The CHAZON ISH zt"l
on THE EDUCATOR’S RESPONSIBILITY to the WEAK and WAYWARD STUDENT

Principles and Vignettes

The Chazon Ish, Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz (1878-1953), one of the greatest Torah luminaries of recent times, lived in Eretz Yisroel from 1933 until his passing. His views, actions, halachic rulings and writings continue to have a major influence on the fabric of Torah life everywhere.

Rabbi Yabrov is the author of Maaseh Ish, a three-volume biography of the Chazon Ish. The contents of this article were approved for publication by the nephew of the Chazon Ish, Hagaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky of Bnei Brak, who lived with his uncle for a period of seven years.

The Requirements of an Educator

The necessary prerequisite to influence one’s students, the Chazon Ish told Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkovitz, is a genuine love of people. He based his view on the directive of Chazal (Avos 1:12) that one must be “oheiv es habriyos u’mekarvan laTorah, love people and draw them closer to Torah.” These are not two unrelated commands. They are rather cause and effect. Only one who loves others can draw them close to Torah.

He once requested that a certain individual be appointed as Mashgiach in a particular yeshiva, despite the fact that the candidate was not a great talmid chacham, nor renowned as an exceptionally great tzaddik. (Today the man works for the Chevra Kadisha.) “He has a good heart,” the Chazon Ish explained, “and he will make every effort to help the boys through their pain.” That character trait sufficed. He rejected the other candidate as “too tough.”

The ideal educator, in his view, must be of elevated character. A mechanech of deficient character causes a double tragedy. Since his actions do not match his words, his students will not learn Torah from him, and even worse, they learn from his behavior (Emuna U’Bitachon 4:16). A student emulates his teacher. And if a teacher is of imperfect character, his talmid will learn bad middos from him.

The “Weaker” Student

“Chanoch lenaar al pi darko — educate the lad according to his way,” the Chazon Ish insisted, does not mean to withhold the possibility of becoming a gadol baTorah from one who seemingly lacks that capability. We have to ensure that every child has the opportunity to be that “one out of a thousand,” however improbable that seems. Hence, a yeshiva must never devalue any student, for it is impossible to know which young bachur will one day be the gadol hador.

Rabbi Shlomo Lorincz once asked the Chazon Ish if it would not be beneficial to create a different kind of yeshiva, emphasizing pshat and halacha (literal meaning and practical application), rather than lomdus (abstract probing), for less gifted boys. Since such boys have no hope of becoming roshei yeshiva, and will eventually become baalebattim, Rabbi Lorincz wondered, would it not be better to emphasize the skills necessary to understand a daf Gemora and learn halacha?

The Chazon Ish was vehemently opposed to the suggestion. “Our chinuch,” he said, “must be based on the assumption that every boy can be a gadol. One who does not seem blessed with great intellectual gifts can turn the corner one day and be blessed with formidable intelligence. Suddenly all the wellsprings of Torah open up to him and he is recognized as a considerable baal kishron (intellectually gifted).”

The Chazon Ish buttressed his view with the story of a contemporary gadol who was considered slow as a youth. Even at the age of 18, he asked the Chazon Ish to explain a Rashi that any third grader could understand easily. “Yet,” he told Rabbi Lorincz, “that person is now one of the great Torah luminaries of our times.”

A talmid who felt he was not cut out for learning once informed the Chazon Ish of his plans to master a trade. The gadol hador invited the young man to learn with him, and they spent a long time learning Gemora together. When they were finished, the Chazon Ish asked the young man, “Don’t you see that you are capable of learning?”

Good Children

“Make sure that you learn with them every day,” was the Chazon Ish’s advice to a father who wanted to know how to help his sons become talmidei chachamim. He often shared with fathers who asked for a blessing for their children’s success in learning, the reply of the Chofetz Chaim to a similar request: “You do not educate your son by collecting berachos for him, but only by being willing to sell the pillow under your head to pay for his tuition.”

Becoming a gadol baTorah, the Chazon Ish often said, is as dependent on the tears and tefillos of the boy’s grandmother as on his intellectual gifts.

The Difficult Student

When asked how a yeshiva should treat a troublemaker, the Chazon Ish responded, “It is better to put up with him and draw him as near as possible. The function of the yeshiva is to provide wisdom to the weaker ones and understanding to those who go astray. One cannot blame the unruly student. That is the nature of children. We must make every possible effort. Sometimes the right hand must push away while the left hand draws closer. And sometimes we must draw them near with both hands” (Kovetz Igros 1,81).

A boy was once expelled from a yeshiva for joining an inappropriate youth group. The Chazon Ish arranged for him to be accepted in an out-of-town yeshiva. Once again he joined a proscribed youth organization. The boy was sent to talk to the Chazon Ish. The latter spoke to him at length without ever mentioning the youth club. After the meeting, the one who arranged the conversation with the Chazon Ish expressed his surprise: “I brought him here with the hope that the Rav would convince him to sever his ties with that group. But the Rav did not even mention it!”

“He obviously derives satisfaction from his membership in this group,” the Chazon Ish replied. “Before you take something away from someone, you must first give him something else in return. This bachur isn’t yet ready to taste the sweetness of Torah and it won’t affect him. So I was nice to him and invited him back next week. I’ll speak with him in learning again, and he will begin to enjoy it. And when his eyes light up in Torah, the darkness will disappear on its own.”

Expulsion – a Matter of Life and Death

Sending bachurim away from yeshiva, he often said, is tantamount to dinei nefashos (capital punishment). Accordingly, he often refused to decide the issue. “Yeshiva _______ says that I’m ruining their yeshiva by not allowing them to expel their students,” he once admitted. “But what can I do? I can’t be the one to decide that they should send them away. Hopefully, Heaven will have mercy and these boys will leave on their own.”

