Inside ArtScroll - Season 3 Episode 14: Rav Elya Meir Sorotzkin – Through the Eyes of a Talmid

[Music] Hello everyone and welcome back to Inside Art Scroll where the books you read and the people who write them come to life. Today I am joined by Rabbi Svi or a close Talmud of Rebel Saratskin and we're going to be talking today about the brand new biography of Rebel Saratkin written by Aram Bernbam. I know there's a lot of excitement uh around the Matra about this book and uh you actually before this interview we when we were smoozing you shared a very interesting thing to me which I think is symbolic of what rebellion mayor stood for and that is that the Baham in Springfield yeshiva now located in Planefield uh were very excited about the biography and uh you told me something interesting from the pres. Yeah, they all ordered. Everyone ordered the books. Everyone ordered the book. Order the books. But he said, "We're not looking at the book till the books came. The shipment came and everyone was very excited and the yeshiva said right away it's going to be a to the yeshiva to the storm of the yeshiva not to all shabas and not this coming shabas tomorrow." Yeah. They're singing boxes right now to look at it and yeah but I really think don't you agree that that's that's you know kind of the the message and the lesson that rebel mayor himself personified absolutely absolutely everything was around the everything works around and if something is going to something is going to disturb and somehow take the attention away then no matter how exciting it was yeah and here's a book about their own rasha and the book is highly anticipated and it tak for good reason. Rabutak Seratskin, Rebel's brother, looked at the book and he saw how beautiful it looked. I saw a video of this. Yeah. And he's reading the flap and then he made a comment. He said, "And must probably the inside of the book is even more beautiful." I hope so. I'm sure it is. which is it is a beautiful beautiful book with amazing stories uh talking about his mother and his love of talidim and his impact which we'll get into but uh tell our viewers how you first your background and how you first got you know got to know the rasha so I was in by rubin um 18 years ago a good friend of mine had gone to Springfield and he called me the first all shabas his first man he said to me this is yeshiva was cut for you. This is a shoe for you. You got to come here. The next shabas by the end of summer's man I was sold. Um I came for my elman and I never left basically. Um he asked me on the for walk grade was that I was first year I was joining first year first year elman I took my um regular he asked me learning okay he asked me then he asked me three questions which I thought were just for me but I realized this is for everyone he asked me about my dvening about my learning and about my shifas my dreams and while I thought he was trying to test me out see if I would fit with the yeshiva. I realized afterwards this was his his marching orders for what the yeshiva was all about. What Springfield is all about what Springfield was all about and his vision of what was all about. When he asked you about what specifically did he ask you? His was are you a that was his um and I quickly learned in the yeshiva that these three things were the focal of the yeshiva and he left led it by example. Mhm. Um his davening was unbelievable. He he would the coming come to d every single day the carbonus the I'm sure a lot of people know about but it it wasn't just about production. It was talks about it was something to see. It was every day. Every day it was heart-wrenching every single day and his damning was with such a bren. He would come every day, sit down by a sitter and pull out these little papers from his pocket. They had names on them and he was always being beside the papers the names and different yidden that fell into his heart that he was doubting for worrying about thinking about and constantly always all throughout the years when I was a Talmud and when I came back to be a reba I'd always seen with his papers always domining for people and a big dog was just put as ding general ding and then he taught us about the connection between domining and learning and that the comes from And you have to dive into the nay foray learning. Besides his aarabo, he would come into first every day. On his way in he would stop right by the doors of his men and pull out a gumar. Those days not all the garumar had the watling printed in them. But he'd find a he would say the russ by the door and then depending on the suga he would pull out$1 to5 from his pocket and put into the pushka. And we knew we knew depending on how much he put into the pushka what's going on. what we were holding in the sigy right now. He would come sit down in his seat and open it to hill. That's how he started for he opened it to hill and he would dab into him for a few minutes. It's the hallmark of a Springfield now. A few before today really. Yeah. That's Yeah. And he would take out his notes and he would start the dates on his notes. He would write a he would find something and connected to the para every single day and then throw himself into the throw himself into learning that was every single day every was an unbelievable when I came I quickly realized the of it and I maneuvered my seat to get as close as I can to him eventually ending up on his table right next to him and being able to see it