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Hagaon HaRav Henoch Leibowitz ZT”L

Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim               
 

A BUILDER OF TORAH

By Rav Aryeh Zev Ginzberg

More than thirty years ago, at a gathering in Monsey on behalf of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, the great gaon Harav Yaakov Kaminetzky stated publicly the following prophetic words: "The Torah world will one day acknowledge that Reb Henoch Leibowitz is one of the greatest builders of Torah in our generation."

Two years ago, just days before the yom tov of Pesach, the much beloved Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim passed away, and his thousands of talmidim (students) came from throughout the length and breadth of this country and beyond, to pay the kovod acharon (final respects) to their rebbi. Many of these talmidim are today heads of their own yeshivos, at the helm of some of the dozens of branches of the yeshiva that the Rosh Hayeshiva opened over the last thirty years.

How did this happen? How did one man, frail and beset with many health problems over the years, achieve all this? Indeed, how did one lone individual become what Rav Yaakov had described as "one of the greatest builders of Torah in our generation"?

We need to begin our look at the life of the Rosh Hayeshiva Rav Henoch Leibowitz ZT"L, by first taking a brief glimpse of his great father and teacher who was the source of his inspiration and strength.

Hagaon Rav Dovid Leibowitz was a great Torah scholar and baal mussar. He studied in the Yeshiva of Radin under the renowned Rosh Hayeshiva Hagaon Rav Naftali Trop. Being also a great nephew of the Chofetz Chaim, he had very close contact with this holy tzaddik; he even learned with him for two years as a chavrusa (study partner), and helped him write the last volume of the Mishnah Berurah. At the age of twenty, at the suggestion of his great-uncle the Chofetz Chaim, he went to the Slabodka Yeshiva to study and learn from one of the master educators and great baalei mussar of that generation, the Alter of Slabodka. The Alter had a profound effect upon this young, future Torah giant and helped mold and shape him into a great baal mussar and renowned talmid chochom (Torah scholar).

After several years of intensive learning and growing, it was time for Rav Dovid to make his mark on the Torah world. But first he had an obligation to help raise funds for the Slabodka Kollel where he had studied for five years. In the year 1926, he arrived in New York for that very purpose.

After several months in America, he was offered the position of Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, one of the few yeshivos that existed in America at that time. After receiving permission and a bracha (blessing) from his great uncle (the Chofetz Chaim) to remain in America, he began his tenure as the first Rosh Hayeshiva of the yeshiva.

In 1933 he left the yeshiva and opened his own yeshiva; he named it after the Chofetz Chaim. Rav Dovid gave his very heart and soul to teaching and developing talmidim with the Slabodka derech that he had absorbed from his rebbeim in Europe. Just as the yeshiva was starting to take root, after only eight years, Rav Henoch's father passed away at the young age of fifty-two.

Rav Dovid had only one son - Rav Henoch. When his father passed away, Rav Henoch was a young man of twenty-four, not yet married, and in a very fragile state of health. Since it was during World War II - a time of deep economic depression and of complete indifference to Torah and Yiddishkeit ( Judaism)- everyone predicted the yeshiva would now collapse without Rav Dovid.

Everyone - except for the Rosh Hayeshiva. He was a man driven by a fire, deep in his soul, to preserve his father's dream, the mesorah (tradition) of Radin and Slabodka, and his father's legacy.

The first few years were extremely difficult. The Rosh Hayeshiva was all alone in the world, but he fought every obstacle in his path and never gave up. The Philadelphia Rosh Yeshiva, Harav Elya Svei, who remembered the Rosh Hayeshiva's struggles during those difficult days, said it is truly "ah vunder" (a wonder) that he accomplished so much.

For the next sixty-five years, the Rosh Hayeshiva built his dream, step by step, talmid by talmid. He saw each student as not only a young man who could become a great talmid chochom (Torah scholar) one day, but one who could also become a great marbitz Torah (one who spreads Torah). He viewed each talmid as a potential Rosh Yeshiva - he felt each student had the ability to develop himself to become a builder and leader of his own yeshiva.

For decades, the Rosh Hayeshiva constantly told his talmidim, "The world needs you and the world is waiting for you." At the time, we didn't understand what he was referring to. But now we understand. The Rosh Hayeshiva's talmidim have gone on to open yeshivos, day schools, shuls and outreach centers throughout the world. The world of Slabodka and Radin was not destroyed by the Nazis, yimach shemom, but lives on in places like Rochester, New York; Dallas, Texas; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

How did the Rosh Hayeshiva accomplish all this by himself? The answer is that he didn't look at difficulties and challenges the way most of us do. He had a deep level of bitachon (faith) in Hashem, together with a complete belief in his mission and a sense of responsibility for harbotzas Torah (spread of Torah) that helped him to persevere where many others would have given up long before.

An important part of the Rosh Hayeshiva's method of chinuch (education) was that his talmidim had to become the greatest that they could be. Despite his deep commitment to harbotzas Torah throughout the United States, first and foremost was the fact that each talmid had to grow in Torah and mussar to the best of his ability. The Rosh Yeshiva demanded a lot from his talmidim; their learning was intense and challenging. Yet the more he demanded, the more his students gave back to him, because the love that was shared by the Rosh Hayeshiva and his talmidim was unparalleled anywhere else.

Many of the various Rosh Hayeshivos that attended Rav Henoch's levaya (funeral) were amazed to see more than 250 students tearing kriya (tearing one's clothing as a sign of mourning) as one does for a father, because each talmid felt Rav Henoch was his father. And yes, he loved each one like a son.

One of the maspidim (those that eulogize) at the levaya cried out aloud, "Who is going to care for the future of Torah in klal Yisrael as the Rosh Hayeshiva did for more than sixty years?" The answer is that by developing and nurturing talmidim the way he did, and by instilling in them the mesorah (legacy) and the commitment to harbotzas haTorah during these last six decades, the Rosh Hayeshiva ensured that Torah in klal Yisroel will not be forgotten, and that the Rosh Hayeshiva's legacy will live on throughout his many talmidim.

Yehei zichro boruch. May his memory be blessed.