THE WORLD ACCORDING TO REB SHAUL

Stories and sayings from R’ Chaim Shaul Brook a”h, as recorded by his close talmid, R’ Chaim Ashkenazi a”h.

THE CHOZER WHO BECAME A RAV

R’ Yisroel Noach “the small,” who was a chozer in Lubavitch, had to obtain ordination for the rabbinate in the shortest possible time. This was because his father-in-law had died and R’ Yisroel Noach was going to be appointed rav in his place. So he studied the material eighteen hours a day for nine months until he was awarded smicha.

On the first Chag HaMatzos (i.e. Shavuos) that he went to Lubavitch after being appointed rav, after the Rebbe Rashab said Chassidus, R’ Yisroel Noach stood and spoke with a group of rabbanim. When the bachurim went over to hear what the former chozer was talking about, what did they hear? They heard him discussing halachic matters brought in the responsa of Acharonim.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A ROSH YESHIVA?

A certain Torah scholar came to Lubavitch because they wanted to see if he was suitable as a rosh yeshiva. The scholar announced which topic his shiur would be on and the bachurim prepared questions in order to test him. When the shiur began, each of the bachurim asked his questions. Instead of answering them, he refuted each question one by one. When the bachurim expressed their surprise, for these questions were written in commentaries on the sugya, he then proceeded to explain the questions. He told them that a rosh yeshiva doesn’t necessarily have to innovate and respond; his job is to teach the talmidim how to understand the question.

GOOD PREPARATION FOR A “GUTTER YID”

R’ Shaul Brook said to the son of a Poilishe Rebbe who learned with him in Tel Aviv, “Learn Likkutei Torah, perhaps you’ll become a ‘gutter yid’ (a Polish Admur) and then you’ll have what to say.”

DON’T SPEAK SO FAST

R’ Shaul Brook told me several times: Don’t speak so fast. You might become a melamed and they won’t understand you. He said that his melamed told him the same thing.

“WHEN YOU SIT IN YOUR HOUSE AND WALK ON THE ROAD”

R’ Shaul Brook said about my great-grandfather, R’ Shneur Zalman Ashkenazi, that toward the end of his life, it was hard for him to go to the mikva and to shul. He complained to R’ Shaul that he doesn’t have occasion to recite Mishnayos by heart since he was cooped up in the house all day and learned from a book, and if he were able to leave the house he would be able to learn Mishnayos by heart.

A PIPE OR LEARNING?

They asked the Alter Rebbe why he did not smoke a pipe. He said that in his youth, he had a friend who smoked. Once, as they learned, the pipe went out and he had to stop learning in order to clean it out. During that time, the Alter Rebbe learned seven folios of Gemara. He realized it was a waste to squander time from learning because of a pipe.

REFERENCE SEARCH VERSUS COMPREHENSION

R’ Shaul would say to his talmidim: My job is to answer your questions about acronyms or citations in Chassidus or Tos’fos instead of you having to look it up, but to understand what is being learned – you need to do that yourselves.

MODERN DAY APATHY

R’ Shaul would say: In previous generations, when they learned Gemara and reached a statement such as “this Mishna is not like Ben Nannes,” they would tremble for how could it be “not like Ben Nannes,” Oy vey. But today, when they learn how it is “not like Ben Nannes,” nobody cares – so let it be “not like Ben Nannes.”

WHERE IS THE “WORLD?”

R’ Shaul explained the common expression in the commentaries (like the Maharsha and Maharam), “the world asks,” and said that one time, someone sat down and learned these words and wondered: Where is this world that asks these questions?

He went out to the street and saw two people talking and he was sure they were the ones who had the question. But when he approached them he heard them discussing other things. He went to many places and did not find the world that has these questions until he went to the beis midrash and saw two talmidim learning and raising the question. He said: Ah, this is the world!

THE LAMDAN VERSUS THE MAN OF REFINEMENT

R’ Shaul said: In Belz there lived a rav who was a big scholar. He was once asked a question in Halacha and was inclined to pasken a certain way, but since he saw that the Beer Heiteiv paskens differently, he paskened like the Beer Heiteiv.

They asked him: But you are a bigger scholar than the Beer Heiteiv, so why did you pasken like him?

He said: It’s true that I’m a bigger scholar than he is, but the Beer Heiteiv lived fifty years ago and the world was more refined then, so it was easier for him to discern the truth of Torah.

ON NEGATING “WORLDLY ASSUMPTIONS”

THIEVES, GIVE MONEY!

R’ Shaul once told a gabbai in one of the shuls in Rishon L’Tziyon that he would be attending his shul on Shabbos in order to make an appeal for the yeshiva. But in the end, R’ Shaul did not show up that Shabbos. The gabbai asked him what happened.

R’ Shaul said he had been tired and he would come the following Shabbos (R’ Shaul emphasized that he did not ask the gabbai for permission; he simply informed him).

The following Shabbos, when he went to the shul, everybody was waiting to hear a drasha from him. Instead, R’ Shaul just looked at the crowd and forcefully said, “Thieves, give money! The talmidim in yeshiva need to eat.” And he went down from the bima and began saying a Mi Sh’Beirach [a blessing for each person to make a public pledge]. When he got to one of the wealthy men, he asked R’ Shaul, “Why are we thieves?”

R’ Shaul said, “Your money belongs to G-d, so why do you hold on to it?”

OUR SKYSCRAPERS

When they asked R’ Shaul upon his return from visiting the Rebbe if had seen the wonders of the United States like the tall buildings, he said that in Eretz Yisroel they had the same thing. It’s just that you have to look at the building sideways, not as it is upright.

BOARDING A PLANE

R’ Shaul would not wear a shirt. He would just wear a long-sleeved undershirt with tzitzis and a suit jacket. He said there was no need to wear a shirt, for the undershirt was worn to separate between the skin and the tzitzis and the jacket was worn as a sign of respect for davening, so who needed a shirt?

When he traveled to the Rebbe, he arrived at the airport with a jacket minus a shirt. After he went through border control, security did not want to allow him to proceed to the boarding area since it did not look to them as though he was a real traveler to the United States, especially in those days when the trip was rare and expensive. They wanted to remove him from the terminal and someone had to intervene and testify that he was in fact traveling to the United States.

THE CREASE INTERFERES

R’ Shaul would say that once people started wearing pressed pants, they stopped performing Tikkun Chatzos, because how could you sit on the floor in pants like that? First you would have to sweep the floor. What kind of Tikkun Chatzos would follow that?

HOW TO BECOME A MAN

R’ Shaul described how his bar mitzva was celebrated. On the day of his bar mitzva, his father brought mashke and mezonos to shul and after the davening, everyone wished him mazal tov. That was the entire celebration.

THE NEW STYLE

R’ Shaul once visited R’ Refael Kahn and saw him drinking modern tea, i.e. in a tea bag. He said: Foleh, you’ve become modern?!

WHO IS A GADOL?

When R’ Shaul motioned to someone to daven for the amud and the person refused, he would say: It says “You do not refuse a gadol,” and I’m a gadol. The proof is that I already have children and grandchildren, and “a Katan does not have children.”