The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-לפני שהעולם ידע - חלק ג' עדויות מפעימות מימי נעוריו של הגאון הינוקא

2:54 The Rav would always speak about ahavas Yisrael, and about crowning Hashem. We would come out of his shiurim truly wanting only to serve Hashem, the Holy One, blessed be He, more. We came to understand what avodas Hashem really is after the Rav's shiurim— what it truly means to serve Hashem, and not to "serve" rabbanim or nonsense, but really how to crown Hashem. From a young age—since 14—he taught us only how to crown Hashem and to serve Hashem, blessed be He. Truly, stories... And his avodas Hashem was amazing from a young age. He would come with an album of tzaddikim— the whole album; we saw all the tzaddikim, and he knew stories about each tzaddik, all the life-stories of each tzaddik. He knew everything and would tell us.

3:32 There wasn't a tzaddik who came that he didn't know the whole life-story of. From a young age we would ask him about any tzaddik we could imagine, and he already knew everything about that tzaddik— all his yeshuos and all his stories. He would tell us everything. Already as a youth we knew he was very special, you could see it in him from a young age— that he was going to become something great. We already knew it from a young age. And I think I knew him even before Aryeh—why? When he first came there, when he came in to sit there and learn— that was the first time I saw him sitting there. He was sitting there with someone else. People were sitting there— him and another— and I sat about 20 meters away from him,

4:17 and I said to my friend there, "Listen, it seems to me something extraordinary will come from him." I don't know— some intuition that something would come from him, and, wow, I was right... In short, we were with him in the evenings all the time, me, him, and Aryeh together, and there was someone else with him too. He would make Havayah diagrams for us; he made many of them. He gave me one and said, "This is yours." To this day it's in my tefillin; I place it in my tallis, and I take it out in prayer; I always... I'm always connected to him.

4:49 He also gave me a blessing for the house and put it there... he gave me something authentic with a blessing— no one else has it. I have to show it to you... When he was young, every Motza'ei Shabbos he would come and give us a shiur. We were very attached to him—very attached. He gave a shiur on the Baal Shem Tov... He was very connected to the Baal Shem Tov... That's it - we are very attached to him; we were together with him. I was with him a lot, a lot.

5:13 Pictures of tzaddikim—yes, he dealt with that a lot with Aryeh, really all the time they were involved with that, with those pictures—so many pictures they had, he and Aryeh. I didn't work with the pictures, I was more into the Havayahs he made. He had a kind of printer with which he printed them— those Havayahs. We would sit with him in the evenings and... sit and learn, yes. He would sit with someone else—sit together... There was another boy who was with him, they would sit together all the time.

5:40 And he would bring him as well; he would bring him to the shiurim. I don't know who that person was. There was also the mikveh there where he would immerse in the morning— I remember it. I'm telling you, the moment I first saw him, I said, "Something will come from him..." I told my friend, "Something will come from him. I don't know—seems he..." as if there is kedushah in him. I picked up on it— when he walked in—first time I saw him— he was truly a quiet, gentle person, a bit withdrawn...

6:07 Really, I can't describe it—his conduct... the derech eretz— I looked less at the learning than at his derech eretz... He was gentle, and that's what amazed me with him— it was all from the person's humility. His behavior influences me greatly, it influences me a lot. From what age did you know the Rav? When the Rav was 14... The Rav is kodesh kodashim.

6:32 We would sit together with Rabbi Mordechai Musai, sit and learn with him. He would tell us about tzaddikim. He always walked around with a book like that— maybe he still has it— a book with pictures of tzaddikim, and he knew about everyone... He has a rare memory, a very strong memory. He would remember things— seeing once was enough. He would look once and remember— an immense gaon. He would look once at something and remember it— everything. He was very funny; he would always conceal himself... I think even from age 14 he had a certain vision of things.

7:04 Rabbi Mordechai Musai told me that already then, when we sat in the garden, he would... He always walked around with that book— a book of tzaddikim—and he knew about them all: who they were, where they came from— I don't know—everything, everything. The Rav is a very, very precious Jew—truly. Once he gave Mordechai such a Havayah, and a few years ago we brought it to a public reception, and he said to Mordechai, "No, that's not mine— I gave it to you as a gift." He remembered...

