At the beginning of my first year at Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, the flagship yeshiva of Religious Zionism founded in Jerusalem in 1924 by Rabbi Avraham Yitschak HaCohen Kook, Israel's first Chief Rabbi, the parents of first year students were invited to an evening introducing them to the yeshiva. For my parents, who up to then did not know what higher yeshiva studies entailed, this was the first exposure to a world they had not yet encountered, at least not firsthand.
My parents were extremely impressed by the well planned program and by the Rabbinic faculty who revealed the details of yeshiva life to them and patiently answered all their questions, but what left the deepest impression on them was meeting the then head of the yeshiva, our revered mentor Rabbi Avraham Elkana Cahana Shapira zts"l - or Reb Avrum, as everyone called him. It was he who bore the yoke of guiding the yeshiva on his shoulders and it was he, who in the past, had served as Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel
He greeted my father with the pleasant and ready smile that characterized him, expressed interest in his wellbeing, and then asked: "Do you see angels?" His famous sense of humor is hard to explain to those unfamiliar with it, but this kind of question, when asked by Rav Shapira zts"l, acted as an icebreaker that melted the tension and anxiety that can accompany spiritual journeys. And perhaps it was in order to ensure the embarkation on that journey that Reb Avrum always tried to raise a smile on the face of anyone who met him.
And so, this elderly rabbi, aged over ninety, made his way smiling from one student's parents to another's, his beaming countenance providing a pleasant and uplifting taste of the world of our holy Torah. Every so often, my father still reminds me of the time he met the Rosh Yeshiva, an unforgettable evening with a giant personality whose height came nowhere near his stature.
Truly, how wondrous...
So many vivid memories come to mind when I try to picture Rav Shapira zts"l, whose fifteenth yahrzeit falls on the first day of Sukkot. In my mind's eye, I stand in his presence, hearing his words before the first of the Rosh Hashannah shofar blasts. I see him wrapped in his white kittel, his tallit covering his forehead, his face like a burning torch, his voice arising from the depths, accompanied by tears flowing from the innermost chambers of his heart. I did not understand much of what he said, but two words that I did understand are engraved deep in my memory: "Cherdat hadin", the trembling before judgment is meted out. Not fears about his personal life, or of what lies before him, but a deep desire to act according to G-d's Will, fear and trembling at the thought of missing the essence and goal of life.
This trembling repeats itself in many of my memories of our mentor Rav Shapira zts"l. When he faced us as he delivered the shiur klali (the Rosh Yeshiva's weekly Torah lesson to the entire yeshiva body), after two days of intense preparation on our part so as to understand it, I felt that I was standing at the foot of Mount Sinai.
Who can forget Rav Shapira zts"l leading the Neilah service on Yom Kippur until the year before his passing, his powerful voice rending the heavens, feet unshod so he could chant the Priestly Blessing, how we trembled as he proclaimed the words "Shema Yisrael" and "Hashem is the Lord" – and how afterwards we all accompanied him to his home, joyfully singing "Mar'eh Kohen" – the song describing the countenance of the High Priest as he left the Holy of Holies.
On Simchat Torah, the Hakafot were filled with mingled awe and joy - detiftach libai beOrayta -"May it be Your Will that my heart opens to Torah…" And so it was at the second Hakafot in Beit Harav, where Rabbi Kook had lived, crowded and somehow roomy at the same time.
Rav Shapira was a Talmudic genius, but not only – first and foremost, he was the epitome of awe of God. How I wish I could explain this feeling, "Fortunate is he who saw all this" – truly, how wondrous was the High Priest...
Of all the memories that surface one after another in my mind, I would like, in a few words, to describe the mitzvah of "Hakhel" that took place at the beginning of the Sukkot holiday at the end of a shmitta year. This mitzvah, which we hope to be able to fulfill in its entirety soon, glowed with the special light of our mentor Rav Shapira zts"l and recalling it will give everything I have described up to now special and unique significance.
Seeing in depth
What is the objective of the mitzvah of Hakhel? What is the significance of an event attended by elders and Torah luminaries as well as infants and children who do not understand the Torah portions read by the king to which all those present must listen? In parashat Vayelech, read not long ago, Moshe Rabbeinu says to his successor Yehoshua, (Deut 31,12) "Gather the nation the men, women, children and converts in your gates so that they will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God and keep all the words of this Torah."
Rav Shapira, our mentor, wrote the following about this mitzvah: "The mitzvah of Hakhel is in the same vein as the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, as the Rambam wrote in the Laws of Chagiga: 'He who cannot hear realizes the reading in his heart, as the mitzvah was given only to strengthen the true faith, and so that he can see himself as having just been commanded to keep it and hearing it from God', because the king is a messenger delivering God's Words."
"Thus, it appears that Hakhel concerns the grandeur of the Torah as it was revealed at Mount Sinai, and since Hakhel concerns the Torah's grandeur at the time it was given, the mitzvah to bring young children is not for educational reasons alone, but so that they will take part in the mitzvah of realizing the grandeur of Torah as it was at Sinai. That is why even the young children must be brought to Hakhel."
According to our mentor Rav Shapira zts"l, the goal of the mitzvah of Hakhel is, in the main, not giving over knowledge and information, but inculcating the spiritual foundations upon which Torah knowledge can flourish, a foundation that is awe of God and honor for Torah, a foundation that both an infant and a Torah Sage are in need of.
Every minute we spent with our mentor Rav Shapira zts"l was permeated with that awe and honor for the grandeur of Torah. Every meeting had something of the atmosphere at Mount Sinai. And perhaps that is the deeper meaning behind his half jesting question asking if we see angels. Do we manage to see the infinite depth of our lives? The infinite depth of Torah?
One angel, however, one transcendent figure, we at the yeshiva were blessed and fortunate to have seen.
Rabbi Lior Laviis a Ra'm in Yeshivat Ramot, Jerusalem and one of the heads of Bishvil Emunah, an organization dedicated to spreading tenets of faith among the public and wrote Maavarim on the challenges of contemporary culture in modern times.
Translated from Hebrew by Rochel Sylvetsky