“The Brisker Rav turned to his family and quickly said, ‘Rav Chaim Volozhiner, Rav Chaim Volozhiner!’ ”

Photo: Agudath Israel of America

Well into his tenth decade and confined to a wheelchair, Rav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi has lost none of his rhetorical powers. In front of hundreds of participants in the Agudah’s Yarchei Kallah in Yerushalayim last week, the rosh yeshivah of Ateres Yisrael transported his riveted listeners back in time to the Brisker Rav’s escape to Vilna through Nazi-occupied Poland.

In the process, he taught a lesson in the lofty heights of dveikus that Rav Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik achieved in those harrowing moments — a level that can be attained by anyone immersed in Torah learning.

“Reb Velvel was sitting in a wagon with his sons fleeing to safety in Lithuania, and suddenly they saw a group of Nazis approach them,” the Rosh Yeshivah said. “The Brisker Rav turned to his family and quickly said, ‘Rav Chaim Volozhiner, Rav Chaim Volozhiner!’ ”

The reference was to Rav Chaim Volozhiner’s famous statement that no harm can befall a person who internalizes that “ein od milvado” — there is nothing besides Hashem’s power.

And so, Rav Baruch Mordechai continued, as Reb Velvel and his sons concentrated intently on those words, they indeed earned that supernatural protection, and the Nazis who surrounded their transport didn’t notice the Brisker Rav.

“Because when one is totally attached to Hashem, you’re above nature,” concluded the Rosh Yeshivah.

Looking up slightly at the audience, who had just finished an intense morning seder, Rav Baruch Mordechai brought the idea home.

“We are humans, creatures of flesh and blood — what spirituality can we hope to achieve, what connection can we hope to have with Hashem, Who is eternal and above time and space?

“But when you take time out of your busy work lives to learn Torah,” he continued, “then, like the Brisker Rav on that dangerous journey, you achieve a tremendous dveikus.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 950)