Rebbe Rebbe
Many times he would say "don't think things don't bother me. They bother me plenty, but when I walk into here (the bet midrash) EVERYTHING is left at the door! Just learn and be happy! There is nothing better than learning!" I was a young man, barely religious for a few years, and I couldn't believe that he was being honest - it couldn't be! But as time went on, day after day, I saw how much pleasure he had learning and even more - how much pleasure he had teach- ing! Like a father teaching his son, even if the son says something very garbled and mixed up - the father is beam- ing with pride - that was Rebbi! That's how he got me and many others, he would praise and compliment any com- ment, any question, any answer - no matter how silly or off mark it was. I can still remember how after the shiur he would pull that person over and say "tell me, you have a VERY good head! Where did you learn?" The guy would feel like a million dollars, he didn't go to any yeshiva and he managed to impress this big talmid chacham!
I still remember a friend of mine who was off the derech for 10 years - 10 years of intense rebellion at the system - and he walked into Rebbi's Humash shiur - and he was hooked. He's a ben Torah with a beautiful family. I asked him, what happened? He said - don't you see how he enjoys his learn- ing? He planted that same simcha in me, I remember by good days in yeshiva when I'm next to him. I personally didn't appreciate or even understand the enormity of his work. He used to say to us all the time - its a rough world out there, you don't know how much you are being shielded from by being here in yeshiva.