“To lose such a talmid on Lag B’omer— how can we understand this?”
“Yosef Amram was a bochur who had a future of gadlus — gadlus in Torah, gadlus in influencing others, gadlus in yirah,” Rav Wachsman cried. “He was filled with so much insight in Torah, so much hasmadah, so much eidelkeit and wisdom.”
Rabi Akiva lost 24,000 talmidim during the days of Sefirah, he noted, but that plague ended on Lag B’omer.
“To lose such a talmid on Lag B’omer — how can we understand this?” Rav Wachsman exclaimed, sobbing. “Rabi Akiva’s talmidim didn’t treat each other properly — he was such a sweet bochur who treated everyone so nicely, constantly thinking about everyone, how to respect them and be their friend.”
Rav Menachem Weissmandl, the Nitra Rav of Monsey and a great-uncle of Yossi’s, told the Washington Post that he had watched his nephew grow up into a caring and thoughtful person. When the COVID pandemic began and residents of Monsey went into lockdown, he recalled, Yossi busied himself making sure that people had enough food, and he would make telephone calls to those who were alone.
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