Because magazines like Mishpacha work with advance deadlines my friend Rabbi Aryeh Ginzberg’s piece on Yerushalayim shel Maalah appeared last week even though he was sitting shivah for his father Rabbi Avraham Ginzberg the menahel of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim for nearly six decades. Rav Aryeh was unfortunately back in Yerushalayim far sooner than he could have imagined when he wrote last week’s piece for Mishpacha in order to accompany his father to his final resting place. I would like to share one of the stories Reb Aryeh told of his father as he sat shivah in Yerushalayim on Motzaei Shabbos before flying back to the United States.
Rabbi Avraham Ginzberg arrived alone in the United States before World War II and began learning in Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim. He was virtually penniless and worked nights in a bakery to support himself. While still single he managed to purchase the bakery almost entirely on credit. With the profits from the bakery he was able to bring his whole family to the United States and the bakery provided parnassah for Reb Avraham’s father for the rest of his life.
The business acumen of the young immigrant did not escape the attention of Rav Alter Chanoch Henoch Leibowitz Rosh Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim and he asked Reb Avraham to take over the day-to-day running of the yeshivah for a period of two years to help put the yeshivah on its feet financially. That dream of financial stability was never fully realized. The Chofetz Chaim educational network spread across America inspired by the Rosh Yeshivah’s educational vision but because a very high percentage of musmachim of Chofetz Chaim went into chinuch and few into business the yeshivah never developed a large donor pool of affluent alumni.
As a consequence Reb Avraham’s projected two years extended to well over half a century. Each penny the yeshivah raised was far dearer to him than his own money. Reb Aryeh Ginzberg related how classmates once directed him to the foyer of the yeshivah building to see what his father was doing. When he arrived only his father’s trademark worn blue straw hat with a red feather was visible above ground. The rest of him was below ground digging to uncover a burst pipe before the plumber arrived in order to save the yeshivah the expense of the digging. When the yeshivah honored Rabbi Ginzberg after more than half a century of service his son told the Rosh Yeshivah not to bother purchasing any kind of gift because his father would refuse to accept anything that depleted the yeshivah’s bank account in any way.
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