ושמעו לקלך ובאת אתה וזקני ישראל אל מלך מצרים ואמרתם אליו ה' אלקי העבריים נקרה עלינו ... (ג-יח)
One of the greatest Rebbes of the previous generation was R’ Aharon Rokeach zt”l, the Belzer Rebbe. He was known for his total and complete dedication to the servitude of the Almighty while shunning all worldly comforts. From a very young age he seemed to survive on miniscule meals and denial of sleep, and as if he was completely detached from his physical body, he would spend hours on end davening and learning Torah. He was known for his great holiness, so much so that one of the tzaddikim of the generation said regarding him, “Apparently, the Yetzer Hara has forgotten about him.”
Young Ahrele, as he was known, became deeply attached to his Zaida, the Mittler Belzer Rav, R’ Yehoshua Rokeach zt”l, who stood at the helm of the Belzer dynasty until his petirah in 1894. R’ Yehoshua encouraged his grandson to spend his youth steeped in Torah, and taught him Torah that only he was privy to. Nowhere in Galicia was the environment as ripe for Torah growth and development as among the yoshvim of the Belzer Beis Medrash. Some of the most learned Talmidei Chachamim were followers of Belz, including R’ Moshe Greenwald zt”l (Arugas HaBosem), R’ Sholom Mordechai Schwadron zt”l (Maharsham of Brezhan), and, later, R’ Chanoch Dov Padwa zt”l (Cheishev Haephod).
The Tchebiner Rav, R’ Dov Berish Weidenfeld zt”l, was a close friend of Ahrele. He related that even as a bochur, the future Rebbe was already fluent in all of Shas as well as all four sections of Shulchan Aruch. The Tchebiner Rav saw the notes on the Ketzos Hachoshen written during R’ Aharon’s youth and was amazed by the depth of the chiddushim.
On one occasion, R’ Aharon traveled to Kobrin to attend to an important matter. While there, he found himself in a Beis Medrash where a group of avreichim were learning Torah with great intensity. One of the avreichim was the future Rosh Yeshivah of Kamenitz, R’ Boruch Ber Lebowitz zt”l. R’ Aharon already had a reputation as a supreme Torah scholar and some of the avreichim asked if he could give over some of the Torah that he learned on their sugya, from his Zaida, the Belzer Rebbe, R’ Yehoshua. R’ Aharon agreed and delivered an in-depth shiur to the eager group of avreichim.
Of course, in the style of Lithuania, the avreichim challenged him on almost every word and chiddush that he said. They bombarded him with questions and tried to poke holes in the shtikel Torah as he was delivering it.
All the while, R’ Boruch Ber stood near R’ Aharon and acted as a “watchdog” of sorts, defending every word that the future Rebbe said, and no matter how many questions were thrown at him, R’ Boruch Ber answered up each and every kushya with brilliance and intrepid fearlessness. This went on for some time and as R’ Aharon spoke and the avreichim shouted out their questions at him, R’ Boruch Ber stood guard and with aplomb, “swatted” them away.
When R’ Aharon finished the shiur and the avreichim were satisfied with the outcome, he approached R’ Boruch Ber and asked him, “It seemed that you were working really hard to answer up all the kushyos that were posed on my heiliger Zaida’s Torah. I was wondering about that. Why did you expend so much energy to resolve each question?”
R’ Boruch Ber, foremost talmid of R’ Chaim Brisker zt”l, author of Birkas Shmuel, and renowned all over the world as one of the deepest thinkers and analytical minds of recent memory, also had a practical side to him. He smiled at the young future Rebbe and repied, “When it comes to a Rebbe of Chassidim, the most important thing is Emunas Chachamim. The Chassidim hang onto every word, nuance, action and movement of their Rebbe. Nothing is more important and valuable then the honor and respect of a Chassidish Rebbe. As a result, when you are saying over the Torah of a Rebbe, it cannot remain unanswered. Every attack on the foundation of his words, must be repelled. I was forced to expend as much energy as needed to respond to all the questions from the avreichim for had they remained unanswered, people might lose their faith in the Rebbe’s words.” R’ Boruch Ber mused for a moment and then said, “By Litvish Roshei Yeshivah it is not like this. If someone has a question on his shtikel Torah ... nu nu .... it’s not the end of the world if it is left unanswered!”
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