My Tale of Two Mentors

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This story begins 15 years ago, when it was time for me to select a mesader kiddushin for my upcoming marriage. I thought of two options, two rabbanim who had (and continue to have) a profound influence on my life.

One was Rabbi Binyamin Yudin, my rabbinic mentor who introduced me to the world of practical rabbanus. For five years, from 1995 to 2000, I followed his every move. I would often spend Shabbos in his home and would also meet with him during the week. On Fridays, we would visit the sick and the shut-ins together. And we once traveled three hours in a major snowstorm on an Erev Shabbos to make a hospital visit.

During my final year working with Rabbi Yudin, I volunteered to pick up Rabbi Moshe Weinberger from Woodmere, New York, and bring him to Fair Lawn, New Jersey, for a lecture. I drove him back afterward as well, but at that point, I knew him only as a charismatic young rabbi whose popularity was growing.

The drive back to Woodmere proved transformative: It would be the beginning of a rebbi/talmid relationship that would intensify over the next four years while I practiced corporate law in Manhattan. Every Thursday evening, at the end of a long workweek, I would participate in a select chaburah and learn Maharal with Rabbi Weinberger.