Page 40 - HaMizrachi Tisha bAv 5783 USA

and he himself dropped money into this average anti-Zionist did not derive from
bowl several times. The students noticed fear but rather from smug satisfaction and
this, and more than 9 rubles were col- self confidence…
lected in the bowl – a significant amount But despite all this, the “air of Eretz Yis-
of money in those days.
rael,” the “ל ֵא ָר ְש ִי ץ ֶר ֶא ְ ּ ד א ָרי ִו ֲא,” permeated
ׂ
When my father received a telegram stat- Rav Chaim’s home. His spirit was so
ing that the Zionist activist Dr. Leon Pin- great that he could oppose Zionism while
sker had died, he was very upset. As a side recognizing the urgency of practically
point, the telegram was written in Russian working on behalf of Eretz Yisrael. With
and used a Russian phrase that essentially the exception of a few extraordinary activ-
said “Pinsker is finished.” My father said, ists, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik did more for
“This is not a Jewish idea. When a person the good of Eretz Yisrael than any other
dies, he is not ‘finished.’ On the contrary, rabbi, focusing his efforts, obviously, on
it is a beginning.” helping the Old Yishuv. Almost all of the
large yeshivot in Yerushalayim had repre-
sentatives in Brisk. Meshulachim for tens
Rav Chaim Soloveitchik: Eretz of Torah and charity organizations would
Yisrael vs. Zionism come at set times to give him financial
updates. Hundreds of letters concerning
By nature, Rav Chaim was the kind of the organizations in Eretz Yisrael came and
person who was burdened with spiritual went in Brisk every week. Every difficult
suffering. He was always afraid of the day issue in the Old Yishuv, whether it con-
of judgment, of tomorrow. Every thought cerned Toras Chaim, Ohel Moshe or the
about illness and death depressed him. Diskin Orphanage, was brought before Rav Rav Chaim Soloveitchik
Every bad tiding about someone’s death Chaim in Brisk, and they would follow his
had a terrible impact upon him. Even more guidance… only in the spiritual Eretz Yisrael, but he
so, he was gripped with unusual dread also yearned to hear about the physical,
over the future of his soul, afraid that it There were certain meshulachim that Rav tangible Eretz Yisrael, specifically about
would come to spiritual destruction. Chaim would spend time with for several Yerushalayim – what life was like there,
days, simply because it gave him so much how people make a living, how they
He was afraid of any new movement in pleasure to hear about life in Eretz Yisrael. dressed, what its streets looked like, and so
Judaism, fearful that any step off the The more details the meshulach could on. Every detail, every bit of information
beaten path was likely to cause people offer, the more pleasure Rav Chaim had he heard, gave him great pleasure, enrich-
to stray from Judaism. He lived and con- in listening to him. He was interested not ing his soul and gladdening his heart. ◼
ducted himself without considering all
of the aspects of the issue, because the
one thing that was certain in his eyes was
this: to grasp onto the old without any
change whatsoever. In Zionism, he saw
not only the desire to build up the Land,
but also the cause of new theories and
new problems in Jewish life and thought.
This alone was enough to make Zionism
frighten him, just as he was afraid of all
modern learning, newspapers and books,
and anything that contained something
new and was not accepted and passed
down through the generations.
His opposition, therefore, was respectable,
if also painful, for it came from anxiety,
inner fear, and spiritual suffering. Suffer-
ing generally has the power to increase a
person’s holiness, and this is true, many
times over, when it comes to the spiri-
tual suffering of a lofty person like Rav
Chaim. And so when Rav Chaim would
speak negatively about Zionism or Zionist
leaders, whom the young people of the
time admired, it caused pain, though not
of the kind caused by others who dispar-
aged the Zionists. The opposition of the

40 |