“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Beshalach/ Shabbas Shirah 5786
12 Shevat 5786/January 30, 2026
PAYING FORWARD
One of the highlights of my winter visits to Eretz Yisroel the last four years was spending time with my rebbe, Rabbi Berel Wein, and to be able to hear him speak. During my visits, on Friday morning at 10 am I would make sure to be at Beit Knesset HaNasi in the Rechaviah section of Yerushalayim, for Rabbi Wein’s Erev Shabbos Parsha schmooze. On Shabbos Morning I would daven at Beit Knesset HaNasi so I could hear his derasha before Mussaf.
After davening Rabbi Wein would eat his Shabbos seudah with Rabbi Itiel Goldwicht and his family, in the home of Rabbi Goldwicht’s parents. Rabbi Goldwicht graciously invited me to join the seudah, and that became an added highlight of my visit.
I also scheduled a time to visit Rabbi Wein at his home in Rechaviah to discuss with him some hashkafah questions and personal matters. It was special for me that my son Shalom, and my nephew Aharon, joined me for those visits at Rabbi Wein’s home.
When I went to Eretz Yisroel this year, as inspiring and uplifting as it was, there was something significant missing. With Rabbi Wein’s passing this summer, it was painful not to have the chizuk of seeing, hearing and speaking with him.
Instead of hearing Rabbi Wein speak at 10 am on Friday morning this year, I had the great pleasure to speak in Yeshiva Nesivos Aharon in Yerushalayim. Rabbi Akiva Miller, who helps run the yeshiva, is a dynamic educator and an old friend, and invited me to address the students. It was a wonderful experience, and I very much enjoyed seeing the yeshiva and meeting the talmidim.
It struck me afterwards that there is nothing my rebbe would have wanted more than for me to speak to talmidim. In fact, he would probably be happier that I spoke to other talmidim than coming to hear him speak. One of the classic messages that he would repeat often is that every Jew must feel a responsibility to the Jewish People and to promote Torah to the best of his ability. Almost until the day he died at 91 years old, Rabbi Wein never stopped teaching Torah in any way he could. It wasn’t just his passion; he felt it was his mission and his responsibility. I think that was one of the most central messages that he conveyed to his students.
It’s appropriate to share a thought from Rabbi Wein that encapsulates this message:
The gemara (Megillah 13a) notes that Moshe Rabbeinu had many beautiful names, including Yered, Avi-Gidor (Avigdor), Yekusiel, and Tovyah. He was named Moshe by Basya, the Egyptian princess, after she drew him out of the Nile when, as an infant, he was placed in a box there by his mother. Why do we eternally refer to our quintessential leader specifically by the name given to him by the Egyptian princess, and not any of his other more Jewish sounding names?
In answering the question, Rabbi Wein shared the following personal reflection:
“Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Yerushalayim, has a memorial to the million and a half Jewish children under the age of 12 that were murdered during the Holocaust. It was financed by Hungarian Jews, Abe and Edita Spiegel, who lived in Beverly Hills, California.
“In the summer of 1944 Abe and Edita were taken from Budapest to Auschwitz along with their 2-and-a-half-year-old son Uziel. They survived, but Uziel was killed.
“After the war, the Spiegels came to the United States, and moved to California. Abe built a great financial empire and had children and grandchildren. He financed the children’s memorial built at Yad Vashem in memory of Uziel.
“I was in Yerushalayim on the day it opened, and I took a bus to visit the memorial. There is one little picture of Uziel at the entrance to the room. Then you proceed into a room that’s ten stories high and the size of a football field across. The room is so dark that you cannot put one foot in front of another unless you are holding onto the railing. As your eyes become accustomed to the darkness, you notice that in the center of the room there is one candle burning. By the genius of the designer, the flame of that candle is reflected through mirrors, water, and metal until it becomes a million little sparks of light embedded in this tremendous sea of darkness. And there is a recording that plays nothing but names: Moshe Goldberg, 3 years old, Vilna. Chana Cohen, 7 years old, Warsaw… Names, names, names, until you can bear it no longer.
“As I ran from the darkness of the room into the blinding Yerushalayim afternoon sunlight, I thought to myself that my name is not on that recording. I am of age and they wanted to kill me. But if my name isn’t there then I must try to do something and try to be somebody! Whatever talents G-d has given me, whatever life He has given me, I have to try to do something with it.
“All our names are not on that recording. The Ribono Shel Olam gives us talent, time, and assets. There’s never been such an affluent Jewish community in the history of the Jewish people as we are. There have never been such opportunities and there has never been such a need for b’nei Torah. We have to use those abilities and opportunities to better the lives of others, to help the Jewish people, and to further Torah causes.”
Rabbi Wein explained that the name Moshe served as a reminder to him that he was drawn forth and saved from the Nile for a purpose, to fulfill a divine mission. More than all the other beautiful names he was given, the name Moshe symbolizes that sense of responsibility and mission.
Every Jew must see himself in a similar light. Our enemies want to destroy every one of us. Therefore, every one of us must view ourselves as being preserved to fulfill a divine mission. No Jew is expendable or superfluous. In that sense we are all Moshes.
There are so many things I have wanted to discuss with my rebbe since his passing. I so miss hearing his wisdom and perspective. But in teaching Torah and trying to perpetuate his legacy I hear his voice in my ears and still feel very connected with him.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
STRIVINGHIGHER.COM