C54 HAMODIA 6 TEVES 5773 DECEMBER 19, 2012 Tribute

Because It Hurts: Still Crying for Harav , zt”l

BY MORDECHAI SCHILLER He didn’t stop while running the post offices used to sell. He filled discussions. the back cover of the magazine. bases to check his standing on every flap of the letter with One day, Harav Nachman I came up with the headline How do you measure the the scoreboard. advice, encouragement, and Bulman, zt”l, walked in, chuck- “Recycle Your Mind!” Reb impact of one person? always with questions — specific ling even more than he usually Mendel read it and shook his And what if that person is a More Than a Partner questions about what I was did. With perfect timing, he head. “You can’t say that!” husband, a father, a grandfather, Maybe the real measure of a doing and how I was doing. waited until his mischievous “Why not?” a neighbor, a friend... and also leader is how he inspires other The letters only stopped smile nailed everyone’s atten- “Essentially, you’re telling happened to be an eminent leaders. when I got married and moved tion. Then he said, “We think people their mind is garbage.” author and Rosh Yeshivah? My brother, ybl”c, Harav Nota back to Eretz Yisrael, and we these boys are not so sophisticat- I saw his point, but still liked Do you keep a running total of Schiller, learned in spoke regularly. After a short ed because they never learned in the concept, so I conducted an talmidim? Like the incessantly Chaim Berlin and later time in a , I was hired by the yeshivah, but let me tell you informal focus group. I went ticking World Population Clock? went to Ner Yeshivah in budding Ohr Somayach something... I just spoke with a around the yeshivah and asked And let’s not forget to factor Baltimore, where he became a to run their office. The bachurim boy who is here for three weeks. guys what they thought of the in how many of those talmidim close talmid of Harav Yaakov were learning in the beis And he told me this observation: headline. Everyone liked it. No now have talmidim of their own. Weinberg, zt”l. Harav Weinberg medrash of Yeshivah Bais Yoseph “‘From what I can see,’ the one was offended. Recycling had And that’s not even counting the had also learned in Chaim Novardok on Shmuel Hanavi boy said, ‘if you want to under- become cool. families — and extended families Berlin. Once, my brother asked Street in Yerushalayim. The stand something, you go to Reb Mendel withdrew his — of those talmidim and their Harav Weinberg what he had building had no available room Rabbi Bulman. If you want an opposition. talmidim. gotten from Harav Hutner, zt”l. for an office, so Reb Mendel eitzah, you go to Rabbi [Nota] That was before my direct And what do you do with the The answer came as a shock. arranged to share the P’eylim Schiller [ybl”c]. And if you want marketing days, so I never meas- unknown quantity and quality of ured the results of that cam- those talmidim getting their first paign, but I can tell you I am still introduction to Torah by that close friends with three fellows Rosh Yeshivah and his col- who came to Ohr Somayach leagues? through Shma Yisrael magazine, I’ll leave the quantum and one of them came precisely mechanics of talmidim to others. in response to that ad. He told You can’t paint a picture of me that when he saw it, he said, Harav Mendel Weinbach by the “Yeah, that’s what I have to do. I numbers. have to recycle my mind!” Years later, Reb Mendel got The Kavod Conundrum the last word on a marketing Reb Mendel was indifferent question. I was working as an to kavod. He embodied the atti- independent consultant and he tude to kavod of the Kotzker asked me to come to the yeshiv- Rebbe, zt”l. A chassid once asked ah to discuss a PR (public rela- the Kotzker why we say that if tions) campaign. I started telling someone runs away from kavod, him, “You need a road show...” the kavod chases after him and He stopped me and said, “I he gets honored. That makes it love these PR guys. You bring sound like the honor is a reward them in to promote your prod- for his humility. But what if uct, and they tell you you need a someone really doesn’t want new product!” kavod? What if he hates kavod? Then he leaned in to my face Why should the kavod chase and said, “Listen, Mordechai. after him and catch him? He This is a yeshivah! Get it?” would feel like that was a pun- Harav Weinbach addressing the Ohr Somayach Mentors Mission. I got it. ishment! The Kotzker said, “If some- “I got everything from him.” office in the section, a to get something done, you go to Three Menachems one hates kavod and runs away “How is that possible? If you short walk away. Rabbi Weinbach...’” Reb Mendel wrote several from it, that tells me the kavod got everything from Harav Reb Mendel walked into the As oversimplifications go, columns for , means something to