The decisive drashah of Hagaon Harav Aryeh Leib Shapira, shlita, Mashgiach of the Ponevezh Yeshiva, addressing one hundred talmidei chachamim, Shas Yiden, and their relatives who participated in the joyous annual Siyum HaShas, after they were tested by Hagaon Harav Chaim Peretz Berman, shlita, and Hagaon Harav Bunim Schreiber, shlita A fundamental lesson for every parent and mechanech.  *  With the permission of the Torah luminary, a man whose vision has created many great things, the Pozna Rov, Hagaon Harav Avrohom HaLevi Eisen, shlita. At the outset, I would like to extend a special blessing to the esteemed Rebbetzin, who stands behind the Pozna Rov, and helps and supports his endeavors to proliferating true talmidei chachamim. I want to share a story that I heard from the Rov of Yerushalayim, Hagaon Harav Betzalel Zolty, zt”l. From it, you’ll understand how much gratitude and honor are due to the esteemed Rebbetzin. After the Rogatchover Gaon was niftar, a dispute arose between the community members of Dvinsk, where he served as the Rov of the Chassidic community, and the Rebbetzin, the widow of the Rov, zt”l. The size of Dvinsk was approximately like the size of Gan Varsha in Bnei Brak… and the Rogatchover wasn’t even the Rav of the entire city, only of the Chassidic community. Nevertheless, he was considered Rabban Shel Kol Bnei Hagolah, and his fame spread far and wide across the Jewish world. Accordingly, the community members gave him a suitable salary fitting for the Rabban Shel Kol Bnei Hagolah, a generous salary in proportion to what was customarily given to a Rov of such a small community. But after his petirah, the members of the community argued that indeed, the Rogatchover was the Rabban Shel Kol Bnei Hagolah, and therefore they needed to give him a salary accordingly. However, they claimed, the Rebbetzin is not the Gaon of the generation. Therefore, they claimed, we should only need to give her what we would give to any other Rov’s widow, not as the widow of a leading Gaon. This question was brought before the Gedolim of that generation and it even reached the doorstep of Hagaon Harav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, zt”l. Reb Chaim Ozer didn’t need much deliberation to give a psak; he responded immediately and said unequivocally: ‘A wife of a talmid chacham is like her husband. Being that he was the Gadol Hador, therefore, she is also the great like the Gadol Hador. He was the Rabban Shel Kol Bnei Hagolah, and she, the Rebbetzin, is also the Rebbetzin Shel Kol Bnei Hagolah, and therefore, she deserves the expanded allowance, as what her husband received!’ From here, we must draw the necessary conclusion regarding the esteemed Rebbetzin, tlita, the wife of the honored Rov, who took a part in Torah that nobody has been able to claim since the times of Rabi Akiva and his talmidim. Blessed are you that you have merited to have a part in such outstanding talmidei chachamim. You have a hundred talmidei chachamim, a hundred children, and each one of them knows the entire Shas.” **  Morai v’Rabbosai, It is hard for me to speak before you. I will own up, without any shame. During last Chol Hamoed Sukkos, my family members entered the sukkah and found me sitting there and crying. They asked me, “Why are you crying?” And I replied to them that I had just seen documentation from your previous tests, of Shas Yiden. I witnessed how you are fluent with the entire Shas as […]  | Read More The Yeshiva World