Reb Chaim of Volozhin
225th yahrtzeit:14 Sivan
BURIED: Volozhyn, Belarus
The great Reb Chaim of Volozhin was the most prominent and famous disciple of the Gra, the famous Vilna Gaon. He was the founder of the Volozhiner Yeshiva, which is considered to be “the mother of the yeshivos,” as it was the first yeshiva in the format of today’s yeshivos.
How did Reb Chaim meet the Vilna Goan for the first time? The Gra had come to Reb Chaim’s town for a wedding, and Reb Chaim really wanted to meet him. But the Gra was locked up in his study, learning all day!
The wedding was set to be on Erev Shabbos. Reb Chaim figured that with everyone being busy with the wedding, they would surely forget to bring the Gra hot water to wash himself likavod Shabbos, and so Reb Chaim prepared some hot water and stood outside the room. At one point, the Gra opened the door to his study, and Reb Chaim quickly ran over and said, “Rebbe, please take this hot water!”
There was once a dispute between the communities of Mir and Novhardok. The rabbanim of the communities decided that Reb Chaim should be the one to rule on the case. They had a din Torah, and even though the Rav of Novhardok made a very good case, Reb Chaim ruled in favor of the Mirrer community.
The Rav of Novhardok was unhappy, and felt that Reb Chaim had not ruled correctly, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.
A while later, Reb Chaim happened to bump into the Rav of Novhardok in the marketplace. When meeting him, he told the Rav that two people had asked him to rule in a dispute between them, and since he didn’t feel enough yishuv hadaas (calmness of mind) to rule, could the Rav of Novhardok rule in his place? The Rav happily agreed and ruled for them.
Later, he met Reb Chaim and told him over what he had ruled and the reasoning behind it. Reb Chaim said it was a great ruling and then gently asked him, “Wouldn’t the reasoning behind your psak have applied to resolve the dispute between your community and the community of Mir?”
The Rav then realized how correct the psak Reb Chaim had given was, and that he had simply been favoring his own community.
A while later, the Rav met the people who supposedly had the dispute, and asked them if they had done as he had told them. They then told him that really they had no dispute whatsoever. Reb Chaim, with his special middos, wanted that the Rav should bear no grudge against him, and so he found out when he would go to the marketplace and fabricated a story so that the Rav himself would realize that the psak was the same as the case he himself had ruled on!
I WANNA BE LIKE …Reb Chaim Volozhiner
Let’s all try to make Torah and avodas Hashem the most important thing in our lives, and always focus on building other people up and making them feel great!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 83.