Rebbe of Talmidim

SOON AFTER REB MOSHE ARRIVED in America, he was invited to deliver a number of shiurim in the New York area.Following one such shiur, the Torah periodical HaPardes wrote, "All the city's roshei yeshivah and rabbanim were delighted by his extraordinary shiur, wondrous chidushim, reasoning and depth."

While all were impressed by Reb Moshe's genius, in no way did this assure him of a position connected with Torah. America in those days had few yeshivos and none of those that existed had anywhere near the large enrollment that so many yeshivos enjoy today. As such, the chances of Reb Moshe being offered a post as a Rosh Yeshivah were slim indeed. One yeshivah did offer him a respectable position soon after his arrival, but Reb Moshe rejected it, fearing that a certain member of the yeshivah's administration would resent the appointment as an infringement on his own position. Opportunities to serve as a Rav were also difficult to find.

Reb Moshe experienced more than one discouraging encounter as he tried to find a position. "What will you do in America?" people wondered. Such questions did not unsettle Reb Moshe. "I will do what Reb Shalom the melamed did back home," came his even reply.

Reb Shalom the melamed was a teacher of Torah to the Jewish children of Luban  until the Bolsheviks took control. After that, he was forced to spend his days cleaning the town's streets. (Reb Shalom merited having a son who became a rosh yeshivah in the Ponevezher Yeshivah, Rabbi Dovid Povarsky.) Reb Moshe, too, would not let his spirit be broken by the bleak forecasts of others. He was eternally thankful to have escaped the oppressive Communist rule. Certainly he would try his utmost to obtain a position that would afford him the opportunity to spread the word of Hashem, but he was prepared to accept whatever lay ahead  even something along the lines of poor Shalom the melamed's forced occupation.

A relative offered to establish Reb Moshe as a mashgiach (kashrus supervisor) in a large slaughterhouse, a post that would have allowed him to support his family in reasonable comfort. Reb Moshe, however, refused the offer, for he was not yet ready to give up on becoming a rosh yeshivah or Rav. Annoyed and surprised, the relative argued, "America does not need roshei yeshivah; you will never make a living your way!" However, Reb Moshe was adamant. He had lived in peril in Luban for the Torah's sake, and he was not yet ready to surrender the chance to instill America's Jews with its message, unless he had no choice.

RABBI YEHUDAH LEVENBERG, one of the pioneer Torah builders in America, who had established a yeshivah in New Haven, Connecticut, had relocated his institution to Cleveland, Ohio. Reb Moshe accepted Rabbi Levenberg's invitation that he become a rosh yeshiva in his institution. Only a few months later, Rabbi Levenberg died and the yeshivah disbanded. Almost immediately came the call to serve as rosh yeshivah of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem on New York's Lower East Side. It was this position that Reb Moshe held with such distinction for the rest of his life, nearly forty-nine years.

One of his original talmidim in Tifereth Jerusalem recalls how Reb Moshe was introduced to them. The yeshivah's principal was Rabbi Yosef Adler, a distinguished and popular local Rav. Rabbi Adler told the students, "Whenever we needed a rosh yeshivah, I brought a great talmid chacham from Europe. Sometimes, I went to Europe myself to recruit people. Baruch Hashem, you boys learn well and, before long, I have to bring you a new rebbi who knows even more Torah. I am not a young man anymore, so I decided to bring you someone who knows so much that no matter how much you learn, he will always know more than enough for you."

When Reb Moshe assumed the leadership of Tifereth Jerusalem, the Lower East Side was still a vibrant, teeming center of Jewish life, with synagogues on virtually every block. Down East Broadway from the yeshivah were Ezras Torah, where the great tzaddik, gaon and posek Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, directed a world-wide chesed apparatus; and the Agudas HaRabbanim, the organization of European-trained rabbis who had the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch on their fingertips. Sadly, there was still an appalling shortage of yeshivos. The Jewish establishment looked down on Orthodoxy and had little respect for its rabbis or institutions, and younger generations of Jews were slipping away from Torah and mitzvah observance. There were a few strong Zeirei Agudath Israel branches here and there, but the Agudath Israel of America had not yet been founded in its present form. So Jewish life on the East Side was strong, but its future was not promising.

