The Slabodka rosh yeshiva, Rav Dov Landau, paid a visit to the Ponovezh rosh yeshiva, Rav Berel Povarsky, where he is staying with his family in the Almah moshav in northern Israel.
Rav Landau, who is staying in the Or Haganuz moshav, heard that Rav Povarsky was staying in the north and wanted to visit him. He recounted, “I learned with the rosh yeshiva at Yeshivas Ponevezh. I learned from him and his ways. But there’s one thing that I feel indebted to him for, and that is that since my parents lived in Rechovot at the time, whenever I returned there during bein hazemanim, I barely had anyone to learn with. Once, I expressed my distress to Rav Berel, and with a generous heart, he made it a point to visit me and learn with me every bein hazemanim.”
“The journey from Bnei Brak to Rechovot at the time was not easy. Rav Berel had to travel to Tel Aviv and then take a bus that circled through the communities of the region until reaching Rechovot,” Rav Landau related. Now, after seventy years, I have the opportunity to make the effort to visit him.”
Upon his arrival, Rav Landau recalled the visits of those days in Rechovot. Rav Povarsky immediately recalled a store that belonged to Reb Tuvia Yosef Landau, Rav Dov’s father. “It was not an ordinary store,” said Rav Berel. “It was like a bais medrash! He would sit there with a Gemara and learn, and occasionally he would sell a pencil or two. During bein hazemanim, he would sit and learn there with his son, Rav Dov, and I would join them in their learning.”
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