What’s in a Name?

The Background

I met Rabbi Moshe Ginz years ago, when he moved to Ramat Beit Shemesh from Canada. He recently shared the following story that brings home the incredible power of roots.

W

hen I was a young teen living in Eretz Yisrael, my father wanted me to attend a yeshivah ketanah, specifically Yeshivas HaDarom, located in the city of Rechovot — yet I had no interest in doing so. I wanted to become a lawyer, which meant I needed to attend a regular frum high school (not a yeshivah).

Yeshivas HaDarom was a good yeshivah, with a solid name. Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach had been a rebbi there, as had Rav Shneuer Kotler before returning to America. Other prominent members of staff included Rav Yehoshua Levinthal who taught Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel in Chicago. Clearly, it was the kind of yeshivah where a bochur could shteig in learning if he was so inclined.

There was one problem: I was not so inclined.

But it wasn’t up to me. I was sent for a test, whether I wanted to go there or not, which left me one recourse — to hope I wouldn’t be accepted. And since I had never been into learning and didn’t know much Gemara, I was fairly confident that the person giving the farher would spend five minutes with me and then tell me that while I seemed like a nice enough boy, I wasn’t cut out for the yeshivah.