REB MOSHE AND HIS YESHIVAH quickly became a center of Torah life on the East Side. At its peak, Tifereth Jerusalem enrolled over five hundred talmidim, but it was more than a yeshivah, just as Reb Moshe was more than a rosh yeshiva. Tifereth Jerusalem included a shut where Reb Moshe not only delivered shiurim to his talmidim, but the traditional Shabbos HaGadol and Shabbos Shuvah drashos to large audiences of lomdim (scholars)  usually on Talmudic themes related to Kadoshim (sacrificial order).

His primary role, however, was as decider of halachic questions, and before long, the word spread that a posek of the first rank was there  and available. Distinguished rabbis converged on him with knotty problems and so did local housewives with their strange-looking chicken parts  because he belonged equally to them all. Two middle-aged talmidei chachamim, whose fathers were butchers on the East Side, remember being sent frequently to Reb Moshe with she'eilos. As children they knew him as the nice, friendly man who never made them feel unimportant  as some others understandably did. As they grew older, they realized with a shock that their "friend" was one of Jewry's greatest people. It is not surprising that one woman used to call him every Friday afternoon to inquire about the time to light candles; he would answer and pleasantly wish her a Cutten Shabbos  as he would have done in Uzda or Luban. Did it make any difference whether he was a twenty-year-old beginner in a tiny shtetl or the teacher of Klal Yisrael? His responsibility was to answer the queries of all Jews who needed him.

REB MOSHE DELIVERED THREE KINDS of shiurim: a blatt, or a shiur on the text of the Gemara and the basic commentaries of Rashi and Tosafos; a pilpul, in which he would discuss a breathtakingly broad and deep range of material and _concept_{S/ an}d relate them to the text being studied; and a Halachah shiur, in which he taught the text and basic commentaries of the Shulchan Aruch.

The blatt shiur was generally delivered on Mondays and Wednesdays, for an hour and a half to two hours. As Reb Moshe once told Rabbi Abraham Kalmanowitz, the legendary hatzalah figure and founder and Rosh Yeshivah of the Mirrer Yeshivah in Brooklyn, "When my talmidim come to the blatt, they already know the Gemara, Rashi and Tosafos. I have to show them how to learn it properly." In other words, the blatt shiur was intended to train his students to analyze and understand the basic textual material. What is the significance of a seemingly superfluous word or phrase? What has the Gemara added by citing a particular question and answer?

What is the key to a Talmudic dispute? Why do Rashi and Tosafos differ? What forced Rashi to interpret the text a certain way despite the objection raised by Tosafos? The goal of this shiur was to deal with the text as it is stated, not with abstract theories. If the text was properly understood, the underlying principles and concepts would follow of their own accord and the major commentaries would have a framework on which to be understood properly.

As is true of all master teachers, the greater the scholar the more he puts into even his most elementary elucidation of a Scriptural verse or Talmudic passage. Reb Moshe's basic translation of a simple Rashi was colored and flavored by his thorough knowledge of the entire Torah.

The pilpul shiur, delivered every Friday, was entirely different. It was exceedingly complex. First, would come a long list of as many as twenty kashyos [difficult questions] regarding the Gemara and then a series of intricately woven frameworks upon which an approach to the entire subject would be fashioned. Only the most accomplished of his talmidim could follow his reasoning. For the rest, the shiur provided flashes of insight and a demonstration of the vastness of Torah knowledge.

His preparation of the pilpul was exceptionally rigorous. He would arise at 2 a.m. Friday morning and go through all the major sources. Sometimes he would surround himself with chairs upon which he would put the many sefarim to which he referred, while he sat on the floor referring to several of them at once. After Shacharis in the yeshivah, he would lock himself in his office and rehearse the shiur aloud, perfecting it as he went along. These shiurim, which he wrote as he prepared them, later formed the bulk of his Dibros Moshe on the Talmud.

Until his later years, he would be in the beis midrash from Shacharis until after Minchah, to be available to the talmidim who had questions about their learning. After Minchah, he would leave and devote the rest of the day to study, responsa, individual petitioners and communal needs. The only exception was the one afternoon a week when he would return to Tifereth Jerusalem to deliver a Halachah shiur. This would be along the general lines of the blatt, but it would lay down the general principles upon which practical halachic decisions are based.

