Reb Pesach Pruskin 
5639/1879 - 5700/1939
For generations now, the debate has raged: which is preferable - the masmid, the student who dedicates day and night to diligent concentration, rendering all obstacles to naught - or the charif, the gifted genius whose swift comprehension and penetrating insight gives him a thorough grasp of everything he touches? Often, it is argued, the masmid retains and integrates the teachings, while the charif may lose his gains as quickly as he made them, for the expended effort is a key to long-range retention. On the other hand ... And the debate continues. But no one will deny that the masmid who develops into a charif is superior to all.
A classical example of both was Rabbi Akiva, as is recorded in Talmudic literature: When Rabbi Akiva was forty years old, he had not yet learned a thing. Once he passed a well carved out of stone, and asked, who cut the hole in the rock? He was told that water had dripped continuously onto the rock until it bored the hole. Rabbi Akiva figured: If water, which is soft, can penetrate a hole in a hard rock, then Torah, which is hard as iron, can surely penetrate my heart of flesh and blood. He and his son went to a teacher of children and said, "Rebbe, teach me Torah." He wrote the Alef-Beis and studied ... until he learned the entire Torah (Avos D'Reb Nosson IV, 2).
The Talmud continues, relating how in addition to his relatively advanced age, Rabbi Akiva was forced to overcome obstacles of terrible poverty and pressing family obligations.
It is possible that the comparison to the rock implies that initially he was not a charif, but his hasmadah and thirst for Torah more than compensated for this. Indeed, he eventually became a charif. As the Gemara tells us: "Rabbi Akiva said this halachah to sharpen the minds of the talmidim," and Rashi on the same page declares: "Rabbi Akiva was exceptionally sharp" (Eruvin 13a).
Rabbi Akiva's opinion eventually prevailed in all disputes surrounding the oral tradition, as Rabbi Yochanan states: "Stam Mishnah (an anonymous passage in the Mishnah is attributed to) Rabbi Meier, Stam Tosefto R' Nechemiah, Stam Sifra R' Yehudah, Stam Sifri R' Shimon, and all of them according (to what they had learned from) Rabbi Akiva" (Sanhedrin 80a).
Spared for Torah
Rabbi Akiva was surely Jewry's most celebrated "late starter," but there have been others who also succeeded in rising above overwhelming obstacles of age and circumstance to become outstanding Torah leaders. Prominent among them is Rabbi Pesach Pruskin (known as Reb Pesach Kobriner) who was born to his widowed mother (he was named after his father, who died several months prior to his birth), in abject poverty. Moreover, he was far from a charif - he was rather close1 to Rabbi Akiva's "rock" - but he more than compensated for his shortcomings with exemplary hasmadah and determination, harnessing the proverbial inspiration and perspiration, to satiate his thirst for Torah learning.
There followed a chain of Providential events that kept young Pesach in a Torah environment. When he was born, his mother had been without any means of support. She took her five children to the home of her grandfather, Rabbi Pinchas Michael, who was Rav in Antipole. There her family provided her with a roof over her head and a bare minimum of sustenance.
The Rav of Antipole had a son who became attracted to haskalah. He had run off to Paris, where he eventually became a professor of philosophy and translated the Talmud into French. Needless to say, his parents were heartbroken and sat shivah in mourning for their beloved son, who had exchanged the Torah for French philosophy. They both died from heartache and the errant son came from Paris to visit their grave. The professor wept bitterly and begged forgiveness from his departed parents, impressing everyone as a genuinely penitent son.
Taking note of the poverty of his niece and her five children, he persuaded the young widow to entrust him with her children. He promised to raise them as genuine Jews, and provide them with a Torah education.2 She sent four children with him, two boys and two girls, but not Pesach'ke, for he was too young. Some time later the "good uncle" returned again, asking for Pesach'ke, but the eight-year old boy refused to go along, insisting that he must continue Cheder and yeshivah. And so Pesach'ke was spared for a life of Torah.
