Q:
Could the Rav speak a little about Rav Gifter zatzal?
A:
Rav Gifter, zichrono levrachah, I knew when he was a little boy. We were friends as young bachurim together. He was a very frum boy when he was little. An idealistic, intelligent boy.
I gave him the eitzah to go to Telz; I gave him the eitzah. He came to my wedding. I have his picture as a bachur at my wedding. He came to my chasunah in Europe. We were friends.
He developed a very good head and a very good mind. And that’s why he deserved to get what he became. He always was a yarei shamayim, always was a shakdan in learning, always was a ba’al derech eretz. For a little while he was a rav in a small town in Massachusetts then he came to Telz because he was a mechutan. His time came when Rav Elya Meir passed away and he became the rosh yeshivah.
The loss of Rav Gifter is more than you think. In the last years he was not able to function completely. He was very ill. But when he was in his prime, he was a very active personality. He spoke up against avlas, national avlas. Even when goyim did something wrong he spoke up openly against it, yes. He criticized them for doing wrong things. He’s a man who spoke up against wicked things. A man with a conscience. A real fighter. But a ben Torah and a yarei shamayim. It’s a very great loss, Rav Gifter.
Rabosai, thank you for coming. Hakadosh Baruch Hu should give each one of you brachah vehatzlachah and have nachas and simchah leorech yamim tovim.
(January 25, 2001, a week after Rav Gifter’s petirah, and three months before the Rov’s petirah)