The general practice was that if a talmid wished to pose a kashya, he would first discuss it with the Mashgiach, Rabbi Barenbaum. Only if the Mashgiach said that the kashya was a genuine difficulty would talmidim feel free to pose it to the Rosh Yeshivah. There was a natural reluctance on the part of nearly all students to present a question to him unless they were sure it was worthy of his attention  and would reflect well on them.

NEVER DID REB MOSHE PERMIT his responsibilities to Klal Yisrael as a whole to interfere with his guidance of the yeshivah and its students. His many talmidim who became rabbanim and roshei yeshivah would never forget the love, warmth and respect shown them by their revered rebbi.

Rabbi Ephraim Greenblatt, a prominent Rav in Memphis, Tennessee, and a renowned posek, is among Reb Moshe's closest disciples. He vividly recalls his first day in Tifereth Jerusalem on an Erev Shabbos, as a nineteen-year-old who had arrived by boat from Jerusalem only a day earlier. Rabbi Greenblatt entered the beis midrash while Reb Moshe was in his office, preparing his shiur. When Reb Moshe entered the beis midrash and noticed the newcomer, he hurried over and greeted him, asked his name and said that they would talk after the shiur had ended. When they spoke again, Reb Moshe told the newcomer to return on Sunday when they would "talk in learning" and he would arrange a study partner for him.

As soon as Reb Moshe recognized his new talmid's potential in deciding matters of Halachah, he began taking Rabbi Greenblatt aside when questions came before him, to demonstrate his method of analyzing a problem and arriving at a p'sak. Rabbi Greenblatt was often asked to be present when Reb Moshe was called to preside over the preparation of a get and at times he would accompany his rebbi to comfort a mourner. "Come with me," Reb Moshe would say. "You will meet a great person."

During the summer that followed, Rabbi Greenblatt spent a few days with Reb Moshe in his summer cottage in upstate New York. Reb Moshe would come in at night to check if his talmid's blanket had fallen off while he slept.

Rabbi Greenblatt recalls his feelings during those first months. "At first, I felt that he was going out of his way for me. As time went on, I realized that this was how he treated everyone. He brought every talmid close to him and made us each feel as if we were his only talmid."

Another of Reb Moshe's talmidim in those years recalls the time when a student with a very poor reputation was accepted in the yeshivah. The student was touched by Reb Moshe's sincerity and gentleness and became a changed person; today he is a respected member of a thriving Torah community.

REB MOSHE WOULD SAY that there are two primary deterrents to a Torah student's success: a lack of appreciation for the immeasurable value of Torah, and depression over not doing as well as he had hoped. One who diligently applies himself to his studies should never become depressed. He should have confidence in the teaching of our Sages that, if one claims, "I have toiled and not found [success in my studies]," do not believe him. As long as a student does his very best and keeps trying, Hashem will help him attain the Torah wisdom that he seeks.

Reb Moshe once entered his beis midrash and found a talmid sitting alone, a sullen expression on his face. Reb Moshe wasted no time in approaching his talmid.  "Serve Hashem with joy!" (a verse in Psalms), he told the student. He then brought the talmid into his office and the two spoke together for some time. A student who observed the incident recalled, "I do not know what the Rosh Yeshivah told the boy, but I do know one thing  the bachur came out of the office a changed person."

It did not take Reb Moshe long to size up an individual. An aged talmid chacham recently passed away in Jerusalem after living in the same neighborhood for decades, but many of his closest acquaintances did not realize his true worth. When Reb Moshe was in Israel in 1964 to attend the K'nessiah Cedolah (World Conference of Agudath Israel) he met the man briefly, and remarked, "This man is a nistar (hidden tzaddik); he studies Torah for its sake alone." He made use of this ability to guide his talmidim along the particular path best suited for each of them. To one of his students he suggested taking a position in a community that was then a spiritual desert, but the talmid could not foresee himself living in such an environment. Reb Moshe said, "If you settle there it will become a place of Torah." The young man heeded his rebbi's advice. He still lives in that same area, which today is a true center of Torah. Reb Moshe once accepted the talmid's invitation to visit him and his community. Afterwards, Reb Moshe told him, "I see that what I said has come true."

