28 Feb RAV MOSHE FEINSTEIN ZT”L ON HIS 37 TH YAHRTZEIT: A MODEL FOR ALL OF US, AS REMEMBERED BY A TALMUD

It is hard to believe
that this Taanis
Esther will
already be the
37th yahrzeit of
the Rosh Yeshiva,
HaGaon, Rav
Moshe Feinstein,
Zt”l, Zy”a. There
was a time that, when you said ‘Reb
Moshe,’ everyone all over the globe
instantly knew about whom you were
talking. Now, three and a half decades
later, when I speak to seminary students of
yeshiva bochrim and I say Rav Moshe,
they look at me questioningly. ‘Do you
mean Rav Moshe Wolfson, Shlit”a?’ ‘Rav
Moshe Sternbuch, Shlit”a?’ It makes me

acutely aware that there is an entire gener-
ation unaware of the incredible sagacity

and personality of this giant among men.
The posuk commands us, “Zachor
y’mos olam, binu shnos dor v’dor –
Remember the days of old, look into the
generations of the past.” We are advised
to study the past so that we know what to
aspire for and at least of visions of
greatness.
I had the merit to serve the Rosh Yeshiva
during his weekly visits to the Yeshiva
of Staten Island from 1972 to 1982. With
the help of Hashem I was granted even
more exposure to Rav Moshe during the
summer months which I spent together
with him in Camp Yeshiva of Staten
Island, first in what was known as Camp

Westmount, and then in Camp West-
wood.

It is said of certain gedolim, great
people, that their incredible brilliance
together with their vast encyclopedic
knowledge causes one to overlook their
additional sterling character traits. In
this area, I was at an advantage for, as a
rather average adolescent yeshiva

bochur, I did not have sufficient aware-
ness of the Rosh Yeshiva’s

once-in-a-century gaon-ness, and was
therefore able to zoomin on his warm,
kind, sensitive, caring, patient persona.
This was something that a young boy

could embrace. Knowing now, as I do,
that he was the very embodiment of
Torah, I’d like to share with you so some
of my memories so that we may all learn
from some of the beautiful ways of a true
Torah personality.
First of all, there was his incredible
warmth. He never
shook your hand. He
took your hand and
clasped it with both
his hands and gave
your hand a hug. He
gave you a warm
smile and you forgot
that the weightiest
problems of the
entire world rested
upon his shoulders.
Furthermore, his

warmth was univer-
sal. As it states in

Pirkei Avos,
“Eizahu m’chubad?
Ha’mechabeid es
habrios – Who is an
honored person? He who honors all of
Hashem’s creations.” He was oh so nice
to the janitor in the yeshiva. I remember
him saying in a broken English, ‘Thank
you,’ to John who was the caretaker at
Yeshiva Staten Island. My brother,
Rabbi Yosef Asher Weiss, who married
Rav Moshe’s granddaughter Ahuva,
remembers that when they had a baby,
they had a Jamaican nurse, Shirley, by
name, who remembered affectionately

the fine old man who was always pleas-
ant to her. Every Shavuos, our wonder-
ful cook, Mr. Yager, OB”M, would

receive a special visit in the kitchen from
Rav Moshe, thanking him effusively for
making so many hundreds of delicious
blintzes by hand for his bochrim.
This kindness was also seen throughout
his pesakim, his halachic decisions.
Throughout the world until this day, his
many volumes of Responsa, the Igros
Moshe, are still used as the final say in
diverse matters of Halacha. His son,
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, zt”l, relates that

when his father first came to America in

1937, after escaping the harsh persecu-
tions of the NKVD, when he was the

Rav in Luban, Russia, he was not
looking to be on the world stage. He was
planning to teach Torah in MTJ, and
write his wonderful seforim. But, when

the many warwidows started returning
from the Holocaust, not knowing the
fate of their husbands who were last seen
in death camps, no one wanted to touch
these difficult agunah questions for there
is no wiggle room for a mistake in this

area. If you permit the woman to remar-
ry and her first husband comes back

alive, it is catastrophic. Rav Moshe, with

his great sensitivity and kindness under-
took this

task which
catapulted
him upon
the world
stage. On
who is
profficient
with his
h a l a c h i c
decisions
will know
that they
are laced
w i t h

kindness and a great depth of human
understanding.
Then, there was his incredible humility.
There were no airs about him. He was
affectionately known as the Gaon of
Normalcy. Yet, who could forget
Agudah Conventions in the 1980s when
Rav Moshe would enter and a
thousand people would jump up
with alacrity in his honor. He
was the true example of, “He
who flees from honor, honor
pursues him.” Another unique

feature, concerning him, some-
thing which we in America do

not see in our generation, that
was seen during his years as the
chairman of Moetzas HaGadolei
Ha Torah: When he rendered a

decision, it was almost immedi-
ately universally accepted and

this is from a person whose
posture was soft and yielding.
There was something else that
left an indelible impression upon
a young boy’s mind and heart.

