Already in the yeshiva, we admired, just like that, Tuvia Pollak, later the supervising Rabbi Tuvia Pollak.
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We knew that we could ask him any question about halakhic law due to his vast knowledge of the Mishnah Berurah, and groups of young people would gather around him every week to hear moral and wisdom sayings, in which he would, with a fine chisel and excellent humor, set a polished mirror before the listeners.
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I, too, personally, found myself consulting with him during one of the most difficult, mentally, Yom Kippur days I went through.
This is why we were not surprised that the day after his wedding, Tuvia showed up for morning prayers at 7:00, immediately returning to his bride.
Hence, we were not surprised by his astonishing stance when that same bride was involved in a car accident and hovered between life and death for weeks, until she recovered.
You weren't even surprised to see him the way he was, when a few months ago he lost the same wife of his youth to a serious illness when she was in her prime.
But we were surprised to hear him on Thursday, as he stood over the body of his 21-year-old daughter, who died after a week of illness - and thanked his Creator.
He thanks her for the years he took the girl in and explains how good she is now, when she is with her mother and with her 'sweet father'.
Reading the man's text over and over again led me to the conclusion: It's impossible to invent such a thing. It's impossible to issue such a text if it doesn't come from a very deep and very believing place within you.
Simply impossible.
Rabbi Tuvia was not detached from the pain. He described the suffering the family members were going through, but he also uttered the following sentences:
""Dear father, I kept telling her, how happy will be the one who wins you. Creator of the world, you are happy! You won her! You are happy! I give her to you with all my heart. How happy you are. Our whole life is yours. Our whole life is nothing, just to make you happy. Thank you for letting us make you happy. So righteous, so pure.
""You will ascend to heaven now, you will meet your dear mother in heaven, how fun for you, you are close to the king! You see the sweet king! How good for you!"
""Dear father, I have one request. Father, I have a request from the bottom of my heart, Father I beg you: I have only one request, Father please grant it. Father! There is no one to say Kaddish. Father, say the Kaddish yourself!""
