A Century In His Glow

H ow does a person become a gadol hador?

It’s certainly not about votes or even popularity. It’s about being a beacon of Torah for the generation — and also about understanding its heart. Rav Aharon Yehudah Leib Steinman bore on his thin but stalwart shoulders the weight of the Jewish People serving as a personal Torah guide to thousands while at the same time displaying an unparalleled love for every Jew — his wisdom second only to his humility.

Rav Steinman the 104-year-old sage renowned for his exacting and unforgiving personal standards was also known as voice of compassion and understanding for troubled families and struggling youth. Somehow the gadol from Brisk who never indulged in material luxury who slept on the same thin mattress he received as an immigrant over 60 years ago and who refused to have the peeling walls of his home painted was able to navigate the hearts of a new generation.

Although he lived in dire poverty he raised millions of dollars for needy families and for the hundreds of kollel yungeleit under his auspices; although he spent every free moment until his last breath immersed in Torah study no person’s problem was too trivial. And he was close to 100 when his sense of responsibility to Klal Yisrael propelled him to travel across the globe to wherever Jews were thirsty for inspiration.