Entrance Exams

Chazal taught, “Kol haschalos kashos” — starting out is invariably difficult. This certainly applies to students entering new schools. In some yeshivos today, the Rosh Yeshivah feels that it is not upon him to develop relationships with the students; it is their upon them to grow close to the Rosh Yeshivah.

It wasn’t always this way. Harav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, for example, placed his relationship with the students in his yeshivah above all his other responsibilities, even after he had become recognized as the Gadol Hador. His students invariably spoke all their lives about the warmth and respect that Rav Moshe displayed toward them.

Harav Ephraim Greenblatt, zt”l, related how he arrived from Eretz Yisrael when he was 19 to study in Rav Moshe’s yeshivah. When Rav Moshe noticed a new boy in the beis medrash, he rushed over to him to greet him, and invited him to a private meeting after his shiur. Rav Moshe made sure to set him up with suitable study partners. As time progressed, Rav Moshe did not cease to show concern for his every need.

“At first I wondered why he did all this for me,” Rav Ephraim explained, “but soon I realized that the Rosh Yeshivah treated all his students in this manner. Each one was made to feel like he was the Rosh Yeshivah’s only student.”

As Long as He Doesn’t Give Up

In the yeshivah of Pressburg, under the leadership of the Chasam Sofer, only the cream of Hungarian Jewry could hope to be accepted. One day, however, a boy came and asked to be admitted as a talmid. After testing him, the Chasam Sofer found that the boy had almost no background in Torah learning. Not only that, but his ability to grasp new concepts was very weak, and anything he did manage to learn was forgotten by the next day. Despite all this, the Rav discerned the boy’s deep yiras Shamayim and yearning for Torah, and so he accepted him. He assigned him a number of tutors from among the talmidim, and the boy happily settled into his routine.

It soon became apparent, however, that all their efforts were being wasted. The tutors complained time and again that there was no way that this boy would ever succeed in learning. Nevertheless, the Rav told them that they must keep it up as long as the boy did not give up.

After many months, the boy’s persistence paid off. The system of learning Gemara clicked in his mind, and he began to amass Torah knowledge. More than a decade later, the Chasam Sofer received a letter from a Dayan presenting a complicated question and an entire treatise suggesting its resolution. The Rav showed the letter to one of his sons, who commented, “This Dayan is definitely one of our generation’s greatest scholars. Who is he?” To his great surprise, the Chasam Sofer told him that this is the talmid who everyone thought would never amount to anything.

Take It From My Salary

Yeshivat Porat Yosef, in its first decades, was supported totally from the proceeds of its hekdesh, the gift of its founder that earned profits from its investments. The Rosh Yeshivah, therefore, was free of the burden of fund-raising. On the other hand, this meant that there was no way to expand its budget. Since the yeshivah gave a monthly grant to each of its students, the size of the student body was limited.

One day, a boy who had recently emigrated from Baghdad asked to be admitted to the yeshivah. Baghdad’s wealthy Jews had escaped Iraq totally impoverished, since they were forced to leave all their belongings behind. Harav Ezra Attia, zt”l, tested the boy and found him quite worthy of being admitted, but the administration turned him down, explaining that their budget was already strained beyond its limits.

The Rosh Yeshivah could not bear the thought of sending this boy to the streets of secular Yerushalayim. Turning to the board, he said, “Please, subtract the new boy’s stipend from my salary. We dare not turn him down.” Moved by this generosity, Harav Ben Tzion Hazan matched Rav Ezra’s offer, and the boy grew to be an outstanding talmid chacham.

The Year-and-a-Half-Long Day

Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin took the best of Poland’s youth and developed them into Gedolei Yisrael. Accepting a beginner was simply out of the question. One day, a boy named Shmuel applied to the yeshivah, but things did not go well on his entrance exam. The Roshei Yeshivah told him with regret that he did not make the grade.

Despite his biting disappointment, Shmuel decided to make good use of his one day in the famed yeshivah. He sat in the beis medrash and learned with great diligence and concentration. His fiery love for Torah caught the attention of Harav Meir Shapiro, who accepted the talmid despite his poor showing in his exam.

Shmuel did not go home that day. In fact, he did not leave the yeshivah building for the next year and a half. Thanks to Rav Meir Shapiro’s care and foresight, Klal Yisrael was privileged to be led by this talmid, Harav Shmuel Wosner, zt”l, for the next 80 years.

This article appeared in print in the June 10th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.