A Vital Relationship

QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN CHOOSING A YESHIVAH

The twentieth yahrtzeit of Rav Yisroel Zev Gustman ztz”l and Yisroel Besser’s beautiful article on his legacy in last week’s issue sent me back to a long piece I wrote shortly after his passing for the Jewish Observer. There I found the following gem long forgotten.

Rav Gustman and Rav Shmuel Rozovsky two of the most influential roshei yeshivah of the last generation were once reminiscing about their days in the Grodno yeshivah under the great Rabbi Shimon Shkop. They concluded that those who had achieved the most in subsequent decades were those who had been the biggest masmidim and had bound themselves to Reb Shimon completely — never missing a shiur no matter how sick and following the rosh yeshivah wherever he spoke whether in the yeshivah or to the local balabatim.

Once Yisroel Zev hired a driver to take him to shiur when he was burning with a 104-degree fever. Before the shiur Reb Shimon — who had heard from others how sick his talmid was — came over and jokingly remarked that he had seen better-looking faces in the zoo. Yisroel Zev was afraid that he would be sent home but to his relief Reb Shimon simply said “Try and concentrate. Maybe you’ll feel better.” As soon as Reb Shimon began Yisroel Zev felt his fever break.

Decades ago a major talmid chacham told me that those who achieve the most in learning are usually those who thoroughly absorb the derech of one rosh yeshivah for many years.