Reb Neuberger: A Statesman of Torah

 

A STATESMAN OF TORAH

At a time when de-funding the police is a big issue, it is amazing to read the first words of this parsha, which tells us the importance of shoftim and shotrim. 

“Rabbi Chanina, s’gan Kohain Gadol, says: Pray for the welfare of the government, because, if people did not fear it, people would swallow each other alive.” (Avos 3:2)

A friend from Portland, Oregon told us about a case in which a robber was breaking into a house in the middle of the night. The panicked homeowner dialed 911 and was told, “Sorry, no officer is available” and the call was terminated. 

My friends, to put it simply, we are seeing the disintegration of Western society, in which supposedly intelligent and sophisticated people are creating havoc. As Rebbetzin Jungreis used to say, “Some people are so open-minded that their brains fall out!” 

Ever since our first parents rebelled against Hashem in Gan Eden, the Evil Inclination has caused unfathomable suffering. There is only one bulwark against chaos, and that is the Torah which Hashem has given to Am Yisroel. 

I am reminded of the words of U. S. President Harry S. Truman, who told Rabbi Shlomo Lorincz in the early 1950s (when he explained the reasons he recognized the fledgling State of Israel): “If I still have the will to continue to live, it is only because I believe that, just like in the past, three thousand years ago, you Jews saved humanity -- wild mankind! -- via your Torah, so too I believe and hope that, even nowadays, you, the Jewish Nation, will be successful again, to enlighten and to heal the beasts of cruelty in our midst and save the world from total destruction.”

The Torah is a Tree of Life for us and the entire world!

A great man left this world on Shabbos Parshas Eikev. His name was Rabbi Berel Wein. I do believe that he was one of the “shoftim,” perhaps also one of the “shotrim,” who guarded our generation. He was a voice of sanity, humanity, sobriety, wisdom, perhaps most of all a voice of perspective. In his quiet, brilliant way, he sewed the threads of history into an orderly tapestry, making sense out of a world which seems to be spinning out of control. He was more than a rav, more than a rabbi, more than a rosh yeshiva; he was a Statesman of Torah, a person of nobility. 

And he was funny! I remember hearing him describe his landing at an Italian airport when he was a kashrus administrator for the OU. In the maze of humanity, there was no one to meet him and his Italian language skills were missing in action. To paraphrase his description, “I surveyed this vast multitude of people and then I saw, way off in a far corner, a man holding a sign that read ‘Rabbit!’” In his brilliant, but softspoken wit, he added, “He was just a hare off!”

He spoke about his early days as a lawyer in Chicago, and how he found out that the legal profession brings out the worst in people (who want to litigate each other to death). And so he became a rabbi and changed the world. 

For many years I was the administrator in the Jungreis Family’s Cheder in Canarsie, Brooklyn. In my daily forty-minute commute I had a constant companion, Rabbi Wein’s 120-tape (oh yes, those were the days of cassette tapes) history of the world, from Beraishis all the way to the Third Reich. He knew it all. It was all in his head and he told it over as if he were there and you were there, with spice and humor and brilliant Torah perspective. 

In recent years, he became blind, but his weekly parsha lectures continued at his shul, Bet Knesses Hanasi in Rehavia, Yerushalayim. He could not see the books, the words, the notes, but he didn’t need them. It was all in his head, every name, every date, every gadol, every sefer, every Gemara, every possuk, every conversation among sages and statesmen. Through his nineties, he forged ahead, quietly giving over his unique perspective on Torah and history. 

With all his self-deprecation, his words were like the footsteps of destiny walking through the annals of history. It all hung together like a beautiful tapestry. I will never forget how he recounted the words of his own cheder rebbe in Chicago, who would start each day with the words, “Ashreinu … We are fortunate! How good is our portion, how pleasant our lot and how beautiful our heritage!”

Reb Wein loved Torah. He spoke about the Life of Torah with love and awe. He inspired countless thousands of Yidden to elevate their lives and see the past, present and future with perspective. He was indeed a “shofet” and a “shoter,” a judge and watchman over this world. When he spoke, somehow you felt “hakol beseder … all is well” and will be well, despite the monumental traumas in our long history. He will be sorely missed as we sail forward into a world which desperately needs order and restraint. He held the spiritual hand of Jews all over the world. Certainly, his welcome in Olam ha Emes has been tumultuous, as the gadolim from the millennia crowd around him to say “Yashar koach!” 

Farewell, Rabbi Wein! We will miss your voice of calm and wisdom! 

As for us, we await the Day when the Great Judge will bring justice to this world. As we say every Tuesday, “Arise Hashem, judge the earth, for You allot the heritage among all the nations.” (Tehillim 82)

President Harry S. Truman

Rabbi Berel Wein

Rabbi Berel Wein

GLOSSARY

Beraishis: Genesis, the creation of the world

Cheder: Jewish elementary school

Gadolim: Great rabbis

Gan Eden: The Garden of Eden

Kashrus: adherence to kosher laws

Kashrus administrator: someone who certifies the kashrus of foods and factories 

Olam ha Emes: The World of Truth, the World to Come

Possuk: sentence in the Torah

Shoftim: Judges

Shotrim: Officers of the law

Yashar koach: An expression meaning, “Well done!” (lit. “May your strength increase”)