I truly wish that I had had more opportunity to learn from and spend time with Rav Dovid zt”l, the legendary mashgiach in Ner Yisrael, but these were not Hashem’s plans.
When I entered shiur
beis, officially the second year or level in Ner Yisrael, then given by Rav
Kulefsky, zt”l, Rav Dovid gave shiur gimel, the shiur
above Rav Kulefsky’s, which I should have entered the next year. Unfortunately,
on the 11th of Teiveis, which was on Shabbos that year, Rav Dovid
had a massive coronary attack and passed away within a few hours. So, although I
heard his powerful musar shmussen (discourses) both during the Yomim
Nora’im season and every Shabbos, and had occasion to ask him shailos in
halacha, I was unable to benefit from attending his daily blatt shiur,
his weekly iyun chaburos (in-depth analyses of the Gemara topic
we were studying in yeshiva), or the relationship I would have been able to
develop had the Ribono shel Olam granted him more than 64 years on this
earth. For this reason, my own memories are supplemented by both Ner Yisrael
traditions and Rav Dovid’s written works to provide a full picture of who Rav
Dovid was and what he taught and embodied.
Rav Dovid was a talmid
of the great Mir mashgichim, whose approach to both musar and
the purpose of yeshiva was slightly different from Slabodka’s approach to musar,
which was personified by the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Ruderman, zt”l. In
Rav Dovid, the influence of musar was more obvious. Working on one’s
personality, developing one’s midos, was palpable. Someone interested in
learning intensive self-control, deciding which quality to focus on for the
next six months and how to do so were topics that one could discuss with Rav
Dovid.
Rav Dovid was a talmid
of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Poland when the war broke out. Rabbi Naftali Neuberger,
z”l, president and executive director of Ner Yisrael, who had learned in
the Mir earlier, knew Rav Dovid and was in contact with him. Rabbi Neuberger urged
Rav Dovid to move from Europe to America to assume two positions in Ner
Yisrael: mashgiach and “ra’m” (reish mesivta) to give one
of the daily in-depth Gemara shiurim in the yeshiva. Rav Dovid had
insisted that he would not assume the role of mashgiach unless it also
included giving an in-depth Gemara shiur, noting that in “today’s
world,” talmidim do not respect the mashgiach unless he
demonstrates to them that he is a profound talmid chacham. This was in
keeping with the tradition of Rav Yisrael Salanter, zt”l, and his great
talmidim, who posited that a ba’al musar was not simply someone who
had worked on the development of his personality. A ba’al musar was a talmid
chacham who developed the refinement of his persona.
The war broke out
before Rav Dovid could leave Europe, and he was exiled along with the rest of
the talmidim of the Mir yeshiva, traveling on the trans-Siberian
railroad to Vladivostok. After a short but famous stopover in Kobe, Japan over Yom
Kippur, the yeshiva settled in Shanghai, China, where it remained for six
years. Only after the war ended was Rav Dovid able to assume his position as mashgiach
and ra’m in Baltimore. No one else from Rav Dovid’s family survived the
war.
While the Mir was
in Kobe, Rav Dovid ruled that Jews in Japan should observe Shabbos following
the calendar of the United States, which was east of them, rather than that of
mainland Asia, which was west of them. This position was different from the one
accepted by most authorities but agreed with the psak of the Chazon Ish,
the Brisker Rav, and Rav Aharon Kotler, all of whom contended that the halachic
date line is 90 degrees east of Yerushalayim, an imaginary line that runs just off
the coast of most of mainland China. Remember that, at the time that Rav Dovid paskened
this shailah, most of the vast literature on this halachic topic had
yet seen the light of day. His ruling, as well as that of the Chazon Ish and
the Brisker Rav, was based on his understanding of the two or three oblique
references in the halachic literature that can be harnessed to explain the
phenomenon and necessity of establishing a date line.
Rav Dovid authored
several profound sefarim. One is Divrei David, which he wrote
while in Shanghai, mostly devoted to the Talmud Yerushalmi on Zera’im,
a subject that Rav Dovid devoted himself to mastering while stuck in China. This
work also includes an essay he wrote after his arrival in America, in which he
concluded that the common hot water system in household use in America is
permitted to be used on Shabbos. He works through the halachic topic very
carefully and presents his conclusions, notwithstanding that his lenient
approach was viewed as novel by many. For Rav Dovid, Torah and halachic
analysis reigned supreme, not necessarily what was politically correct.
In general, it was Rav
Dovid’s halachic positions that were followed in Ner Yisrael. I remember asking
him a complicated question with which I was confronted regarding the laws of muktzah.
He reassured me that he saw no halachic issue and said that what I asked was
permitted. Later, I discovered that many late halachic authorities disagreed
with his conclusion, which he for sure knew, but he was unconcerned. He had
studied the topic thoroughly and was convinced that it was permitted.
There was a famous
story about shaving during the period of sefiras ha’omer. The early
authorities rule that a wedding should not be scheduled during this period of
mourning but do not mention any prohibition against shaving. Rav Dovid felt
that someone who regularly shaved and did not shave in honor of Shabbos during
the period of sefiras ha’omer was not showing proper respect for Shabbos.
Although it was known that this was not the accepted halachic practice, Rav
Dovid would send bachurim who arrived in the yeshiva beis midrash
for Mincha erev Shabbos back to the dormitory to shave in honor of Shabbos!
Those who did not want to shave during sefirah would make sure to arrive
in the beis midrash when it was too late to shave. This lasted
until someone asked the Rosh Yeshiva his opinion about shaving during sefirah,
and he said that he preferred that people not shave. From that time on, Rav
Dovid never told anyone his opinion about the matter.
When the yeshiva
was still located on Garrison Boulevard, Rav Dovid did not live within a short
walking distance, and people would compete for the privilege of driving Rav
Dovid to the yeshiva, thereby having an opportunity to spend a few quiet
minutes to ask him questions. One morning, after taking his seat in the car, he
apologized to the driver that he had forgotten something in the house. When he
returned to the car, the driver, not seeing Rav Dovid carrying anything extra,
asked him what it was he had forgotten. Rav Dovid replied that he had forgotten
to wish his youngest daughter, who would just be arising, good morning and bid
her a good day. Obviously, he felt that this was important enough to do despite
keeping his driver waiting, something he would be extremely concerned about under
normal circumstances.
Rav Dovid was very
concerned about the interactions that govern how we relate to those with whom
we come in contact most frequently. For example, he performed any Pesach
cleaning tasks that he surmised that his Rebbitzin did not enjoy. One of these
was to take responsibility for vacuuming the couch thoroughly for Pesach.
I have often
thought how much I could have gleaned from Rav Dovid had I had the opportunity
to learn from him up close. But I hope that I have nevertheless provided a
glimpse into a very great Torah personality.
