On September 17, יום כיפור ,1945, Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton visited a DP Camp to see the condition of surviving Jews. They were greeted by the Klausenberger Rebba, who spoke with them through an interpreter, an American soldier from Williamsburg. Before they left, General Eisenhower asked the Rebba for a blessing. Speaking
A mother once complained: “The school demands that the children get up at dawn like roosters; that they carry heavy knapsacks like donkeys; that they run to school like deer; that they be diligent like ants; that they write down the teachers’ words like monkeys; and that they be silent like fish. And after all
A ישיבה בחור with holes in his shoes and water soaking his feet from heel to toenail every time it rained, wrote to his father that his shoes are like יין קפריסין ששורין בו את הצפורן.
The נצי״ב was at a conference in Vienna. In the course of the gathering, several speakers paid tribute to one of the משכילים who had died a short time earlier. The נצי״ב, however, didn't mention him at all. One of those present turned to him and asked "even after his death, isn't there something positive
As the רב was completing the recitation of the Haggadah with his family, an אפיקורס, who always annoyed them, came to their door to complain about the noise. "When will you be done?" he asked. "Very soon," the רב answered. "We're up to ואתא כלבא."
A רב was once asked whether on ערב שבת or ערב חג a woman is permitted to light just one candle by doing so in front of a mirror, so that it is as if there are two candles. The רב answered: "You won't have accomplished anything because the mirror would also show a second
A מלמד who tutored children said that teaching is like playing hide and seek. When the מלמד comes to teach, the child hides. When the מלמד comes to get his pay, the parents hide. When the term ends and the parents want to see what their son has learned, the מלמד hides.
In a long established בית כנסת, newcomers pushed to have changes made to certain מנהגים. This, of course, led to a bitter מחלוקת between the two camps. The רב observed: "This explains what is meant by עושה חדשות בעל מלחמות."
An אברך who was learning שחיטה couldn’t remember whether שחיטה comes before בדיקה or What's the difference between a חכם and a שוטה? A חכם, when it suits his purposes, can make himself appear as a שוטה. But a שוטה, no matter how hard he may try, cannot present himself as a חכם.
An אברך who was learning שחיטה couldn’t remember whether שחיטה comes before בדיקה or A teenager from a respected family fell in with the wrong crowd and had become a גנב. His family took him to ר׳ חיים דוד מאנזון, who chastised him and said: “I know you’re a בן תורה. How are you not
