with the proofs on a flight from Eretz Yisrael to New York and did not stop from takeoff until landing. He made many valuable suggestions, and when the sefer was eventually published, his imprints were on every page. Still, again I just assumed the Rosh Yeshivah’s magnanimity stemmed from his good nature, as well as his connection to my father.

It was only a few years later that I learned the real story. I met the Rosh Yeshivah’s grandson in Eretz Yisrael and I shared with him how much hakaras hatov I had to the Rosh Yeshivah for all the time and effort he invested in me over so many years.