Page 62 - issue
P. 62
A Rose is a Rose
A TZADIK’S GRATITUDE
TO HIS GARDEN
by Eta Kushner
In a recent class I attended, Rabbi Yitzi Weiner, co-director of
Achim, in Baltimore, related a story from the book Noble Lives
Noble Deeds, by Rabbi Dovid Silber. It is reproduced here with
permission of ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, Ltd.
Harav Yisrael Zev Gustman had a habit of personally
watering the garden in front of his Yerushalayim yeshi-
va, which included a variety of plants, flowers, and
shrubbery. Although his students tried to dissuade
him, noting that it was not becoming for the Rosh
Yeshiva to indulge in work generally relegated to the
maintenance crew, Rav Gustman insisted on watering the
plants himself. One of his close disciples approached Rav
Gustman at an opportune moment and asked him why he
was so adamant in performing manual labor, especially in
light of the fact that he never wasted a minute that could
be used for the study of Torah or its dissemination.
“Let me explain,” Rav Gustman said, with palpable emo-
tion. “You are surely aware that before the war I served as a
member of Harav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski’s rabbinical court
in Vilna. Our relationship was totally professional. We dis-
cussed rabbinical law or congregational matters, both local
and worldwide. Many of our discussions and deliberations
took place in the municipal botanical gardens of Vilna, sit-
uated adjacent to the Jewish community headquarters.
“One time, while discussing an important matter, Rav
Chaim Ozer unexpectedly turned to me and began
explaining the various plants and shrubs in the garden. He
detailed their nutritious and medicinal value and identified
which ones are dangerous to human touch or consump-
tion. As a junior member of the court, l did not feel it
appropriate to question this great sage as to what had
motivated him to suddenly interject such an insignificant
matter in our discussion.
“Years passed and the Holocaust overtook us. Like all
European Jews, I found myself hounded and hunted down
like a wild beast. For long periods of time, I hid in the
thicket of the forest, using the trees as my only shield
against detection. How, you might wonder, did l sustain
myself throughout this time? The answer is the shrubbery
and undergrowth of the trees were my only means of nour-
ishment. Only then did l realize the Divine wisdom and
prophetic perception of my great mentor, Rav Chaim Ozer,
whose lessons in the basics of botany literally sustained me
during those trying years. “That is the reason I water these
plants personally. It is my way of saying ‘thank you,’ of
expressing my gratitude to them for having nourished me
in time of need.”◆
58 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
A TZADIK’S GRATITUDE
TO HIS GARDEN
by Eta Kushner
In a recent class I attended, Rabbi Yitzi Weiner, co-director of
Achim, in Baltimore, related a story from the book Noble Lives
Noble Deeds, by Rabbi Dovid Silber. It is reproduced here with
permission of ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, Ltd.
Harav Yisrael Zev Gustman had a habit of personally
watering the garden in front of his Yerushalayim yeshi-
va, which included a variety of plants, flowers, and
shrubbery. Although his students tried to dissuade
him, noting that it was not becoming for the Rosh
Yeshiva to indulge in work generally relegated to the
maintenance crew, Rav Gustman insisted on watering the
plants himself. One of his close disciples approached Rav
Gustman at an opportune moment and asked him why he
was so adamant in performing manual labor, especially in
light of the fact that he never wasted a minute that could
be used for the study of Torah or its dissemination.
“Let me explain,” Rav Gustman said, with palpable emo-
tion. “You are surely aware that before the war I served as a
member of Harav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski’s rabbinical court
in Vilna. Our relationship was totally professional. We dis-
cussed rabbinical law or congregational matters, both local
and worldwide. Many of our discussions and deliberations
took place in the municipal botanical gardens of Vilna, sit-
uated adjacent to the Jewish community headquarters.
“One time, while discussing an important matter, Rav
Chaim Ozer unexpectedly turned to me and began
explaining the various plants and shrubs in the garden. He
detailed their nutritious and medicinal value and identified
which ones are dangerous to human touch or consump-
tion. As a junior member of the court, l did not feel it
appropriate to question this great sage as to what had
motivated him to suddenly interject such an insignificant
matter in our discussion.
“Years passed and the Holocaust overtook us. Like all
European Jews, I found myself hounded and hunted down
like a wild beast. For long periods of time, I hid in the
thicket of the forest, using the trees as my only shield
against detection. How, you might wonder, did l sustain
myself throughout this time? The answer is the shrubbery
and undergrowth of the trees were my only means of nour-
ishment. Only then did l realize the Divine wisdom and
prophetic perception of my great mentor, Rav Chaim Ozer,
whose lessons in the basics of botany literally sustained me
during those trying years. “That is the reason I water these
plants personally. It is my way of saying ‘thank you,’ of
expressing my gratitude to them for having nourished me
in time of need.”◆
58 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
