If there was one recurrent them in the actions and drashos of the Rosh Yeshiva, it was kevod Shomayim. TheRosh Yeshiva always demanded of himself and the audience he spoke for - in yeshiva and elsewhere - to ask the question, “Vos vill der Ribbono Shel Olam fun unz? What does Hashem want from us?” The question isn’t what we think is right, but what is right in the Eyes of Hashem.

 

This is what he demanded and this is how people saw him conducting himself. Everything he did was through that prism. Thus, on the day whose lesson is to understandkevod Shomayim through what Hashem demands of us, we pause to remember and reflect upon the life and deeds of the Rosh Yeshiva, whose raison d’être was kevod Shomayim.

 

I was just a fourteen-year-old bochur when I joined Philadelphia Yeshiva. I was brought up with the yeshiva with my grandparents having been friendly with theroshei yeshiva. In addition, some of my uncles had learned there and one was a rebbi there. It was now time for me to experience it firsthand.

 

As others mentioned in tributes to the Rosh Yeshiva, the first Elul that bochurim experienced in Philadelphia Yeshiva hit most of them like a ton of bricks. We had all gone through theYomim Noraim as youngsters, but this time it was “for real.” The first Friday of the zeman, some bais medrash bochurim took the liberty of playing basketball in the afternoon together with the rest of the yeshiva. We found out that they heard about it in a Shabbos shmuess. “Elul is not a time for playing ball,” Rav Elya told them during his Shabbos drasha at his house. When one bochur later asked him if it’s wrong to play basketball, Rav Elya’s response was succinct: “If you have time during Elul to play ball, you can play ball.” While many of us young bochurim did play ball, the message that Elul is different reverberated throughout the yeshiva. It was palpable.

 

That Rosh Hashanah, we heard shmuessen about kevod Shomayim, emunas chachomim, mitzvas shofar andpachad hadin. Many of us didn’t understand these lofty concepts, but just observing the Rosh Yeshiva as he delivered his shmuess was enough. He shed tears while he talked about how we must daven “lekayeim bonu chachmei Yisroel.” He demanded emunas chachomim, which he said is one of the main themes of Rosh Hashanah.

 

The Rosh Yeshiva related: “Chana was suspected by Eli Hakohen as a drunkard. Once she explainedherself to him, Eli gave her a bracha. The posuk then says that she brightened up and felt better. But wasn’t this the same person who just berated her? That’s the koach of emunas chachomim. Once Chana explained herself and Eli gave her a bracha, all doubts were removed.  

 

The Chasam Sofer says regarding Akeidas Yitzchok that it’s called after Yitzchok because Avrohom heard the command from Hashem, but Yitzchok heard it from Avrohom and trusted him that he heard it from Hashem. This koach of emunas  chachomim of Yitzchok is the zechus of what we ask Hashem for during the Yemei  Hadin.

 

During Mussaf of Yomim Noraim, we’d hear him davening Shemoneh Esrei, humming his haunting mussar niggun every so often. We’d hear a krechtz during chazoras hashatz as the chazzan chanted the words of Zichronos. The Rosh Yeshiva looked different during those moments.

 

On Yom Kippur, the Rosh Yeshiva bent over at a complete 90-degree angle while saying viduy. During my last year in the yeshiva, I sat near the front and was able to observe this up close. He was no youngster then - he was about 65 - and yet he took on that posture every time he said viduy, no matter how long it took him to say it.

 

The Rosh Yeshiva’sNe’ilah shmuess was the culmination of the Yomim Noraim. He spoke about Torah and gave a broader view of Klal Yisroel. We can’t only think of ourselves, he said. We must daven for the Yidden stuck behind the Iron Curtain, the Yidden in Eretz Yisroel, and the Yidden in other places, including the Yidden in other parts of North America. We, as bnei Torah, must sense the achrayus of Klal Yisroel, he’d say. That shmuess, combined with the Ne’ilah of ybl”c Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, was never forgotten by a Philadelphia talmid, even if he only experienced it once.  

