Marking the Shloshim of Hagaon Harav Dovid Feinstein zt”l that fell last week, Yerushalayim’s charedi yeshivah-high school Orayta held a special event in the course of which the talmidim divided all 63 masechtos of Shas amongst themselves, pledging to learn them in memory of the tzaddik.
Rav Feinstein zt”s’s talmid Rabbi Dr. Dovid Wapner, who serves as English Studies Principal of the yeshivah, emotionally related how he visited his rebbi exactly one year ago last Chanukah in the office of Mesivta Tifereth Yerushalayim. “It’s been forty years since he last saw me, but he recognized me as soon as I walked into the office and greeted me, ‘Dovid! How are you?’ Tears filled my eyes; it was a deeply emotional reunion.”
Wapner described his years as a young bachur back in Mesivta Tifereth Yerushalayim in New York, the yeshivah which Rav Dovid Feinstein directed for thirty-five years following the passing of his venerable father Harav Moshe Feinstein zt”l. The yeshivah, located in Manhattan, boasts a strong limudei kodesh and general studies program.
“I remember seven or eight of us sitting and learning gemara with Rav Dovid Feinstein. In the course of those shiurim, we’d often discourse on a wide variety of practical topics and questions in realms spanning philosophy, medicine, biology, to name just a few, and amazingly, Rav Dovid manifested bekius in every realm, astounding us with his knowledge, erudition and fluency on virtually any imaginable topic. As a young bachur, I was awed by the breadth and depth of his knowledge, especially after seeing how much time and energy he invested in learning. You could talk to him about anything in the world, and he always had an answer.
“On the other hand, he was exceedingly humble. During those years, he published his sefer Kol Dodi, but refused to even write his name on the title page, because he didn’t feel that it was appropriate as long as his father Rav Moshe was still alive.”
Another episode that Wapner personally witnessed was when an American Rabbi visited Rav Dovid Feinstein in the early 1970s when groups of Lubavitcher chassidim began referring to the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt”l as Mashiach and asked him to state his position on this controversial topic.
“Rav Dovid gazed deeply into the eyes of his distinguished visitor and replied with one but word: ‘Halevai… If only…’” Wapner recalls. He also shared that Rav Dovid Feinstein was a strong believer in ‘koach d’hetera adif, the power of leniency is preferable.’ Rav Dovid frequently stressed to his talmidim that “It’s easy to prohibit and act the part of the righteous and stringent, but true greatness is the ability to examine a shailah from every possible aspect and find a way to permit it.”
Harav Chaim Vidal, Nasi of Yeshivas Orayta and Dayan on the Beis Din of Yerushalayim, and the Rosh Yeshivah Harav Yisrael Asiag also addressed the bachurim at the Kennes.
Born and bred in America, Rabbi Wapner made aliyah over 20 years ago. He taught for decades as an English professor in various universities and colleges, and trained hundreds of English teachers. He was awarded the Teacher of the Year Award by New York’s former mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Hagaon Harav Dovid Feinstein zt”l passed away last month in New York, restoring his soul in purity to Shamayim at the age of 91 on November 6, 2020. An illustrious gadol haTorah, halachic authority and beloved Rosh Yeshivah of Mesivta Tifereth Yerushalayim to thousands of talmidim, he served as a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and was one of the leading Torah sages in America of this generation.