ANOTHER SOURCE of the special relationship that existed between Reb Moshe and his talmidim was the great respect he accorded them. Rabbi Nathan Lomner, former Hebrew principal of Tifereth Jerusalem and a talmid of Reb  Moshe, recalled, "When I was admitted into the beis midrash, I usually made a point of coming on time. One morning I came somewhat late. The Rosh Yeshivah, when passing near me, stopped for a moment and said, 'Nu, you came a little late this morning; you probably couldn't come any earlier.' Then he turned and went his way." Reb Moshe had made his awareness of the occurrence known without making the talmid feel uncomfortable in any way.

When testing a class or an individual, Reb Moshe was careful never to say anything that might possibly cause anyone humiliation. Rather than ask pointed questions, he would say, "Let us 'speak in learning,' " and then forge into a discussion of the topic. "We asked a question" or "We had answered" (rather than "I"), was Reb Moshe's general way of speaking during an examination. As he discussed, he attempted to draw the students into the discussion. In no way could he be fooled. When a class performed poorly they were told to review and prepare to be tested again. To a semichah candidate whose knowledge of a pertinent subject was not up to par, Reb Moshe said, "You will be getting semichah. But I want you to review the material and in two weeks we'll 'discuss' it again."

A student from another yeshivah came to Reb Moshe for a semichah examination. After a few minutes it became apparent that the young man's knowledge was so sorely deficient that a few weeks of review would not do him much good. What the young man needed was to study the laws with someone knowledgeable. Reb Moshe volunteered to study privately with him. They studied together for some time until the young man was fit to receive semichah.

NEVER WOULD REB MOSHE DISMISS a talmid's question as irrelevant or lacking forethought. To one who thought he had disproven a statement of the Maharam  because he had totally misunderstood the statement  Reb Moshe said,"What the Maharam seems to be saying is a little different from your interpretation." If a boy would ask something totally irrelevant, Reb Moshe would say, "You probably mean to ask as follows," and proceed to raise a sound difficulty which the talmid had not intended to ask  but which was sure to prevent the student from feeling ashamed.

A rebbi once asked Reb Moshe if it was proper to use precious class time to give proper answers to foolish questions that students may sometimes ask. Reb Moshe replied, "The person asking the question never thinks of it as foolish."

Reb Moshe's own self-respect played no role when he and his talmidim were involved in Torah discussion. Once, during the course of a shiur, he made an original point. A talmid interjected to say that he thought he had come across the identical point in a section of Mishneh L'Melech. Reb Moshe immediately asked that someone bring him the necessary volume so that he could examine the Mishneh L'Melech's comment before continuing his shiur.

Aside from attending his shiurim and observing his behavior, Reb Moshe's talmidim gained much from his private comments and observations. At times, he would give a talmid practical advice on how to get the most out of his studying. He discouraged a talmid who had difficulty understanding Reb Moshe's quickly spoken Lithuanian Yiddish from listening to a recording of the shiur (which he could play again and again) rather than hearing it live. One must see the rebbi, Reb Moshe would say, for his words to have their maximum impact.

TO ANOTHER TALMID, he said that the commentaries of Maharsha, Maharam, P'nei Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva Eiger were most basic to a proper understanding of Gemara with Rashi and Tosafos. Reb Moshe would also stress the importance of review. At a siyum celebration he expressed the wish that "we merit to study, review and remember."

He encouraged all his students to adopt an 'early to bed and early to rise' schedule, for he placed great value in studying done during the early morning hours. Once, Reb Moshe became aware that a few diligent students were studying regularly until 4:00 a.m. in their desire to complete a masechta before the term's end. After a few hours' sleep, they would rise, daven without a minyan and then resume studying. Reb Moshe called the students aside. "Completing a masechta is a wonderful thing," he told them, "but it must not be done at the expense of davening."

As a senior student, Rabbi Shlomo Eidelman felt that the time had come for him to change yeshivos. Since he had become personally close to the Rosh Yeshivah, he felt embarrassed at telling him of his intention, but it would have been wrong not to do so. Trembling, he told Reb Moshe what he wanted to do. Reb Moshe answered, "The Gemara says that one should learn where he feels he will be most successful, so you should leave. But I think it is better for you to stay here, so after a few months in your new yeshivah, you should think it over. If you decide to come back, you will be welcome."

Indeed, Rabbi Eidelman did return to enjoy the privilege of learning from and serving Reb Moshe for many years.

Reb Moshe stressed to his talmidim the importance of sharing their time to study Torah with those who lack background or ability. In Dibros Moshe (Kiddushin 50:9) he points out that Rabbi Preida (see Eruvin 54) would review the same lesson with a student 400 times, though he certainly could have used his time to pursue his own studies. Reb Moshe writes, "From this we can prove ... [that just as] one must contribute to others in the areas of tzedakah and gemilas chesed and he may not be exacting even when he needs the money for himself  so it is with regard to the study of Torah. It is forbidden for a talmid chacham to be exacting with his time and to say that he needs it for his own studies, from which he will derive more benefit ... but he must give of his time and teach others, even when it is only the student who stands to gain."

After suggesting that students of Torah devote one-tenth of their time for the benefit of others, Reb Moshe writes, " ... In this merit, not only will they not lose from their own [success in] Torah, but, they will ascend to a more lofty level [than before] ... " *

SINCE REB MOSHE VIEWED TORAH as "our life and the length of

our days" (Deuteronomy 20:30), he did his utmost to insure that

each of his talmidim grow in Torah to the best of

his abilities. Whenever a talmid considered leaving

Tifereth Jerusalem in pursuit of a livelihood, Reb Moshe would carefully evaluate the talmid's

personal situation. If he felt that the move should be delayed, he would do his best to keep the talmid in yeshivah for a while longer.

One student found himself in a dilemma. He respected the Rosh Yeshivah's feeling that it was too early for him to leave yeshivah, but could not convince his father of this. The father came to Tifereth Jerusalem to discuss the matter with Reb Moshe personally. Reb Moshe was not swayed by the man's arguments. "It is important for your son to remain in our beis midrash for at least a few years more," he said.

The man was frustrated by Reb Moshe's adamance. He shot back, "Fine, my son will stay in yeshivah  but don't expect to see a penny of tuition from me!"

Reb Moshe replied calmly, "I already carry the tuition load of many talmidim. I will manage to bear the load of one more."

His words, spoken with utmost sincerity, struck a responsive chord in the man. The talmid remained in yeshivah for a number of years while his father paid tuition and became a staunch supporter of Tifereth Jerusalem.

* A yeshivah student once asked the Steipler Gaon if he should cease learning with a student who had a poor grasp of the material, in favor of a far brighter partner. The Steipler replied, "If you will perform a chesed with one student then Hashem will repay you in your studies with a second partner, so that your own grasp of the subject material will be quicker than expected. It is not worth it for you to drop your present partner".

IN ANOTHER ENCOUNTER, a parent's reaction to Reb Moshe's position was shocking. Rather than appreciate the concern shown for his child, the father took the opposite approach. _. . "Mark my words!" he declared. "I have a younger son and I will not send him to a yeshivah at all!"

This threat upset Reb Moshe tremendously. How could a father threaten to deprive his own child of the Torah's beauty? A very agitated Reb Moshe said to the man, "I will tell you something ... no, I had better not say it; once words are uttered they cannot be reclaimed."

Some talmidim who witnessed the episode had never seen Reb Moshe so upset and actually became fearful for his health. They escorted him to a room in the building and then placed before their rebbi the one thing that was sure to calm him  a gemara. Reb Moshe opened the gemara, immediately became immersed in the subject before him and remained there studying for two hours.

Meanwhile, the father had remained in the beis midrash, mistakenly thinking that Reb Moshe had been led out to attend to something and would be returning shortly to continue their discussion. When some time had elapsed, he asked a student why the Rosh Yeshivah had not returned.

"Didn't you notice how upset he was?" the student asked incredulously. "Your words hurt the Rosh Yeshivah so, that we feared, G-d forbid, he might suffer a heart attack. We escorted him out to allow him to calm down."

The man had not realized just how deeply his threat had affected Reb Moshe. He asked the student to direct him to the Rosh Yeshivah so that he could apologize. The student explained that Reb Moshe was now deeply immersed in his studies and it would be wise to leave him alone after the ordeal he had been through.