This was his incredible all-encompass-
ing Torah Hasmada, Torah diligence. To

put it simply, he was always learning or
writing his Torah novella. Those who
are old enough remember how he would
assiduously learn Mishnayos during the
pauses in davening and while wrapping
his or upon awakening from a nap, he
would carry around a Tanach and review
over and over again Torah, Naviyim,

and Kesuvim. He had the uncanny
ability to pick up the phone while he
was learning, answer someone’s
question and then seamlessly continue
immediately from where he left off in
his learning. His notebooks, which
contain his Torah chiddushim, novel
insights, would start and end in the
middle of sentences which, to me,
always carried the message that Torah is
a non-stop and unending pursuit of life.
Yet, even with this amazing discipline,
there existed the
perfect balance that,
when he spoke with
someone the person
never felt rushed or
that he was a bother.
Then, there was Rav
Moshe’s incredible
tefillah. There are
many people who,
being so immersed
in learning, dispatch
their prayers as
quickly as possible,
or relegate tefillah to

a second-class activ-
ity. When the Rosh

Yeshiva davened,
nothing else existed.
He stood ramrod
straight while
davening Shemone
Esrei and even
during chazoras
hashatz, the
chazon’s review of
Shemone Esrei, he
was still totally

immersed. I remember
once I needed to get his
attention during the
review of the Shemone
Esrei. I had to go
around, face him and
look right at him before
I could break his
concentration. And
how he prayed for Klal Yisroel! I
remember mincha on Erev Yom
Kippur. He would come in to daven
with a long list that had names for good
health, for shalom bayis, for childless
couples, for parnassa, and more.

Then there was his incredible toler-
ance, his savlonus. I remember we had

a middle aged man in yeshiva who
was somewhat mentally unbalanced.
One day, around 10:30 in the morning
while the entire yeshiva was sitting
and learning with their chavrusas, this

man came in and started saying Shem-
one Esrei aloud to the shock of the

mashgiach, HaRav Gershon Weiss,
Shlit”a, who was sitting there as well.
But, since Rav Moshe was also in the
room no one said anything, awaiting
his reaction. When this man got up to
say the Kedusha, Rav Moshe calmly

got up as well and answered respon-
sively – so of course all of us did so as

well. And now, four decades after that
incident of amazing tolerance, it still
leaves an incredible impression upon
me. On the Lower East Side as well,
he would be a bastion of acceptance to
the most difficult people.

An appreciation of his all-encompass-
ing knowledge and depth of the full

gamut of Torah is beyond the scope of
this short appreciation. Suffice to say
that the entire world recognizes that
when he rendered a halachic decision,
he took everything that was written in
the Talmud and Shuchan Oruch, the
Tur and the Rambam, the Mishna
Berurah and the Oruch Hashulchan,
the written law and the oral law,
countless Rishonim
and Achronim,

without ever forget-
ting a single detail. He

was an unparalleled
master at applying the
full-range of Torah
law to any question
that was posed to him ,
even concerning the
newest modern

technology, scientific breakthroughs,
and medical advances.
To close this appreciation, which of
course barely touches the surface, we
must mention what might have been
the Rosh Yeshiva’s crowning virtue.
All his life he was a man of peace.
When asked the perennial question
why he thought he merited living so
long, he answered, “Mein gantz leben
hab ich kein mahl nit g’ton vay tzu ah
mentchen – My whole life I never
caused another person pain.” He was
universally loved by Jews of all
stripes and from all continents. He
would say that it is not enough to learn
Torah one must learn Toras Shalom
and would quote the Rambam that the
whole Torah was given to promote
peace, as it says. “D’racheha darchei
noam, v’chol nesivoseha shalom – Its
ways are ways of sweetness and all Its
paths are paths of peace.”
May we all merit to follow in his
glorious footsteps, may he be a meilitz
yosher, a good intercessor, for world
Jewry about whom he cared for with
every fiber of his

being. May his nesha-
ma have an aliya from

the inspiration that his
life continues to
generate in us, and in
that merit may we be
blessed with long life,
good health, and
everything wonderful.

I