By Eliakim Willner
It is impossible to encapsulate in writing an individual of
the caliber of Rav Shlomo Halioua. However, the emotions rise up and spill
over, and it is also impossible to remain silent in the face of the unspeakable
tragedy of his untimely petira. I’m sure that many others with
qualifications far greater than mine will have words of tribute and homage; chizuk
and nechama, but the following are the words that emanate from my own
heart. I also draw on the testimony of the maspidim at the levaya,
and others with whom I communicated personally, who were profligate in their
praise of Rav Shlomo.
This is a tribute that, in my worst nightmares, I never
expected to write. It is barely a few hours since the shocking news broke of
Rav Shlomo Halioua’s petira, and barely two weeks since the Yeshiva Rabbeinu
Chaim Berlin oilam-at-large understood that the Rosh Yeshiva wasn’t
well. In fact, he had been ill for some time but few people were aware of his
condition. With incredible mind-over-matter kochos – reminiscent of the kochos
of his revered shver, Rav Aharon Schechter, zt’l – he soldiered
on, delivering shiurim and shmuesen in his usual carefully
thought out and meticulously crafted way.
Only very recently did it become evident that his strength
might have been waning. At times he sat during davening when he would
ordinarily have been standing. Yet, on Rosh HaShana he took the time and
made the effort to give personal brachos to the large tzibur that
went to be mekabel ponim by him after davening. On Chol Hamoed
Sukkos he delivered his usual insightful Maamar and joined in the simcha
with a smile on his face.
When we heard that he was hospitalized with an infection toward
the end of Chol Hamoed, we weren’t shocked but neither were we alarmed.
After all, the Rosh Yeshiva was a relatively young man and infections were
treatable.
Only in the last week did the seriousness of the situation
hit us. The change in atmosphere in the Yeshiva was palpable. Tehillim were
recited with great fervor during the last days of yom tov, at every
opportunity in the Yeshiva – before leining, after davening,
before hakafos – and a large chabura forewent the pre-hakafos
kiddush and said Tehillim again, b’tzibur.
His brother-in-law, Rav Sendrovitz, tore the heavens as he
led the tzibur in Tehillim after Shachris on Sunday morning. But
we were not zoche to reverse the gezaira and the bitter news
reached us shortly after 2:00pm Sunday afternoon, chof-hai Tishrei.
His Ascension to Rosh Yeshiva
As Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Shlomo had huge shoes to fill; much of
the oilam remembered Rav Hutner zt’l and of course everyone had
vivid and immediate memories of Rav Aharon Schechter, zt’l. Rav Aharon
hand-picked Rav Shlomo, his son-in-law, as his successor and it is safe to say
that Rav Aharon fully expected Rav Shlomo to strike a balance between
maintaining the traditions and minhagim of Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, while
striking out on his own path, to meet the changing needs of the times.
This was no mean feat, but Rav Shlomo was up to the task.
The “old-timers” continued to feel at home in the Yeshiva but Rav Shlomo
“tweaked” as necessary to accommodate the dispositions of today’s bochrim.
For example, Rav Shlomo instituted “in Shabbosos” for the younger Bais Medrash bochrim
to encourage camaraderie and to build their kesher to the Yeshiva. He
gave the younger bochrim a greater role in organizing and managing the Leil
Shabbos and weekday sidrei ha’tefillos. He was mechazek sedorim
on erev Shabbos and on Shabbos kodesh itself.
Rebbe-talmid relationships have always been very strong in
the Yeshiva, but Rav Shlomo strengthened them even further by traveling to Eretz
Yisroel to meet with the Yeshiva Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin bochrim
learning there. He strove to relate to each bochur on an individual
level, in the Yeshiva Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin tradition established and
maintained by Rav Hutner and Rav Schechter.
The Early Years
Rav Shlomo was the son of Rav Avrohom Halioua, zt’l, a
choshuver talmid chochom who became a Rav in Flatbush after emigrating
from Morocco, and of Masoda bas Jamilla (who passed away only hours after Rav
Shlomo’s petira and who whose aron joined that of Rav Shlomo
outside the Yeshiva so that the massive oilam gathered for Rav Shlomo’s levaya
could be melave her, as well).