 

The mesivta bochurim didn’t have much to do with the Rosh Yeshiva on a daily basis, but his presence spoke volumes of what was expected of us. We never felt that he came down to our level. Yes, he was nice to us, and as we grew up we had the opportunity to interact with him, but we always felt that he expected us to reach those lofty levels that he and, ybl”c, Rav Shmuel set for the yeshiva. There was always room to grow and to shteig, and while feeling good about one’s accomplishments, a bochur was reminded to always remember that there’s room for more. Often, we later realized, the Rosh Yeshiva wasn’t talking to us as teenage yeshiva bochurim of today, but as mature adults of tomorrow, instilling in us life concepts that we’d only fully comprehend later.

 

No shmuess could’ve conveyed this better than just observing Rav Elya in action. We were in yeshiva when he was busy with klal issues. People would come to Philadelphia to speak to him, or he’d be running out of town for meetings, chasunos and other klal obligations. Yet, even if he couldn’t make it to seder to learn with the bochurim, he’d still come for mussar seder. Just seeing the Rosh Yeshiva put whatever he was doing on hold to learn mussar was a mussar shmuess in of itself.

 

One bochur who sat near his seat duringmussar seder recounted that he heard the Rosh Yeshiva repeat the same line in Rabbeinu Yonah for two weeks during Elul. Many Philadelphia talmidim can repeat the first derech of teshuvah from Shaarei Teshuvah verbatim just from hearing theRosh Yeshiva chanting it during mussar seder.

 

The Rosh Yeshiva would schedule appointments around mussar seder. When I wished to speak to him before my chasunah, he said, “Come Thursday after mussar.”

 

One Friday night, Rav Elya said that he noticed that bochurim weren’t showing up to mussar seder:

 

The Dubno Maggid relates a moshol about a poor person who once wanted to petition the king to cancel a huge debt. He was going to go in his old, tattered clothing and his rickety wagon to speak to the king. His friends told him that ‘es pas nisht’ to show up at the king’s palace looking like a beggar. He must wear nice clothing, as befitting one who meets a king, he said. He went dressed like a rich, respected man. When he petitioned the king and told him about his plight, the king dismissed him out of hand. “You’re dressed like a rich man. Why should I believe that you have problems?”

 

“When we don’t learn mussar,” the Rosh Yeshiva concluded, “we portray ourselves before Hashem like a poor person in rich clothing. The bochurim, by not learning mussar, feel they’ll be fine presenting themselves to Hashem that way, he said.

 

While we attended General Studies classes as part of the mesivta schedule, we all knew who was standing behind the program. The morning of the first day of yeshiva one year, we attended a meeting in the chapel - the old 6063 building - called by Rav Elya and Rav Shmuel.

 

“Mir ken nit zein a mentch a halbeh tog,” Rav Elya said. “One can’t be a mentch for a half day. If a bochur acts with derech eretz during limudei kodesh and not during limudei chol, that shows that his middos are lacking even in the morning too.”

 

That was the standard. And if a bochur did act up during General Studies classes, it was often brought to the Rosh Yeshiva’s attention.

 

Once a bochur reached bais medrash, he saw more of Rav Elya. We saw him talking in learning in the bais medrash and we heard shmuessen from him on Shabbos. We saw him up close in the sense of gadol shimusha yoser milimudah.

 

During the shmuessen on Shabbos around his dining room table, Rav Elya expounded on many different topics. It was a period when we felt removed from what was going on. Winter or summer, even when the heat was unbearable, nobody moved during the entire shmuess. Rav Elya never opened his eyes except to look up something from a sefer. He discussed middos, mesirus nefesh for Torah, kochos hanefesh, the kabbolah of Torah from generation to generation, and understanding current events from a Torah perspective.

 

Rav Elya mentioned that as a bochur, he and a group of bochurim from Williamsburg would gather Friday nights at the Tzeirei Agudas Yisroel building on Bedford Avenue to listen to Rav Elchonon Wasserman zt”l. Rav Elchonon would tell the bochurim to ask him any question and he’d find a source for it in Chazal. Rav Elya once remarked that halevai he would have the ability to do such a thing, but it was uncanny how the Rosh Yeshiva would indeed find a Chazal to convey the Torah hashkafah on world events.

 

In 5750 (1989-90), there were two Shabbos Chanukahs, and the yeshiva bochurim went home for the second Shabbos. We were invited to the Rosh Yeshiva’s home after the Friday night seudah of the first Shabbos for a shmuess. We expected to hear a Chanukah shmuess; something related to the Yom Tov. But Rav Elya had something else in mind.

 

The posuk says that the Sar Hamashkim forgot about saving Yosef, even thoughYosef had asked him to plead his case. The Medrash at the end of Parshas Vayeishev says that Hashem told Yosef, “He forgot you, but I won’t. Mi mechakeh, who waited for Avrohom and Sarah until they had a baby? Who waited for Yaakov Avinu until he had children and riches? Who waited for Yosef who was saved from his tzaros? Who waited for Moshe to be rescued from the water? And who will wait for Moshiach to come? I am the One who waits to save Klal Yisroel…

 

“This year,” said Rav Elya, “we saw a new ‘mi mechakeh.’ For seventy years, we were waiting for Communism to fall. The Chofetz Chaim, Rav Chaim Ozer [Grodzensky], Rav Aharon [Kotler] and many others shed copious tears and did whatever was possible to help their Russian brethren. We all witnessed since Sukkos how the entire regime collapsed without a shot being fired, in a matter of weeks. Hashem is showing us ‘mi mechakeh’ - I waited for Communism to disappear into thin air.

 

“We should realize that this is Moshiach’s time when the Iron Curtain has crumbled. And yet, bochurim are slacking off during seder…and staying up late at night farkaikeling zich. Is that what we’re supposed to be doing during such a time?”

 

The atmosphere in the room totally changed. We were no longer just thinking about Chanukah. Singing Ani Ma’amin after that shmuess with the Rosh Yeshiva crying as he sang with us brought out an entirely new dimension. It was not the typical Chanukah niggun, but that’s the lesson the Rosh Yeshiva imparted to us: When we experience times that aren’t typical, we must take a different look at life.

 

Rav Elya would repeatedly quote Rashi in Parshas Va’eirah who says that the reason why things happen in the world is for people to getyiras Shomayim, based on the posuk in Michah which states, “Hichrati pinos nashamu pinosam amarti ach tiri osi tikchi mussar.” He would also mention the Rashi in Koheles on the posuk of “Va’Elokim asa sheyiru milfanav.” Rashi explains that it refers to the Mabul during the generation of Enosh which flooded 1/3 of the world. That generation should have learned from it, but didn’t, and they therefore ended up with a Mabul.

 

An earthquake in Mexico City during Aseres Yemei Teshuvah was a lesson that “people think they run the world and with ain ker, one turn, Hashem shows who runs the world.” That was the Rosh Yeshiva’s message during his Ne’ilah shmuess that year.

 

When the first intifada began and people were criticizing Israel for shooting rubber bullets even though it was standard procedure in other countries, we were told that “even a goy understands that a Yid must act differently.”

 

But perhaps the greatest lesson we were taught was that of kevod Shomayim.

 

Why was Moshe punished for hitting the stone at Mei Meriva? The Baal Haturim (Parshas Va’eirah 8:1) explains that Moshe should have drawn a kal vachomer from the tzefardim in Mitzrayim, like Chananya, Mishael and Azaryah did. Moshe made a cheshbon of hitting the rock instead of talking to it. The tzefardim demonstrated by jumping into the ovens that “fahr kevod Shomayim macht min nisht kein cheshbonos,” you don’t rationalize for the sake of kevod Shomayim. If that’s what’s demanded of you, you do it.

