For all their married lives these gedolim whispered di Fier Kashes

F

or thousands of years, at Leil HaSeder, children have stood on chairs or on tiptoes, raised their thin voices as high as they could and asked their father the Four Questions, di Fier Kashes.

But throughout all these centuries, another set of questions, too painful to be verbalized, have been echoing in silent harmony. “And what about us? When will we merit to have children? How much longer must we wait? Will we ever be able to provide our children with answers to their questions?”

Four questions. Fier Kashes.

Sometimes, the answers are apparent and take the form of miraculous salvation. At others, the questions loom, shadowing any inkling of a Divine response.

But a groundbreaking work by Rabbi Moshe Hubner, a maggid shiur and noted author, may allow a glimmer of that response to radiate this year: His newly released Haggadah presents commentaries comprised of ideas, insights, and stories, all from gedolim who never merited to have children. The Haggadah includes divrei Torah and biographies on some of the more well-known gedolim who never merited to have descendants, such as the Chazon Ish ztz”l and Rav Shmuel Auerbach ztz”l, while also highlighting the work of lesser-known Torah giants such as Rav Gershon Leibman ztz”l, the rosh yeshivah of the Novardok yeshivah in France that he founded post-World War II.

For all their married lives these gedolim whispered di Fier Kashes.

But these kashes didn’t determine them. They persisted through the difficulties, studying, teaching. Growing.

Today, they are in Shamayim.

And from their vaunted perch, they will look down at Sedorim conducted throughout the world wherein their Torah is shared and perpetuated.

Through their spiritual heirs they live forever on.

We are the answer to their Fier Kashes.

Happening...  in Tampa Bay

Last week, Chofetz Chaim rosh yeshivah Rav Akiva Grunblatt visited Tampa Bay, Florida, where a cohort of his talmidim have established the Tampa Kollel and the Tampa Torah Academy, the first Torah institutions in the area. The trip was an opportunity for the Rosh Yeshivah to impart chizuk to his talmidim and witness the school’s remarkable growth.

During his visit, the Rosh Yeshivah spent time with his talmidim, delivered shiurim, and even cut the hair of a lucky young boy whose third birthday coincided with the visit. Yet one of the most poignant moments occurred right after Rav Grunblatt’s plane landed at Tampa International Airport, where the high school rebbeim and their talmidim were waiting in the arrivals area to greet the Rosh Yeshivah. The students, many of whom had been studying in public schools just a year before, got a close-up look at kavod haTorah. As they watched their teachers humbly greeting their own great rebbi, they witnessed a tangible link in the mesorah which they were now part of.

Schlepping Nachas

The gemara (Pesachim 6a–b) writes that 30 days prior to Yom Tov, one should commence preparing for the upcoming chag. For the volunteers of Chasdei Lev, the organization that has revolutionized extending gratitude to Klal Yisrael’s rebbeim and morahs, that includes participating in its massive pre-Pesach food distribution drives. Here, despite the inclement weather, it’s all smiles for a group of Monsey volunteers who have just finished unloading pallets of supplies and food and hauling the boxes into the back a of local rebbi’s minivan.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1055)