“The Brisker Rav turned to his family and quickly said, ‘Rav Chaim Volozhiner, Rav Chaim Volozhiner!’”
In the process, he taught a lesson in the lofty heights of dveikus that Rav Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik achieved in those harrowing moments — a level that can be attained by anyone immersed in Torah learning.
“Reb Velvel was sitting in a wagon with his sons fleeing to safety in Lithuania, and suddenly they saw a group of Nazis approach them,” the Rosh Yeshivah said. “The Brisker Rav turned to his family and quickly said, ‘Rav Chaim Volozhiner, Rav Chaim Volozhiner!’ ”
The reference was to Rav Chaim Volozhiner’s famous statement that no harm can befall a person who internalizes that “ein od milvado” — there is nothing besides Hashem’s power.
And so, Rav Baruch Mordechai continued, as Reb Velvel and his sons concentrated intently on those words, they indeed earned that supernatural protection, and the Nazis who surrounded their transport didn’t notice the Brisker Rav.
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