Tribute to Rabbi Moshe Twersky 2

Rabbi Twersky was an amazing person.  In a certain sense, a study of contrasts.  He was a descendent of a distinguished Chassidic lineage and very much studied Chassidic thought and teachings, embraced those teachings, and fashioned his unique approach in service of G-d in accordance with that rich heritage.  On the other hand, he was a grandson and closestudent of Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (of Boston) and a student of Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik (of Yerushalayim) as well.  He very powerfully and completely imbibed the Lithuanian tradition of Brisk.  The teachings of the Brisker dynasty was in his blood.  To a great extent, it was his very blood.  He breathed and lived their traditions and teachings.  We never saw contradictions, though.  He synthesized – in his singularly unique way – not only the analytical prowess of Brisk together with the fiery zeal of Chernobyl and Tolna; but even in philosophy and personal conduct.  One time, during aChanukah party, one of the students delivered a Torah presentation in which he mentioned a thought from one of the great Chassidic Rebbes and another thought from the founder of the Brisker Dynasty.  Later in the evening, Rabbi Twersky was slated to speak.  He made reference to that student’s presentation and joyfully exclaimed, “That was the first time that I heard both of my ancestors mentioned in the same presentation!  Somehow, Rabbi Twersky, with his prodigious mind and tremendous heart, managed to incorporate it all into his life.  He put it all together in a way that everything fit, seamlessly.  He was a pure embodiment of studying Torah for its own sakeand the outlook that Torah study stands as the preeminent value, together with a complete and total fiery enthusiasm and total devotion in service of G-d.     

A humorous and touching example of this was when Rabbi Twersky was once speaking to the whole Yeshiva (perhaps at that same Chanukah party, I don’t recall).  He mentioned the idea that when a Chassidic Rebbe or a very righteous person prays in a certain place it creates a spiritual impression there that makes it easier for others to pray with devotion. Because Rabbi Twersky was widely referred to as “the Rebbeh” by most of the students in the Yeshiva – and his devotion in prayer and blessings was legendary - many of the guys got tickled by Rabbi Twersky mentioning such an idea and their facial expressions expressed their delight.  Rabbi Twersky, though, in his incredible humility did not imagine for a moment the reason for our smiling faces; it just would not occur to him at all that we would relate to him as such.  Without a word passing between us, all of us – literally the whole Yeshiva – knew why we were all smiling, because we were staring at our very own adored “Rebbeh”.  But Rabbi Twersky just figured it must have been a result of him having quoted a Chassidic source for the idea he mentioned in a predominantly Lithuanian-style Yeshiva.  So, speaking over the giggles, Rabbi Twersky said, “Ok, if you’d like I’ll quote you a Nefesh Ha’Chaim (a primary source of Torah philosophy in the Lithuanian Yeshiva world)!”  At that point – precisely because Rabbi Twersky’s comment demonstrated how, in his supreme humility, he was so totally unaware of how we all felt about him – the whole student body burst out laughing.  You have to understand, in no way was this a ridiculing type of laughter.  Not at all.  It was exactly the opposite!  It was the nervous type of laughter.  They just could not get over the fact that here was our very own most righteous tzaddik, our very own “Rebbeh”, and it did not even occur to him for even a moment how revered he was in our eyes!  The truth is, thinking back to that occasion fills me with a pang of guilt.  I doubt anyone afterward went over to Rabbi Twersky to explain to him the reason for our outburst.  We simply had too much awe of him to do such a thing.  So Rabbi Twersky, in his incredible modesty, might have been left feeling that his sermon was simply laughed at. I really hope he forgives us for that.  If only he had known how much reverence that nervous laughter really expressed.  Hopefully, in his place in the Heavenly Yeshiva he is now aware.  Truth be told, though, it probably doesn’t matter.  Knowing Rabbi Twersky, he probably forgot the whole incident by the morning.

There was one time that I can recall where Rabbi Twersky did act ever so slightly like a Rebbeh.  Rabbi Twersky was part of a very elite matzah-baking group.  He asked me one year to help him transfer the sticks used for inserting the dough in the oven from place to place.  Even this task of moving the sticks was done with incredible alacrity.  When we finished, Rabbi Twersky said, “Helping me get ready for matzah baking serves as a merit to finding a good match.  Every student who has ever helped me, has always gotten married within the year.”

