By Rav Nochum Eisenstein, Lakewood, NJ
This article originally appeared in Yated Neeman, Monsey NY. and is reprinted here with their permission
A hesped is generally delivered at a funeral. What purpose does the hesped serve?
Over the last few weeks the newspapers have reported several tragedies. One was of a helicopter crash in the Grand Canyon killing a number of young people and leaving one in critical condition. The second was of a suicide bombing in Yerushalyim that killed and injured many people. Our emotions were stirred by these tragedies: the senseless killing of innocent people by a terrorist, and the untimely deaths of those vacationing individuals. We were shocked and stunned by what had occurred, and only slowly did we return to our normal lives. Then last week we received the news of the petira of Harav Hagaon Rav Avraham Yaakov HaKohen Pam Zt'l.
In 64 years of teaching, Rav Pam had produced literally thousands of talmidim. His productive life of nearly 90 years was involved in countless projects benefiting Klal Yisrael. He selflessly gave his time to the many people seeking his sagely advice and his birkas Kohen. He involved himself in so many mosdos that it is almost unimaginable that one person should be able to carry such a load. Indeed, just a few weeks ago he attended a parlor meeting for the benefit of Shuvu although his weakened condition required ambulance transport. But this did not deter him.
Anyone who ever met Rav Pam could not help but recognize his modesty. Although he was a great person, one of the gedolei hador, his humility was striking, his simplicity remarkable, and his honesty and integrity impeccable. He displayed remarkable sensitivity for other human beings, and the ahavah that he transmitted could be touched with your hands. His sense of halacha and its practical application was quite accurate and was that of gadlus.
The Gemara tells us that one of the reasons children die young is because of tears not shed on the petira of an adam kasher (a righteous person). The death of a child naturally arouses crying, and those tears come to make up for the tears that should have been shed for the adam kasher. Even if Rav Pam had he been only an adam kasher, withholding tears certainly is something to be concerned about. All the more so because he was a gadol.
The other recent tragedies that have befallen us are, after the shock wears away, of a personal nature. The helicopter crash filled our heart with sorrow for the families that are suffering so terribly from the disaster. The bombing no less invokes strong feelings within us. Ultimately, however, only the families are left weeping. The petira of Rav Pam, on the other hand, is not (except for the family) a personal loss; it is rather a national calamity for Klal Yisrael.
In the Hagadah we say "in every generation the non-Jews plot to annihilate us, but Hashem miraculously foils their devious plots." Our existence in golus is a nes. The Gemara expresses this with the example of one sheep among seventy wolves. The survival of that sheep is nothing but a miracle. Hashem does not make miracles at random, however. We definitely need zechusim to entitle us to miracles. Some people merit parnassa on their own zechus, while others benefit from prior generations (zechus avos). But most of us can claim to merit miracles only through the zechus of the gedolim. Chazal explicitly state that our gedolim are guardians of the Jewish people. Solely in their zechus people have parnassa, get well, live longer, etc.
The Chazon Ish is well known to have said that as long as Rav Shimon Shkop, the Grodner Rosh Yeshiva, was alive, Hitler ym's could not have succeeded in his vicious plan to make the world Judenrein. The zechus of R. Shkop's Torah would have been sufficient to prevent the genocide. A cousin of mine, a member of the Benedidt family, who had close ties to the Chazon Ish, related the following. The Chazon Ish once told him that he was unaware of the extent of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis against our People because Hashem had hidden it from him. He first learned of the situation when General Himmler ym's was in Egypt on his way to Eretz Yisrael. Through his tefilos, the Chazon Ish was able to stop him. Historians are of course baffled why Himmler did not enter Eretz Yisrael because, strategically, there was nothing interfering with his plan. We, however, know the answer: the Chazon Ish's tefillos. Every gadol that leaves this world is accordingly of great concern to us all.
In a discussion with one of my rabbeim on that Taanis Esther on which Rav Moshe Feinstein zt"l was niftar, my rebbe mentioned that now Rav Moshe had became "history." What he meant was that we all know that the Vilna Gaon was a great gaon and tzaddik. He outshone all the other gedolim of his time and even of previous generations. His life was full of kedusha. We as well know of the Chafetz Chaim who was closer in time to us. But we have seen neither with our own eyes; we only can visualize what they were. Rav Moshe now joins them, my rebbe told me. As long as he was alive, we were able to see what a Torah giant is. We saw gadlus, the extensive and intensive Torah he knew. His ahavas HaTorah, his love for learning, was insatiable. We saw humility, honesty, and, above all, a normal human being.
We imagine that a gadol is someone who is not an average person, that there is something special about him. Although this is certainly the case, gedolim indeed are normal people. They live normally and have feelings like all people. They raise families and engage in all types of activities, but with a Torah approach. Every move they make is according to halacha and with complete sensitivity to other peoples' feelings. It is sometimes hard to imagine such a person in the world in which we live. As long as Rav Moshe was alive it was not difficult to imagine because we saw it in front of our eyes. Now all that we have left are memories and the rest is left to our imagination. He is now "history."
Rav Pam personified these ideals. He was a gadol. He worked tirelessly for Klal Yisrael. He was a role model of what a Torah Jew looks and acts like. His petira leaves a void in a double sense. First, who will give his birkas Kohen? Who will answer all those people who need advice; who will take his place in all of the work for the Klal. Second, where can we find another role model of his caliber?
A hesped has several goals. One is an appreciation of the niftar. Second, the hesped evaluates the extent of our loss. Some points have already been discussed, although Rav Pam's involvement in so many projects makes it difficult to evaluate fully the exact magnitude of our loss. Third, a hesped arouses us to cry and shed tears so that we should not be guilty of allowing a gadol to pass without feeling the sorrow of our great loss.
Rav Pam spoke at the last Agudah convention about being honest in business, not cheating our fellow Jew or the government. The chilul Hashem from having the front page of one of the leading newspapers displaying the picture of a frum Jew either indicted or accused of embezzlement or any other form of cheating is beyond excuse.
We are confident that Rav Pam will be a melitz yosher for us as he was when he was with us. May his petira be the last, and may we all be zoche to bilah hamaves lanetzach umacha Hashem dimah m'al kol panim.