Exhausted, shaken, overwhelmed, and with a feverish and swollen head, I returned to the north from the funeral in Jerusalem, from the funeral of Rabbi Yitzhak Tuvia Weiss, zt"l.
I was privileged to be very close to Rabbi Tuvia Weiss in his early years in Jerusalem. I was among the activists who brought him to Jerusalem and stood by his side in leading the public and the fruitful work to raise the profile of the Haredi community and Jerusalem.
I distanced myself from the activities of the Haredi community, lived abroad for years and was informed about everything that was happening within the Haredi community. I was informed by my grandfather, the late Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Pappenheim, from the leaders of the Haredi community, from my family, from my former partners in action and monitoring of everything that was happening.
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When the news of Maran's passing arrived, it was only natural that I would make every effort to be at the funeral of Darby. I set out in the morning for an hour-long drive, and arrived straight at Zofnik Square, where I listened to the eulogies and eulogies from the righteous sages, members of the BIDZ, and members of Maran's family.
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A thrill of excitement gripped me at the opening of the eulogy by BIDZ member Rabbi Yehuda Fisher. His eulogy, with its unique melody: "The kings of the nations said about Abraham our father, may God have mercy on him - woe to the world that has lost its leader, and woe to the ship that has lost its captain. Woe to the world that has lost its leader in his responses to the halachah in which he led Israel, and to the ship that has lost its captain.".
It brought me back to my childhood, when I was on that night of Menachem Av 26, 5779, in Zofnik Square, at the eulogy for the passing of a righteous man, our holy rabbi of Satmar, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum zt"l.
We heard the eulogies from there over the phone, and our rabbis from here also gave eulogies, and despite being a child before my bar mitzvah, I can still recite the eulogy of the member of the Bid'atz, "Rabbi Fischer" [later the Rav Yisrael Yaakov], how he eulogized our rabbi, the Holy One of Satmar, and here it is again, the same melody, the same melody, how the circles close again.
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I have always followed the member of the Bid'atz, Rabbi Shimon Yitzhak Schlesinger. He is the grandson of the Jerusalem-Chassidic posak, Rabbi Yisrael Ze'ev Mintzberg, and continues his path of ruling. I was filled with admiration for his rise to the pinnacle of halakhic activity. Since the Gav'atz Rabbi Tuvia came to Jerusalem, he has been attached to him heart and soul, with great love and loyalty, but out of responsibility for the integrity and unity of the community, he did not enter the dark corners and knew how to distinguish between the essence and the background noise.
I was truly moved to hear the painful eulogy and to emphasize one of the most significant activities of the Maran Gav"d during his leadership in Jerusalem - he heard the cry of the young men, poor children who were not accepted into the T'T's and yeshivahs, into schools and seminaries. He continued his struggle to the end, calling and inviting administrators and heads of institutions and shouting, demanding and demanding that they admit students who had no educational framework, and who had no support and no one to advocate for them.
I remember he would call a taxi and arrive at a manager's house, knock on the door and start making nice. And when that didn't work, he would bang on the table, yell and cry and moan, until he got his way, and the boy/girl was allowed to enter the tabernacle of Torah.
This is one of the greatest deeds of the Gabbad, and it is a must-do.
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For almost eighty years, Maran Gav"d Rabbi Tuvia, z"l, walked side by side with his companion, friend, and fellow Jew, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, shlit"a, for a long and good life. They studied together in Rabbi Moshe Schneider's high yeshiva in London, and stories of greatness circulated about both of them in those days and in the years that followed.
Each went his own way. Maran Gav"d served as a Torah tutor for young men, head of the kollel, dayan and teacher in London and Antwerp, and Ybalchta Rabbi Moshe wrote wise works in all Torah subjects, was considered the rabbinate of the generation, and served in the rabbinate in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Johannesburg and his fortress of Perosa.
I was privileged to see up close the friendship and love that existed between them. Well, how wonderful was this sight, the husbands of a dozen or so men defeating each other in Halacha, some constructive and some contradictory, and they displayed love.
But there are also angels of sabotage, small people with corrupt values who fanned the flames of hatred in the camp, turning it into politics, encampments, power-grabbing, and violent acts.
When our Rebbe was called to eulogize Maran zt"l, those wicked people burst out with cries of hatred and contempt. I was astonished, I fell silent, I stood with dear people I knew in Jerusalem and Moscow, and I looked for the pit to dig myself into. I couldn't stand it. I burst into tears and my heart broke within me. I went up to my parents' house to calm down.
When I read over and over again the cry of the prophet Isaiah: "Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you lifted up your voice and lifted up your eyes on high against the Holy One of Israel?"?!
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I had partners and friends, brothers in thought and action during my public activities within the framework of the Haredi Eda. I am friends with all of them and always exchange good memories from turbulent and fascinating days. We did not always have the same opinion, we did not always see things the same way, but we knew how to work in harmony.
In this difficult moment, I saw the same spirit of activism of the ultra-Orthodox community from those wonderful years. How moved I was to hear my friend, the writer Yitzhak Weiss, grab the microphone and shout: Honor the Torah! Let go! Don't play with fire!
And of course my friend Rabbi Yitzhak Shlomo Blauia, the Sifra Dedayna, who conducted the funeral procession with great skill and determination. I found Asher Eisenbach and we exchanged memories of that grand occasion 19 years ago at the coronation ceremony that we successfully organized and produced.
My friends and Shab Shimon Ozer Weiss, with whom we exchanged opinions and thoughts. I met and talked with many friends and allies, each one following his own path with his own method and opinion, but knowing how to respect each other's opinions, to respect opposing opinions, this is the path of Torah, Torah acquired through controversy for the sake of Heaven!
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Thousands and tens of thousands from Israel came to pay respect to the Torah, respect to the Haredi community, respect to Jerusalem. I saw among the attendants people from all circles and levels of society, even those whose views do not align with the Haredi community and its opinions. Respect for the Torah is in consensus.
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The Gemara in Tractate Ketubot, page 13, tells of the funeral of Rabbi, Rabbi of Israel, author of the Mishnah:
That day, when Ishbatiya Darby was sleeping, a daughter of Kala was born and said: Every dew in Ishbatiya Darby is a gift for the life of the world to come!
[Translation: On the day that Rabbi passed away, a voice came from heaven and said: Everyone who was at his funeral is ready for the life of the world to come!]
