By Aryeh Zev Ginzberg
Nearly a year ago, on the 10th day of Nissan, the 10th yahrzeit of the late rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, Rav Henoch Leibowitz, zt’l, was commemorated by hundreds of talmidim.
The rosh yeshiva led the yeshiva for more than 65 years following the untimely passing of his beloved father and rebbe, Rav Dovid Leibowitz, zt’l, at a young age. At the age of 24, the rosh yeshiva had to step into his father’s shoes after only eight brief years at the helm of the fledging yeshiva that he founded and named after his great uncle and mentor, the Chofetz Chaim, zt’l.
There were those who felt and even publicly expressed at that time at Rav Dovid’s levayah, which took place on the very day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the United States was then thrust into WWII, that the yeshiva would be buried together with Rav Dovid.
And who can blame those skeptics? After all, the yeshiva was only eight years old, and the country would now enter into a war that would eventually kill tens of millions of people throughout the world. While the yeshiva did have a small, dedicated, and talented group of young men, they were thoroughly tied to their beloved rebbe, the lion of Slabodka and the prime disciple of the famed Radiner rosh yeshiva, Rav Naftoli Trop, zt’l, and now they were orphaned, alone, and bereft.
Though several of the maspidim at the levayah extolled the brilliance, scholarship, and capabilities of his only son, Rav Henoch, most present just couldn’t imagine how this frail and sickly young man in his early twenties (many of the talmidim were several years older than him) would be able to step into the colossal shoes of Rav Dovid, especially in such a dark period. The yeshiva would not be able to continue beyond its initial eight years under Rav Dovid’s leadership.
Well, they were profoundly wrong. The yeshiva didn’t close after eight years; as a matter of fact, a few weeks ago, the yeshiva celebrated its 85th anniversary and has developed into one of the premier yeshivas throughout the Torah world.
How did it all happen? It was simply a miscalculation by the skeptics of so many years ago. The miscalculation was on two fronts. One was a lack of appreciation of the koach of Torah, and, secondly, they did not understand the depth of commitment that the young rosh yeshiva, Rav Henoch, had deep in his heart and soul to continue the legacy of his beloved father and to ensure that his beloved yeshiva would not die with him.
The rosh yeshiva struggled for decades and decades, fighting the depression years, lifelong ill health, an indifferent world, and a long list of skeptics and doomsayers. And he persevered. He never stopped for a moment. Another shiur, another shmuess, another talmid, and another branch.
He continued building, talmid by talmid, branch by branch, and kept at it until the Torah landscape of the United States was filled coast to coast with yeshivas, shuls, kiruv centers, and community kollelim, all manned by his talmidim whom he molded and shaped for over 65 years.
And then on the 10th day of Nissan, more than 10 years ago, on a very beautiful and peaceful day, this unique and illustrious mechanech, whose fire in his soul illuminated hundreds of neshamos, was suddenly extinguished. The talmidim’s anguish and sense of loss was matched with the feeling of dread that an era was over. Will the rosh yeshiva’s vision and dream for the future of Torah in America pass along with him? Sixty-five years after Rav Dovid’s petirah, the doomsayers were ever-present as well. No one knew for sure what would happen, but all felt that time would tell if their fears for the future would just fall away.
THE PRESENT:
The yeshiva annual dinner held a few weeks ago was dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the rosh yeshiva’s passing. Having been afforded the opportunity to serve as dinner chairman, I chose to focus my remarks on the present and future of the yeshiva. I shared the following story.
After many decades of harbotzas Torah, from Spring Valley to Detroit and eventually to Los Angeles, Rav Simcha Wasserman, zt’l, was fulfilling his lifelong dream of moving to Eretz Yisrael and opening the now famed Ohr Elchonon institution.
At a farewell dinner at Torah Umesorah in his honor, he shared the following heartfelt words. The medrash comments on the fact that the pasuk repeats the name of Noach three times in the very same pasuk, underscoring the fact that Noach lived through three different worlds. He lived in the world before the mabul, the world during the mabul, and then the world after the mabul. So, too, Rav Simcha explained, he has also lived in three different worlds. First was pre-war Europe, then the churban Europa, and then the world of the rebuilding of Torah wherever yidden are found. I offered that here as well, for the older talmidim. We lived through three worlds; the world with the rosh hayeshiva, the shattered world at his passing, and the world of today, 10 years after his passing.
I had asked the administrative staff to provide me with a list of the new branches that the yeshiva had started since the rosh yeshiva’s passing 10 years ago and I was absolutely astounded. Twenty-eight new branches were started in the last 10 years (includes six yeshivas, four elementary schools, two kollelim, six shuls, and 11 kiruv centers). This does not include the dozens of new musmachim who have assumed chinuch positions around the country in existing mosdos. At the same time, the tireless director of the yeshiva’s development department Rabbi Ben Tziyon Chait, shared with me a list of current and future new projects that he is developing and that list spans more than a dozen throughout the length and breadth of this country.
How is all this even possible when the rosh yeshiva is no longer here to provide the guidance, inspiration, and leadership that he had done for six-and-a-half decades; that not only is the yeshiva continuing and thriving, but is doing so at a much larger scale than ever before.
