Yahrtzeit next Wednesday, Aug 12
LIVED 1816-1893
133rd yahrtzeit 28 AV BURIED Warsaw, Poland
Reb Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin was the legendary Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Volozhin. He became the Rosh Yeshiva at the young age of 36 and was famous for caring for every talmid as if he were his only son. He wrote many seforim, the most famous of which is Ha’amek Davar.
One day the Netziv walked into the beis medrash of the yeshiva and noticed a new face. He quickly went over to the young man, greeted him with “Shalom Aleichem,” and asked where he had come from. “I am visiting the yeshiva from the city of Pinsk,” the young man replied. “Oh!” exclaimed the Netziv. “I have a brother in Pinsk. How is he doing?” In those days, it was very difficult to know what was happening in faraway places, since there were no phones.
The visitor paused uneasily for a moment and then answered, “Your brother is doing well, baruch Hashem.” The Netziv replied, “I would love to hear more, but I have to give shiur now. Please come to my office afterward.”
After the shiur, the visitor came to the Netziv’s office. The Netziv said, “Please tell me exactly what is going on with my brother.” The man quietly replied, “Rebbe, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your brother passed away a few months ago!”
The Netziv was heartbroken. He then said, “When you hesitated before answering my question, I felt that something was not right. But I had a responsibility to give shiur to my dear talmidim. I knew that if I heard the bad news before the shiur, I would not be able to concentrate properly. That is why, even though I desperately wanted to know what had happened to my brother, I waited until after the shiur.”
The Netziv once asked a bachur who came to take an entrance test at Volozhin, “Do you really want to learn?” “Of course,” answered the bachur. “Do you want to be a masmid?” “Why, of course, Rebbe!” The Netziv then asked, “Do you know what it takes to be a masmid? To be a masmid you have to eat on time, sleep on time, and learn on time!” With these words, the Netziv made sure the bachur understood that “overdoing” things is not the recipe for success. The key to becoming a masmid is in having a healthy and consistent schedule.
I WANNA BE LIKE …
The Netziv
Let’s try to learn Torah with tremendous diligence even while keeping a balanced and healthy schedule and caring for every Jew!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 93.