Last Monday at dusk the sight of 850 000 Jews converging on the Sandhedria cemetery their shoulders sagging in grief was a testimony to the Jewish People and to the entire world that when it comes down to the core the Torah is the most important thing in their lives. And thus even as he left this world Maran ztz”l whose whole life was dedicated to strengthening the value of Torah among the Jewish people gained yet another merit in his lifelong quest.

What made such a tremendous mass of people come from all over Israel to pay their last respects to one of the few Torah giants left in our times? Most of them had never met him and didn’t even vote for his party; few had ever opened any of his outstanding seforim.

There were the crowds who came to honor him even though they didn’t hold by his piskei din and disagreed with his views and decisions on other matters as well. There were entire yeshivos from the Ashkenazi Torah world including National Religious and chassidic groups of all persuasions. Every style of kippah was there even the “invisible” kippah worn by so many Israelis. And there were the masses who didn’t belong to either camp too far removed from the Torah world to hold opposing opinions. What then tore them away from their daily routine and made them travel long distances to take part in the biggest levayah ever to take place in the State of Israel?

What made them all come?  

Despite the differences that unfortunately divide us there is a thread a fine hidden thread yet strong as steel that connects us all. We may disagree on nearly every subject but that thread binds us as one people. That thread is the Torah.

From the scholar who devotes all of his time to Torah study to the simple Jew who has trouble even reading Tehillim all sense that strong connection. They may not recognize it consciously but deep in their subconscious they know and feel that the Torah is their true life force. And even if they are spiritually impoverished they feel drawn to those who are greater than they in Torah. Every member of the Jewish nation knows somewhere inside that he is a link in the chain a little stone in the huge and beautiful mosaic of the Torah.

And so when this great lamp of Torah was extinguished last Monday every Jew felt that something had been uprooted from within him something that would never return. The light of Torah in the world had dimmed and something in each one of us was hurt too. And that is why all those Jews were galvanized as if by an electric current into action that day. The hidden connection had been touched injured and so they desired to come. FromHaifa from Tzfas from Kiryat Shemonah and Yerucham they came toJerusalem.

Of course we have seen this before every time a Torah luminary has been called to the yeshivah shel maalah. Hundreds of thousands of Jews have always come to accompany them to their eternal rest.  But what happened this time was beyond all expectations beyond imagination. A hundred thousand two hundred thousand… but   850 000 people! Maran ztz”l made an even greater kiddush Hashem in his death than in his life by showing the whole world how much the Jewish People honors the Torah. The media looked on in astonishment not knowing what to make of these masses of people so deeply shocked as one Torah flame was extinguished.

Much more is yet to be said and written about the life of this preeminent Torah giant about his career as a posek and even about disagreements with his halachic approach which will become more acute for such is the way of Torah. But the disagreements will have nothing to do with the penny-for-your-thoughts “analysis” of radio and newspaper commentators who lacking the faintest understanding of how halachic rendering works chatter on about “pesikah Sefaradit” and “pesikah Ashkenazit” as if there were two Torahs.

And much more too will yet be said about his amazing hasmadah and his prodigious memory which held the contents of every volume in his vast library. An experience from my youth comes to mind: when I learned in Yeshivas Kol Torah my friend and fellow student the gaon Rav Yehudah Ades shlita invited me to seudah shlishis at his parents’ home along with other bochurim. The experience of being at the Shabbos table with Chacham Rav Yaakov Ades ztz”l a gadol hador together with other budding young talmidei chachamim who later became famous rabbanim is one that is preserved in my memory like fine wine. One of those young talmidei chachamim was Maran ztz”l whose phenomenal memory was well in evidence there at the table. But how frustrated we yeshivah boys felt when in the course of the conversation one of us mentioned that he’d forgotten a certain detail of what we’d been learning Maran ztz”l thundered at us “You forgot! What do you mean you forgot!?” as if everyone was gifted with a memory like his. I’m afraid I don’t remember what Torah topic we were discussing but I remember the scolding very clearly….

And perhaps more will also be said about the fact that before he became famous and prominent as the Chief Rabbi of Israel and long before the founding of the Shas movement Maran acceded to every request to give Torah shiurim all over Israel seeking no remuneration and no honor.  The activists of those days never stopped pestering him and he would give these shiurim willingly out of love for the Torah and love for the Jewish people. Shas had not yet been founded but he was already fulfilling their motto of “restoring the crown to its past glory.” Already then he was exerting major influence on the Jews of Sephardic communities to be more meticulous in their mitzvah observance – and so he can certainly be counted among the great mekarvim long before all the kiruv organizations sprouted up.

And perhaps this most of all is what made them come — the fact that he went out to his people out of genuine love and sincere desire to enable them to have their share of the beauty of Torah which continued to express itself in other ways in later years. And so they reciprocated with so much love coming out en masse to honor the man who had changed their lives and restored the ancient glory to their hearts.

In the Gemara we learn (Megillah 29):

“The Rabbis taught we put aside Torah study in order to bring the dead to burial… In what case does this apply? When there isn’t a sufficient number of participants at the funeral to honor the dead in accordance with his status but if there are enough participants we do not leave off Torah study.” The Gemara asks what is a sufficient number? And several answers are given. One is from Rav Sheshes who says “As when the Torah was given at Sinai there were 600 000 so when it is taken away (i.e. at the passing of a talmid chacham) should there be 600 000.” In other words 600 000 men may put aside their learning to take part in the levayah.

The Gemara goes on to say “But for one who also taught Torah to the masses (rather than just learning it) there is no specified number” (i.e. no limit to the number who

are obligated to set aside their learning to honor him by taking part in the levayah).

Such was the merit of Maran ztz”l who was accompanied to his eternal rest by close to a million.

Food for Thought

In Torah study one has the mitzvah of pru u’rvu

The intellect must not be sterile giving birth to nothing

(Rebbe Shabsai of Roshkov)