“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Chayei Sarah 5781
26 MarCheshvan 5781/November 13, 2020
Mevorchim Chodesh Kislev
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SIMPLE GREATNESS
You
won’t find “Lower East Sider” in a dictionary. If you google those words,
you’ll get some entries about prices of apartments and other various news about
the Lower East Side. But for the tens of thousands of Jews who grew up and
lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan there is significant meaning. In
fact, those old timers take it as a great compliment to be a “Lower East
Sider”.
Lower
East Siders possess a combination of simplicity, exuding warmth, extreme
friendliness, being non-judgmental, and unpretentious. There was, and is,
nothing fancy about the Lower East Side, and everyone seemed to know everyone
else. It was the land of Gus’s pickles, China Town noodles, H and M skullcap,
and the Williamsburg bridge. There were also countless shuls, but none were in
competition with the other.
I was
born and spent my formative years on the Lower East Side. Both sets of my
grandparents lived on the Lower East Side and it was exciting to be able to
walk over on Shabbos to see them or eat a seudah at their apartment. Our family
moved from the Lower East Side to Monsey in 1988.
My
Zaydei, whose yahrtzeit is this Shabbos, 27 MarCheshvan, was the Rabbi of the
well-known Anshei Slonim shul on Norfolk street until it closed in 1974.
My
Zaydei had a warm relationship with Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l. The last gift my
Zaydei left me is a set of Igros Moshe inscribed with a brief beracha from Rav
Moshe. The inscription is dated 12 Kislev 5745 (December 1985). At the time I
was five years old. Rav Moshe was niftar a little over a year later; my Zaydei
was niftar less than three years later. It’s one of my most treasured seforim.
Even
after Rav Moshe was niftar, his sons, Rav Dovid and Rav Reuven, would attend
our family simchos, primarily in honor of my Bubby a”h. I had the zechus that
they attended my bar mitzvah and wedding.
The
Lower East Side was the perfect place for Rav Moshe and his family. Rav Moshe
was the posek hador, and the gadol hador. His greatness in Torah was matched
only by his incredible humility.
Those traits were personified by his son, Rav Dovid who
was niftar this week.
My aunt
would often note that it was known that if you wanted to find Rav Dovid and Rav
Reuven on a given day, you first checked the pizza shop on the Lower East Side,
where they often ate breakfast together.
If you
didn’t know who Rav Dovid was and you passed him on the street, you would have
no idea that one of the leading halachic authorities in the world, a man who
was fluent in the entire Torah, and the Rosh Yeshiva who had succeeded his
illustrious father, had just passed you.
A few
years ago, my father went went back to the Lower East Side for Shabbos to
attend a simcha. During the kiddush, Rav Dovid walked over to him to say Good
Shabbos.
On one
of our dates, my wife and I went to a restaurant in Boro Park. When our food arrived,
I went to wash. (She probably ordered a salad and didn’t need to wash). When I
returned to the table, she noticed a look on my face that she couldn’t
decipher. When she asked me what happened, I pointed beyond her. She couldn’t
figure out what in the world I wanted. After I said a beracha and took a bite,
I told her not to back up too quickly. At the table behind us were seated Rav
Dovid and his Rebbitzin, along with another couple.
Rav
Dovid was so great and yet he was so simple. He went shopping, he humbly walked
the streets of the Lower East Side, and he was accessible to anyone who wanted.
I look at the picture of him and his Rebbitzin from our wedding and marvel at
the fact that he not only schlepped to Lakewood to attend, but also was willing
to be in the picture with us. (The same is true about Rav Reuven and his
Rebbitzin.) It was, and remains, very meaningful to us.
In a
world so focused on glamour and publicity, it’s rare to find people who are
perfectly happy keeping to themselves and living a simple life. But I don’t
know how one can do so when he is a leader of his people with earth-shattering
questions and pressing matters coming to his door constantly.
This
week we celebrate the bar mitzvah of our son, Avi. Somehow, I hope we can
convey to him some of the lessons we learned and gleaned from Rav Dovid
Feinstein zt”l.
The
nostalgic streets of the Lower East Side have lost some of their greatness, and
Klal Yisroel has lost a quiet Gadol and leader. May his memory be for a
blessing.
Shabbat Shalom &
Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum