And building nations doesn’t only mean a land, a country, a national entity. It means neshamos, living souls, that are the building blocks of a living people. He was telling us, and all those who listened to him, that we are going to be a vibrant living people again.

This story was clearly foundational to him and explains a lot of what he was doing by focusing on Jewish history. He was determined to get people to understand that in the post-Holocaust era, we’re rebuilding, not just in numbers, but in quality; we’re rebuilding the nature of a people.

He understood that we cannot replicate or recreate Eastern European Jewry, which was gone forever; yet, the real truth at the core of what Am Yisrael is all about remains untouched. It is just waiting to be reborn, like a phoenix would rise up again, in a new form and an old form at the same time.

The words of the Navi Yeshayahu, the pasuk we quote in an effort to comfort mourners, describes the consolation that Hashem promises the Jewish people. “Umachah Hashem Elokim dimah me’al kol panim [the Almighty will wipe away the tears from all our faces] “v’cherpas amo yasir mei’al kol ha’aretz [and He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth].” Any sense of shame and degradation will be lifted off, removed from wherever they have fallen upon the Jewish people, “Ki Hashem diber, because G-d has spoken.”

Rabbi Wein’s refrain embodied these words of Hashem, as conveyed by the Navi Yeshayahu. They were the words of a prophet — and even more than that, words of wisdom for our time.

Chazal tell us (Bava Basra 12a), “Chacham adif mi’navi,” a wise man of Torah is superior and can be of greater benefit and more meaningful than a prophet. For while the prophet knows what needs to be said, and precisely so, he might not know how it is to be said, how to reach the hearts of the people, how to move our nation forward. That is the work of the wise man of Torah, the work of a true chacham.

Rabbi Wein shared words — inspiring words, laden with the wisdom of our Torah — to help Am Yisrael wipe away the flood of tears from the face of a nation spiritually broken after the events of World War II. Am Yisrael was brought to the brink of despair following the Holocaust. Yet Rabbi Wein saw how, with the rising up of the Jewish nation once again in its homeland, with the rebirth of Torah in the land of the Jewish People and throughout the world, Hashem is fully faithful to His Word in the voice of Yeshayahu — “removing the disgrace of His people from this earth.” “Ki Hashem diber.” G-d’s words were being fulfilled and they were conveyed by Rabbi Wein to lift the spirits and aspirations of Am Yisrael at a critical moment in our history.

Rabbi Wein was inspired by (and often quoted) the words of Rabi Yehudah Hanasi who attributed his own greatness to “having once seen the great Rabi Meir from behind.” Rabbi Wein often said that he saw and learned from the great men of Torah who survived the Shoah, who brought with them the living legacy of the world that was before the Holocaust. With exceptional wisdom, unique aptitude, and great determination, Rabbi Wein knew that he could teach us and guide us all in national rebirth. The essence of life — as Jewish people should live — would once again be a source of pride and joy.

He also imbued the hearts and minds of young students who he taught in the yeshivah he founded in Monsey, New York, with a sense of responsibility for our future. And after his move to Eretz Yisrael he taught at Yeshivas Ohr Somayach, where he continued his mission and his message. At every stage of his life, Rabbi Wein compellingly shared his ever-growing faith in Hashem and in His people.

Rabbi Wein’s messages were effective in restoring one’s pride in being a Jew. In his capacity as rav in Miami, he tended to numerous survivors, themselves children of the martyred. He lifted the sights of generations — in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, and into the 21st century.

The fact that many members of his shul were Holocaust survivors may have been formative in his way of looking at what Klal Yisrael needs to hear, and what messages needed to be delivered to lift the Jewish people up again.

Around Pesach time, he would talk about “v’erech misbosesess bedamayich, ve’omar lach bedamayich chayi,” and said that there are two ways of looking at bedamayich chayi, that in spite of having to give your blood, in spite of having to sometimes be bloodied in the process, chayi, you’re going to live. Perhaps because of it, you will be a different person — bedamayich chayi. That’s why it was said at the birth of the nation, on Pesach. We say that this is how a nation might be born, but it will live, and likewise, at the bris of each individual child, we say bedamayich chayi. Dam Pesach and dam bris, that blood all around you means that there’s going to be life, and you’re going to live, and make meaningful life happen.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1075)