and to watch it and to learn from his when he asked you about your aspirations. What what did you tell him? So he the way he set up was first what number are you in your sheer? Where where do you consider yourself? And whatever you said he'd always say, why aren't you say top 10? Why aren't you top five? Why aren't you top three? Mhm. And he pushed us to go to the best we can to be the biggest pentar you can be. It was in the beginning the you hear the and it didn't seem realistic and he taught us to believe in ourselves to believe in the unlimited that has to be to be everything he pushed us beyond anyone's abilities beyond anyone's thoughts you could and he pushed himself he had such natural and everything and he didn't rely on it he pushed and pushed himself it was unbelievable always. Yeah. The author talks about the fact that for for those who are watching this conversation who may not know, rebell mayor himself was a son of the Telerash barskin. He was a son of the mirror of Bernbell. He had tremendous Yikis going back Dyrus and uh like you were saying someone like him could have technically rested on his laurels or at least his familial reputation and things like that. And when you read even a few chapters of the book, you see that he puts such tremendous almost like a pressure on himself to constantly not to rely on on even his natural god-given abilities, his intellect and his analytical abilities and things of that sort, his stamina. He didn't rely on that. He pushed himself whatever he had, whatever natural abilities he had, he pushed himself beyond almost like uh in a supernatural way. Yeah. It was was unbelievable to see. And he he was never he he was always safen but never happy enough with himself. He always wanted more in his in his he was always learning more and always saying I I joined in Lakewood I joined that learned from cover to cover over the course of however many man I took before I joined the I went to ask him was the right thing not the right thing. So we discussed all the different aspects of it and on the way out he says to me I'm a that was how he left me I'm a now the was unbelievable and he was non-stop but every opportunity he saw for godless and anything he he he pushed himself we were once learning I learned the second and we were learning and it was a tufa where there was a lot of legalities going on in the yeshiva there was lawyers a lot different phone calls going on and it became almost every day during second there'll be phone calls coming in from different lawyers and different well-meaning people. So at some point the Shiva says to me this is all and the mission says that somebody's love we have to he's all he unplugs the phone from the jack tells me to go to the kitchen unplug the phone over there we be tire now we're sitting and learning as if there's nothing going on around him now you shared with me Prior we were talking about your your history and you said that when you came to the yeshiva you you know you had a certain personal uh family circumstance and how the rashiva dealt with that. Talk about that because it's a very very powerful insight into the rashiva sensitivity. He he was I'm a yam. So I came by the fah. He asked me I told him my father was nifa what age and he tells me that this is something you can grow from this is on the far tells me a story of how may the assume that and the mka had and how he grew because of those tars and then in the yeshiva he took a extra sensitivity and at the time I didn't always realize it didn't always understand what was going on um what comes to mind was biskar it was uh unbelievable thing yiskar yeshiva. So everyone goes out there was their shiva and depending on the kufisha there were one or two bakham there. So it's just three of us in the room for about five or seven minutes he would call each bak over call me over and say the kali for me. He would say the for me I said it myself and then he would say it for me. And the herage was there's nothing he can say. there's nothing he can really but he can be he can be with me in this right now. he could say the over for me. And I remember there was one there was a guest in yeshiva a couple years ago there. So he called him over also once you do it for the bakham he would call over everyone and you told him his father's name his mother's name and then he told him one more and he told him his daughter's name had lost a daughter. The minute the Shiva heard it, he burst out crying in the middle of just burst out crying being with this with the loss of of a child composed himself said for him I one year he my last man yes he was sitting he was in a for his mother so it was the shams before I had sight and I understood that I'm not going to be down mar that night because she was I didn't say anything I said text him. But in my mind, I was thinking about it and as if he sensed it, he turned to me and said to me, "You're going to be my marriage tonight." I didn't say anything to him. But that sensitivity that he understood what I what I needed right now. When I had my first my son that I was able to name after my father. So I called him told making a bris in Lakewood. He said to me, "I'm coming to the br." I told him Shiva, I can't give you son. This is my first son. I'm coming. I'm coming anyways. and he came for Kashm and I understood why he was coming. He he understood this was something important to me. This is the name I'm giving my father and he wanted to be