Another example of Rabbi Twersky’s lack of awareness of how we felt about him comes to mind.  There was a student in his class one year whose parents owned an apartment in the Old City of Yerushalayim.  Apparently, to obviate any concern whatsoever regarding which day of Purim to keep, Rabbi Twersky was interested in sleeping over in the Old City on the night of Purim. How he worded his request, though, was amazing.  “There’s something I want to ask you, but I can only ask you if you feel fully comfortable saying no in the event that you do not want to grant the request.”  After receiving that assurance, Rabbi Twersky proceeded to ask if it would be at all possible for him to stay in their apartment in the Old City the night of Purim.  In his mind, the student was ecstatic at the opportunity to do this favor for him.  The apartment not being his, though, he mentioned that he would have to check with his parents if it would be ok.  Well, Rabbi Twersky apparently felt that there was a slight degree of hesitation in his student’s tone of voice, and he immediately said, “You know what; just forget I asked.  It’s fine.  Thank you anyway.”  The student was sorely disappointed that he would not in the end be able to do this favor for his beloved Rabbi.  His awe, though, for Rabbi Twersky did not enable him to spill his raw feelings freely.

There is a thought that Rabbi Twersky once said in a Friday class that sticks out in my mind.  The verse in Vayeilech 31:17 talks about terrible things that will befall the Jewish People and the verse ends off, ×•××ž×¨ ביום ההוא הלא על ×›×™ אין אלקי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות האלה, “And he (the Jewish People) will say on that day (after all the terrible things have come to pass) behold it is upon that my Lord is not in my midst that all these terrible things have found me.” Rabbi Twersky quoted an explanation that what this means is that Jews thinking that Hashem is not with them is what causes the troubles to befall them.  From the emphatic, enthusiastic manner in which Rabbi Twersky transmitted this explanation, I got the impression that this was one of his major creeds in life, that a Jew is never alone; Hashem is always with you. Only when we lose sight of this do troubles come about.

At a certain point, the Rabbis of the Yeshiva started a rotation of joining the students in Yeshiva for the meals on Shabbos.  The studentsabsolutely loved it when it was Rabbi Twersky’s turn.  For me, personally, the best part was the Friday night oneg (a get-together with refreshments and singing).  Rabbi Twersky would choose a theme to discuss and he would deliver it in installments.  We would sing in between each installment.  He was literally weaving his words of Torah into the singing.  It was such an experience!

Around the period of the nine days, when we mourn the destruction of the Temple, Rabbi Twersky told us a thought that carries a powerful message.  The Sages recount that when the Romans entered the Holy of Holies at the time of the destruction, they found the Cherubs atop the holy Arkin a deep embrace.  The obvious question is why?  The Cherubs being in an embrace would suggest a loving, harmonious relationship between Hashem and the Jewish People but this was the height of the destruction when the whole People was being slaughtered and exiled!  Rabbi Twersky explained it to us with a parable from real life; from his own life.  “When your kids are around, you don’t necessarily feel a need to make sure they have everything they require.  There’s a certain feeling of ‘there’s the fridge, you know how to take what you want’.  I have a daughter who is going away, and now all of a sudden I found myself being concerned about every detail.  I felt a need to make certain that she has everything she needs.  So the idea is that when you are saying goodbye and now there is going to be distance, you feel a strong urge to make sure that your child has everything they’ll need.  That, as it were, was why the Cherubs were embraced at the time of the destruction. It was a time of intense closeness because it was Hashem’s hug goodbye, as it were.  Now that we were going away from Him, as it were, He is more concerned, as it were, that we have everything we need.”

Like many concepts that came out of Rabbi Twersky’s mouth, this is a deep idea.

In his service of G-d, Rabbi Twersky was the real thing.  We all know that the Torah requires us to walk differently on Shabbos then we do during the week.  Rabbi Twersky is the only person I have ever seen who keeps thislaw the way it really was intended, not just following the letter of the law, but the full spirit of the law as well.  Whenever he hosted students for a Shabbosmeal, we would invariably get to his house a solid ten to fifteen minutes before him.  Why?  Because he was very slowly strolling through the street with his son Avraham (Avrumie at that time) in the full spirit of Shabbos-the-day-of-rest.  You could really see the total aura of relaxation in the way Rabbi Twersky walked on Shabbos.

Rabbi Twersky truly lived his life with Hashem.  He was forever before G-d.  A student once asked Rabbi Twersky about a book that deals with science and Torah.  In the course of that discussion, Rabbi Twersky emphatically said, “they are wallowing in the mud.”  To his mind, a Yeshivastudent should feel no need whatsoever to take into account what scientists come up with.  Our Torah is the pure, unadulterated truth, and science at best manages to stumble on something right from time to time, so why on earth would a Yeshiva student be concerned with what they say?!  The approach seemed a bit extreme to that student’s mind, so he discussed it with anothergreat Rabbi who incidentally knew Rabbi Twersky quite well.  This other Rabbi told the student that in his opinion there is nothing wrong with reading books of that nature.  He had the greatest respect for Rabbi Twersky, though, and he said the following.  “You have to understand, when someone is deeply immersed in kabbalah (the mystical part of the Torah) – which he is! – the pure truth is so starkly clear to them, that anything which does not reflect that absolute, pure truth becomes simply abhorrent.”  By the way, any time anyone would so much as suggest to Rabbi Twersky that he knew kabbalah, in his incredible humility he would totally deny it.  I am certain that in his mind he felt that he truly was not worthy of being known as someone proficient in kabbalah.

