Reb Chaim Volozhiner's Vision 11 march, 2001 Adar, 5761 SLOBODKA, BARANOWICZ AND LOS ANGELES BLEND IN YESHIVA oHR ELCHANAN, JERUSALEM As the sun of Torah set in Volozhin, it rose in Slobodka, Lithuania. The Slobodka Yeshiva became a bastion of Torah and musar. In the years between the two World Wars, some Yeshiva students, from Lithuania, made aliyah. Among their leaders was Rabbi Meir Chodosh who was a disciple of the "Alter" (elder) of Slobodka. Reb Meir was famous as a master in musar. He served as mashgiach in the Hevron Yeshiva and other Torah centers. In pre-Holocaust Poland, the light of Torah shone brightly in Baranowicz. There, Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, z.t.l., h.y.d., raised thousands of talmidim in the spirit of Volozhin. The son of Reb Elchonon, Rabbi Simcha Wasserman, z.t.l., an accomplished and respected scholar, lived in Los Angeles for about 20 years. He established a Lithuanian style Yeshiva in Los Angeles where none existed before. There is much more to tell about Reb Simcha. Following the example of the Prophet Shmuel, he traveled the entire West Coast of America spreading the word of authentic Judaism, even at Wandenberg Air Force Base in California. In visiting small communities where Yiddishkeit was almost non-existent, he would gather groups of Jews and begin teaching authentic Torah, something completely new to them. Being a wise man and keen observer of people, he did not start with observance of mitzvoth. Rather, he selected the "non-threatening" chapter of Lech L'cha. The only request he made was that all attendees should recite Birchath HaTorah before learning. After several years of such inspiring encounters with this great man, his students began asking how to make their kitchens kosher, etc. Thus Reb Simcha succeeded in raising a generation of ba'alei teshuva. This.