him. The Hutner, how can it be that I office as I was setting up, shook there was a lot to this one. most under his own name, but he right attitude to kavod should be never heard you quote him?” his head and went looking for a Reb Mendel was always on was also the ghostwriter for that it’s irrelevant. Getting hon- “I don’t need to quote him. “sponja” squeegee stick and rag the move. Once he confided to columns by two other ored, or getting slapped in the Every time I give a ; every (the Israeli version of a mop, me, “I can tell I’m getting old... I Menachems: Rabbi Menachem face, should all be the same. Both time I speak with a talmid... I specially designed for washing can still tell — from the sound of Porush and Prime Minister should leave no impression.” measure my words by one thing: stone floors). Seconds later, he the way the ball hits the bat — . Harav Yitzchak Hutner, zt”l, What would Harav Hutner was mopping the floor. I tried to which way the ball is going to go. After Begin was elected Prime once quipped about a great think? He shapes everything I grab the stick from him, but he But my legs don’t take me there Minister, he was scheduled to scholar, “He will never become a do.” was too wiry and fast for me. anymore.” visit Washington and meet with talmid chacham... because he’s Trying to encapsulate four “Reb Mendel, please... let me President Carter. There was one too busy learning.” decades of partnership — work- do that!” Anything Worth Doing... problem: The meeting was While Harav Hutner was talk- ing hand in hand as Roshei “Get out of here! I have eight The preeminent pragmatist, scheduled for the Nine Days — ing about the need to stop and Yeshivah with Reb Mendel — my kids. You think I can’t do this Reb Mendel had no patience for the mourning period before digest one’s learning, the image brother, ybl”c, told me, “We were better than you can?” perfectionists. Years before Nike Tishah B’Av, when we are told to somehow reminded me of Reb more than partners or friends. At that time, my wife was sneakers would proclaim “Just avoid court cases with non- Mendel’s constant state of For 41 years, we shared every- expecting our first child. When Do It!” Reb Mendel threw this because of the bad mazel of those motion. He lived by Harav thing. Even when we weren’t my daughter was born, I called enigmatic epigram at me: days. Yitzchak of Vorka’s interpreta- together, every success I had, I Reb Mendel to give him the “Anything worth doing is Begin asked Rabbi Porush to tion of the passuk: “Eretz ocheles thought about how Reb Mendel news. He was delighted and worth doing lousy!” ask Harav Shach whether this yoshveha — a land that consumes would have nachas; every frus- wished me mazel tov. Then he This was too much. Even for a warning about the Nine Days its inhabitants.” It means that tration I had, I thought about added, in a dark, ominous tone devoted devotee. applied to his having an official Eretz Yisrael “eats up” people how Reb Mendel and I would that seemed to clash with his “What does that mean? That meeting with the U.S. President. who are stuck in one place and find the humor in it, and be able habitual impish smile: doesn’t make sense. How can it Harav Shach answered that the don’t grow. to laugh at it together. “When the crunch comes... possibly be worthwhile to do warning about the mazel of the Reb Mendel may be recog- Everything I did was by the light we’re going to need numbers!” something lousy?” But I was no Nine Days only applies to an nized as a , but whether he of Reb Mendel.” Mopping the floor was vin- match for the master. individual, not the community, was or wasn’t recognized, the tage Reb Mendel. His modus “If you wait to do something and he said that Begin should go. kavod was irrelevant to him. I Join the Team operandi was thought in action. perfectly, you’ll never do any- But, “Before he speaks with the He was too busy learning, I still have letters I got from Years later, as Ohr Somayach thing!” President, he should read teaching and spreading Torah. Reb Mendel after he was my grew, I still shared office space, Only once did I challenge Reb through Parashas Vayishlach.” He was too busy caring for each rebbi in a small yeshivah in but with the hanhalah. By then, Mendel. One of my projects was Begin thanked Rabbi Porush and every one of his talmidim — Yerushalayim in 1967. He wrote there was an administrative staff editing the celebrated, but sadly and told him, “Menachem, I their learning, their success in in longhand on aerogrammes — and I was running publications short-lived magazine, Shma want you to know I am not a ruchniyus and gashmiyus — to those lightweight origami/fold- and public relations. As bat boy, I Yisrael. One assignment was to maamin be’emunah sheleimah; I care what people thought of him. along-dotted-lines air letters had a dugout seat during team write an ad for Ohr Somayach for Continued on page C55 Tribute 6 TEVES 5773 DECEMBER 19, 2012 HAMODIA C55

