My son-in-law, Rapschleimi Grasnaas, shared with me this incredible story.
In the 1920s, his great-great-grandparents were forced to move from Poland to Germany.
One Friday evening, when his great-great uncle was still a teenager, he was walking to
shul, and he heard crying and wailing and screaming coming from a house.
Concerned, he made a detour and approached the house.
Through the window, he heard the voice of a woman who had just finished lighting the
shabby scandals, and she was pouring out the heart and feel.
Was a cano legadalbanum, chachamum, iria-shem, and the iran as an oilum, but teure of a
Her word so sincere, so passionate, so filled with yearning.
He had never heard such a feel in his life before.
He was overwhelmed by the intensity of her feel.
He was so inspired, that right then and there, he made a decision that would change the
course of his life forever.
He thought, I want to become that tamat chacham, that this woman is davening for.
I want to embody the ira-shem, that this woman is yearning for.
The next day he approached his parents, and he told them, I want to go to Yashiv and
Radhan, to learn by Rernavtoly Trap, and his parents agreed, and he began preparing
for his entrance exam.
Soon after, he began the long and arduous journey to Radhan, when he arrived, they
favoured him, they tested him, and they told him, sorry, we can't accept you.
You not yet on the level, to keep up with the boys in the ishiva, and he was devastated,
All the effort, all the preparation, all the travel, all for naught.
My dream of becoming tamat chacham, up in smoke, he left the ishiva, he sat on a bench
and he began to cry.
Then, Radhanavtoly Trap passed by, and he noticed him, what happened to the ishiva?
Why are you so dejected?
Rebbe, he said, I want it so desperately to join the ishiva.
Were you from the ishiva?
He said, Germany, aren't the ishivas in Germany, where you can learn?
Yes, but they are the only learned by day.
Over here, they learn day and night, Shabbos and Mata Shabbos, Yantav and Mata Yantav
here, the entire focus on purpose is tired, and that is what truly matters to me, when
Radhanavtoly Trap heard those words, he said, if so, come in, you are accepted into my
It didn't take long for him to become one of the most outstanding boys in the ishiva.
And from there, he went on to Buranavitch, he became a Talmud of Rabbarakber, he became
one of his closest and most prominent Talmud, eventually he married, and he became the
Avbezna of London, known as Rabbi Arya Labegrasnaz.
Now imagine, after 120, when this anonymous woman who cried so passionately after Shilita
Shabbos candles comes up to Shema'im, they will show her, generations of Tamidachakamam,
generations of Yershema'im, who emerged from Harwantvila.
Look what your tears created, look at the Torah, look at the Yershema'im that you bought
Shema'i Musar Avika, Valtitash Torah Sama'i, the greatness of Torah is attributed to
It is the indisha mamas, the women, whose tears and feelers and daily sacrifices that shape
the destiny of college.
They are the ones who planned the seeds of greatness, who infuse your children with the moon
and values in a havasa Torah from the earliest moments of life.
