Title: Every Heart Was Broken That Yom Kippur
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Document: Detroit Jewish News
Time: October 1959
On the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5720 (1959), a distinguished Jerusalemite Jew disembarked from a plane at Lod Airport, carefully carrying a bundle of packages. As he presented his belongings to the customs officer, he gestured toward one package and said, “Please handle with care — these are two esrogim. They’re susceptible to damage and could become invalidated.”
The customs officer examined the two exquisite esrogim, leafed through the regulations manual, consulted with his superiors, and finally declared, “These esrogim were brought in contravention of the Ministry of Agriculture’s regulations from the Plant Protection Department.”
Despite impassioned pleas and arguments, the verdict remained firm. The officer proceeded to slice the precious esrogim into pieces, rendering them useless.
The Jerusalemite, Rabbi Naftali Halberstam, a man of patience and grace, accepted the fate of the treasured esrogim. He had brought them specifically for the Brisker Rav, Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, known to his talmidim as Rav Velvel, who was renowned for his meticulous observance of halachah.
Only ten days later, it became evident that those esrogim, brought with such care and devotion to serve a specific halachic purpose — ensuring there would be esrogim not grown in a Shemittah year — would no longer be needed by the Brisker Rav. As the holy ark was opened for Kol Nidrei that Yom Kippur eve, Rav Velvel ascended to the Heavens–and the revered Brisker Rav returned his pure soul to its Maker.
His talmidim later recalled how, just before Rosh Hashanah, when they implored him to be with them during the Yamim Noraim, Rav Velvel responded with characteristic candor, “We will be together on Rosh Hashanah, but being here for Yom Kippur is a luxury.”
And so, as the world stood in judgment, the esteemed Raavad of Brisk was summoned to the Heavenly Court. Thousands gathered from across Jerusalem and beyond, mourning the passing of the Torah giant of the generation. As they escorted him to his final resting place, they parted from a gadol who had not only taught Torah but served as a meilitz yosher for all of Klal Yisrael, ascending to his eternal place on the eve of Yom Hakippurim.
ON February 19, 1941, Rav Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, known as Rav Velveleh — or more widely by his moniker the Brisker Rav — arrived in Jerusalem. This was the consummation of a year-and-a-half-long journey of escape from war-torn Europe that began in September 1939. Seven of his children were able to escape with him. But due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, his wife, Rebbetzin Hindel, and three of their children — two sons, ages four and five, and his 15-year-old daughter Gittel —remained behind in Brisk, where they were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
The war years, his harrowing escape, the loss of his wife and children, and raising his surviving family under demanding financial circumstances all took a steep toll on his health, already weakened. Despite all of his travails, he continued to teach Torah to his sons and a select group of elite students, and took a surprisingly active role in leadership of the Torah community in its many campaigns during the early years of the State of Israel.
The Brisker Rav had always suffered from ill health and severe asthma, and in his last years, his debilitated physical condition forced him to curtail his activities. But he still managed to muster energy to advocate for the issues he deemed critically important.
During the last weeks of his life, he waged his final campaign. Elections for the fourth Knesset were to be held on November 3, 1959, and many in the Agudas Yisrael and Mizrachi political parties wanted to run as a joint religious bloc. They had already done this in 1949 with great success, and many party activists, along with several members of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisrael, wanted to replicate this victory and enhance their power in the upcoming Knesset. They were especially hoping to gain leverage on the vexing issue of drafting yeshivah students.