This story actually has an amazing sequel to it.  Rabbi Twersky’sopinion that Yeshiva students should not concern themselves with science literature was something that he held very strongly, and he mentioned it from time to time.  He would say that even books whose whole purpose is to demonstrate the truth of Torah through modern, scientific discoveries is good for people who do not have the benefit of being inside the Yeshiva world, butYeshiva students have Torah so deeply so they have absolutely no need for it.  This being the case, a few years ago I was astounded to hear the following from a fellow student of Rabbi Twersky.  “I have a weekly study session with Rabbi Twersky.  We learn the writings of the Alter.  In the course of our learning, we once reached a passage in which the Alter says that seeing the truth of Torah through modern scientific discoveries helps a person achieve emunah b’chush (tangible belief in the Torah, as opposed to merely intellectual).  When we read that, Rabbi Twersky said, ‘Hmmm, I always thought that such things are only for people outside the Yeshiva world.’  Then Rabbi Twersky went silent for a few moments.  Suddenly, he excitedly exclaimed, ‘Emunah b’chush!  Emunah b’chush!”

I was simply floored by that!  You have to understand.  This was not an opinion that Rabbi Twersky had whimsically “shaken out of his sleeve”.  It was a very strongly held notion of his based on how he understood Torah and the way we are meant to relate to it.  To explain away that comment of the Alterwould have been the easiest thing in the world for Rabbi Twersky.  He could have easily suggested that the Alter was only referring to certain things and not others, or perhaps he could have explained that during that time whenapostasy and heretical ideas were so rampant and many yeshiva students were deeply affected by it, it was necessary for the Alter to take the approach that he did.  On top of that, let’s not forget, Rabbi Twersky himself was a true giant of Torah in his own right.  He would have well been within his rights to maintain his position and simply say that he holds differently than the Alter, perhaps suggesting for good measure that were we to look around we’d probably find alternative opinions.  Rabbi Twersky’s attribute of purity of truthand amazing humility, though, was just too strong.  He was a man of truth, and that would not allow him to suggest dubious explanations.  Furthermore, as incredibly great as he was, he was equally incredibly humble, and his submission to the Torah greats past and present was total.      

I was once at Rabbi Twersky’s house on Friday night when his father in law, Rabbi Abba Berman (of blessed memory), was there.  Rabbi Twersky’s submission to him was incredible.  He had Rabbi Berman sit at the head of the table and conduct the Shabbos meal, and Rabbi Twersky sat there as if he was one of the guests; this despite the fact that some of his students were present!  At a certain point, Rabbi Berman, who was already quite elderly by then, retired into a recliner in the other room.  Throughout the duration of the rest of the time we were there, many people – students of Rabbi Berman – were coming in and out of Rabbi Twersky’s house to say good Shabbos and speak to Rabbi Berman.  Rabbi Twersky did not mind this intrusion at all.  He placed his home completely at the disposal of his father in law.

On more than one occasion, Rabbi Twersky’s response to a question I asked was, “This is a difficult issue.  You really need to ask a great Torah authority."  Apparently, despite the fact that everyone around him considered him an absolute Torah giant, he didn’t share that sentiment.

One of the most amazing things about Rabbi Twersky’s greatness in Torah and service of G-d is that it was done without any fanfare.  As Rabbi Moshe Meislman, the Dean of Yeshivas Toras Moshe and Rabbi Twersky’s close relative, so succinctly and clearly put it, “He never made a fuss about himself.  Everything was done in the manner of ‘shayif ayil shayif nafek’ (entering quietly and leaving quietly).  Many people have different audiences in their life.  Rabbi Moshe Twersky, though, had but one audience: G-d.”  “Hischaracteristic of walking humbly and modestly,” added Rabbi Michel Shurkin,a fellow teacher in Yeshivas Toras Moshe and Rabbi Twersky’s close friend of many years, “was something to behold.  He was a genius and a tzaddik, and everything he did was with so much humility.” 

His son Avraham did relate one particular incident, but only to show how modest Rabbi Twersky was about the way he lived.  “One time, we awoke on Sukkos at 3:30 am so we could walk to a different neighborhood and use someone’s lulav and etrog there.  On the way back home, my father told me, ‘Do you think that we are any better than anyone else because of what we just did?  Not at all!  We did what we did because that is what we understood as being necessary and the right thing to do.  But it does not make us better than anyone else by one iota!”  That was Rabbi Twersky. Absolute devotion and always going way beyond the extra mile for Torah andexactitude in mitzvas at the highest level while concomitantly insisting, “I am no better than anyone else”.

