When a young man wanted to go study with a great rabbi in Poland-Lithuania, his father balked since there was no money for a train and thieves would surely accost the boy as he walked. Better to stay home and read the rabbi’s books, the father said.
“He says to his father, ‘I can’t stay home and read this rabbi’s books. I have to see how he puts his shoes on in the morning.’” That’s how Jonathan Brent, executive director and CEO of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, recalls his father telling the story.