When Reb Moshe reentered the beis midrash, the man rushed over to him. "Please forgive me," the father pleaded. "I will certainly send my younger son to the yeshivah. I apologize for having caused the Rosh Yeshivah such anguish. My sincerest ..."

"Apologize?" asked a smiling Reb Moshe. "Whatever for? Nothing happened, nothing happened."

RABBI NATHAN LOMNER served for a time as rebbi of the

yeshivah's sixth grade. He once invited Reb Moshe to test the class

on the second chapter of Masechta Bava Metzia, which

a deals primarily with laws concerning the returning of lost

objects. Reb Moshe began by asking the class, "What if

someone sees two lost objects, one belonging to his father

and the other to his rebbi  which does he return first? Why?" The

children answered correctly that the rebbi's object takes priority, for

he is the one who, through his teaching of Torah, places his

talmidim on the path leading to the World to Come. Reb Moshe then

asked a few more questions, all of which were intended to impress

upon the talmidim the esteem in which they should hold their rebbi.

His line of questioning then took a very unexpected turn.

"How do Hashem's commands affect the way we live?" Reb Moshe asked the boys. One of the students answered that were it not for the command that we study Torah, he could be outdoors playing ball. To this Reb Moshe responded, "Children may play ball. But how do Hashem's commands affect how one plays ball?" Now the entire class was stumped. After a short pause, Reb Moshe answered the question himself. Jewish boys, he said, should avoid fighting when they play and they should certainly never lie or use foul language. Even a Jew's recreation must be guided not by what is accepted in the world at that time, but rather, by the timeless teachings of the Torah.

In a similar vein he once explained at a meeting of rebbeim in Tifereth Jerusalem why it is common practice for students to be introduced to the study of Gemara with the second chapter of Bava Metzia, as opposed to a more practical topic such as the laws of Shema or Shemoneh Esrei. He said that one reason was to impress upon children that the Torah dictates how a Jew is to behave in the street as much as it teaches him how to conduct himself in shul.

ONE DAY, one of Rabbi Lomner's students found a dollar in the classroom. Putting into practice a law that the class had learned in the Gemara, Rabbi Lomner had the finder announce that he had found money, so that the loser could prove ownership by stating the amount and where the money was lost. However, before anyone had a chance to claim the find, one of the boys raised his hand and unwittingly announced that he had seen the finder pick up a dollar in front of the lockers. Almost as soon as this revelation was made, another boy raised his hand and claimed that he had lost a dollar and that it had probably fallen out of his pocket when he had taken out a key to open his locker. To this, the finder retorted that the claimant had probably contrived the whole story after hearing the other boy's announcement.

The case was then brought before Reb Moshe for his ruling. After listening to the finder and claimant state their respective positions, Reb Moshe turned to the finder and said, "It is wrong to accuse your friend of lying. A yeshivah bachur would not claim something that was not rightfully his.

"However, you are not obligated to give away the dollar, since the amount of money and the location of the find were made public and, as such, cannot be used as proof."

Reb Moshe then took a dollar out of his pocket and in his gentle and sincere manner said that he did not need this dollar and was therefore giving it to the boy who said he had lost the money. When the finder saw this, he immediately exclaimed, "If the Rosh Yeshivah believes him, then I also believe him and I'll give him back the dollar."

"No," Reb Moshe insisted, "You keep your dollar and you take this dollar; both of you should have a dollar."

The younger students of Tifereth Jerusalem savored their personal encounters with their revered Rosh Yeshivah. Rabbi Lomner recounts his first personal encounter with the Rosh Yeshivah, as a youngster of eleven. He had come to the United States with his parents from Germany and was behind his class because he did not know Yiddish and had not learned Gemara as yet. Accompanied by Rabbi Shmuel Greineman, Reb Moshe tested the class, but young Nathan Lomner performed poorly. Recognizing that the young refugee would be hurt by his failure, Reb Moshe patiently and sympathetically taught him the Gemara  and then gave his rebbi a good report about his performance!

For many years, it was a much-sought-after privilege for a student to hold open a Chumash for Reb Moshe when he moved close to the bimah better to hear the Torah reading. Aside from the privilege itself, the boy went away with another reward  a gentle pat on the back from Reb Moshe.

