Wisdom of the Sages Thru the Ages in the Pages R’ Binyomin Lifton, who served as a rebbi in Yeshiva of Central Queens for many years, retold the story of his “farher,” his entrance exam, to join R’ Shimon Shkop’s yeshiva in Grodno. He prepared a “shtikel Torah,” a Torah discourse, to repeat to the Rosh Yeshiva to show his aptitude. After a grueling journey of several days, the boy arrived and was startled to be greeted by none other than R’ Shimon Shkop himself. He was prepared to say his shtikel Torah when R’ Shimon stopped him. “I have two questions for you,” said the sage. The teen was frightened as he wondered what he would be asked. He hadn’t known he would be tested on something he hadn’t prepared. “When was the last time you ate a proper meal?” asked the Rabbi, “and when was the last time you slept in a bed?” R’ Shimon then took him home, fed him, and prepared a warm bed for the boy so he could have a good rest. R’ Binyomim survived the Holocaust and many other sorrows and said, “What kept my Judaism alive all those years were those two questions that R’ Shimon asked me as my entrance exam to the Grodno Yeshiva.”
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 15:18:09 +0000
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