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| The Gadol Down the Block: Shavuos 5782 |

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach — Love and Kindness in Shaarei Chesed

"That’s why we moved here — because of Rav Shlomo Zalman, the man who sets the tone of the entire neighborhood"

I

exited the Gra Shul onto Rechov Bar Zackai and made my way to the makolet.

Boker tov,” I greeted the proprietor as I pulled the crumpled list from my pocket: three lebens, two agvaniot, one melaffefon, and a lechem shachor. After I paid, I headed down Rechov Porush and climbed the steps to my aunt and uncle’s house, where I placed the bag on the small Formica table in the kitchen.

Todah,” said my aunt. Something in her voice sounded different.

“Doda Tzvia, are you alright?”

“He always chaps a ‘shalom’ first! He always beats me to it, no matter how hard I try to greet him first. He always says ‘shalom’ before me!”

I knew without her telling me who she was talking about: “He” was Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztz”l, my neighbor in Shaarei Chesed for the two years I lived at my aunt and uncle in the late 1970s.

“Do you know what he did today?” she asked. “Did you notice I use a cane now?”

I had.

“I just got the cane last week. When he saw me this morning, he ran across Rechov HaShla to ask, ‘Vos iz mit der shteken? What’s with the cane? Geveret Greenboim, you’re too young for a cane!’”

She drew a breath.

“He has people calling him from all over the world, and he has time to cross the street to come talk to me? I asked him once, ‘Der Rav host tseyt far mir? — The Rav has time for me?’ He looked at me and said, ‘Who else do I have time for if not for my neighbor?’ ”

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