ONE TALMID WAS SENT by his family to live with relatives in Israel when he was thirteen years old. When Reb Moshe attended K'nessiah Gedolah in 1964, the boy stood outside the site of the gathering in Jerusalem waiting to greet him. When they met, Reb Moshe warmly greeted the boy and then stuffed a ten dollar bill into his hand. "Here," he said, "you'll need this."

In earlier years, many of Tifereth Jerusalem's students were out-of-towners whose hometown had no yeshivah. The parents of these boys, having been convinced of the importance of providing their son with a Torah education, sent them to attend Tifereth Jerusalem and live in the adjoining dormitory. Naturally, parents were often anxious about such arrangements and whenever Reb Moshe became aware of this, he did his best to calm these fears. He could sometimes be found speaking to a mother who sat nervously in the hallway of the yeshivah while her son sat in his new class for the first time. Once, he was seen assuring the mother of a nine-year-old newcomer to the yeshivah that her son would surely overcome his homesick feeling in due time.

One Friday night, as the congregation filed out of the beis midrash after Ma'ariv, Reb Moshe noticed a bewildered-looking out-of-town student. The boy was only too happy to explain hisdilemma to the Rosh Yeshivah. It had been arranged for him to eat the Shabbos meal at the home of a neighborhood couple and he was to have met his host in yeshivah after Ma'ariv. However, the man was nowhere to be seen and the boy did not know where he lived. Reb Moshe told the student to wait while he looked for the man. (In those days, a few Friday night minyanim were conducted simultaneously in the yeshivah.) Reb Moshe found the man davening with a different minyan and then went to get the boy.

This student later related that it was as a result of this incident, where he saw such extraordinary concern and simplicity from a man so great, that he decided to emulate Reb Moshe in dedicating his life to the spreading of Torah.

RABBI NISSAN ALPERT, whose untimely passing came only a few

months after Reb Moshe's, was a prime and beloved disciple of his.

In his eulogy, delivered at the funeral for Reb Moshe

in New York, Reb Nissan told of how their close

relationship developed. At the conclusion of Reb

Moshe's shiur on Friday afternoons, students would

usually rush out. Reb Moshe would remain behind to return the

sefarim to their shelves and climb on benches to shut the lights. As

Reb Nissan related, "The Ribbono shel Olam put an idea into my

mind that I should remain with the Rosh Yeshivah and help him

shut the lights and return the sefarim. When we went home, I would

take his briefcase and carry it for him. Through this, I merited a

tremendous closeness; I was like a member of the family to the Rosh

Yeshivah and to the Rebbetzin ..."

While Reb Nissan spoke of how he achieved a special closeness with Reb Moshe, their relationship actually began well before that time, when Reb Nissan was twelve years old and the first refugee child to become enrolled at Tifereth Jerusalem during World War II. One day, young Nissan was given an envelope containing a tuition statement which he was to take home to his parents. Unknown to the yeshivah administration, Nissan's father was not well at the time and was unable to work. In no way could he and his wife afford to pay tuition. Nissan noticed that his parents were upset by the bill. Realizing that his parents could not honor the request, he felt ashamed to be seen in yeshivah. The next day he remained at home, rarely venturing out of his room.

A few days went by with no change in the situation. Then, one afternoon, there was a knock on the Alperts' door. It was Rebbetzin Feinstein, accompanied by two other neighborhood women. Nissan was a bright, charming child and had quickly become a popular face in the yeshivah. His absence had been noticed. Was he perhaps not well? the Rebbetzin wondered. The Alperts told her the truth.

The next day there again was a knock on the Alperts' door. This time it was Reb Moshe. He asked to see Nissan. When the boy appeared, Reb Moshe asked him, "Do you want to study Torah?"

"Yes," came the shy reply.

"Then there is nothing to be concerned about. Come with me." Reb Moshe took Nissan's hand in his own and in this way the Rosh Yeshivah and the young immigrant walked together to yeshivah. Needless to say, Nissan no longer felt ashamed to attend yeshivah and rose to become one of Tifereth Jerusalem's most outstanding products.

