Shmuel Yosef Agnon, a Nobel Prize laureate writer and one of
the central figures of modern Hebrew fiction, visited the
Rogatchover and wrote the following:
I went into his room and found him suffering immensely from
his sickness. When he noticed me he started to pour out his
heart to me. “I am afraid,” he said, “that all my suffering is a result
of my not being respectful enough of the Rishonim. All
my days I immersed myself in the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah; it
was my central focus and toil and even when I learnt other
Rishonim, I only studied them to gain more understanding and
perspective of the Rambam’s approach.”
“He then started to cry,” continued Agnon, “and yelled out,” “Where are the other masters of the Torah? Where are Rashi
and Tosafot? Where are the Raavan and the Ri? What have I
done? Why did I not put effort into understanding and expounding
upon their words? It is because of this I am being
punished.”
He was silent for a bit, and then a spirit of calm settled over
him.
“It is all worth it,” he declared suddenly. “If I am suffering because
of my connection and bond to the Rambam I accept the
pain joyously!”
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה