Collateralization of Olam Haba and consequential dreams have an important place in our recent parshiot. Closer to home, my son recently asked me if Rav Avrohom Genechovsky, zt”l, our late relative, hears what he is saying from yeshiva shel maala (heavens). More than being a poignant question, it touched upon two stories, where yeshiva shel maala wasn’t such a foreign topic to Rav Avrohom, demonstrating that the gravity and majesty of Olam Haba and dreams are ever-present themes.
In the first, a family that lost their father came to Rav Avrohom asking how their father could pass away on a day that he davened vasikin, for the Gemara (Berachos 9b) says, “One who proximates geulah to tefillah at sunrise will incur no harm the entire day.” Rav Avrohom said that it was not “harmful” to reach yeshiva shel maala; just the opposite, it’s what we all await, and it is the place of true joy.
The second story took place when Rav Avrohom’s mother, Gita, appeared in a dream, a year after her passing, to Rabbi Werner zt”l, a dayan in Tel Aviv at that time. She said that the question he asked, which he wrote in his sefer Mishpatei Yisroel (Siman 4), was already asked by her son, Rav Avrohom. (Sefer Mishpatei Yisroel has since been amended and notes that Rav Avrohom had asked this question.) Rav Werner called Rav Avrohom the next day, and Rav Avrohom confirmed that he did in fact write this in his sefer, Cheder Horasi, l’iuli nishmat his mother. Interestingly, the question related to kibbud av v’em (honoring father and mother). On his passing, someone asked Rav Avrohom how he thinks his mother heard about his chiddush, and he said maybe a sheliach (messenger) in shamayim told her.
My son was recently given a picture of Rav Avrohom from his menahel from an Avos Ubanim that took place at an earlier time. Amusingly, he asked me who was a bigger talmid chacham, Rav Avrohom or Reb Chaim Kanievsky zt”l. I told him that they were yedidim, good friends. I recall going to see Reb Chaim with Rav Avrohom, and Rav Avrohom coming in fear, despite being yedidim. He was fearful of taking Reb Chaim’s time. He also told about the time when Reb Chaim was asked a certain question about something, and Reb Chaim never heard of a certain word that this person was asking about. Rav Avrohom said that this was proof that this word could not appear in Shas, and so it was.
It’s true my son will never be able to experience traveling around Eretz Yisroel with a gaon giving shiurim; or sitting at a Shabbos table where a top Ponovezh bachur came every Friday night to shower his questions upon Rav Avrohom; or walking with someone in Bnei Brak whom everyone acknowledged; or so many other experiences—but he will know Rav Avrohom as well as I can communicate the otherworldly stories that I experienced when I was with him.
Steven Genack is the author of “Articles, Anecdotes & Insights,” Genack/Genechovsky Torah from Gefen Press.
