“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Beha’aloscha
20 Sivan 5786/ June 5, 2026
Avos perek 2
GIFT FROM ABOVE
A few years ago, I had the great honor and privilege to publish Nostalgia for Eternity, a collection of lectures from my rebbe, Rabbi Berel Wein zt”l. Produced by Feldheim Publishers, it contained lectures I heard over many years from Rabbi Wein. Some of those lectures dated back to when I was a high school student in Yeshiva Shaarei Torah where Rabbi Wein was our Rosh Yeshiva.
Sometime after the book was published, during a monthly zoom call with Shaarei Torah alumni, Rabbi Wein mentioned that if he had the strength, he would write a book about his personal recollections of his rebbeim and other Torah leaders he was privileged to know. When I heard that I decided that I was going to undertake the project. I asked Rabbi Wein and he told me to go ahead with it.
Rabbi Wein has two lecture series, one dedicated to his memories of his rebbeim and the other to his recollections of Gedolei Yisroel that he had a personal collection with. I had the lectures in both series transcribed and began editing them.
Sometime later, during another call-in, Rabbi Wein noted that he was working on a book about his rebbeim. I was surprised that he had taken up the project himself, and I subsequently asked Rabbi Wein if I should stop working on the book. He emphatically replied that I should continue.
The following year when I heard Rabbi Wein again mention the book, I mentioned to him that there seemed to be no need for me to do so. After a moment of thought he replied that he didn’t think it would overlap and that I should continue.
I must admit that I was quite perplexed and didn’t really understand why he felt I should continue investing in a project that he himself was well invested in. But he had given me his reply, and I didn’t feel I could discuss it more.
Just weeks before his passing last year, Rabbi Wein held a book launch for a book he had just released entitled, “Endless Hatred” about the history of antisemitism.
At that event he shared that 3 years earlier, at the ripe young age of 88, he decided that he wanted to write three more books. The first, “8 People we met on the way Home: The return of the Jewish Nation to the Land of Israel,” had been published a year prior. The second book, Endless Hatred, was the subject of that book launch. Rabbi Wein then noted that he was working on the third and final book, a collection of personal memories of his rebbeim and other great Torah leaders, and it was actually almost complete. Then Rabbi Wein added, “And I think that will be it.”
I remember that when I heard him say those words a chill went down my spine and, in my head, I cried out, “Rebbe, don’t say that!”
Rabbi Wein lived his life with an insatiable drive to produce and accomplish. He was still lecturing, writing articles, publishing books, producing movies and being featured on podcasts decades past the age when most people retire. But now he said that he was done.
Within a few days we were informed that Rabbi Wein had a serious infection and the prognosis was grim. I called him that Friday to wish him a good Shabbos and told him that Klal Yisroel still needed him. He thanked me and hung up. That was the last time I spoke to him. He passed away a few weeks later on Shabbos, 22 Av 5785 (August 16, 2025).
His final book was published in Eretz Yisroel shortly before Pesach a few weeks ago. It is only arriving in America now in June.
In the front of the book there is a very touching essay from Rabbi Wein’s longtime editor, Mrs. Charlette Friedland. In the message she writes, “As his editor for more than twenty-five years, I can attest that this was his favorite work. It is his most personal book, detailing how his middos, his emunah, and his unique worldview were constructed, piece by piece, culminating in the extraordinary individual we all revered and loved.”
It was a later paragraph however, that hit me the hardest: “I suspect that he didn’t know how long he could continue, as he uncharacteristically urged me to work faster, to return soon with more chapters. On the very last day, as we finalized the last page, we congratulated each other…
“Within a few days, he was hospitalized, and his life ended a short time later. But he knew he had done it. The book was ready.”
When I read those words, it struck me. Rabbi Wein had likely urged me to continue working on this book because he wasn’t sure he would live to finish it. It was so important to him that these memories and reflections remain for his descendants and students. Therefore, he wanted to ensure it would get done even if he couldn’t. Of course, he didn’t want to verbalize such a sentiment to me and perhaps that was why he inexplicably urged me to continue.
Thankfully, Hashem granted him the ability to complete the goal he set for himself and now the Jewish people will have the text of those previous recollections in perpetuity.
It is eerie to say that Rabbi Wein just published his final book though his first yahrtzeit is just a few weeks away. It’s basically receiving a gift from him in another world.
May his Neshama continue to have an Aliyah and may we be able to continue to perpetuate, internalize and live by his teachings and lessons that he devoted himself to teaching every day of his life, and even beyond.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
STRIVINGHIGHER.COM