there for it. Wow. There's a story in the book also about a Talmud. You're talking about when the Rashiva's mother was nif how a rebi a talmud who was a rebi out of town traveled in late at night to be and in the middle of dus rebell mayor turned to the talmud keeping track of the time that he's going to have to drive like three four hours home and said no shait it's time for you to go and this is after the rasha had been on a whirlwind different places with levas and multiple locations and he had he had quite a few difficult days and then the book describes how at 1:00 in the morning this Talmud who's now a Rebi is traveling home gets a phone call he couldn't believe it it was rebellion mayor 1:00 in the morning finding out how how's the drive going are you tired are you okay you're in middle of Shiva so you see how his ability to think of others had really no limits and I want to I want to suggest and I would love to hear from you uh and And I should mention that besides being a close town of rebellion mayor today, you're actually the mashiach of rebellion mayor yeshiva yeshiva teras barak of Springfield planefield. Uh and what I wanted to suggest that I wanted to hear your thoughts when you hear about someone like Rebelli Mayor who was so exalted and and and and so and almost like on a on a different level that uh you know a person could think what what am I going to learn that I could apply in my own life from someone who who who was just on on a different level but I I think at least in even if we can't beat the masid he was but in the nas thinking of others I think every person when You read this book, so many stories are about that component of his personality that we could all learn something from that. How to, you know, like we say, think of someone else's circumstance even when you're in a difficult compromising situation. Always always he had he had a minivan didn't talk about didn't do anything but and he and he put the sink on. He washed his hands while he was drawing his hands. He kept it going for the next person. Uhhuh. Always. It was a tiny little sensitivity, a tiny little thing just thinking about someone else. The next person's going to come the water and it became like a miniga. That's what you did. While you draw your hands, you kept the water going. We had learned that from him and he was always always always thinking about other people. Always thinking about and is that something that he spoke about also a lot in in in schmuzin and in addressing talidum? He he spoke about it in the sense that uh open sensitive heart comes from a spat. Uh-huh. And a male is what opens a person's hearts to be sensitive and to notice other people's sorrows and other people's worries and to everywhere. Everywhere he had people he always had people that were he was thinking about always wherever he went he encountered people and he thought about them and he didn't stop thinking about them. I called him about I was inim he so two days later he called me with an idea maybe do this maybe say it like this maybe look for that like he was always carrying his and everyone everyone that he met I remember when I was in yeshiva shamas afternoon no one knew about it but we knew he would take a walk with his rebbitson every shamas in the summer to go to a I don't know if it was like a hospital or was a rehab center some kind of center they would go to to visit people that were sick there this is in Springfield he found a way to go think about other people and they would come by the yeshiva when they were leaving going back home to say thank you to him. I remember like once as mine or twice as mine a family would show up different obvious injuries and they would come to say thank you to the Shiva to say goodbye they're leaving I remember hearing talking about those visits to the local facility this medical facility uh there were there were times where would literally get on the floor and play with these children who neb were handicapped or dealing with whatever limitations they had and only later on did the parents realize who this person was they saw the stranger come in and stop playing with their children and then being mame and trying to bring bring joy you know to that uh to that atmosphere and only later on did they find out that this Springfield Rashiva yeah he felt everyone's siren he knew what everyone needed he knew what they felt like and he really I I once called him I got a phone call recently in yeshiva that there was a rehab center nearby and there was a magir I think a lab magir that was there who was at some he had gotten his arms and his legs amputated son and he was in a lot of issu they called me can we get some bakham to come over to say hello to maybe sing some so I called the I went to visit this the single man I went to visit once or twice and I called the shea and described to him what's going on the minute I described to him what this yaman looked like the sha just started crying on the phone he was crying and crying to me I didn't even get to what I was asking him about and he couldn't he was just thinking and trying to envision that s this was in until we discussed the details what what what to do what not to do what could be done the book describes how Mayu was really a father to me not just the rebi not just the rasha not just the madri you know talk about that component of it also how he really had that uh he really cared about his tidim like his own like his own children