In my first year at the yeshiva, I was a student at the Rozhin-Sadigora Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. The yeshiva was then headed by the Rebbe of Shalag-Chazon Ish, while today the great Mashgih and Masficha, Rabbi Yeshayahu Moshe Tsler, zt"l, serves as the head of the yeshiva.
A vessel filled with Hasidism, morality, and education from the melting pot of the Sedigorites was Rabbi Zeller, and the moral and strengthening talks he gave in the yeshiva hall, even though more than three decades have passed since then, still resonate in my mind.
The yeshiva students - some were residents of the city and some were from other cities and towns in the country. The young men who were residents of the city had their own home, while the residents from outside lived in boarding conditions at the yeshiva.
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Once a month, the boys would go to their home for a 'Shabbat to honor parents.' It was the supervisor who coined the term 'Shabbat to honor parents,' while protesting the use of the idioms 'free Shabbat' or 'vacation Shabbat,' because 'there is no freedom in this world' - the delicious one.
When Friday arrived, when the boys would travel home, immediately after the morning prayer and before they would retreat to their rooms to pack their belongings, the supervisor would hold a 'strengthening conversation', delving into the week's parasha, giving and giving, challenging and excusing, and providing the students with a gift for their parents to bring to the Shabbat table.
At the end of his conversation, he would say: "This Shabbat is 'Honoring Parents' Shabbat. There is a positive commandment from the Ten Commandments that you cannot fulfill throughout the entire month, and it is the commandment of 'Honoring Father and Mother.' This Shabbat is granted to you so that you will have the opportunity to fulfill the commandment, and do not miss the opportunity.".
And so, every month, at the end of the "strengthening conversation" prior to leaving for Shabbat, the supervisor made sure to memorize the purpose of Shabbat in their home for the boys.
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""I've already had five children, thank God, and I still feel young for years," I read the monologue in his dense, legible handwriting, from the sheet of paper that came out of the fax machine in my office.
This is a man who still works hard, his livelihood is secure and his strength is in his loins. He brought five children to the wedding and has the privilege of playing with many grandchildren. A generous man who cares and cares for the well-being of his children, daughters-in-law and grandchildren. Every Shabbat, he makes sure to host one of his children in his extended family, with kindness and generosity - and at the end of Shabbat, when they leave him, he makes sure to provide them with food and money, the gift of his broad and full hand.
When Passover arrives, he goes on a "world tour" so that all five of his children can sit with him at the Seder table. Week after week, he and his wife do the preparations, shopping, cooking, cleaning the house, and all the technical arrangements, in order to receive his large family with honor and royal hospitality.
""But," he writes to me with a sense of bitterness. "They think I'm a hotel valet and forget that I'm their loving father. They return to their childhood home and bed and enter the child's image to the end," he tells me bitterly.
""I didn't ask for money, I didn't ask for help with shopping, what did I just want? A little help clearing the table, washing the dishes, and minimal consideration... Don't think so, they're good kids," he misleads me in his letter before I conclude that he has fallen into the hands of a gang of crooks.
""A little appreciation, that's what I expect," and I feel the wetness of a tear on his round handwriting. "And what do you think? If I received a bottle of good wine or a bouquet of flowers, would I be angry?""
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In a phone call, I promised the man that I would bring up the contents of his letter. I thought, along with him, that the matters were worthy of discussion, especially on the eve of the holiday of the consecration, when the entire House of Israel is careful to sit together.
Boys and girls, brides and grooms, the Passover holiday that will be upon us tomorrow gives us all an opportunity to fulfill the positive commandment of 'honoring father and mother.' We don't have that every day and all year long.
Yes, just as the supervising Rabbi Yeshayahu Moshe Tseller was a 'marvitz' and a mishna for the yeshiva student, just before they arrived at their parents' house.
• The column is published in the press line
