by Rabbi Yair Hoffman Rav Leib Bakst zatzal (1918-2004) was an Alter Mirrer who was an outstanding Talmid Chochom and gadol who was  rosh yeshivah of Yeshivas Beis Yehudah in Detroit.  He taught thousands of talmidim, and now, Boruch Hashem, a new sefer on his Chidushei Torah has just been released. I would like to thank Reb Avrohom Applebaum, a father of one of my students for bringing me a copy. Rav Bakst was born in Doltish, Lithuania, to Rabbi Yaakov Yehoshua who perished in the Holocaust hy”d. He studied at the Mir Yeshiva in Mir, Poland and later during its exile in Vilna and Shanghai during World War II. He was close to both the Mir Rosh Yeshiva Rav Laizer Yehuda Finkel zt”l and also studied under in the Mir’s famed Mashgiach – Rav Yerucham Leibowitz zt”l for six years. In 1946, after the war, he married the daughter of Rav Mordechai Rogov, the author of “Ateret Mordechai,” who had studied at the Mir and Volozhin yeshivas. From his Mussar shmuessim, his talmidim compiled the sefer “Kol Aryeh.” While in Shanghai, Rav Bakst suffered a burst appendix and hovered between life and death. Later, after he recovered – he reprinted in Shanghai the classic Mussar Sefer Tomer Devorah by the great Tzfas kabbalist Rav Moshe Cordevero. Rav Bakst zatzal was a close friend of one of my Rebbeim, Rav Dovid Kviat zatzal, and I consider it a kavod to be able to present just a glimpse of him to others.  The following was culled from the new sefer’s hakdamah: These chiddushim are mostly from writings found in the Rosh yeshiva’shouse, besides those that were already printed in various places around the world..After many years of requests regarding the publication of a book with his Torah insights, and after the completion of the work and its arrangement into a proper manuscript, his students will surely guard and preserve our Rosh yeshiva’s memory of blessed memory. We hope it will be beneficial to the world of Torah study and increase Torah knowledge and its illumination. “The Vilna Gaon in his commentary on Mishlei on the pasuk of ‘Shlomo son of David, King of Israel,’ writes that ‘when someone sees a sefer, they need to know who the author is, for if the author is a great sage, trustworthy in his wisdom, as Rashi was in his books, then in Creation and in Torah etc.’ Therefore, in the book’s introduction, it seems appropriate to strive to preserve something of our Rosh yeshiva’s character traits of blessed memory in a faithful way. At the beginning of our work on the book, one of our Rosh yeshiva’s close students told us – ‘How can you describe our Rosh yeshiva through the publication of a book of his teachings, when whoever says “This is him” limits him? The Man and His Character Indeed, whoever saw our Rosh yeshiva witnessed a vision of grace and fullness of wisdom and Mussar. Though young in days, he possessed ancient wisdom, like a flowing spring. All who approached holiness desired to be near him and cling to his teachings. In his pure way of life, whether in formal work or casual encounters, people’s souls yearned to draw close and learn from him. He had a remarkable ability to connect […]