I was once at a party meal of a groom who had studied in Yeshivas Toras Moshe.  Rabbi Twersky was there and he spoke.  He mentioned theRashi in parshas Nitzavim on “lo ba’Shamyim hi”.  Rashi says there, “If the Torah would be in Heaven, you would have to go there to get it.”  Rabbi Twersky went on to praise the groom by saying that he is that type of person – a person who, if Torah would be in Heaven, he would actually go there to get it.  A person who pushes himself to do whatever it is that is necessary to make it happen.  I knew the groom pretty well.  Don’t get me wrong, he is a really great guy, but I could not help but feel that Rabbi Twersky’s description just did not quite fit him.  It dawned on me that Rabbi Twersky, in his incredibly humble and magnanimous spirit, was actually describing a characteristic that resonated so powerfully within himself and was projecting it onto that groom.  Because, really, that is exactly how Rabbi Twersky was in Torah and service of G-d.  He pushed himself beyond normal human limits. Way beyond.  Because Torah was literally his lifeblood.  He absolutely had to have it.  And he would do whatever was necessary to get it.  Even to go toHeaven if he had to.

Now Rabbi Twersky is in Heaven occupying his incredible place in theHeavenly Yeshiva.  And we are left behind reeling from the trauma of the horrific tragedy and our terrible, indescribable loss.  Perhaps we can gain a word of comfort from something Rabbi Twersky himself once said in the wake of a horrific tragedy.  It was just after 9/11.  The destruction of the World Trade Center and all the lives that were so cruelly snuffed out created shockwaves throughout the world and within the soul of every decent human being.  Who wasn’t looking for a word of solace, comfort, and direction at that time of intense sorrow?  So, where did I go?  Naturally, to Rabbi Twersky.  I asked him, “Rabbi Twersky, what are we supposed to do?  How are we supposed to react to this?”  Rabbi Twersky’s response was simple and short, but contained within it a depth of meaning that touches the deepest chord of the soul.  “Talk to Hashem.  I don’t mean during formal prayer.  I mean to just talk to Him.”

Intellectually, we realize that we are like that city-dweller watching the farmer plowing the field, cutting down the stalks, and grinding up the kernels into flour.  Not knowing a thing, it all looks like senseless destruction to the city-dweller.  In our brain, we can be aware that we are like the guy looking through the keyhole and all he sees is a hand holding a knife and cutting into someone’s body.  We cannot see more than that so, to us, it just looks like unbridled murder.  Yes, we know that Hashem knows what He’s doing and that everything ultimately is for our good.  But that awareness is way up in theabstract spheres of our rational thinking.  It is our emotions, though, that are heaving and throbbing with pain.  Those emotions are what we feel right now.  It is that intense, seething anguish that is our reality down here in thetangible world we occupy.  So what are we to do? 

Talk to Hashem.

After all, we already know in the logical part of ourselves that it all somehow makes sense even though it’s beyond our comprehension.  So, what do we need?  We need to somehow be able to feel that despite all the incomprehensible pain and destruction, that even in the depths of tragedy, Hashem is with us.  That He never leaves go of us.  That He is always holding our hand and giving us the strength to live and go on, and to grow from our distress.  That’s why we need to talk to Him.  This is perhaps one of the greatest lessons I ever learned from Rabbi Twersky.  Talk to Hashem. Tell Him how it feels.  Share your pain with Him.  Allow yourself to connect with Him even in your most difficult moments.  For that is where you will find your strength and solace.

This is no easy endeavor.  When we’re throbbing with pain we feel like just going into our shell and closing up.  Sometimes, we don’t want to talk. Maybe we are even angry.  Still, talk to Hashem.  That is what Rabbi Twersky would say.  Of course, as in any relationship, even when you’re upset, hurt, and angry, you have to be careful to maintain a respectful tone and not cross red lines in what you say.  All the more so when speaking to G-d.  But talk to Him.  Tell Him everything you’re feeling, and ask Him to help you feel His guiding hand despite the terrible tragedy and pain.

Rabbi Twersky, I ask your forgiveness because I know very well that as much as we knew of you it was but a drop in the ocean.  There is no way that what I wrote here could possibly do you justice.  Still, surely from your place in Heaven you know that I meant well, and that I tried.  Rabbi Twersky, you were a legend in your lifetime to those relative few that were privileged to know you, and now in your passing your memory will become a tremendoussanctification of the Name of G-d – just as you lived your whole life - as the whole Jewish People will get to know this incredible, beautiful facet of its being that was manifest in your amazing personality.  Rabbi Twersky, your presence in this world is and will forever be sorely missed until the day when Moshiach finally comes and we are reunited.  We yearn for that day so much.

From one of your students, forever.