I I was to see him as a a grandfather almost to my children. I um I was supposed to live next to him for the past couple years, the last three, four years. I bring my children over. He would treat them like he did his own children. He took I brought my son for an upper, put them on his lap, put on wrapped the towels around him, gave him some candy, the olive pes. He he would fare my children when he passed him by. And he he showed such concern over everything. He I would call him anything that was going on, no matter when it was. He wanted to talk to me what's going on. call me up later on to get let's what's where are we holding and things he was he carried every single tot and as a mashk he would sometimes call me over and tell me what was going on but things that need help and he would tell me make that phone call that phone call always on his mind everyone and as Shiva grew his grew and his heart grew especially during his final illness his his guru was manifest so signi so magnificently Unbelievable. He was going through yurum nome from what I understand he came out did not miss Shir during that kufa. Talk about that. You you were there. I was there. I was there. You were there and you saw it close. Unbelievable. It was unbelievable. He would when he had to go out for his whatever it was for the for the medication for the treatments for the whole day. We'd get a message she is going to be right after Marv that day after a whole day. After a whole day of treatments he'd be coming in. Some he wouldn't even come to Marif. He wouldn't be making it for Mar. Everyone would be waiting in the sh room. He would come in to give Shir. I would stand outside in the cold watching. I I couldn't I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. I couldn't believe it. He would stand there knocking in sheir. At the last couple of shor he couldn't talk. In order to for his voice to be heard, he had to squeeze his vocal cords and he would give shear squeezing himself to be able to give shear to be a rhinar. I he told me that before he in order to come to domining on time during that kufa he had to wake up earlier and apply creams and different things to get himself the strength to do it he would come in sometimes with a walker to do downing but always come to domining always dak and es was standing with a bren it it was it was a sight that I think everyone could learn from what it means to be an ev no matter what's going on no matter where things are going it almost seemed like there was like he put it aside. They could like [Music] and physically and sit and learn and connect with learning. Wow. I should mention I would be remiss if I didn't mention that uh Barashem after the Rashiva's that the yeshiva continues to flourish. his mama al-Makim his son Ribbar took over as Rashiva and from what we hear the rash the you know the new Rashiva you know took took on the difficult job of stepping into his father's shoes and from what I hear she was doing beautifully during during this during the week of Aspen we have each mas come from everywhere every every night and they'd all end off with a g and at the time I didn't know what what what that meant how Could that be yes? Like is that possible? And it's unbelievable. The yeshiva is bursting everywhere in the dorms and medish and the shs everywhere and the harving and learning and and there's a new door now that never even met the right new ninth graders never met the Rashiva and they're just they feed off that ru that he he imprinted everywhere, right? I mean a far be it for me to analyze why but I I think anyone would say that that the Rashiva's mysterious nephesh is is so saturated into the walls of the yeshiva became so much part of the culture of yeshiva that you know that that there's a he there's a continuation of of that now that even though the rash is not there but his imprint and his influence is is clearly felt and it's it's being carry carried on in everything in the hashmod and in in the meas that he stood for. Right. Right. Hm was unbelievable. I I slept in his basement. My first manhiva first slept in the that's the rooms worked out. We slept in the Shiva's basement in on everything on where he lived. I would come up no matter how early I woke up he was always sitting in his office already learning. He had a from would drive in no matter when it was he had the whole first seder. I was a learned from seconds later and I was with the same yus and no matter who I tell it to they don't it's hard to understand and to believe it he sat with us in mish every night till 12:00 12:30 every single night he was part of the harving learning till 12:30 and then we would come back to the basement and he'd be back in his office again back in his office again preparing sh or upstairs we hear him praying sh that is part of the yeshiva and the that he taught us and reminded the world what it's supposed to be about with such a unbelievable toil that he put into learning into understanding. This is not the first time he learned these and he would pace back and forth holding his head sweating sweating and sweating staying by the beam back and forth. It was a sight to watch every single day. And not only every day, but everything he learned. Everything he learned was with the same amus and I learned with him over the years. Mushura Novi Muser Mishnayas everything everything was with the same and that that he stood for and that he always wanted to remind the world that's