Stories Of Greatness

Traveling today for a religious Jew is quite different than it was years ago, and a simple airplane ride has come a long way. For example, food is readily available for a religious Jewish traveler, and kosher meals, snacks, drinks, and even alcoholic beverages can be had at one’s beckoning; a person is not lacking when he travels on a plane. When Rav Yaakov Moshe Kulefsky zt”l, the Rosh Yeshivah of Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, would travel, however, he refused to eat the plane food even if it had a proper hechsher and, instead, his wife would prepare him the requisite meals for his travels. On one occasion, Rav Yaakov was flying to another city for the purpose of meeting an important donor to the Yeshivah. The flight duration was a few hours, and since he wouldn’t eat the food being served anyway, his wife had prepared a sandwich for him prior to the flight. A short time after takeoff, when the Rosh Yeshivah saw that the flight attendants began to give out food trays to the other passengers, he opened up his hand luggage and took out the package that his wife had prepared for him.

A short time ago, a well-respected individual from London flew to Eretz Yisrael and called Rav Eliyahu Mann shlita, one of the prime disciples and attendants of Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlita. He had a very important sh’eilah to ask – actually it was a request from his mother back in England – and he did not feel up to the task of personally approaching the tzadik.

There is a famous story told about Rav Mordechai Pogromansky (Reb Mottel, as he was universally known), who was a great Torah scholar and famous in the world of the Lithuanian yeshivos before the Second World War. Caught in the Nazi vise, he spent the war years in the Kovno ghetto where he was scrupulous in preserving a life of Torah in the ghetto with great devotion. Miraculously, he managed to escape and fled to Poland when Lithuania was annexed by Russia after the war. Eventually, he made his way to Czechoslovakia, and later into France, where he moved to Aix Les Bains and thereafter to Versailles, heading up the yeshivah there. The war took its toll on Reb Mottel and the state of his health was bad. The renowned Sternbuch family brought him to Switzerland, to be treated by the top doctors. In 1949, Reb Mottel passed away.

It is said in the name of the Arizal: “The pasuk states: “…lo yacheil d’varo” and Chazal interpret it that one should not make his words “chol” (mundane). Every spoken word is precious, for it creates huge fortresses in the upper worlds – both for good and for bad. If one speaks good words, he influences the powers of good and spirituality to his defense. If he does not, he causes the Sitra Achra (Satan) to be aroused, and he creates negative angels who look to prosecute him. As it says in the rest of the pasuk: “k’chol ha’yotzei mi’piv yaaseh” – whatever emerges from his mouth in this world, “yaaseh” – will be felt in the next world.

This story took place back in the early 1960s, when big mainframe computers were first being introduced into business. Mainframes are computers that are known for their large size, amount of storage, processing power, and high level of reliability. They are primarily used by large organizations for applications requiring high volumes of data processing. It is often referred to as a “dinosaur” not only because of its size but because it’s becoming extinct.

Hashem told Moshe to appoint Yehoshua bin Nun to become his successor. The Rambam in Mishne Torah asks why specifically Yehoshua merited to be selected when there were other more qualified candidates, like Elazar and Pinchos, who surpassed him in their intellectual acuity. The Rambam answers that although Yehoshua, Pinchos, and Elazar were all students of Moshe, Yehoshua was his most faithful disciple. He ministered to Moshe, followed him everywhere, and scrutinized his every action. About him, Chazal say that personally attending a Torah scholar is greater than studying itself. This is why Yehoshua merited to inherit the mantle of leadership from Moshe.