One More Time - Monthly Gedolim Stories
I begin to write this on Monday night, Lag Beomer, a day when we celebrate the fact that Rabbi Akiva's 24,00 students stopped dying. We had been mourning their deaths ever since the start of Sefiras Haomer, and now we celebrate that they stopped dying on this day. We all know the famed teaching which states the reason for their deaths being that they did not treat their colleagues with true respect, but how many of us wonder why even after so long, why do we mourn for them? The answer is that we mourn the loss of all the Torah that they learned. The Torah that they never got to teach. The Torah teachings that died with them. That is what we mourn. So, then, if I may, let me share a wonderful, heartwarming story about a young bochur and his Rebbi. A story about the beauty of learning the Heilige Torah, a tale of love, emotion, and encouragement. I hope you enjoy this story, which appeared originally in Rabbi Yechiel Spero's recent book, "The Story Begins..." Wishing y...