In the Yeshivah Circuit
Pesach'ke continued his studies, finding hunger and poverty no hindrance. In his teens, he joined the yeshivah of the Chofetz Chaim in Radin.3 When his friends in the yeshivah discovered that one of his Parisian sisters had married a wealthy maskil and was living in nearby Vilna, they urged him to visit her. She extended a warm welcome to him and offered him financial assistance, but only on the condition that he leave the yeshivah and enter a Gymnasium. He left her then and there, never to see her again.
He later went to Slobodka, where he was inspired by the Mussar of "der Alter," Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel. A group of Slobodka talmidim once decided to visit the famed yeshivah in Kelm for Elul. No one was ever accepted to Kelm without asking prior permission and to be sure, these boys were ordered to go back to Slobodka. But not Pesach Kobriner! With tears in his eyes, he begged the Alter of Kelm Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv "I'm asking permission now. Please allow me to stay!" He alone remained - for over a year.
The Alter of Slobodka, constantly searching for suitable cities in which to establish yeshivos, selected Slutsk, a large city in White Russia, for his next undertaking. He dispatched Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer as Rosh Yeshivah, with fourteen talmidim - among them Pesach Kobriner. The fourteen (known as the Yad HaChazakah "The Mighty Arm" - "Yad has the numerical value of 14") served as the nucleus of the new yeshivah.4
The Watchman at Night
After his marriage to Tziporah Lipschutz, Reb Pesach earned his living as a night watchman in an orchard, guarding it from thieves who would actually rob the trees. The job afforded him opportunity for study and solitude among the trees, and indeed he used it to complete Rambam's Moreh Nevuchim. In the meantime, rumors spread all over the vicinity that he was a Lamed Vov'nik.5
During this period, he met his Rosh Yeshivah, Reb Isser Zalman, who invited him to return to Slutsk as Mashgiach of the yeshivah. For some unknown reason, he refused the offer. Then one of his children became critically ill, and the doctors gave up on the child. Reb Pesach made a vow that if the child would live, he would fulfill the Rosh Yeshivah's request, and dedicate his life to Torah. The child recovered, and he kept his vow, accepting the position in the yeshivah. It was in Slutsk that Reb Pesach experienced a breakthrough in his Torah study.
Reb Pesach was a frequent visitor to Reb Chaim Brisker (Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik), and was influenced by his analytical approach to Talmud. He once complained to Reb Chaim,
"I am so anxious to study Torah, but what can I do? My position takes up all my time, and I just can't manage both." To which Reb Chaim replied, "This is no problem: Budget your time - concentrate on your yeshivah duties by day and study during the night." Reb Pesach accepted the reply not merely as advice, but as an order and a blessing. From that day until the last day of his life, he devoted his night hours exclusively to study.
A Dispute of Talmud Study
"After Rabbi Meier passed away, Rabbi Yehudah instructed his talmidim: Rabbi Meir's talmidim should not enter here, for they are quarrelsome and they do not come to learn Torah but to antagonize with halachos" (Kiddushin 52b). Rashi explains: "To cut us down in halachos, to demonstrate that they are sharp and no one can stand up before them."
Unlike a library where total silence reigns, a yeshivah reverberates with kol Torah. One bachur sings while concentrating on a passage in the Gemara, others shout at each other at the top of their lungs, not interfering whatsoever with the other fellows. Heated discussions between two or more bachurim are a regular occurrence, and entry into the fray is open to all. And as Rabbi Yehudah (as per Rashi) commented, there are always a few who are ever ready to demonstrate their sharpness.
And so when a discussion on a subject in Bava Kamma took place in the yeshivah in Slutsk, Reb Pesach joined in, stating his opinion. It wasn't as penetrating a comment as some of the others, and even revealed a lack of thought on his part. A heavy silence blanketed the group, with a mocking smirk flickering here and there. Reb Pesach retreated to his corner and, feeling very foolish, began to weep to himself until he fell asleep. Then, as he related many years later, he dreamed that he was told to continue his Torah study and he was promised "siyata dishmaya" (help from Above).