what Terra stands for. I was going to say that those who were not to learn under rebellion mayor. What this book does it it uh again beautifully written by Bernbam. It allows them to get a taste of what rebellion mayor was about his his his fatherly love for the his to other people this which he was is really described so beautifully in the book. It's a treat that now those who haven't learned the new bar could get a taste of that and those who did interact with Elume could relive those experiences through these stories. I I think it's also uh an important reset button for our values. Everyone, the whole and the whole now is somehow interconnected with the light whether it's in their family, neighbors, friends, we all have raised the what is all about and the would remind us and would teach us accomplishments. A young man being was measured by a meos. It didn't have to be measured by kadushim hundreds on tests. It was about how many hours he invested in his and that everyone can learn from because everybody can learn to appreciate the light that they have in their lives for the amount of he had a measuring like every he had it measured in how many hours he had put into it. That was his measuring stick. I invested so and it was wild the numbers. I invested 30 hours in this titus. I invested x amount of that's how he measured things. The reason why what you're saying is is really so resonant is because the barometer the measuring stick that you're providing from rebellion mayor means that everyone could be successful no matter what their acumen is no matter what kishin hashem blessed them with every person could be matriak you know if you if you go by the other type of barometer of of of results so to speak resultsoriented success so then some people may not have that ability because they're not as big of a balish they don't have you know those god-given abilities whatever it is but rebell mayor allowed so to speak every person to experience because his measuring stick like you said he would love saying over from the that because what does it mean if you were then that's it that's the mitsia that's the that's success there's nothing past that the itself the itself And he would give such he would come I remember he came to speak to alumni and he told us that feared hashem feared that our door means that door was being led by two of that neither of them had much of a stellar it wasn't that made him world famous and he said hashem put that for this dar that you don't have to have a big rashiva you don't have to be giving a shir you could sit in your little vinkle in your inbra and the whole world revolve around your fingers and it was such a because it's a world of a rebathing light everywhere every family in is connecting the light and to appreciate the yaman just because he's sitting and learning that's that's the end result that's what he's doing and with that he's changing the whole world wow he would have shed a lot of from the from the revolution so to speak because that's he loved it. He loved giving that he he loved it because he knew how important it was. There was thousands of people sitting and all learning the same thing and he would come and tell you this is it. There's nothing past this. You're sitting and learning and the same rajba and everyone was harveing the same rajba and this is the mitsia. This is this is there's nothing past this. This is the greatest part of life. That's life itself. Yeah. Any final thoughts before we uh wrap up our conversation? He had an unbelievable aya on everyone, everyone he met and every interaction he had. He had a way of bringing out people's mileas, recognizing people's mileas and making you see your mileas. Mhm. When I when I my first year as there was a PTA in yeshiva. So my first year as a rebi he called me over said to me I have a to have a he called it on every single yeshiva all of his mileas. So you have to know every mileus and you have to be able to give over to his parents in the full understanding of all their mileas. He would tell us when we're in going to look for an if you can find an you don't need to look for anything else. And it brought out the best in us because we knew he believed in us. He cared for us and at the Lava I think was the the final sight of it. How many people were affected? It wasn't it was a heart-wrenching Leva because people felt like he really cared for them. He really saw their best and he really was a part of us. Wow. Thank you for sharing your heartfelt reminiscences of of Dashiva, your memories, interactions. Um, we hope that people will go out and get the book for for nothing else other than to like you said press the reset button, reinvigorate themselves as to what true success is and the success that Rebell may himself personified and all the the again we may not be the Masmid he was and the god of he was and we we we may not have the amus he has he had in learning but everywhere in our days we we meet people and if we realize how much we can impact them right with a little bit of caring with an open heart he he didn't run around the world he sat in Springfield right but there were so many people that he just somehow came into touch with and kept them with him and affected their lives well thank you so much thanks for joining us and uh my braha to you is that the rashiva as a devoted should be a me for you for all the for all of us and we should continue to be inspired by his example. Thank you. [Music]