[Ha-Rav Shear
Yashuv, Ha-Rav Shlomo Min Ha-Har and Rav Aviner]
He himself
merited learning Torah from Maran Ha-Rav Kook as a child, and spent much time
in his home. He was 7 years old when Rav
Kook passed away. We, the lowly, are
unable to understand the level of a person who merited to meet Maran Ha-Rav
Kook and to be perfumed by his holiness.
He also merited
learning much from Rabbenu Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah, hours upon hours of private
conversations.
Ha-Rav Shear
Yashuv was a great and loyal student of his Rabbis, and connected deeply to the
great vision of the "revival of the Nation in its Land according to its
Torah".
His father
decided that he would also be a Nazir from the time of his birth, but allowed
him to cease being a Nazir when he so desired.
When Ha-Rav Shear Yashuv turned 16, he decided to cut his hair but
continued to refrain from drinking wine.
He also had additional customs, such as refraining from meat and fish,
and only wearing canvas shoes, until he was wounded during the War of
Independence.
And here we turn
from the Torah learner, the Shakdan, to the soldier. He was among the members of the underground
group "Brit Chashmonaim" who fought against the British rule, and was
among the founders of the "Fighting Yeshiva": 8 hours of Torah
learning, 8 hours of guard duty and 8 hours for one's physical needs.
Ha-Rav Shear Yashuv related
that during the War of Independence there was a major dispute between Rabbis –
including within Yeshivat Mercaz Ha-Rav – about whether Yeshiva students should
be drafted into the military. The
students followed the path of our Rabbi and the Nazir and were active in the
Haganah, Etzel and Lechi. During the
waiting period, after the UN votes and before the end of the British Mandate, Ha-Rav
Shear Yashuv would learn in the Yeshiva.
One day he left the Yeshiva and saw a broadside with the huge title that
Maran Ha-Rav Kook opposed drafting Yeshiva students into the army. It included
harsh quotes from one of Rav Kook's letters regarding this issue. He was unsure what to do and was deep in
thought when he bumped into our Rabbi.
Our Rabbi immediately noted his distress and said: "Shear Yashuv,
what happened? Why are you so upset and pale?" He told him what he had seen and pointed to
the broadside. Our Rabbi roared over and
over: "This is a distortion! This
is a total distortion!"
After he calmed down, he
explained that these quotes were taken from a letter of Maran Ha-Rav Kook to
Rav Dr. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of England, regarding being drafted into the British
army, which the latter presented to the government. Yeshiva students who arrived in London from
Russia and Poland as refugees of World War One and were learning Torah were
left off the list of those exempt from military service (for example, priests,
who were exempted). Maran Ha-Rav Kook
admonished him, and said that this has nothing to do with the war for Jerusalem
(Igrot Ha-Re'eiyah vol. 3, letter #810). Rav Shear Yashuv encouraged and helped
our Rabbi to publish a booklet clarifying this issue (see Le-Hilchot Tzibur
#1).
During the difficult battle
for the Old City in Jerusalem, the Jewish community was defeated and Rav Shear
Yashuv, who was badly wounded on his leg, was taken into Jordanian captivity
along with other surviving fighters. He
thus did not merit seeing the publication of the booklet he initiated. After approximately eight months and the
establishment of the State, Rav Shear Yashuv was released and taken to Zichron
Yaakov for rehabilitation. Within a day,
at a time when buses were rare, our Rabbi appeared outside his window. He entered the room, hugged and kissed him
and burst out crying. He removed a small
booklet from his pocket and gave it to him.
It was the first booklet printed, and was dedicated to Rav Shear Yashuv
(The booklet was printed in Le-Netivot Yisrael vol. 1 #23).
When
Ha-Rav
Shear Yashuv was serving as a Rabbi in the Army, he came to his own wedding in
Yerushalayim dressed in his Tzahal officers' uniform. Some people from the
Yishuv Ha-Yashan did not look upon this positively. Rabbenu Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah was surprised by
their reactions, "Wearing the clothing of a Russian nobleman - this is
appropriate?! But wearing the uniform of Tzeva Haganah Le-Yisrael - the Israel
Defense Force - this is not appropriate?!" (Sichot Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah –
Eretz Yisrael p. 268. Tal Chermon –
Moadim, p. 135).
Rav Shear Yashuv was an
accomplished person. It is difficult to
believe how much he did, and with such calmness and love: he was the head of
Torah institutions, earned a law degree, was a researcher of Mishpat Ivri, an assistant
mayor of Yerushalayim, and much more.
And finally, he became the
Chief Rabbi of the Holy City of Haifa.
In this position, it pained him that Ashkenazim in the Galil and
Northern Israel did not recite Birkat Cohanim every day. He wrote a Teshuvah to reestablish this
practice (see Shai Cohain #1).
When I served in Kibbutz Lavi
in the Lower Galil, I asked him about this practice. I obviously was not brazen enough to make
such an important change, I therefore said that in addition Shabbat, we should
also Duchan on days on which we recite Musaf.
Later, when I served in Moshav Keshet in the Golan, I instituted
Duchaning everyday according to his path, since it was a new place.
Ha-Rav Shear Yashuv was once
invited as an honored guest to Kibbutz Lavi, and he was gracious enough to
visit my home. When he saw that I was
wearing a simple shirt and pants like all of the other Kibbutznikim, while he
was wearing a long coat and hat, he looked at me, and said humbly while rubbing
his clothing: "These are my uniform", i.e. I shouldn't suspect that
he was craving any honor.
And he was a truly humble
person. He loved everyone from every
stream and everyone loved him. This is
how he always was, beginning in Jordanian captivity and ending in the Holy City
of "Red" Haifa, as people once called it on account of its lack of
Torah.
He was a man of Torah and
peace. He was truly a student of Aharon
Ha-Cohain, as the Mishnah described: loving peace and pursuing peace, loving
people and bringing them closer to Torah" (Avot 1:12).
May his soul
be bound up with the bonds of the living with all of the Tzadikim.