He began to study with new vigor and confidence, and in a short time a recognizable change took place in Reb Pesach. He began to expound on difficulties in the Talmud with new depth and clarity that amazed everyone (the discussions, of course, were at night). As time went on, he amassed a great amount of knowledge and eventually combined the three attributes of hasmadah, charifus and beki'us (diligence, sharpness, and vast knowledge).
In Search of New Pastures
Shklov, a major city in White Russia, caught the eye of Reb Pesach. It was that rare phenomenon - a Jewish city of size, without a yeshivah. The Alter of Slobodka, who was always eager to assist in the opening of a yeshivah, sent along some talmidim from Slobodka. Also, a group of talmidim from Slutsk went with Reb Pesach to Shklov - among them the son of the Rav of Strobin, "Moshe Strobiner," who stayed in the yeshivah in Shklov for a number of years. He is now known as the poseik hador, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein z"l.
In 1911, the people of the city of Amtsislav (also called Mistsislav) asked Reb Chaim Brisker for advice in regard to a suitable Rav. Reb Chaim suggested Reb Pesach in Shklov, for by then Reb Pesach was already known not only as a Rosh Yeshivah, but also as an effective speaker, a man with "goldene shprach."
For centuries, the rabbinate involved, among other responsibilities, harbotsas haTorah (Torah dissemination). Hence every Rav was also a Rosh Yeshivah in his own town. Then Reb Chaim Volozhiner opened the first independent yeshivah in Europe, and as a result the two roles were separated: a) Rav and b) Rosh Yeshivah. There have always been several personalities, however, who possessed vast Torah knowledge, an unusual capacity to lead and inspire, as well as gifts of oratory and darshanus (homiletic abilities); they could never be limited in function. Although they assumed rabbinical positions, they simply could not live without a yeshivah. Reb Pesach was such an individual. Thus, while he accepted the Rabbanus in Amtsislav, he placed one condition: the yeshivah must come with him. Of course, the community accepted his stipulation, and his students came along, including Moshe Strobiner.
When the Bolsheviks took over Russia, and his native city of Kobrin was incorporated into Poland (by the Soviet-Polish treaty of Riga, 1922), he escaped the Communist rule to Kobrin. It is a rarity for a native son to become Rav in his hometown, yet Kobrin appointed him Rav ... And of course, his first official act was to open a yeshivah.
Special Visits, Special Interests
I remember Reb Pesach vividly from his occasional visits to his son in Lomza.6 He was usually invited to deliver a shiur in the yeshivah. While I was too young to fully understand the content of his shiur, I do recall being overwhelmed by his lion's roar of a voice, and the extreme width of his beard, which seemed to cover up and apologize for his imposing physical presence, the grayness of the beard endowing him with a glow of Torah veneration.
Others remember him in a similar fashion. Rabbi Tzvi Tenenbaum, a native of Kobrin (currently in Chelsea, Mass.) recalls Reb Pesach's voice thundering over the shul on Shabbos Shuvah: " 'You are all standing before G-d...,' he would begin, quoting the week's Sidra. For two hours straight his golden voice entranced us, raising us up to the Heavens! On Shabbos HaGadol he would keep hammering away with the phrase: 'A permanent flame should burn on the altar, never to go out,' bringing the Heavens down to us on earth! There was no one like him."
Having been an orphan raised in poverty, he had a special sensitivity for yesomim (orphans) and poor children, and enrolled many of them in various yeshivos. One such youngster, whom he sent to the Mirrer Yeshivah, eventually became known to many of us as Mashgiach in Yeshivas Ner Israel of Baltimore: Rabbi Dovid Kronglas.
