How Rav Ovadia Yosef Became Gadol HaDor

Who learned under the tutelage of Rabbi Ovadia for 30 years. Also learned with Rabbi Tzion Abba Shaul for many years. He was his talmid muvhak. But he was also next to Rabbi Ovadia for 30 years. And he said a personal story himself at one of the lectures he gave at our girls seminary in Eretz Yisrael. And he said that when Rabbi Ovadia people look at him, they see hakham, see famous. Says, he wasn't born famous and he wasn't born a hakham. And no gedol hador is born famous or born a hakham. They earn it. How do you earn it? He says that when the British made all types of sanctions and rules in the land of Israel that they were in control over during the World War II, they forced all of the residents of Israel to shut their lights. Shut their lights at night early on, not have any lights on. Why? They were scared that the Germans that were already in Egypt and on their way to Israel, they were scared they're going to bomb them if they see that this is a residential area. So, the British made these laws. They also made a lot of other laws that tortured the Jewish people. But most people heard these laws, and what are they going to do? No lights, go to sleep. Go to sleep 6:30, 7:00 at night. There's no light. They have to go to sleep. What did Rabbi Ovadia, young young Ovadia, what did he do? And this comes from eyewitnesses. He took a table in a one-room house, took the table, covered the entire table with several layers of sheets and blankets, covered the whole thing with tape and everything, took a candle, lit the candle, took a sefer, and sat there on his knees for 5 hours straight every single night learning Torah. That's yirat shamayim, rabotai. That's yirat shamayim. Why? If you're learning because of intellectual stimulation, as soon as the conditions do not meet your satisfaction, that intellectual stimulation goes in the garbage, you find something new. But when you learn because you fear the Almighty, there is no such thing as not learning Torah. I can't learn Torah the normal way, I'll find a way. I'll find a way. Rabbi Ovadia's entire life simply [snorts] could not handle taking several steps without learning Torah in some way or another. Rabbi Gideon ben Moshe says that there was one time where the doctor said to Rabbi Ovadia's family that his heart is very weak, especially since he sits all day and learns, no act no exercise, he needs to walk. So, he said, "He can't just walk in the middle of the streets. The Rishon LeZion, the biggest rabbi in the world, can't just walk around without being bothered, but he needs to walk somewhere." So, they went and they found a park where at a certain time there was nobody there, and they took the rabbi over there. And Rabbi Gideon ben Moshe says, "When I found out about it, I said, 'Who's walking with the rabbi?'" Says, "No, he's walking by himself." Says, "It's not kavod for the Torah for the biggest rabbi in the world to walk by himself." "Yeah, but he can't TALK TO ANYBODY." "SURE, HE does doesn't have to talk to anybody, but somebody needs to walk with him. It's not kavod, it's not honor for the Torah for the biggest tzaddik to walk by himself. So, I'm going to do it. Tell Rabbi Ovadia, 'I'm going to walk next to him, but not to consider me as anything. Consider as if I'm a wind. I'm like air walking next to him, but at the very least there's going to be honor for the Torah that the Rishon LeZion is not walking by himself.'" Rabbi Ovadia initially said, "No, no, no." Because he did not want Rabbi Gideon ben Moshe, who himself is an extraordinary talmid hakham, one of the gedolim of the generation, to not want him to waste his time walking next to him and not talking. He says, "Bitul Torah." He says, "No, no. For me, an over Torah is not bitul Torah." He says, "If he wants to come, he can come." So, Rabbi Gideon comes and walks next to Rabbi Ovadia few steps, and they're walking around, and after a few steps, Rabbi Ovadia says to Rabbi Gideon, "No, say divrei Torah." He says, "No, for the rabbi, I'm not allowed." He says, "Not allowed to say divrei Torah." A few more steps, "No, no, NO. SAY DIVREI TORAH. SAY SOMETHING from the Torah." "Rabbi, I made a promise. Can't. Just act as if I'm the wind. I'm only here so there's kavod for the Torah. I'm not going to bother the rabbi. If you're going to toil here, there, it's going to kind of uh defeat the whole purpose. The rabbi has to relax. I'm not going to talk." FEW MORE STEPS, "NO, SAY SOME DIVREI TORAH." "RABBI, not allowed." After a few minutes, says to him, "Do you know the halakha in regards to the mamzerim that the Hatam Sofer wrote?" Rabbi Gideon says, "Of course. But we go based on the Yabiya Omer, what the kavod wrote, what the Rabbi Ovadia wrote." And Rabbi Ovadia goes into a rage, and he SAYS TO HIM, "EXACTLY! YOU SEE, THERE'S ALL THESE POSKIM, they're doing this, and they're calling ALL TYPES OF PEOPLE MAMZERIM, and they're doing this, AND DESTROYING HOUSES." AND HE GOES IN LIKE A LION, like a lion comes out, THE WHOLE TORAH COMES OUT. FORGET THE WALK, FORGET THE RELAXATION, THE FIRE OF TORAH is there. Rabbi Gideon ben Moshe says, "He simply could not handle a minute without Torah. Simply couldn't. But it wasn't that he wanted to learn for intellectual stimulation. It was the pain that he had over the Jewish people, the pain that he had over the Jewish people that are suffering from people that simply did not have yirat shamayim and are causing people to fall, don't have yirat shamayim and causing people to make mistakes and all types of things. And he had so much pain that he forced himself to push further and further than anyone else." Rabotai yakarim, when a person has fear of the Almighty, there is no other choice but to follow the truth until the end. It's either life or death. Unfortunately, many times the students do not understand the responsibility of a talmid hakham, the responsibility of somebody that has yirat shamayim, and they pick their rabbis like they pick jackets, or perhaps like they pick socks. They pick their rabbis based on popularity, based on looks, and they throw away their rabbis just like they do old clothes or bad food. And then they're surprised that their life is in the garbage. >> [applause] [music] >> As well as good Rabbi Yaron Dovris.