RABBI LICHTENSTEIN
that her nation is in danger? Is this the response of someone who
cares?
Jewish people beyond. As he continued in that same talk,
“Today we must, out of the crisis, assume an educational
and ideological task … The challenge is, can we continue
to inspire the yearning for sanctity, shake people out of
complacency, get them to face the great call of the hour
- to understand the importance of the State of Israel, to
understand the historical process in which we live - without losing a sense of morality, of proportion, of right, of
spirituality?”
But this giant had no PA, no secretary. He answered his
own phone, and as is well known, in the days before cell
phones, he answered the public phones for his hundreds
of students if he happened to be walking past when they
rang (and he faithfully took messages and passed them on
to those students, much to their mortification). He knew
if one of the sixty-odd boys in his class was absent for more
than two lessons and he would come visit that student if
he was sick his dormitory despite the fact that every week
he taught 30 or more such classes (easily 2000 students per
week).
The space in his heart and mind was so stupendously enormous: he was engaged with Hashem, with the world at large,
the Jewish people, the State of Israel and more; yet individuals never got lost in there.
I recall with some embarrassment now, how when I returned
from the army one Friday for a weekend break, I found my
room had been cleared out for one of the annual periods in
which the Yeshiva rented out its rooms to generate income.
After one fruitless conversation with an administrator, I went
straight to Rav Aharon zt”l with my domestic complaint and
he dealt with it. Nothing was trivial for him.
If there is one flame of his personality that I would say burns
brightest in my memory it was his sense of mission – not
only for himself, but for every human being. Rav Aharon zt”l
was driven. It was palpable. – in his comments on the book of
Esther, he said as follows,
“At this point, Mordekhai sends her a message which, if we read
it correctly, is quite terrible. I myself tremble anew each time I
reach this verse, ‘And Mordekhai said in reply to Esther: Do not
imagine that you will escape in the king’s palace from [among] all
the Jews.’ (4:13)
“What a biting accusation! … However, [ܙZ