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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home
The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022
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what mesiras nefesh is.” In reflecting on this lesson, the talmid noted that almost all of Rav Nota’s stories went with him to the grave. He never told stories about what he did. “To Rav Nota, this was a story about the mesiras nefesh of the simplest Jew. To me, this was a rare glimpse into the day-to-day mesiras nefesh of my Rebbe,” the talmid reflected. “Think about the amount of miles that Rav Nota spent traveling to and from this Jew’s home, and how many miles he traveled with him to inspect the Torah, and the energy he expended getting to know this man and talking with him… It’s tiring just to think about it.” Rav Nota’s great-nephew Rabbi Shlomo Soroka, who oftentimes hosted Rav Nota when he came to the Jewish community in St. Louis, recalls how Rav Nota would come into the house close to midnight after a full day of administering gittin and dealing with other pressing matters. Knowing that Rav Nota did not eat all day, the Sorokas would beg him to sit down and eat. But Rav Nota would just take a cup of water so that he could drink his tea. “Most people would be like, ‘I had my tea, now let me go to sleep,’ but he would schmooze with us for as long as we wanted,” recalls Rabbi Soroka. Rav Nota would ask each child what they were learning and listened attentively as they told him over something they recently learned. “By 3:30 or 4AM, he would already
be up,” Rabbi Soroka adds. “He’d daven and then hit the road and be gone without leaving a trace.”
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lthough Rav Nota treated everyone with dignity and respect, he also knew when he had to be tough. There was a man in Memphis who refused to give his wife a get for many years. At some point, he left town, and nobody was able to track him down. After a while, this man’s mother died. The funeral was set to be on erev Yom Kippur. Rav Nota realized that the man may try to slip into the funeral, so he went to the levaya for the opportunity to find the man. Indeed, the man was standing in the back of the room with a hat pulled low over his head so that nobody would notice him. In middle of the funeral, Rav Nota stood up, stopped the proceedings, pointed at the man, and declared, “This burial will not take place until you give a get to your wife.” Having no choice, the man agreed. At that moment, Rav Nota proceeded to write and administer the get. The process was over moments before Yom Kippur; the woman was buried; and Rav Nota went straight to shul after slipping off his shoes, not having eaten a seudah before fasting for 25 hours. Similarly, one time Rav Nota was trying to procure a get from a doctor in Texas. Rav Nota went to his office and
waited for eight hours for the doctor to come out and talk to him, but the doctor refused. A secretary called the police to have Rav Nota removed from the office. Two Texas Rangers showed up. The Rangers were taken aback by Rav Nota’s pleasant demeanor. They were expecting to encounter a belligerent individual. Rav Nota calmly asked the Texas Rangers what they would do in their society if a husband kept his wife chained up. “We’d shoot him,” replied one of the Rangers. Rav Nota then pointed out that this doctor was doing exactly that and that he was simply there to help the woman become unchained. As a previously written version of this story notes, “And that is how a Dallas doctor finally gave his wife a get – at gunpoint, with two Texas Ranger and Rabbi Nathan Greenblatt.” Rav Moshe Heineman, shlita, said at the levaya that one time Rav Nota was trying to convince a husband to give a get to his wife. The man replied that he had no time for this stuff. Rav Nota then asked the man if he ever travels by plane. When the man confirmed that he does, Rav Nota pointed out that while on a flight, the man should certainly have time. The man disclosed that he would be traveling in the near future. Not only did Rav Nota meet this man on the flight, but at his own expense, he brought along the requisite two witness-
es and agent. The man gave the get. Although we can learn from the great mesiras nefesh that Rav Nota exhibited, Rav Heineman pointed out the depth of halachic knowledge that Rav Nota had to have in order to administer a get midflight. According to halacha, a get has to say exactly where it is being given, which presents all sorts of problems when it is given on a plane. It was only Rav Nota’s absolute and unparalleled knowledge of halacha that enabled him to facilitate the get in midair. Rabbi Soroka recalls that he once served as witness to a get that Rav Nota was administering. After going through the painstaking process of preparing the get document, the get ripped as it was being folded. All of those present were deeply dismayed that they would have to start the whole process over again. Rav Nota analyzed the tear closely for a few minutes. “Then he declared, ‘The get is fine.’ Look in such- and-such sieif in Shulchan Aruch which deals with this exact scenario,” recalls Rabbi Soroka. “Of course, I opened up the Shulchan Aruch, and it was right there. He had the halacha on his fingertips.”
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t the levaya, Rav Moshe Heineman recalled how he once had a unique question for Rav Nota. He had to facilitate a chalitzah, and the man who was to perform the chalitzah was a convict serving in a maximum-security prison.
