Rabbi Steinman’s Wisdom: 6 Stories That Inspire and Guide

1. The incredible value of every mitzvah

Rabbi Steinman lived with a deep awareness of how precious each and every mitzvah (commandment) is. People who knew him often heard his heartfelt comments about this, and everything he did reflected that same understanding.

One year during the Sukkot holiday, at the night meal, he raised his hand and said with joy, “Ah, now we can fulfill a mitzvah at every moment!” This wasn’t a one-time expression. In different years, people heard him say something similar during Sukkot.

On the day before Sukkot, he once said, “Today we part from a good friend, the tefillin.” Then he added, “Before I came to Israel, I would put on tefillin even during Chol HaMoed.” And the day after the holiday, with tears in his eyes, he said, “Today we should rejoice that we have such a beloved mitzvah as tefillin. Such an important mitzvah like an only child. We were separated from it for a whole week!”

2. Supporting Torah brings special blessings

A young man who needed Hashem’s help in a serious matter came to Rabbi Steinman and asked what he could do to receive salvation. Rabbi Steinman replied, “If you put your heart into helping Torah learning, you will receive a special salvation. And if you don’t have money yourself, remember the teaching: ‘Greater is the one who helps others to give than the one who gives himself.’” In other words, helping others to support Torah brings great reward in Heaven.

3. The Ponovezh Rav: ‘Rabbi Aharon Leib will become very great’

Many years ago, the Ponovezh Rav invited the young Rabbi Steinman to lead the Ponovezh Kollel (an advanced Torah study group). “I’m appointing Rabbi Aharon Leib to head the kollel. He’s going to become a very great person,” the Rav told his students.

Rabbi Dan Segal, who studied there at the time, shared what happened. “The Rav told us, ‘I’ve brought you a Rosh Kollel (head of the group) who can answer your questions on the entire Torah. You can even ask him for advice on personal matters, life and death, raising children, everything.’”

4. Never expel a child from yeshiva

Whenever someone asked Rabbi Steinman if a student should be expelled from yeshiva (a Torah school for boys), his answer was almost always clear and firm: “Expelling a child only makes things worse. What will he do out on the street?”

He would often say, “If you expel a boy from yeshiva, you’re basically destroying him. The Chafetz Chaim would never allow it no matter what!”

Once, someone asked Rabbi Steinman when it would be okay to expel a student from cheder (elementary Torah school). He answered, “I don’t know… maybe if he does a thousand sins in one day.”

5. Matchmaking and divine guidance

Rabbi Steinman would speak about the amazing ways Hashem arranges matches between people. “Hashem makes many things happen just to bring about a match,” he explained. “Look at Yosef HaTzaddik (Joseph the Righteous), everything in his life led to him marrying Potiphar’s daughter. Sometimes Hashem makes sure someone doesn’t have money, just so they’ll meet the person who’s truly right for them.”

He also shared how divine providence guided his own life. Before World War II, he was planning to stay in Brisk, where his father wanted him to learn from the Rav. “But I was too shy to be the youngest one there, so I didn’t go. If I had even attended one class, I would have stayed and no one who remained in Brisk survived the war. Hashem saved me.”

6. Avoiding electricity made on Shabbat and Heaven’s help

Rabbi Steinman was very careful not to use electricity generated on Shabbat by Jewish workers. So every Friday before sunset, his home was switched over to a special generator disconnected from the electric company.

One Shabbat, by mistake, the regular electric system was left on. His family didn’t tell him, so he wouldn’t feel distressed. That night, they noticed something unusual, Rabbi Steinman became very tired and dozed off after the meal, which was rare for him. Because of that, he didn’t study using the electric light.

After Shabbat, they told the story to Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who said, “Of course. Heaven brought that tiredness on him to protect him from using the electricity.”

Rabbi Kanievsky added that in the Amidah prayer, when we say “and for the elders of Your people, the house of Israel,” we are praying not for old people in general, but specifically for the Torah leaders of the generation. “Hashem adds days to the lives of the righteous,” he said. “So we should always pray that they have long lives.”