Monday 3 January 2011

The Wit and Wisdom of Rav Yerucham Gorelick Z"L - 1

I only wish we had tapes of Rav Yerucham Gorelick's [RYG] Shiur. They were lively, informative and he MADE you think. He was ultimately the sharpest person I've met, albeit his sharpness cut both ways, and some feathers got ruffled

First - being self-referenced :-) - I will start with my own First Hand stories

I was a "split-personality" @ YU. Not Torah uMada but Torah and Sports! I obviously had boundless nervous energy and jogging and sports allowed me to expend it in a semi-constructive way.

But it also meant that if I had played hockey until 11:00 PM I did not get to sleep before 1:00 AM - so I was often drowsy in shiur. This is before I got addicted to the miracle drug popularly known as COFFEE. :-)

One fine day in RYG's shiur I was slouched down in my desk with my long legs stretched out in RYG's general direction. I was wearing my usual pair of running shoes..

While I was in a revelry of sort, RYG turned towards my direction, gave me his "once over" and proceeded to give me a swift kick into the soles of my shoes..

As I woke up startled he exclaimed "Ich shpiel ball aich" [I play ball too - no doubt a reference to Soccer]

Suffice it to say he got my attention and restored my focus. Now for another cup of JAVA!

Shalom
RRW

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