Remembering Rav Shach zt"l

Today, the 16th of Cheshvan, marks the 10^th anniversary of the passing of Rav Elazar Menachem Mann Shach zt”l, the great gaon and Rosh Yeshiva of the Ponevezh yeshiva in B’nei Brak and author of the Avi Ezri on the Rambam.

I never had the privilege of meeting Rav Shach in person, but when he died I took the opportunity to pay a shiva call to his only son, Rabbi Dr. Efraim Azriel Shach z”l (who lived in Jerusalem until he passed away just before Sukkot of this year).

Dr. Shach had a very interesting story – much of which is well known by now. After learning in some of the finest Yeshivot in Israel at the time, he went on to join the Irgun and later went to University in North America. He ultimately returned and spent much of his professional career filling senior positions in the Israeli Ministry of Education. Suffice it to say that he didn’t exactly fit the assumed mold of the son of the Ponovezh Rosh Yeshiva.

I was at the beginning of my second year of learning in Yeshivat Hakotel at the time, and so one afternoon in the week of shiva during my lunch break, I hopped in a cab with a Rebbe from the Yeshiva and friend. Together the three of us made the short trip to the other side of the city to visit Dr. Shach.

We walked into a very welcoming but simple apartment. I was immediately struck by the large painting on the wall depicting Rav Shach davening with tallit and tefillin.

The apartment was busy with visitors, but not overly crowded. Dr. Shach patiently and warmly gave his full attention to each and every one of his visitors – weather he had met them previously or not (we didn’t even realize that R’ Zalman Nechemia Goldberg was sitting right next to us while we waited for our turn!).

When it was our turn to approach Dr. Shach he told us about his time spent in the United States as a faculty member and administrator in the Yeshiva of Flatbush. He joked with my friend who was a graduate of MTA – “we used to beat you guys in basketball all the time!”. 

He also shared some stories about his great father.  Dr. Shach related that once while he was in the New York, he wrote his father a letter marveling at the huge skyscrapers in Manhattan. His father responded that he was unimpressed by such physical, temporary things. “After all”, wrote Rav Shach to his son, “these buildings could fall to the ground in an instant” if Hashem willed it so. Being that the events of September 11, 2001 were not even two months behind us at that time, this particular vignette gave us goose bumps.

Dr. Shach also recalled how one morning he and his father were together in Rav Shach's apartment in B'nei Brak. His father was eating a piece of dry toast for breakfast and learning Rambam. Dr. Shach asked his father if he would like something with his toast - perhaps some butter or jam. Rav Shach looked at his son as if he was speaking Chinese. "I don't understand what you mean" replied Rav Shach, "I am having Rambam with my toast". Dr. Shach said that this response from his father was 100% serious.

A few months after my visit with Dr. Shach, he came to Yeshivat Hakotel at Rav Bina’s invitation to address the student body as a whole. In a moving display, Dr. Shach implored us to put all of our efforts into the study of Torah and keeping of the mitzvot. Dr. Shach explained that as his father taught him – everything in this world is rooted in and connected to the Torah. For a Jewish person there can be nothing that exists outside of this reality. Dr. Shach with all of his “other” pursuits and accomplishments in this world taught us that at the end of the day the Torah is the umbrella that encompasses everything in life.

This was the message of Rav Shach as told by his only son.

In this politicized and polarized world, many disagreed with Rav Shach on one issue or another. But perhaps on this, his tenth yahrtzeit, we can all agree on his bottom line - that for us Jews the Torah was, is and always will be the center of our lives.