At long last, I had located this elusive person Rav Schwab yearned to find
Bernice Esterson — Basya bas Yechiel Mechel Eliezer — passed away over Pesach. It wasn’t until her shloshim that I first heard her name, yet her passing was the final chapter in an elusive search mission, begun 35 years ago in Washington Heights.
In the 1980s, I was privileged to be a member of Khal Adas Yeshurun.
The Rav of the kehillah, Rav Shimon Schwab ztz”l, would often mention the special Shabbos he spent with the Chofetz Chaim in 1930.
Rav Schwab would note sadly, “No home where Torah is studied is without a Mishnah Berurah. The pages are bent, a little torn, with notes written in the margins. By contrast, I have yet to visit a home where sefer Chofetz Chaim on the laws of lashon hara is well-worn with notes in the margins and the pages bent. It usually remains in the same pristine condition as the day it was received. I am eagerly awaiting the time when I am privileged to view someone whose sefer Chofetz Chaim is also well-worn and filled with markings.”
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