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M e M o r y
Of Inspiration and Connection
Remembering Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, z”l by Jenny Hershkowitz
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way his lessons enriched her life. Sit down with the woman who is able to sing as she rocks her child to bed at night, no longer cowering from the demons that chased her through her youth. Those people will tell you who Rabbi Wallerstein really was. His heart was huge; his vision was deep; his love was all-encompassing; his passion was infectious. Rabbi Wallerstein was known as a master mechanech. And he was always teaching – in his lessons, in the way he spent his days, in the classroom and beyond. Years ago, he taught in a boys’ yeshiva. But he never took money for teaching for decades in the school. Instead, Rabbi Wallerstein used those funds to pay for tuition for boys who would otherwise be going to public school. His heart wouldn’t allow him to put that money in his bank account, so strong was his desire to save a Jewish neshama. Years later, his accountant would tell his family that his business would start to suffer if he didn’t stop giving tzedakah. “He gives too much tzedakah!” the accountant exclaimed. “The business can’t survive.” But who could tell Rabbi Wallerstein to stop giving? Who could stop his soul from helping others? It wasn’t just money that Rabbi Wallerstein expended to save Jewish neshamos. Scores of people knew that Rabbi Wallerstein’s heart would be open to hearing their tales of woe. They knew he
wouldn’t just hear them; they knew his heart would hurt for them, and he would feel compelled to help them. Rabbi Wallerstein would come to his office, in the pretense of going to work. But truthfully, the only work he was able to tackle was his avodas ha’kodesh. He would spend hours at his desk, listening to tear-filled messages, writing down notes in a black-and-white notebook, so he could call back the people back and help them. Klal Yisroel was always on his mind. Rabbi Wallerstein would travel around the country to speak to groups, to help them become better Jews. He wanted people to love Yiddishkeit, to be inspired Jews, to be committed, thinking Yidden. He would spend his whole day on Tisha B’Av traveling, hoping to help Jews connect with the Churban and uplift themselves. Breaking his fast would have to wait until he met with everyone who needed him. Focus on others, focus on your children and your spouse, he would tell them. And focus on Hashem, Who loves you and cares for you. After davening, after connecting to his Creator, he would go to the aron kodesh and beseech his Master once more on behalf of his fellow Jews. He knew that Hashem was listening, but he didn’t want to leave his Creator without begging Him again for his nation. Over the past few decades, Rabbi Wallerstein revolutionized chinuch ha’banos. He knew that much of the backbone of a Jewish home stems from
the mother. And he knew that Jewish women were deserving – and needed – to be inspired and uplifted. Torah was not just given to the men on the other side of the mechitzah. It was given to a nation, a People of seekers, who desire a relationship with the Borei Olam. What started small blossomed and bloomed into seminary, college, post-seminary, and even high school programs. “Avinu Malkeinu” became an annual event where thousands of women flocked to focus and center themselves during the Yomim Noraim. He – and his dedicated team – taught and showed women the beauty that is inherent in the Gift we received three-thousand years ago. Rabbi Wallerstein remarkably impacted Klal Yisroel in the short time he had in this world. Never stopping, never resting, always wanting to do more to help his nation, Rabbi Wallerstein’s influence cannot be properly tallied. But in addition to his brothers and sisters around the world that he uplifted, Rabbi Wallerstein was a loving son, husband, father, and grandfather. He delighted in his daughters, his sons-in-law and his grandchildren. Despite the myriad responsibilities and kochos expended on the Jewish nation, Rabbi Wallerstein showed us the importance of being focused on one’s family. May Rabbi Wallerstein’s holy neshama rise up to the Kisei Ha’kavod and continue to beseech the Ribbono Shel Olam to end all suffering for Klal Yisroel. Y’hei zichro baruch.
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here are 790 videos of Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, z”l, speaking on Torah Anytime. Many of them are over an hour long; some are just fifteen minutes. The videos start in 2007 and continue through this week. The last video, uploaded just yesterday, was of Rabbi Wallerstein’s levaya. Watching those videos, you can get a small sense of who Rabbi Wallerstein was. You will be able to grasp his values and his ideas. You’ll hear what was important to him and learn about what he felt was essential to being a Jew. You’ll hear snippets of him exhorting his fellow Jews to rise above challenges, to become better people, to live energized, more complete lives. But those videos don’t encapsulate wholly who Rabbi Wallerstein truly was. By listening to them, you will get to know his values and his ideals. But perhaps, if you want to truly know who Rabbi Wallerstein was, you’d have to sit down with the thousands of people – men and women – around the world who were deeply impacted by him. Sit down with the man who admits that, if not for Rabbi Wallerstein, he would never have attended yeshiva high school. Sit down with the mother who says that Rabbi Wallerstein is the reason she is alive today. Ribbons of scars running down her arms, now healed, are testament to the lifeforce that Rabbi Wallerstein means to her. Sit down with the girl whose smile is whole and sincere, who remembers the
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