Shaken Up

Rabbi Kalman Shneider was already a tremendous talmid chacham even as a bochur, having studied in some of America’s finest yeshivos  before moving to Eretz Yisrael to continue learning.

“You have to understand something,” said his older brother Shloime, who scheduled the initial appointment. “Have you ever met a gadol who knows the entire Gemara like you know the back of your hand? Well, Kalman knows Shas Yerushalmi like they know Shas Bavli. This is the ikar of understanding him.”

Reb Kalman had grown up in a family where talmud Torah was truly k’neged kulam and had dedicated his life to learning. At the age of 22 he came to Yerushalayim and was married to the daughter of a prominent rosh kollel. Within a year they’d had their first children — a pair of twin girls — and he’d already established himself as a true masmid within the upper crust of top yungeleit.

But then came the first signs of a problem. Kalman was suddenly mistrustful of neighbors and claimed that another yungerman on his bench “was placing ayin haras on me.” And while his rosh kollel was generally not interested in psychiatry or medications, he recognized the signs and referred him to a psychiatrist to treat his “anxiety.”