It was in the summer of 1948. I was being transferred from a camp in the central sector of Israel to the northern front. On my way, I had to pass through Petach Tikvah. I considered visiting Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer. He had been wounded during the siege of Jerusalem and was convalescing in the home of his son-in-law, Rabbi Y.M. Ben Menachem of the Beth Din of Petach Tikvah.
I was reluctant. Mentally I was not prepared for a visit to the Gaon. At that time I was living in military camps, removed from the tenets of the Torah. Not the sefer, but the gun was the steady companion of the soldier. Once we had learned :Kol HaOsek Batorah.. Balailah…” Whever studies the Torah at night, G-d endows him with grace during the day” (Chagiga 12b). Now were were taught: “Surprise attack by night may bring victory at dawn.” Once, one had tried to make headway through the difficult pathways of a sugya– now we were trained to creep through the entanglements of barbed wire fences.
By the time I arrived in Peach Tikvah, I had overcome my reluctance and started out for the house of Rabbi Ben Menachem. In 1948 Peach Tivka, though already one of Israel’s largest towns, was much smaller that it is today, and everyone whom I asked was able to direct me to the house of the rabbi.
It was a humble and modest home, but full of warmth and friendliness. Rav Isser Zalman was reclining on a couch, his wounded leg resting on a pillow. Although he seemed to suffer some physical pain, his talk was affable and animated. His wife was sitting at the table. In front of her was a small pile of sheets of paper. Some of the sheets had been used for wrapping purposes and by smoothing them she made them suitable for writing. She was copying Rav Isser Zalman’s Torah, preparing for print another volume of the Even Ha’ezel.
The cooperation of Rab Isser Zalman’s wife in his work was well known. In the introduction to the Even Ha’Ezel (vol.3) Rav Isser Zalman expresses his gratitude to her for the invaluable help she had rendered him by copying and preparing his writings for the press and by supervising the printing and distribution of the books. However, “Eino Dome Shemi’a L’reiya, seeing it with your own eyes is different from reading or hearing about it.
Since then I was often led to reflect: Rav Isser Zalman, was the greatest and oldest Rosh Yeshiva of all Roshei Yeshivos, who had been a teacher in Israel for sixty years: did he really have to employ his wife to copy his chiddushim and help prepare them for the press? He had hundreds, nay thousands of students, every one of them who would have been happy and would have felt it a privilege to be able to assist him. Whey did he not avail himself of their services? Was it because he avoided at all times being served and waited upon by Talmidei Chachamim?
These thoughts and memories came back to me not long ago while reading Rabbi Shmuel Yosef Zevin’s essay on Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer in the new edition of his book Ishim Veshitot. The first edition of the book contained essays on eight Gedolei Torah: The Netziv; Reb Chaim Brisker; the Rogachover, Reb Meir Simcha; Rav Kook; Reb Chaim Oizer; Reb Moshe Mordechai Epstein and Reb Boruch Ber. To the new edition, two essays on the Chazon Ish and Reb Isser Zalman were added.
In Rabbi Zevin’s essays only little space is accorded to events relating to the outer life of the personalities he describes. In the main they present an exposition of their approach and method in the study of the Halacha. By analyzing their chiddushim and baring the principles which underlie them, Rabbi Zevin brings to the fore the particular contribution of each Gaon to the understading of the Halacha. Occasionally characteristic anecdotes illustrating in a more concrete manner certain basic attititudes of these Gaonim towards problems in halachos are interwoven with the exposition.
Written in the brilliant and lucid style for which Rabbi Zevin is famous, each of these essays is a masterpiece in the full sense of the word.
The Jewish Press, Friday, May 13, 1960