On Rav Zalman Sorotzkin zt”l’s 50th yahrtzeit, Mishpacha opens a treasure trove of personal writings shedding light on what propelled him beyond most men’s limitations
Rav Zalman’s bein hazmanim in Jerusalem’s Reich Hotel together with Rav Tzvi Kagan Lomza Rosh Yeshiva Rav Yechiel Mordechai Gordon and his mechutan Petach Tikvah Cheif Rabbi Reuven Katz
The yeshivah had burned down.
The fire that tore through the town of Telshe Lithuania in 1908 caught onto the yeshivah building and burned down the entire beis medrash.
Rosh Yeshivah Rav Eliezer Gordon — known as Reb Leizer Telsher — was shattered as his young son-in-law Rav Zalman Sorotzkin walked among the ruins. The students of the yeshivah knew and respected Rav Zalman — son of Rav Ben Zion Sorotzkin of Zachrina Lithuania — because until his marriage three years prior he had been one of them toiling in learning together with them after coming from the yeshivos of Volozhin and Slabodka. Now while everyone else was reeling from shock and anguish he headed toward the brick factory on the outskirts of the city.
All commerce had been halted in the soot-and-ash covered city but that didn’t stop Rav Zalman from presenting a tempting offer to the factory owners. He would give them cash — which he had taken against future stipend money — in exchange for a large quantity of bricks at a rock-bottom price.
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