Reb Pesach was active in Agudath Israel, and attended most of the Knessios Gedolos (International Assemblies). He was among the first to recognize the greatness of the Bais Yaakov movement. When Sarah Schenirer received a request from the Rav of Kobrin to send him a seminary graduate to open a Beth Jacob school, she faced a dilemma. She could not send a girl who spoke Yiddish in the accents of Poland proper or Galicia to eastern Poland, where a pure Lithuanian Yiddish was spoken. The children would ridicule the teacher who says "Oomayn" instead of "Omain," or "voos" instead of "vos." Luckily, she had one Litvach'ke (feminine for "Litvak") in her seminary - my aunt Chana Shapiro ... Reb Pesach must have been impressed with his Bais Yaakov teacher, for he introduced her to one of his talmidim, Reb Lazer Kuperberg, whom she later married.7
In 1931, in the early years of the Great Depression, he visited the United States to raise funds for his yeshivah. Rabbi Wolf Lipschutz, a nephew of Reb Pesach, recalls: "When I walked with him in the street, people would step aside in respect for this patriarch. In his derashah, he would exclaim: 'Are we going to place the Mechilta, Sifra, and Sifri in a museum? Never! The Torah is a Toras Chaim, a Torah of life!'"
In his visit to St. Louis, he made so favorable an impression that he was offered the position of Rav HaKollel (Chief Rabbi). He refused, for he believed that leaving Europe was like deserting the front in the battle for Torah survival.8 Expressing gratitude for the offer, he explained, "I can guarantee that my children will remain Torah Yidden in America, but I can't guarantee the same for my grandchildren."
In 1939, the Red Army marched into Poland. Upon occupying Kobrin, their first act was to close the yeshivah and Bais Yaakov. Reb Pesach's heart could not bear the pain of this twin tragedy, and on 11 Cheshvan, when but 60 years old, his heart stopped beating.
His son, Rabbi Avraham Pruskin, escaped to America with some of his father's written shiurim, which were published by Reb Pesach's grandson, Rabbi Nosson Zuchovski of Bnei Brak and Pesach Tikvah, under the title Shiurai Maran Rav Pesach M'Kobrin. The words of his Torah continue to instruct and inspire others long after his untimely passing.
Footnotes
1. Indeed, in his hesped (eulogy) for his Rebbetzin. he quoted Rabbi Akiva's words about his wife: "My Torah, your Torah, belong to her!" - bringing the comparison full circle. [return to text]
2. Unfortunately, their uncle never lived up to his promise. Years later, when Reb Pesach was traveling to America, he stopped over in Paris and contacted his brothers. They were totally assimilated, the only evidence of their Yiddishkeit was that their wives were Jewish. Today their children and grandchildren are celebrated French atomic scientists, while the grandchildren of Reb Pesach can be found in many a major kollel and yeshivah in America and Israel. [return to text]
3 . The Chofetz Chaim never forgot his talmid who learned Torah Mitoch Lachatz V'Dochok. When Reb Pesach became Rav in Amtsislav. he wrote special greetings and blessings far the occasion. [return to text]
4. Others in the group included the Alter's own son, Reb Leizer Yudel (Eliezer Yehudah), later Rosh Yeshivah in Mir; Rabbi Konvitz, later a Rav in America; Reb Sheftel Kramer, later brother-in-law of Reb Isser Zalman, and father-in-law of and with the Rosh Yeshivah of Ner Israel, Baltimore, Rabbi Y. Y. Ruderman, and the menahel, Rabbi N. Neuberger. [return to text]
5. By Kabbalistic tradition, the world exists in merit of 36 (the numbers expressed as "lamed-vov") hidden righteous men; a "Lamed Vov'nik keeps the full measure of his righteousness secret. [return to text]
6. His son Reb Leib married the daughter of the Mashgiach of Lomza Yeshiva, Reb Moshe Rosenstein. Reb Leib said the shiur for the fourth level (kita daled). [return to text]
7. How did a girl from Eastern Poland, Tiktin, come to attend a seminary in Cracow, a city of Chassidim? My grandfather had selected a son-in-law from the Lomza Yeshiva, Reb Yerucham Fishel Dan (later Rav in Kosow-Lacki) who was a fiery Gerrer Chassid. He persuaded my grandfather to send his youngest sister-in-law, Chana Shapiro, to the seminary in Cracow. She was the first Lithuanian girl to attend the seminary, but after her, many, many more followed. When she returned home a melumedes (learned young lady) and an impressive public speaker, my grandfather insisted that all his granddaughters attend the seminary. [return to text]
8. He was a member of the delegation that went to the Chofetz Chaim to plead with him not to leave Poland for Eretz Yisrael. [return to text]