A Rosh Yeshiva first and foremost
Our teacher and mentor, Rabbi Avraham Elkana Cahana Shapira zts”l, once told me, in so many words: “I did many things in my life but first and foremost I am a Rosh Yeshiva and it is with the strength that this granted me that I accomplished everything else.”
Our revered Rav’s dedication to the yeshiva was boundless. During the last years of his life, although his health deteriorated and his strength dwindled, he made a superhuman effort to continue to give the shiur clali (weekly Talmud lecture to the entire yeshiva with new aspects of the Gemara the whole student body was learning) - and once told me, as he grasped my hand while we walked to the Yeshiva: “One must dedicate one’s entire self, limsor et hanefesh, for the Yeshiva.” He would say this several times until we reached the yeshiva hall.
As Rosh Yeshiva of Merkaz Harav, our Rav’s contribution to all of the People of Israel and to his students for generations to come is immeasurable. It cannot be quantified. Still, let us try to elucidate several basic principles our beloved Rav inculcated in his students, principles permanently engraved upon their hearts and in the yeshiva for generations to come.
Mesora
Our revered Rav Shapira stressed the centrality and necessity of Mesora, the transfer of Torah from generation to generation, the connection of every student, through his own rabbi, to the Torah Sages that preceded him all the way to Moshe Rabbeinu at Mount Sinai. And the fact is, that for his students, our Rav himself epitomized that connection and the voice of all those who passed on the Torah before him. We saw him as the image of the great rabbis called “Maatikey Hashmua”- literally, those who recorded the Torah that had been heard before them - who were his teachers. This was expressed in real terms by our Rav, who would say in his shiurim on the work “Ksot Hachoshen” on Motsaei Shabbat that "the writer of the Ksot is with us as we learn."
When he told us about Torah Luminaries it seemed as if they had come to life and were sitting at his side in the room with us. I know that this had the power to inspire those students who later took part in the passing on of Torah to the next generations to give their students the same feeling of inner connection to the continuation of the Torah’s great Mesora as received at Sinai. This was Mesora that comes not out of a narrowminded outlook limiting Torah to being imitative and also not out of a desire for newness disconnected from precedent, but a living and linear direct continuation of Mesora that stretches from the giving of the Torah on through those who passed on what had been heard at Sinai.
That is the source of the importance he gave to serving Torah Sages “shimush Talmidei Chachamim”, a direct unfiltered connection between a Rav and his student. Once he even told me that this is one of the goals of the daily shiurim in the yeshiva, that they must consist of a kind of conversation between each Rav and his students, so that the student receives not only knowledge but also love for a living and vital Torah. And talking Torah with Rav Shapira was always exciting and alive, full of light and joy, the joy of receiving the Torah at Sinai.
The aspiration for greatness and belief in one’s self
Our Rav would say again and again: “It is forbidden to be mediocre”. Besides their being an uncompromising call to aspire to greatness, these words also included the command to believe in one's self and in one’s abilities. In his last years, the Rav said once that he has no doubt that he gave the Almighty satisfaction in that he educated a young generation of our people to believe in their ability to connect to Torah, to grow in it and develop into Torah scholars, talmidei chachamim of their time and ‘maatikey shmua” for Jewish generations to come. In contrast to the sounds of negativity and idealization of mediocrity around him, our Rav stressed the need for uncompromising effort to strive to be truly the best.
Responsibility
Every Rosh Hashanah our Rav would remind us that many of the people of Israel do not know how to daven at all, and that we, at the yeshiva, must be their representatives before Hashem in our prayers.
He himself was guided by the concept he emphasized when talking to us, the idea that we must act with a feeling of responsibility and caring for the entire nation of Israel.
This brought home, as nothing else could, the realization that our concentration on Torah and serving Hashem is not a private matter, but one that stems from the magnitude of our responsibility to care about all of Israel. This caring was obvious in every step taken by our Rav, and became deeply rooted in the Yeshiva and its students.
May his memory serve as a blessing for all of Am Yisrael.
Rabbi Avraham Yisrael Sylvetsky is a Ra"m and Rosh Kollel at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva and was at Rav Shapira's side for many years.