Stories about Gedolim are important. They show us, in real life, how important it is to live your life for others, especially in the high-holiday season, when people sometimes get a little too focused on themselves. The following is a story that Rav Shach told over in his sefer Shimusha shel Torah:
Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky was the Gadol HaDor in prewar Europe.
He suffered from a certain medical condition for which he had to go to Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia far away from his hometown of Vilna. He had to spend a certain amount of time there, including the high holiday season, which he was not accustomed to. He had always spent the high holidays in his own shul, in a very high and lofty atmosphere. He was broken and upset to have to be away during this time. He wondered what he had done wrong and why Hashem had sent him there. Why was it decreed upon him to be so far away from the beautiful center of Torah that he was used to? He felt distanced from the feelings of Elul in the streets of Pre-war Lithuania.
Then during Mincha of Shabbat Shuva, a new man entered the Karlsbad synagogue. Being the kind rabbi that he was, Rav Chaim Ozer approached the man, welcomed him, and asked where he was from and what had brought him there. The man said that he was from America and on his way to Petersburg, where his young brother had passed away and left behind a young widow with young children. His friends had advised that he marry the wife of his newly deceased brother, rather than let her marry a stranger, so that the children could be raised by him, and not a stepfather. He was on his way to meet her and planned on marrying her shortly after the holidays.
As we know, a man is not permitted to marry his brother’s wife unless the brother has passed away without children- that’s called Yibum. But if the brother did have children, as in this case, it is considered a forbidden union, no different than marrying one’s sister, and punishable by death.
When Rav Chaim Ozer heard the man’s plan, he shivered. He told the man he wasn’t allowed to marry her, but the man was not swayed. The rabbi explained and said, “You think this is just a chumra/ strictness like chalav Yisrael? Open the Humash.”
But still, the man was not impressed. He replied that his mother, who was from Europe had told him that there is only one great rabbi- the Chief Rabbi of Vilna- Rabbi Grodzensky! “If he tells me I can’t marry her, then I won’t.”
Sure enough, Rav Chaim Ozer stood up and said, “You are speaking to him. I am the chief Rabbi of Vilna. I am Rabbi Grodzensky.”
Rabbi Chaim Ozer then understood why he had to spend his high holidays in Karlsbad- it was to save this man.
Rav Shach continues,
“Look what Hashem will do to save someone from a sin. He will send the Gadol HaDor away during the high holiday season, away from his congregation, away from the environment that he is used to, cause him all this heartache, and even cause him the illness that made him go to this retreat, just to save one Jew from sinning. That is how much Hashem does not want us to sin.
That is how Gedolei Yisrael look at living for others.
Have a wonderful day.