Rabbi Yehoshua Yogel once came to the Chazon Ish with the following dilemma: In his yeshiva were several problematic students who would deteriorate if sent away. On the other hand, if allowed to stay, they might have a bad influence on others. The Chazon Ish’s initial response was that this was a difficult life-and-death issue. He then asked Rabbi Yogel how he had handled similar situations in the past. Rabbi Yogel replied that he had indeed expelled several students. As a rule, though, the hard cases left on their own and as a result the others succeeded in straightening out. Thus, in his view, experience had shown that when the hard-core troublemakers left the yeshiva, the others improved greatly.

The Chazon Ish interrupted him: “Experience does not overrule the Shulchan Aruch. One may not expel a student. You don’t have to court him, but if he wants to stay you have no right to send him away. You must rather dedicate all your strength to educate him and to supervise his behavior.”

“I don’t know if I have the strength,” Rabbi Yogel responded.

“Hashem will give you the strength,” was the reply.

A yeshiva student was once caught stealing, and the yeshiva’s dean asked the Chazon Ish whether the boy should be expelled. “Did you ever speak lashon hara?” he asked the questioner. “Did they throw you out of the yeshiva as a result? What difference does it make what aveira he did? Surely he is not chayav mesa (liable for capital punishment) for these actions.”

When asked how a school should deal with a child in the class whose parents are mechallelei Shabbos, he replied that one must never disgrace parents in the eyes of their children.

On one occasion, the Chazon Ish decided that a student should be expelled from his yeshiva. Nevertheless he made the expulsion contingent on several conditions. The Rosh Yeshiva was required to first establish a regular learning seder with him.

“First begin learning with him,” the Chazon Ish insisted, “and only afterwards can you notify him of his expulsion. And you must continue learning with him thereafter, as well. In this way, he will be able to deal with the trauma of expulsion and will be in a learning framework until he finds a new yeshiva.”

The Rosh Yeshiva involved related that that student became a great Torah sage and Rosh Yeshiva. And the once wayward youth admitted that if his rebbe had not drawn him near, he does not know if he would even be Jewish today.

The Chazon Ish followed the same approach with girl’s schools. Asked about the possibility of expelling of a girl from school, he replied. “Capital cases require a beis din of 23 judges.”

In those instances where he permitted the school to expel the girl, he stipulated that the school find some other arrangement for her to ensure that she not land in the street. “Nowadays,” he told Rabbi Avrohom Wolf (founder of the Bais Yaakov high school of Bnei Brak), “as a result of the influence of the street, all girls, even those who have parents, are like orphans. And one doesn’t throw orphans into the street.”

The Mechallel Shabbos Child

When asked how parents should treat their children who have gone “off the derech,” he responded that they should try to draw them closer with bonds of love and not to push them away. A youth who became a mechallel Shabbos later asked his father to buy him a car. The father agreed on condition that he promise not to drive on Shabbos. The son refused to promise and the tension between father and son rose sharply. The Chazon Ish, however, advised the father to give his son the car without any conditions, for in that way he would have much more influence over him.

Our Obligation to Every Jewish Child

Any child who does not receive a proper Jewish education was in the Chazon Ish’s eyes an orphan, and accordingly, there is a mitzva min HaTorah to take pity on him and provide him with a Torah education.

The Chazon Ish was once asked if students who frequented inappropriate places were in the halachic category of a talmid she’eino hagun, to whom it is not permitted to teach Torah (Yoreh De’ah 246:7). The Chazon Ish replied, “That halacha does not apply today. In previous generations, Torah study was for the entire community. The Rav gave shiurim in the shul and everyone understood that they had to attend. Of course there were always a few degenerate individuals who had no desire to learn and came only because of societal pressure. It was those whom Chazal classified as ones to whom one should not teach Torah. But the youth of today, who come on their own free will and seriously want to learn, even though they do not yet keep all the mitzvos, are not considered to be talmidim she’einam hagunim. One should teach them Torah.”

Like Putting on Tefillin

The obligation to help weaker talmidim, the Chazon Ish held, is not only the province of the educator. It extends to every ben Torah as well. On the basis of “talking in learning” with students of Ponovezher Yeshiva, the Chazon Ish came to the conclusion that many younger bachurim were getting lost there, and felt despondently alone and helpless. He requested Rabbi Yaakov Eidelstein, then studying in Ponovezh, to organize the older bachurim to learn with younger ones. “If they refuse with the excuse that they have no time for anything but learning,” he told Rabbi Eidelstein, “ask them how they have time to put on tefillin every day. Tell them,” the Chazon Ish continued, “You put on tefillin because it is a mitzva. Well, helping younger bachurim is no less a mitzva than putting on tefillin.’”

The Ultimate Zechus

A ben Torah whose father died came to the Chazon Ish for advice. He wanted to establish a free loan fund to perpetuate his father’s memory. The Chazon Ish responded that while it would be a great merit for the deceased to establish a free loan fund in his memory, it would be an even bigger zechus to learn with a weaker student, build him up and put him on his feet, and help make him into a ben Torah. When that young man marries, his children will also be bnei Torah, and their children as well. Establish a free-loan-fund, and you will benefit a limited number of people. But if you build a weak boy into a ben Torah the potential merit is limitless and will sustain your father’s neshama for eternity.

The Chazon Ish had a powerful love for every Jewish child and his actions and activities were an outgrowth of that love. He once told his nephew Rabbi Shlomka Berman, that Roshei Yeshiva are generally concerned primarily with the good of the public, with what’s good for their yeshiva or for the Yeshiva World as a whole. But what is right for the yeshiva, is not necessarily beneficial for the individual student. “I look at it differently. To me every individual is an entire Klal.”

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