 

So often we’d hear those words, kevod Shomayim. “Whatever you do, remember kevod Shomayim.”

 

When this writer reviews a written article, he invariably hears the words “kevod Shomayim” echo in his head before hitting the send button. Does the article reflect kevod Shomayim? Perhaps a word change here or there would make it more meaningful or more appropriate. That’s the chinuch of a Philadelphia talmid, no matter what position he occupies.

 

Once we reached Rav Elya’s shiur, we saw how it all came together. The Rosh Yeshiva would come prepared for the shiurim, and sometimes we wondered exactly when he did it. He came home late the night before from meetings - a trip to New York meant at least two hours of traveling each way - and sometimes there was a 9:30 shiur the following morning because the Rosh Yeshiva had to back on the road again. No matter the time, though, listening to the shiur was a sense of hadevarim semeichim kenesinoson miSinai. Rav Elya, in animated fashion, would swing back and forth while he said the shiur, his distinct pitch rising and falling with the nuance of the sevara. He smiled as he shared the ‘k’nock’ of the sevara. He lived the divrei Elokim chayim and inviting us to experience it as well, while delivering his complex cheshbonos in the sugyah to explain a Rashi, Tosafos, or Rambam. This was where it all generated from. He’d be exhausted after the shiur, yet he had time for the bochurim to talk in learning. He’d be tired from a night of traveling, yet he would sit patiently after Shacharis to discuss the shiur with the bochurim. When he was present for night seder, he’d spend the time in the bais medrash talking in learning with the bochurim.

 

When we talked to him in learning during seder, he was mechanech uson how to learn. One couldn’t ask him just a simple kushya. “First tell me the Gemara…now the Rashi…now the Tosafos… What was Tosafos’ kushya? How did you learn the kushya?” Everything was built up from scratch. You had to come prepared and be klor in the sugyah and then he’d work out everything with you. And when he saw that you understood his p’shat and how everything clicked, he would break out with his effervescent smile and nod approvingly.

 

Perhaps one of the greatest lessons of learning in the yeshiva was observing the tremendous derech eretz and kavod that Rav Elya and, ybl”c, Rav Shmuel had for each other. For me it was when Rav Elya would ask Rav Shmuel after davening if he could have a word with him. Rav Shmuel would run over from his seat on the other side of the bais medrash and they’d meet halfway in front of the aron kodesh. Just watching them talk together and observing their body language was a live mussar seder of how two people are to get along. Watching these two childhood friends, chavrusos in Lakewood for five years, and later shutfim in the yeshiva and in leading Klal Yisroel interact with each other on a daily basis was a living lessonin kavod habriyos and middos.

 

During the winter of 5749 (1988-89), the yeshiva suffered a devastating fire and the roshei yeshiva had to raise emergency funds. Still, they were moser nefesh to say shiurim, which perhaps we didn’t appreciate when we were in yeshiva. Rav Elya even traveled to New York twice during the week that the yeshiva was closed to say a shiur for the bochurim there.

 

When it was time to leave the yeshiva, I mentioned to the Rosh Yeshiva that it was hard to express hakoras hatov in words for all that I gained while in the yeshiva. He responded the same way he did to everybody: “So you’ll shteig further and that’s the greatest hakoras hatov.”

 

When one bochur pressed him on that, the Rosh Yeshiva said, “What do you think? We’re baalei batim over the yeshiva? We’re gabbaim here to teach Hashem’s Torah to talmidim. The more kevod Shomayim you produce in learning and other things, the more you demonstrate that you internalized the ideals that a yeshiva bochur must know.”

 

We talmidim are charged to live with the ideals that he inculcated in us. As the Rosh Yeshiva said, it is the greatest form of hakoras hatov. And today it is a zechus for his exalted neshama.

 

Yehi zichro boruch.