Chaim Schvarcz - Kuvien Images Chaim Schvarcz - Kuvien Images Chaim Schvarcz - Kuvien Images Rabbi Avram Reisman delivering a hesped in Yerushalayim mark- Rabbi delivering a hesped in Yerushalayim marking Rabbi Zev Leff delivering a hesped in Yerushalayim marking the ing the end of the shivah of Harav Mendel Weinbach, zt”l. the end of the shivah of Harav Mendel Weinbach, zt”l. end of the shivah of Harav Mendel Weinbach, zt”l. Memories From a Boyhood Chaburah BY RABBI NISSON WOLPIN equal stature. The class was gen- Tzadok Hakohen. In our year, over 20 bachurim the pen name Michoel Vine. One erally very excited and positively Reb Mendel was later selected joined BME, many of them with of his columns commented on Harav Chuna Menachem responsive, except for several by Harav Schorr to join Harav an eye to the future as yungeleit the historic breakthrough of Mendel Weinbach, zt”l, was an boys who refused to cooperate: Simcha Wasserman, zt”l, in his in the BME Kollel, but that could America’s successful launching extraordinary human being — “Who are you to tell me who to venture in January 1953, to be not happen on anything of a space capsule rotating the both in terms of his achieve- learn with!” And so, the status part of the 10 bachurim who approaching that scale. There earth — a full six years after the ments and his personal makeup quo remained. would accompany Harav Simcha was a ten-member ceiling on the Soviet Union had put their of skills, intelligence and charac- I mention this as an example to Los Angeles, where he planned kollel enrollment, except for one Sputnik into space. He wrote of a ter, vision and insight, creativity of his unusual sense of initiative to open the first high or two who had independent ben Torah who had returned and profound sense of mission. I and what became, for me, the school west of the Mississippi. sources of support. As a result, home after a day’s work and knew him from after my arrival beginning of a lifelong friendship Reb Simcha anticipated that when the time for marriage greeted his children with a tanta- in Mesivta Torah Vodaath, in the with two of my closest friends. the 10 accomplished young men approached, we had to devise lizing question: “Guess what Williamsburg section of There was never any doubt would serve as a model of what alternative modes of somehow important event took place , where I joined my two that he was invariably the first to the Los Angeles Mesivta would continuing to be involved in today?” The response: “Yankel older brothers in September grasp a new piece of Gemara, or eventually produce. Reb Simcha learning, if even only part time. (their ten-year-old brother) 1948. that he was considered among noted to the author (who was (Upon my engagement, I became started learning Gemara today!” Reb Mendel, who was born in the most capable in compre- also one of the 10) that on the one supervisor of the dormitory in The wise father left it at that, Poland in 1933, was brought up in hending a lomdishe shiur, hand, Mendel was something of a Torah Vodaath, leaving me after- and Reb Mendel commented in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by his through beis medrash. In fact, he nonconformist, but at the same noon hours for learning.) his column: “To a Jewish family, a parents. He joined me in Torah was skipped into the Torah time, he was admired by the Reb Mendel left BME several son embarking on a lifetime of Vodaath for Elul several weeks Vodaath beis medrash by Harav prospective parent body of the years later. One of his positions learning Gemara is far more after I had arrived and we , zt”l, in mid-term mesivta. was to head the Alumni earth-shattering and noteworthy became the closest of friends for — a rare occurrence in those Harav Simcha’s Los Angeles Organization of Torah Vodaath. than launching a capsule in outer seven or eight years, remaining days. venture was followed by a sum- He had an incredible power of space.” in contact over the decades. During his years in Torah mer day camp with a younger persuasion, and enlisted fellow I must add that his command Thus, I was invited to share my Vodaath, he was exposed to much group serving as counselors, and alumni members to undertake of language and compelling elo- impressions of those special analytical lomdus, as well as to the high school mesivta opened an unprecedented project: to quence in both written and spo- years of closeness with Hamodia the weekly shmuessen of Hagaon that September. Reb Mendel and create a Torah Vodaath kollel ken media made deep impres- readers. Harav , zt”l, his companions return to the within the yeshivah’s beis sions wherever he wrote and When I arrived in Torah