Chapter 174 - Continuation of the Story of Uncle Reb Zelmele Sutsker

00:00 Rabbi Shalom Yehuda. “One day, my holy teacher and Rebbe called me into his room and said, ‘The time has come for you to marry. One of the supporters of the yeshiva has come looking for a husband for his daughter, and he thinks you would be suitable. After the wedding, G-d willing, you will spend several years apart from home, devoting yourself to Torah study in holiness and purity.’ Of course, I agreed with my teacher and Rebbe. A kinyan was made that very day, and a few months later my righteous father-in-law came with my righteous mother-in-law and the bride, my wife, who was innocent and upright in her good deeds in the eyes of Hashem and man, to the city of Minsk, where the wedding was held with great splendor. My holy teacher and Rebbe recited the blessings of kiddushin and blessed us under the chuppah.” And then Shalom Yehuda continues: “I spent about three months in the village with my righteous father-in-law and then returned to my holy teacher and Rebbe’s beis midrash. When I arrived, he asked me, ‘Why did you hurry back?’ I told him, ‘My soul longs for Torah.’ ‘That is good,’ he said, ‘but go home nonetheless. When a son or daughter is born to you, come back with your wife’s permission and study for several years apart from home.’ I returned to my home in the village. I applied myself to my studies with extraordinary diligence, and with the help of Hashem, my mouth never ceased learning, all day long, and I spent much of the night studying with tremendous diligence. When my eldest daughter was born, I asked my wife’s permission to go to my holy teacher and Rebbe’s beis midrash. I stayed there for about ten years, and during that time I came home only about three times. Over those ten years of deep, diligent study, I rose higher and higher until I became one of those at the Torah table, alongside my holy teacher and Rebbe and his son, the brilliant, righteous and pure Rabbi Elyakim Shraga, in whom the spirit of Hashem rested. He passed away while still a young married man, during the lifetime of my teacher and Rebbe. My teacher and Rebbe would say things like, ‘Today they revealed this interpretation to me from Heaven,’ or ‘Last night they revealed this teaching to me in the heavenly academy.’ Once, a very difficult question was raised at the

02:30 holy table, and my teacher called me into his room to consider how to answer it. My holy teacher and Rebbe’s son and I toiled over it intensely. We debated and argued, then worked at it again and again, but made no progress; the question remained unanswered. My holy teacher and Rebbe, too, could not find a resolution. He was deeply distressed and said, ‘If I were held in any esteem Above, they would tell me how to resolve this sugya.’ He was speaking about himself: ‘If Ephraim Fishel feared Heaven, they would reveal the true meaning to him.’ Then he said to himself, ‘Ephraim Fishel, do teshuvah, and Hashem will have mercy on you,’ and he wept bitterly. When we saw our teacher’s distress and anguish, we tried to comfort him. After all, even in the responsa of the Geonim we had seen questions they had been unable to answer. Among the sages of the Talmud, too, we had seen many questions left at teiku, meaning without an answer. Why, then, should our holy teacher and Rebbe grieve like this? But our words did not help, and he remained deeply distressed. We left his room in sorrow. When we came to the yeshiva, we saw a stranger wearing torn clothes, with a pack on his shoulder and a stick in his hand. He entered the yeshiva, sat down on one of the benches and watched everything going on there. After a few moments, the man approached me and asked, ‘Is he the brilliant rosh yeshiva? I have a private matter to discuss with him.’ I greeted him, and he returned my greeting. The man asked me, ‘Are you the senior student who sits first among the two who sit with the rosh yeshiva at the Torah table?’ I said yes. He told me, ‘May you be blessed.’ The man repeated that he had a private matter to discuss with our teacher and asked me to take him to the rosh yeshiva’s room. I told him it would not be fitting for someone of my Torah standing to do that, but I would have one of the students show him the way. He said, ‘Perhaps you could take me yourself nonetheless?’ I said no.

05:13 The visitor went with one of the students to my holy teacher and Rebbe’s room. I sat down to study my lessons, paying no further attention to the man or to our conversation. I felt remarkably uplifted. I studied with great pleasure for several hours straight, unaware of the heat of the day and without seeing or hearing anything going on around me. As Minchah approached, one of the students from the good table came over and told me that our holy teacher and Rebbe was calling me to his room, to the Torah table. His righteous son, a man of Hashem, was already there, and they were waiting for me. I hurried and ran to my holy teacher and Rebbe’s room. When I entered, I saw that our teacher and Rebbe was in an unusually good mood. This astonished me, for in just a short while my holy teacher and Rebbe would go to deliver words of moral instruction. Yet his spirits were high, and his holy face was radiant and joyful. Even on Simchas Torah I had never seen his face shine as it did at that moment. I was still wondering what could account for it when, as I approached, my holy teacher and Rebbe rose to his full height and said, ‘Welcome, my beloved student, the brilliant, righteous and pure one, the blessed herald, a prophet of Hashem, destined always to bring the humble the sacred words of His Torah—our teacher and Rebbe, Rabbi Shalom Yehuda.’ Our holy teacher and Rebbe then said to his brilliant son and me, ‘Sit down, and I will give you a sound answer to the question raised by the students of the good table, and our eyes will be enlightened.’ For a full hour, our teacher and Rebbe explained the answer to the good table’s formidable question. When he finished, he said, ‘Do you know where these Torah insights came from? Hakadosh Boruch Hu saw my distress and sent me Eliyahu Hanavi, of blessed memory. He told me the very things I have told you.’ And I,” Shalom Yehuda relates, “was still astonished by the brilliance of the answer and marveling at my teacher’s account of how Eliyahu Hanavi

07:43 of blessed memory had appeared to him while he was awake, and at how highly Hakadosh Boruch Hu regarded my teacher and Rebbe, sending him an angel to reveal the secrets of the Torah. Then he turned to me and said, ‘You, too, merited to speak with Eliyahu Hanavi, of blessed memory. He blessed you, and you found favor in his holy eyes. He wanted you to accompany him to me when he came to teach me the answer to the question, but you refused and sent him with the esteemed student Rabbi Aryeh Leib instead.’ When I heard,” Shalom Yehuda relates, “that the man in torn clothes was Eliyahu Hanavi, of blessed memory, and that, because of my many sins, not only had I failed to merit hearing his Torah teaching, but I had also slighted his honor, I fell on my face and wept bitterly. I asked my holy teacher and Rebbe to prescribe a way for me to make amends and do teshuvah. I fasted through the day and night five times, until I knew with certainty that Hashem had forgiven my sin, and I resolved to work diligently on the trait of humility. At that time I was twenty-eight years old. On my holy teacher and Rebbe’s advice, I went into exile among the poor who traveled from town to town. With my wife’s agreement and permission, I remained in exile for about three years. When I returned, I saw that our holy teacher was in poor health, while the yeshiva students were diligent in their studies, and our holy teacher and Rebbe placed the sacred burden of the holy yeshiva upon me. Our teacher and Rebbe was ill for two years and then passed away. About a year later, with the agreement of all the elder Torah scholars, the seven leading members of the town and the community leaders, the longtime student Rabbi Yechiel of Slutsk, a brilliant and incisive scholar with vast knowledge, was appointed rabbi to succeed our holy teacher and Rebbe.