Rav Shaul Alter Visits Chabad Baltimore Yeshiva

Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva and leader of the international Pnei Menachem community, Rav Shaul Alter, who is on a trip to the US, visited the Lubavitch Yeshiva of Baltimore, where he delivered a shiur to the bochurim and their hanhala.

During his stay in Baltimore, the esteemed Rosh Yeshiva of Ger, Rav Shaul Alter, paid a visit to the Lubavitch Yeshiva of Baltimore.

Upon his arrival, the Rosh Yeshiva was received by the yeshiva’s esteemed Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Moshe Slavaticki, who shared, among other things, a story about his father, Rabbi Shabsai Slavaticki of Antwerp, and his encounter with the Beis Yisroel of Ger.

Rabbi Moshe recounted that his father had learned in Yeshivas Kol Torah, and together with a group of friends, he would secretly study Tanya with Rabbi Yosef Segal. These clandestine shiurim took place in the Amschinov Beis Medrash near the yeshiva in Bayit Vegan.

One day, the Beis Yisroel entered and noticed the group learning, and he asked why they weren’t learning in the yeshiva itself. They responded that they were afraid to do so. The Beis Yisroel remarked, “From the ‘roite bletlach’ (the secular newspapers, which were printed in color, unlike the frum papers that were black and white), you’re not afraid, but from Tanya you are?” The next day, they were suddenly summoned to the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, who inquired why they were not learning in the yeshiva. From then on, the shiur was moved into a shiur room within the yeshiva.

The Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva then delivered a brief address in which he noted that the Rebbe taught that one must derive lessons in avodas Hashem from everything he hears, even from a non-Jew. “If so,” he continued, “we can also learn a lesson from the anti-Semites in our avodas Hashem.”

He elaborated: They, RL, demand that Eretz Yisroel be handed over to the Arabs ‘from the river to the sea.’ But we can learn from this an approach in avodas Hashem—how to expand kedusha. The ‘sea’ represents the wicked, as the pasuk states, ‘the wicked are like the raging sea,’ while the Jewish people are the boundary of holiness. However, our task is to extend that boundary—from the river, which symbolizes the Avos, as the Gemara says, ‘cling to the black (ink of Torah) and they will bow to you,’ all the way to the sea—meaning that one must not be content with his current level but should constantly strive to expand the borders of holiness further and further.

During the visit, the Rosh Yeshiva also learned that the bochurim had recently been immersed in the sugyah of ‘Migui,’ touching on a debate between the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Shaul Alter, and the Rosh Yeshiva of Pnei Menachem, Rav Menachem Mendel Shafran. The Rosh Yeshiva humorously remarked that here it’s a ‘Free Country’ and they can side with whichever position they prefer.

Photos: Daniel Nefoussi

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