T he holy words of Chazal require each of us to try to draw close the hearts of those far away to our Father in Heaven and not to remain enclosed in his home worrying only about his own Olam Haba” declared Rav Chaim Kanievsky at the annual convention of Lev L’Achim in Bnei Brak last week.

Rav Chaim didn’t say so explicitly but strongly implied that even on its own terms the focus only on one’s personal Olam Haba is doomed to failure and will only decrease that Olam Haba. After all if one truly loved Hashem he would want every other Jew to do so as well.

As the author of Chovos Halevavos writes (Shaar HaBitachon Chapter 4): “A person’s good deeds alone do not make him suitable for the reward of the World to Come. G-d considers him suitable only because of two other factors in addition to his good deeds. The first is that he teaches others about the service of G-d and guides them in doing good….”

Were we to take Rav Chaim’s words seriously both as individuals and as a community I believe that we could do a great deal to improve the image of Torah and Torah Jewry among our fellow Jews. The first step as always would be to do no harm and to file a metaphoric kiddush Hashem impact statement prior to every action. That would be enough to end a host of recent actions that have both infuriated and appalled the general public (including fellow chareidim) in Israel such as demonstrations closing major thoroughfares and physical assaults on soldiers wearing yarmulkes.

Those actions too often destroy the impact of thousands of avreichim and their wives who have heeded Rav Chaim’s call and are busy every week learning Torah with not-yet-observant Jews.

FOR ME RABBI NISSON WOLPIN who passed away last week exemplified the combination of absolute seriousness about Torah and mitzvos with the warmth and good humor that lifted up everyone in his presence and drew them closer to Torah. He demonstrated that seriousness and a ready smile are not a contradiction to one another but necessary complements.

Reb Nisson’s dikduk in mitzvos was absolute. I don’t think I ever saw him make a berachah mei’ein shalosh for instance without the text in front of him. The clarity of his focus was reflected in the rigor of his daily routine. Until making aliyah a little over six years ago he was at Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz’s early morning daf hayomi shiur in the 16th Ave. Telshe minyan every morning and at his dining room table with the Gemara in front of him every evening as he learned by telephone with his chavrusah of decades Reb Nochum Dick. Every day concluded with a seder in Chofetz Chaim with his wife and each Shabbos meal had its own fixed learning seder.

The second indication of that seriousness is the Wolpins’ success in passing their values down to all their children and grandchildren. Every Wolpin child is involved in full-time Torah learning and teaching and/or married to someone who is and that pattern has been maintained as well by over 100 grandchildren.

And yet Reb Nisson’s seriousness of purpose did not detract in any way from the pleasure of being in his company. From 1991 to 2009 I once calculated that I spent more than a year living in the Wolpin household. (To say that I was a guest would not capture the experience.) Very rarely did I fail to set the alarm clock for 5:15 a.m. I did not want to miss the sheer enjoyment of accompanying Reb Nisson on his brisk twenty-minute early-morning walk from his apartment in Brooklyn’s Kensington neighborhood into Boro Park for his daf hayomi shiur.

There was no one whose company I enjoyed more and I selfishly did not want to share it with others. Unless it was very icy or the sidewalks were piled with freshly fallen snow — and usually even then — we almost always turned down proffered rides. I could never get enough of his stories of the gedolim with whom he worked closely as editor of The Jewish Observer for four decades of growing up in Seattle and attending public school — until graduating at 16 and traveling cross country by train to join his older brothers at Torah Vodaath — of his time in Los Angeles with a small group of Torah Vodaath talmidim who went to help Rav Simcha Wasserman establish a yeshivah of working under Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky as the senior dorm supervisor in Torah Vodaath... I know far more about the Wolpin family than I do about my own.

He made everyone with whom he came into contact feel happier including fellow passengers on the subway who were the recipients of one of his witticisms as he navigated the crowded cars or moved rapidly across the platform between one car and another. As an editor he could deftly turn flabby prose and incomplete thoughts into sparkling articles while offering encouragement to a neophyte author. Few employees of Agudath Israel of America could resist the temptation to peek into his office for a few words as they passed by on the way to the coffee room.

THE WOLPINS SERVED as surrogate parents for numerous baalei teshuvah both single and entire families. Those baalei teshuvah were regular — and in one case weekly — guests at the Wolpin Shabbos table. The Wolpins investigated shidduchim made sheva berachos interceded with school principals.

I remember Reb Nisson spending many lunch hours — lunch was in any event eaten at his desk — learning and talking with a young professional who had become drawn to Torah but whose spouse was not yet similarly inclined. And at night he would tutor a teenager eager to catch up after a late start in Gemara learning. Upon moving to Eretz Yisrael six years ago one of the first things Reb Nisson did was set up a late afternoon chavrusa across the street at Ohr Somayach where the rosh yeshivah Rabbi Mendel Weinbach ztz”l was a close friend from their days together at Torah Vodaath 60 years earlier.

Reb Nisson was the very embodiment of Rav Kanievsky’s charge — someone who drew many fellow Jews close to Torah with his wisdom wit and kindness precisely because he took Hashem and Torah so seriously.

Originally featured in Mishpacha Issue 658. Yonoson Rosenblum may be contacted directly at rosenblum@mishpacha.com.