An extraordinary moment took place this week at the home of the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Dov Landau, leaving those present stunned by his brilliance and astonishing memory.
The episode occurred following a bris held in the Rosh Yeshiva’s home. After the bris, family members approached Rav Landau to receive brachos and introduced him to the baby’s grandfather, Rav Chaim H., one of his talmidim.
Rav Landau was visibly delighted to see him and immediately said, “What you said, that the Rabbanan disagree with Rav Yosi regarding gram kibui and grama on Shabbos — the Maggid Mishneh does not write that. Rather, the Rabbanan agree with Rav Yosi that gram kibui is prohibited.”
Rav Chaim H. paused, trying to recall what the Rosh Yeshiva was referring to and could not understand why Rav Landau was raising the point. Rav Landau then turned to him again and asked, “Don’t you remember this? I remember it clearly. It was decades ago — maybe 30 or 40 years ago.”
After reflecting further, the former talmid realized that Rav Landau was correct: the two of them had indeed discussed that very sugya together roughly 35 years earlier — the last time the topic had come up between them.
Those present were left in awe, struck by the Rosh Yeshiva’s extraordinary genius and razor-sharp memory, able to recall with precision a detailed Torah discussion from more than three decades earlier.
{Matzav.com}
Why is that astonishing? First of all it’s learning Torah and that should be stuck in someone’s mind but second of all probably it bothered him over the years and he kept looking up different answers to it
As we saw on yesterday’s Daf, Ashreichem Talmidei chachamim, shedivrey Torah chavivin aleyhem.
It’s painful when a gadol and/or his erudition is so badly misunderstood. The gadlus of this story is not chiefly his memory of an old conversation, it is the fact that discussing it again with his talmid and setting a Halacha straight was always somewhere in his brilliant mind, similar to such types of stories we heard about the Steipler (like when he came to a bochur’s BarMitzvah to ask mechilah) and about his son R’ Chaim. It’s his wonderful middos which were on display, much more than his brilliance. So if you too can recall many conversations from more than 30 years ago, don’t think you’re as great and “brilliant” as our gedolim…
Since Torah is so choshuv to the Rosh Yeshiva, he remembers it more than other things.