"These are the days of Sefira," are the opening words of HaRav Arye.

They are days of introspection of how to mend the accusation against the disciples of Rabbi Akiva "who lacked mutual respect due to one another." There are at times certain points which are not at all incidental but actually very inherent, if they are examined closely, and will surely uplift and clarify the concept of 'mutual respect.'

I will explain what I mean: Every person has an area in which he excels and has the power to affect others singly as well as his surroundings. This is true regarding the creation of Man: that each individual is unique in a particular capacity, either through his grasp on life or through his special strengths. No two people are alike.

The advantage of a yeshiva is that it unifies many different students and gives them the opportunity to learn from one another and complement each one with what he lacks. If it can be maintained that this may cause a crisis to a student for not being on a par with his fellow student, the answer is the very opposite. It comes from his not appreciating his own merits and strengths. We are speaking about an intelligent student who is aware of his advantages.

Allow us to refresh some quick history from an excerpt of a booklet which appeared in 5719, when the question of establishing a 'religious front' prior to elections would have united all of the religious and chareidi parties into one list. It was written by a follower of the Brisker Rov and expressed the latter's view on certain subjects.

A visitor to the Rav's house at the time was given a pile of these pamphlets to distribute at a gathering which he was about to attend. It was written dozens of years ago and reflected the views of the national religious devotees who had always been against those who studied Torah purely and exclusively. All of those devotees who present excuses and arguments determining that this present war behooves a draft of yeshiva students are false and fabricated and have no connection to the war itself and to the painful fact that many of the fallen soldiers belong to that camp. They have always been against the holy yeshivos, even when the latter were a puny marginal minority — numerically, of course.

Part II

This article was originally published in 1996, 29 years ago.

With the petiroh of the Sadiger Rebbe Reb Mordechai Sholom Yosef Friedman zt"l on the 29th of Nisan 5739 (1979) the fourteenth day of the Omer, came to a close the life of one of the most remarkable tzaddikim in modern times. According to Kavonos Ha'Arizal the date of his petiroh—the 14th of the Omer—corresponds to the middoh, 'Malchus Shebegevurah.' No two words could more aptly describe his life, for over three generations the Rebbe led Klal Yisroel with malchus and gevurah, guiding Yidden through two World Wars, all the while faithfully tending to their needs in every situation.

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In 1934 the Rebbe decided to leave Vienna and to move to Pshemishal where he could be closer to his many chassidim. In Pshemishal the Rebbe established a large 'court' to where his chassidim would come in their masses. Here he was able to truly lead his chassidim as in Sadiger before the War. Every time he left his house to go somewhere, he would be accompanied by scores of his faithful followers. The large Beis Hamedrash was constantly full of those who came to see and be seen.

Here free of the many constrictions that living in a big city like Vienna had imposed on him, he was able to truly lead his chassidim in honor and dignity. From far and wide many flocked to Pshemishal to bask in his presence. The streets around his house were never quiet for a minute, as one group of chassidim left another group would arrive in its place. The Rebbe established a close relationship with the bochurim in his yeshiva testing them regularly and overseeing their progress.

Seeing his great hatzlocho with his own mosdos haTorah, Reb Meir Shapiro approached the Rebbe asking that he assist him in opening Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin. Already close friends for years they now became even closer as the many exchanges of letters between them testifies. The Rebbe spared no effort in helping the yeshiva get on its feet successfully raising large sums of money on its behalf.