“Placing out-of-town communities near the North Pole was a total lack of sensitivity, belittling the place we live and hold dear”
As a talmid who also has the zechus to live in the yeshivah neighborhood, it’s been an extremely hard week since we suddenly lost our rebbi and rosh yeshivah, Rav Shmuel Levin ztz”l. I had the zechus to have a very close shayachus as a talmid for over 25 years. We called Reb Shmuel “Rebbi” because that was who he was to us. He taught us through his shiurim, Chumash shiurim, shmuessen, and by example.
There was nothing we couldn’t ask, and there was never a time that Rebbi wasn’t thinking about us and ready to guide us through life. Although I officially left the yeshivah many years ago, I really never left. Rebbi wouldn’t have let me leave even if I had tried.
When something was going on in our home, I could count on a text or “chance” encounter with Rebbi on the street asking how I was and offering chizuk. If I asked Rebbi for hadrachah, he would always follow up and ask how things were going.
The reason I went to the yeshivah in Eretz Yisrael that I did was because Rebbi thought it was the right makom for me, and arranged for me to meet the mashgiach for that yeshivah. It was not a yeshivah that Telshe bochurim normally went to, but he made sure to clear it with his father, Rav Avrohom Chaim Levin ztz”l, and explain why I should go. When he heard that I was planning on coming back from Eretz Yisrael earlier than he felt that I should, I got a message to call Rebbi so he could try to convince me to stay longer, even if it meant switching yeshivos.
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