7:29 He said, "Fine, I just wanted to show you that I still have it." I've known the Rav from ages 13–14 until about 17–18— good few years. We weren't together every day, but... he sat with us in the kollelim and learned with us— midos, a tzaddik, good midos, derech eretz. A lamdan who never left the sefarim—constantly sitting and learning, reading all the sefarim— the Pardes of the Torah—he ranged over all the sefarim, everything.

7:57 Don't limit yourself to one sefer— he covered all Chassidic sefarim backwards and forwards. A talmid chacham, and he spoke divrei Torah— we loved to hear him—sweetness. A holy and special child. Usually, Rav Shlomo Yehuda would sit alone in a corner, and when he sat aside, each time someone else would sit with him and learn with him. He had the pictures of tzaddikim, pictures of admorim, and he had his learning order— a fixed seder: Mishnah, Gemara, halachah, Chassidic works.

8:26 And he had many drawings where he drew the Names of Havayah. He loved very much to draw Hashem's Name, tzaddikim of all kinds—an album of tzaddikim. And he learned all day—learned. You would not see him without a sefer. If he went out, it was to the mikveh, or hisbodedus— with us. We would travel a lot to graves of tzaddikim. The Rav loved very much to seek out... at a very young age—14–15 he would sit in my car with his eyes closed, head down, sitting with his head lowered, closing his eyes so as not to see, G-d forbid, improper sights.

8:59 We'd drive with him to Bnei Brak—wandering Bnei Brak at night, seeking tzaddikim. Yes, it's true—these are all the stories. I'm alive; I'm a first-hand witness. This is first-hand; you are receiving it now directly first-hand. This is what I remember of him: sitting and learning Torah; holy—guarded in his eyes, guarded in the covenant; he didn't know from this worldly nonsense; truly a special child. He always fled from honor, fled from publicity— he never sought those things, truly never.

9:27 Whoever he could take hold of to strengthen, it was only to draw him closer to the Holy One, blessed be He. This I remember of him—truly first-hand. He did this perfectly. Every Rebbe— he knows the entire lineage— the whole chain of the admorim, stories about them— about every single tzaddik. And one day we arrived in Bnei Brak; he went in to the Nadvorna Rebbe in Bnei Brak—I was with him.

9:53 He managed to go in and speak with him privately. He showed him many pictures of all his chassidic courts. The Rebbe was stunned. He explained to him about all the admorim— their entire lineage— and he couldn't believe it and asked, "How do you know all this?" A boy of 15–16—I don't recall exactly which age, around fifteen and a half— he presented all the admorim to the Nadvorna Rebbe. He told him, "Come to me a second time." Understand what this means for a fifteen-year-old boy. I would go with him to the mikveh, or to Jerusalem—we'd drive to a shiur, and he'd come along with us. On the way back there was also the Motza mikveh— what's it called— Motza—the Rav knows it.

10:26 Ask him and you'll see—he'll tell you about it. He would immerse there in the cold— cold—we would immerse. But when he immersed I would look at him like... how can I explain—have you seen a baby, being washed—going in and out, in and out—immersion... the immersion of a holy person. It didn't faze him; if I would say we're canceling it, he would cry to me the whole way: "No, no—why didn't you take me... I can't." We couldn't—"Why didn't you go in?"—he'd drive you crazy...

10:55 He loved graves of tzaddikim and the mikveh— that was one of his strongest things. He grew up more with his grandmother— a very righteous woman— and for a period abroad. But I was more in touch with him—he would be with me in the car; we learned together; I was at his home. I would come to him when he began learning to play music— he'd show me: "See, I'm starting now to learn to play." I asked him how; he said, "Like this—I sit alone with myself."

11:24 He'd sit and learn—learn as well. He had his room upstairs, a place like that—I didn't see the house itself— straight into the room. There we learned a bit of Gemara; he played— he showed me how he plays on the organ. A very talented boy, very righteous, with midos— he didn't curse, didn't talk—no improper speech at all, with such a clean tongue. Derech eretz—he truly had derech eretz.

11:48 Even in his walk you could see he wasn't attached to this world; in his walk I would chuckle at how he walked— truly sweet, holy—I love him with all my heart.