Even as I write these words, I want to reach for the phone and ask Rabbi Wein, “What now? Who will carry this mesorah forward now that you are gone?”

Photos: Elchanan Kotler, Mishpacha and family archives

I

feel a profound sense of personal loss with the passing of Rabbi Berel Wein. For the past 18 years, I turned to Rabbi Wein with questions I once asked my rebbi and rosh yeshivah, Rabbi Azriel Chaim Goldfein, until his passing.

Both of these giants offered me a lifeline to the precious litvish mesorah I was born into. Rabbi Goldfein was a talmid muvhak of Rav Mordechai Gifter, the rosh yeshivah of Telshe. And Rabbi Wein was a talmid of many great rabbanim: his father, Rabbi Zev Wein, a talmid of Rav Shimon Shkop; his father-in-law, Rabbi Eliezer Levin of Detroit, a ben bayis of the Chofetz Chaim; his grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Zvi Rubenstein; and many others.

Rabbi Wein would often quote the Gemara (Eiruvin 13b) where Rabi Yehudah Hanasi attributed his incisiveness to having “seen the back of Rabi Meir.” In the same way, Rabbi Wein, drawing from this, used to say that he had seen the “back” of the previous generation of Gedolei Lita. He caught a glimpse of their world and their greatness and that inspired and guided him in everything he did.

Rabbi Wein achieved great things in his life. He authored books, built yeshivos, illuminated Jewish history, and inspired tens of thousands through his teaching and leadership. His rabbinic career sparkled with stunning brilliance and success.

And yet, perhaps more precious was this: Rabbi Wein was our living connection to the worldview of Gedolei Lita. That’s why, when my rebbi was niftar, I turned to Rabbi Wein. I needed the life-giving waters of mesorah, and Rabbi Wein was always there — ready to answer, without fuss, with a clarity and precision that distilled the very essence of the tradition and values he embodied.