The passing of a great Torah giant is a tragedy that reverberates across time. It is a loss not only for the present generation, but also weighs heavily on future inspiration: what would have been; who could have grown; the many students who could have been guided and are now lost in his passing. His teachings, however, his manuscripts and lessons transcribed by his students, keep him alive, as his voice resonates in their ears. Future generations will benefit. Indeed, the rebbe lives on in the students he created and in the ones who, through his sifsosav dov’evos be’kever, lips speaking from the grave, became his students. Not all teachers achieve such immortality – because not all are able to transmit selfless love for their students. In 1939, while on a fundraising trip for his yeshivah, Horav Elchonan Wasserman was urged to remain in America. The winds of war were blowing fiercely in Europe, as the storm clouds, precursors of the Holocaust, became darker and more foreboding. His response is the response of every devoted Rebbe: “I am a soldier, and I must go to the front. I have hundreds of children—my talmidim. How can I leave them?” He returned and died with them.
In his hesped, eulogy, for the Satmar Rav, zl, Horav Elazar M Shach, zl, cited the Pischei Teshuvah (Yoreh De’ah 344), who relates that the Pnei Yehoshua left instructions that no eulogies be rendered on his behalf. The Noda B’Yehudah gave a powerful hesped – despite those instructions. He claimed that one who is a Rabban Shel Kol Yisrael, the Rebbe of Klal Yisrael, must be eulogized. How does this concur with the halachic rule that a talmid chacham is able to forgive, forgo the kavod rendered to him for his Torah, thereby allowing him to issue his displeasure concerning a hesped.
Rav Shach explains, quoting the pasuk, “Ki im b’soras Hashem cheftzo u’b’soraso yehege yomam va’laylah, “For the teaching of Hashem (His Torah) is his delight, and in His Torah, he utters/recites day and night” (Tehillim 1:2). The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 19A) notes that first the Torah is referred to as Toras Hashem, belonging to the Almighty, and, afterward, it is called, Toraso, his Torah. What brings about the transition? Chazal explain that, prior to learning Torah, it “belongs” to Hashem. Once one applies himself and studies His Torah, the learner acquires it and it becomes “his” Torah. Thus, one can forgo his kavod haTorah, because it is his Torah.
Rav Shach adds that this idea applies only with regard to the Torah which he personally studied or taught during his lifetime. The kavod haTorah that could have been garnered from the added talmidim and Torah that he could have disseminated, had he lived – this is not his to absolve. This is not his Torah, because he did not teach it. It is potential. Concerning potential Torah, the scholar has no baalus, ownership, and, therefore, he cannot say, “I am mochel, I forgive.” It is not his to be mochel.
It is for this reason that the deceased may be eulogized. We bewail our loss, the potential Torah that was due to the Rebbe’s passing. We weep for the talmidim whom he will not inspire; for the lessons he will not teach, for the manuscripts he will not author. This is not the talmid chacham’s Torah – but Hashem’s.