drawing from Slabodka mussar, East Coast, with most of us enter- medrash in Brooklyn. No other spoke. In fact, during my years Vodaath, I was not yet 16. I was with his own unique perspective. ing Bais Medrash Elyon in yeshivah at that time had a for- (1970-2009) as editor of The placed in a class scheduled for In addition, Hagaon Harav Monsey, , in Elul. mal kollel on its premises. Our Jewish Observer, Agudath Israel promotion to second-year Gedalia Schorr, zt”l, taught Bais Medrash Elyon (BME), chaveirim who were of age and of America’s monthly journal of mesivta and assigned a chavrusa. Chumash with Ramban, plus Torah Vodaath’s advanced beis ability, but would have been thought and opinion, we proudly When Mendel joined us a few much more every morning, gave medrash and kollel, and Bais forced to wait several years for featured penetrating articles by weeks later, he was taken aback original shmuessen at the yeshiv- Medrash Govoha in Lakewood available space in BME, joined Reb Mendel. by the chavrusa situation. He ah’s shalosh seudos, and included were, at that time, twin institu- the Torah Vodaath kollel. After marriage, he and his approached , Reb Mendel, along with Rabbi tions. Hagaon Harav Reuven Another of Harav Mendel’s Rebbetzin, the former Shaindel who was a year younger — a top Nosson Scherman, Harav Meir Grozovsky, zt”l, had been Rosh special talents was mastery of Lamm, moved to Eretz Yisrael student, he had been given a Weinberg (a Rosh Yeshivah in Yeshivah in BME as well as in written and spoken language. and he continued his growth in weaker bachur to learn with — Torah Vodaath), and the author Torah Vodaath, but was incapac- While still a bachur, he authored learning and taking creative ini- and Mendel devised a Master of these lines, among a select itated by a stroke in 1952, and a regular column in the only tiatives until his last days, as is Plan whereby many of us would minyan, in special half-hour-plus was succeeded by Harav Gedalia English-language Orthodox recorded in the pages of this be learning with chavrusos of sessions on the sefarim of Harav Schorr. weekly, The Jewish Press, under issue.

learning. One former talmid told beis medrash, oblivious to the was too late. protest and flee. He thought that Still Crying me how the curtains parted one battle. All at once, the two titans Pharaoh’s mind was made up day, and Reb Mendel’s gadlus in turned toward him... and each Because It Hurts and that any outcry would be an Continued from page C54 learning was revealed. made his case. Reb Mendel often quoted the exercise in futility. Hashem am a meimen be’eminoh In the early days of the Still looking for the boy, to Brisker , Harav Yitzchak Zev meted out justice to Iyov with shleimah. (Putting a spin on the yeshivah, there were already deliver his message, Reb Mendel Soloveitchik, who explained the severe boils all over his body. pronunciation, Begin switched serious talmidei chachamim on nonchalantly called back an middah k’negged middah for What did Iyov learn from his from Hebrew to Yiddish — using the faculty. Two, in particular, answer over his shoulder. Pharaoh’s three key advisors. punishment? When a person his inflection to signal to Rabbi were held in awe by the Both of the titans stopped and Pharaoh had consulted them to suffers pain, he cries out, even Porush that he wasn’t merely bachurim. One day, the two said the Yiddish equivalent of, ask about his plan to drown all though his outcry does not heal “dati.” He identified as a Torah titans locked horns over “Oh... So that’s it!” and quietly male Jewish children. him. So, too, when a person sees heimishe Yid.) an interpretation. As the battle went back to their seats. Bilaam told Pharaoh, go for it. murder being planned, he must raged, the bachurim — most of The spectators dropped their Kill them. For advocating the cry out, because there is still the The Talmid Chacham Behind whom had never witnessed such collective jaws. Who was this killing of Jewish children, possibility that it just may help. the Curtain an epic conflict of ideas — stood Reb Mendel really? He never Bilaam was killed. And, even if not, he should cry Reb Mendel’s indifference to in a semicircle... at a safe dis- displayed his prodigious learn- Yisro ran away in protest. His out, not because it helps, but kavod was more than a stance. tance. ing, always hiding it. “Pay no descendants sat with the because it hurts. He just wasn’t interested. Maybe Enter Reb Mendel. He had a attention to that talmid Sanhedrin in the Beis We’re still crying, Reb that is why so few people knew phone message for one of the chacham behind the curtain.” Hamikdash. Mendel. Not because it helps, the breadth and depth of his bachurim and strolled into the But his secret was out, and it Iyov stayed silent rather than but because it hurts.