Rav Shlomo Halioua’s abilities became known at a young age.
Rav Shlomo Mandel, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Brooklyn, told me that he saw
Rav Shlomo Halioua’s potential when he was yet a young student at that yeshiva.
He later learned by Rav Paler zt’l, by Rav Faivel Cohen zt’l and in
the Brooklyn Yeshivas Mir, before coming to Yeshiva Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin,
where he became very close to the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Aharon Schechter, soon
becoming his son-in-law. He developed and maintained a close kesher with
Rav Yaakov Drillman, Rosh Yeshiva of the Novardok Yeshiva.
Rav Shlomo’s gadlus in all miktzo‘os of Torah
was legendary. He was a masmid from his early years; a boki in,
among other things, shas, rishonim, acharonim; Maharal and Ramchal
and other machshova seforim, and in inyonei tefilla. He was also
a tremendous baal chesed – but always, in all areas, with the
comportment of a true hatznaya leches.
His memory was incredible; it was said of him that talmidei
chachomim could engage with him on any topic and he had that topic on his
fingertips.
His Relationship with Rav Aharon Schechter
Rav Aharon relied on Rav Shlomo and often consulted with him
on both Yeshiva and klal matters, especially in Rav Aharon’s later
years. He trusted Rav Shlomo to represent him in meetings of senior Roshei
Yeshiva, when Rav Aharon himself was unable to attend. Rav Aharon knew that
although Rav Shlomo was an independent thinker, his and Rav Shlomo’s minds ran along
similar paths, so to speak, and ultimately focused on achieving the same
objectives.
A major factor in Rav Shlomo’s decision making process, even
after Rav Aharon’s petira, was “How would Rav Aharon have responded to
this question?” or “How would Rav Aharon have handled that situation?”
Middos and Hanhagos
Rav Shlomo was soft-spoken but firm on matters of principle
and did not hesitate to hold his ground in those areas. He was adamant that
once a proper course was identified, it would be adhered to.
My personal encounters with Rav Shlomo were limited, but
despite the fact that he was eons above me in every respect, he related to me,
as he did to most people he interacted with, as an equal. He had the rare
quality of genuine humility; he never “spoke down” to anyone because he didn’t
think of himself as “up”. He never lost sight of the individual and was
sensitive to every person’s feelings, even as he focused on larger issues of
the Yeshiva and the tzibur.
I once consulted him about an idea I had for a certain
project. A conversation with him was always a pleasant affair; he was
easy-going, had a sense of humor, and, aside from the matter I approached him
about, was genuinely interested in what was going on in my life.
Although he immediately grasped all the implications of the
idea, both positive and negative, he told me that he wanted to think about it
and asked that I return a few days later for a response. When I did return he
advised an approach that accentuated the positive implications of my project while
downplaying the negative ones. Despite the sharpness of his intellect, he
followed the dictum of chazal to not be hasty in deciding questions with
halachic implications.
The Levaya
The hespedim were heartfelt and filled with much
specific toichen about Rav Shlomo, and they held the oilam in
their grip throughout. Sometimes the bochrim of today are described as
cold or unfeeling but the wails and the wrenching sobs that rose, specifically
from his many talmidim, during the hespedim, made it clear that
this wasn’t so, at least with respect to the feelings of his talmidim
for Rav Shlomo.
The maspidim were, in order of appearance, Rav Chaim
Kitevits, R”M in the Yeshiva, Rav Yosef Halioua, Rosh Kollel Gur Aryeh, Rav
Tzvi Fink, a son-in-law, the Lakewood Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Malkiel Kotler (all shlita),
Reb Boruch Halioua; sons-in-law Reb Yitzchok Aharon Shonek and Reb Yehuda
Herzka, Reb Avrohom Halioua, Reb Yaakov Halioua, Reb Refoel Halioua, Chaim Tzi
Halioua, Eliyahu Halioua; Rav Eliyahu Yormark, Rav Yitzchok Meir Sendrovitz and
Rav Avigdor Kitevits (all shlita).
