The Jewish world has lost a great Torah Giant, and I have lost my rabbi.
With the passing of Rabbi Wein, zt”l, we have lost one of the last connections to the gedolim of the last century; to those that escaped Europe. Rabbis from all of the Orthodox world looked up to him and so very many young rabbis called him rebbe.
Rabbi Wein was equally gifted in speaking words of Torah and writing scholarly works – and he was expert in telling stories about family and the life of a pulpit rabbi.
The first time I ever heard him speak was about 25 years ago. We had just bought a home in Kiryat Wolfson in Jerusalem and that first Shabbos we went to the Young Israel of Rechavia (also known as Beit Knesset Hanassi; or simply, “Rabbi Wein’s shul”). Rabbi Wein spoke and my husband and I were captivated. That’s all it took – one Shabbos and one derasha, and the next day we took out membership. And just like that, Rabbi Wein became our cherished rabbi.
We didn’t live in Israel full time in those years, so we became members of Rabbi Wein’s Destiny Foundation. From there we bought all of his tapes (and then CD’s) of Tanach. We played one every day going and coming home from work. We learned so much from him.
We returned to our home in Israel for every holiday, and we so looked forward to hearing our rabbi speak. He really was an amazing speaker. The Torah just flowed from his lips. He was so brilliant, but also so modest. I was surprised that first time upon our return to Israel, how he welcomed both my husband and me by name as if we were old friends.
My daughter Shandee and son-in-law-Dr. Meir Fuchs showed me the very large books on Jewish history throughout the ages, written in English, by Rabbi Wein. On Shabbos Meir would have the family read a chapter. I was still new to my rabbi, so I was amazed at the scope of his knowledge.
(As an aside, I am very proud of Shandee and Meir for sponsoring the publication of Rabbi Wein’s book on the Rosh Hashana prayers.)
Five years ago I moved back to Israel full time. My great oneg Shabbos was going to shul to hear Rabbi Wein’s words of Torah every Shabbos. He managed to sprinkle anecdotes from his childhood in Chicago, together with the parsha. Who else could do that?
Anytime I had a question, I went straight to my rabbi. He was never too busy to answer me. And he was a straight shooter. With a smile, he always knew when I wouldn’t be so happy with his answer. But I knew that I was hearing from a gadol ha’dor.
He asked his family not to be overly long in hespedim. At his levaya, everyone brought out other parts of his truly amazing life, a life full of Torah. I cried as all of them spoke.
Yes, the Jewish world has truly lost a modest, Torah giant, but it is beyond my ability to describe the magnitude of his scholarship and genius. I can only say that I was privileged to call him my rabbi.
