An amazing story for Remembrance Day
There was a boy in Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach's yeshiva who said he wanted to travel abroad to visit the graves of the righteous.
Rav Shlomo Zalman asked him why abroad? Had he visited all the graves of the righteous in Israel.
The boy said that he wanted to visit the graves of the righteous because it inspired him to excel in his studies.
Rav Shlomo Zalman invited the boy to go for a walk and took him to Har Herzl, the military cemetery just a few minutes from the yeshiva. The boy did not understand why Rav Shlomo Zalman was taking him there.
"Here." said Rav Shlolmo Zalman, "are the righteous."
Labels: IDF, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Yom HaZikaron
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:30 PM
1 Comments:
The story appears in the frontispiece of Rav Yosef Tzvi Rimon's Halacha M'mikora: Tzava, volume 2. I credit him with getting it 'right', as opposed to anonymous internet posts. Here's my translation:
'Once, a student from Kol Torah in Jerusalem approached Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach zt"l and asked him: may I cancel my learning in order to travel to the graves of righteous people to pray there? Rav Shlomo Zalman answered him: it is preferable that you remain in the yeshiva and learn. The student asked him: Is there no role at times to travel to the graves of the righteous to pray? Doesn't the rav go at times to the graves of the righteous? Rav Shlomo Zalman answered him: One doesn't need to travel to the Galillee in order to pray at the graves of the righteous. When I feel a need to pray at the graves of the righteous, I go to Mount Herzl, to the graves of soldiers who fell sanctifying the Name.
Rav Rimon notes his sources as 'Rav Lau' (presumably the former Chief Rabbi?), and that similar thoughts are found in the book Oro Shel Olam pg. 380, and that he heard this from others as well.
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