Much of what was said has already been covered in this
tribute and it would take reams of paper to even summarize the hespedim,
worthwhile as they were, in full. I will present various additional points that
the maspidim brought to the fore, largely without specific attribution,
since many of the points were raised by multiple maspidim.
Rav Chaim Kitevits noted that Rav Shlomo could be referred
to as being comparable to a malach Hashem, in his single-minded concern
for his talmidim and for the hatzlocho of the Yeshiva.
The family and the Yeshiva were all made yesomim by
the petira of Rav Shlomo, in that we are bereft of the Torah that he
might have transmitted, but which will no longer be available to us.
Rav Shlomo, inherently a private person, had a mokom
mutzneh, a secluded portion of his intellect that was continually active in
learning – analyzing, asking, answering and fine-tuning his understanding of sugyos.
It wasn’t unusual for him to give the appearance of “returning to earth” from
his own private world when someone approached him with a question.
His approach to learning defies typical darchei limud;
it was described as “top-down”, ending in new havanos, and it became
clear, after-the-fact, that these havanos emanated from the specific
wording of the sugya under study.
Rav Shlomo was compared to a maayan hamisgaber that
was always rooted in oilam haba and which will remain connected to his talmidim
even as he himself now inhabits oilam haba.
Rav Shlomo was noteworthy for his yishuv hadaas, his bitachon
and his menuchas hanefesh – his serenity, all of which lead to his
perpetually exuding simcha.
As mentioned, few knew that the Rosh Yeshiva was ill for
over a year prior to his petira. But the illness did result in his
occasional absences from the Yeshiva for treatments and the like, so minyanim
in the Yeshiva and shiurim were missed, and this was bound to raise
eyebrows. Someone suggested that perhaps he should make his illness known, to
avoid exciting comment by his absences. He responded that he feared that people
would be reluctant to approach him with their personal or klal issues if they knew he was ill,
and he would rather have people think poorly of him than avoid availing
themselves of his advice. Such was his self-sacrifice for the sake of the tzibur.
The point was made several times of his extreme zehirus
in shmiras ainayim and in his dibbur. He was meticulous to never
speak or listen to anything remotely approaching loshon horah. Rav
Shlomo did not drive and, as related by Rav Avigdor Kitevits, he confided to a chaver
that it was impossible to drive carefully without looking in all directions,
and if he did that, who could tell what he might see? So he opted to be a
passenger, who could avoid looking out of the car windows.
The Yeshiva had a difficult year, with the passing, first of
the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Aharon Schechter, zt’l, then with the passing of
the Mashgiach, Rav Mordechai Schechter, zt’l, and now with the
passing of Rav Shlomo, zt’l. As Rav Yormark said, “the wound that was
beginning to close was ripped open”, and we, as a tzibur need to be mechazek
ourselves. The Yeshiva had tremendous hatzlocho the past few zemanim
and we are challenged to continue to rise to even greater heights.
As Rav Sendrovitz put it, on Simchas Torah we
returned the sifrei Torah to the aron kodesh, and just two days
later, Rav Shlomo was returned to his “aron kodesh” in shomayim.
But, Rav Chaim Kitevits emphasized, the Yeshiva will rise to
even greater heights and the talmidim will continue to grow in Torah, avodah
and yiras shomayim!
His Legacy
I had been looking forward very much to interacting with Rav
Shlomo more over time. Alas, none of us will have that opportunity any longer.
He was poised to make many and more significant contributions to the Yeshiva Chaim
Berlin legacy as his leadership of the Yeshiva continued. Alas, that is also
not to be. But even during his short tenure as Rosh Yeshiva he has left a substantial
mark and that mark will endure, and be a significant foundation for his
successor to build on, iyH, as the Yeshiva continues to thrive and flourish
– as it is sure to. That will be Rav Shlomo’s everlasting legacy. Yehi
zichro baruch.
