Rav Zalman Volozhiner - ט אדר

Yahrtzeit Yomi #952!! ט אדר Rav Zalman Volozhiner רב שלמה זלמן ב״ר יצחק (1756 - 1788) --------------------------------- Today (Sunday, 9 Adar) marks the 236th Yahrtzeit of Rav Shlomo Zalman Volozhiner ZTL, fondly referred to as “Reb Zelmeleh”. Reb Zelmeleh (henceforth: Reb Zalman) was the younger brother of the renowned Rav Chaim Volozhiner, and was considered to be the foremost Talmid of the Vilna Gaon, and for good reason: From the time he was a very young child, Reb Zalman’s unparalleled greatness in Torah scholarship was simply unfathomable. His mind was like a computer from which he could extract abstruse information at a moment’s notice. There are dozens of stories that illustrate Rav Zalman’s complete mastery over the vast sea of the Torah, as well as his ability to demonstrate, even in the midst of a seemingly mundane conversation, through the use of just the right phrase or dictum, that there is no wisdom or body of knowledge that is not in some way at least alluded to (if not openly addressed) in our holy Torah; the immutable principle of הֲפֹךְ בָּהּ וַהֲפֹךְ בָּהּ, דְּכֹלָּא בָהּ - “delve into the Torah thoroughly, and you’ll find that everything is contained therein”. The full extent of Reb Zalman’s incredible fluency in the entire Torah was described by no less a personage than his own older brother Rav Chaim, a towering Torah giant in his own right. Rav Chaim explained that Reb Zalman was as familiar with the voluminous gamut of the entire Torah literature, as