REB MOSHE OFTEN SPOKE OF the importance of performing

mitzvos with true spirit and joy, even at a time when they require

much personal sacrifice. He remarked that in the

early part of this century Shabbos observance in

America was far from easy. Often a religious Jew

would have to search for a new job every Sunday, since his employer had fired him on Friday for his refusal to work on Shabbos. How people reacted to such difficulties had a great effect on the way their children grew up. A well-known Orthodox leader recalls that he was a young teenager the first time he saw Reb Moshe. The Rosh Yeshivah was the guest speaker at a siyum in a small out-of-town shut. His hadran was beyond the listener's comprehension, but one part of the address made an indelible impression. "People destroyed their children by always repeating es iz shver tzu zein a Yid (it is hard to be a Jew). No  it is not hard to be a Jew. It is beautiful and joyous to be a Jew."

His face glowed with pride and happiness when he said those simple words, and the young listener recalls that he too became suffused with pride in his Jewishness.

Reb Moshe did his best to instill in his talmidim a true love for mitzvos, especially Torah study. Once, when addressing the high school of Tifereth Jerusalem, he said, "Moshe commanded the Torah unto us, an inheritance for the congregation of Yaakov (Deuteronomy 33A). What is the significance of the Torah being our inheritance?

"Imagine a bride purchasing a new set of candlesticks before her wedding. Certainly she will be happy, but this will not compare to the joy of a bride who inherited her beloved grandmother's candlesticks. Those are priceless to her; she would not trade them for any pair in the world.

"The Torah that we study is the very same one that Moshe transmitted to our people at Sinai. It is our inheritance!"

When his younger son, Reb Reuven, was a young boy, Reb Moshe would spread out his child's clothing on the radiators in the early hours of cold winter mornings. Then he would dress his son under the covers, before sending him off to yeshivah. Reb Reuven sees more than a father's concern in this act. "My father did not want me to dread getting out of a warm bed to study Torah. He wanted me to feel that Torah study was something to look forward to, not something that was a burden."

A thirteen-year-old boy remarked that he could see Reb Moshe's deep love for Torah from the way he embraced and kissed a sefer Torah whenever it was carried in shut

A former talmid recalled, "When I first attended the Rosh Yeshivah's shiur I was too young to grasp it, but it was worth coming just to see the look on his face  his ahavas haTorah, his love for relating a Torah thought. When someone would interrupt with a question, the Rosh Yeshivah would explain himself again and again (if necessary). When the bachur would finally understand, the Rosh Yeshivah would smile  and sometimes even laugh  from joy!"

IN 1966, A BRANCH OF MESIVTHA TIFERETH JERUSALEM was

founded in Staten Island, New York, with Rabbi Reuven Feinstein

as the rosh yeshivah. Today, the Yeshivah of Staten

island is a major Torah institution, where students

can escape the tumult of city life and immerse

 themselves in Torah learning. Until his very last

years when illness confined him to his home, Reb Moshe would

deliver a weekly shiur in the yeshivah in addition to his visits there

for Shavuos and other occasions. Even when not there in person,

Reb Moshe guided the yeshivah from afar, as his son consulted with

him in formulating yeshivah policy.

Almost since its inception, the talmidim of Staten Island have enjoyed the summer months, which they spend in upstate New York, combining a somewhat lighter learning schedule with recreation. Until the last summer of his life, Reb Moshe would join the yeshivah for at least one month each summer. In earlier years, on summer Shabbos afternoons, Rebbetzin Feinstein would prepare refreshments for a group of high school boys whom Reb Moshe would join for an oneg Shabbos gathering. He would always say a dvar Torah and answer any questions the boys might have.

In his last years, Reb Moshe's physical condition did not permit the members of Camp Staten Island much more than an opportunity to observe him learning outside his bungalow, going for a short walk or davening in the camp's beis midrash. A few years ago the beis midrash was relocated from its original site to a structure only a short distance from Reb Moshe's bungalow, and a path was paved from the bungalow's back door to the beis midrash, so that Reb Moshe could walk to davening on level ground. When, in his very last years, even this short walk became too difficult for Reb Moshe,a golf cart would take him to the beis midrash. Reb Moshe would wave to the small children who would sometimes stand along the path as he rode by.

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