Perhaps Rav Akiva Grunblatt, one of the two roshei yeshiva handpicked by the rosh yeshiva to continue the yeshiva after his passing, said it best in his keynote address at the dinner. He said, “Those who commented to myself and Rav Dovid Harris that we have ‘big shoes to fill’ are incorrect. We can never fill those shoes, however the rosh yeshiva as part of his incredible leadership and vision for the future, built in a mechanism that his methods, his derech, and his dreams would continue for many years after his passing.” Clearly it has been extremely effective.
In my closing remarks at the dinner, I shared that what Chazal say, that it takes forty years to really come to the depth of understanding of who your rebbe was, no doubt there are many other talmidim, older and much wiser, who could define better what the rosh yeshiva’s legacy was in a few words, but I took the opportunity to express my own.
Of course, with all the decades of in-depth shiurim and mussar shmuzim notwithstanding, I thought to define the rosh yeshiva’s greatest achievement as follows:
Chazal tell us that three people in the Torah were zoche to kefitzas haderech (their travel time was shortened). One was Eliezer eved Avrohom, the second was Yaakov Avinu when he returned to Har Hamoriah, and the third was Admon who raced back to save Dovid Hamelech’s life. Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt’l, asked an insightful question. Of the three, Yaakov’s kefitzas haderech was very different. Hashem didn’t just shorten his journey; he brought Har Hamoriah to him. Why did Hashem change it for Yaakov and not for the others?
Rav Moshe explained that Hashem wanted to teach Yaakov an important lesson as he was about to embark on his journey to galus in the house of Lavan. The message to Yaakov Avinu was that while you may be far away from your ancestral home, living in galus surrounded on all sides by the Lavans of the world, not only can you survive it, but you can thrive in it. How should you do it? By bringing Har Hamoriah to you, by bringing the kedushah of your father’s house to wherever you are.
This I humbly submitted was the rosh yeshiva’s greatest strength; he was able to transplant Slabodka and Radin to America — first to Williamsburg, then to Forest Hills, and then to the present campus in Kew Gardens Hills. We are not imitating Slabodka, but we are actually living Slabodka.
Some of the older talmidim may recall that in 1977 several of the gedolei hador who were all talmidim of the Alter of Slabodka (who passed away in 1927) wanted to make a gathering of talmidim of the Alter to commemorate his 50th yahrzeit. There was a discussion between Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky, Rav Yitzchak Hutner, and Rav Mordechai Shulman (the rosh yeshiva of Slabodka in Eretz Yisrael who was in the States at the time) as to where the gathering should take place. It was Rav Yaakov that insisted that the yovel gathering take place in Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, which was then in Forest Hills.
With many of the gedolim present who were talmidim of the Alter, Rav Yaakov stood up to speak and made an incredible proclamation, “People say that the yeshiva is like Slabodka, but I disagree, this yeshiva IS Slabodka” (author’s loose translation from Yiddish).
Over the years, Rav Yaakov would repeat this statement numerous times to the talmidim who would visit with him. (This author has heard it several times over the years.)
In conclusion, as we look back at the incredible life accomplishments of the rosh yeshiva Rav Henoch and of the colossal legacy that he left, one that continues to grow and expand with each passing year, I refer back to two historical statements made many years ago at the founding years of the yeshiva. One is from the gadol hador of the previous generation, and one is from a layman who was a member of the board of directors of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas a lifetime ago.
In the 1920s when Yeshiva Torah Vodaas felt it was time to bring in a rosh yeshiva to lead the fledging institution to new heights, they led an international exhaustive search. They narrowed it down to two final candidates. One was a world famous European illuy, and the other was the Slabodker talmid and great nephew of the Chofetz Chaim (who was in America at the time), Rav Dovid Leibowitz.
They sent their dilemma to the gadol hador in Vilna, Rav Chaim Ozer, zt’l, for his decision. He replied, “In learning, the illuy is one of the greatest of the generation, but to develop talmidim you need a unique mechanech like Rav Dovid Leibowitz, I recommend choosing him.” And they did.
Several years later, there were two schools of thought at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas as to the direction that the yeshiva should take. Rav Dovid wanted to create future gedolim and future marbetzei Torah like those developed in Slabodka. The other school of thought felt strongly that what America needed at that time (and what was sorely lacking) was ehrlicher baalei batim.
At a meeting of the board of directors of the yeshiva to discuss this issue and to choose the path for the yeshiva at that time, one of the yeshiva’s founders said, “Rav Dovid is a dreamer and wants to turn the whole country around, this is not for us.” (This is a loose translation of the Yiddish original of the recorded minutes of that meeting, by the author).
Now, 85 years since the founding of the yeshiva and 10 years since the passing of the rosh yeshiva, it seems that both Rav Chaim Ozer, zt’l, and that member of the board of directors were spot on.
A child says kaddish for the memory of a parent; is there any place which teaches us what a talmid should do for his rebbe? A wise man answered, “If a talmid continues the avodah of his rebbe and gives credit to his rebbe for that, then that is the greatest memorial that can be built for him.”
May the rosh yeshiva from his lofty place in Gan Eden continue to advocate and guide the yeshiva for many years to come, until the coming of Moshiach. May it come speedily in our day.
