ב״מ פה. – א״ר פרנך א״ר יוחנן, כל שהוא ת״ח ובנו ת״ח ובן בנו ת״ח, שוב אין תורה פוסקת מזרעו עד עולם, שנא׳ לא ימושו מפיך ומפי זרעך ומפי זרע זרעך עד עולם. This is a very special – even historic – occasion: the investing of a Rosh Yeshiva who represents the third generation of great תלמידי חכמים and Roshei Yeshiva at Yeshiva University – a young Rosh Yeshiva who will be occupying a chair endowed in the name of a great Jewish layman who was also a lay תלמיד חכם, a baalabus-scholar, by his son, who can rightly lay claim to the same distinction, and whose children, in turn, are following the same path. It is the investiture of a new link in the span of Torah generations. The Merkin–Soloveitchik–Twersky families are related not only by familial ties and mutual respect, but also by another quality that characterizes the new Leib Merkin Rosh Yeshiva: a feeling of identification with one another, of sympathy, friendship, and warmth – in a word: אהבה. And this love transcends family, social class, or mutual interests; it has a metaphysical dimension. We can understand this by referring to a key verse in this Shabbat’s Torah reading (Parashat Kedoshim): ואהבת לרעך כמוך. The Sifra records R. Akiva’s famous comment: זה כלל גדול בתורה. Ben Azzai, however, contends: זה ספר תולדות האדם – that is a greater principle.

I suppose I was invited to address you because I was a classmate of Rabbi Roth from elementary through semikhah – and indeed, that is sufficient reason, because Rabbi Roth was always a superior student in all areas: math, philosophy and, especially, in Talmud. He was one of the most perceptive disciples of the Rav, of blessed memory. He absorbed the Rav’s shiurim both comprehensively and critically. In the course of his fruitful career, he taught philosophy as professor at Yeshiva University, received an Honorary Doctorate (and I am proud that this was one of the first honorary degrees I gave, in 1977), was always a loyal alumnus, served as President of the Rabbinical Council of America and, lest I forget, served as Rabbi of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue. Indeed, it was I who prevailed upon him, despite his initial reluctance, to accept the call to this pulpit. (I hope he does not hold that against me...) The fact that he served as your rabbi for twice as long as any of his predecessors – 19 years, quite a record for Fifth Avenue Synagogue – is sufficient testimony to his popularity, to his diplomatic talent, and to his endurance. I regard myself as probably the only one who, as a recent semi-retiree, can identify, albeit incompletely, with him in his deliberations as to his future. Some people look forward to retirement. As an example, Thomas Jefferson in 1792 wrote a letter to George Washington, saying: “I look to that period (of retirement) with the longing of a wave-borne mariner who has at length the land in view and shall count the days and hours that still lie between me and it.” I was curious as to why he was so eager about retiring, and found what I believe is the answer in a letter he wrote ten years earlier to James Monroe. In 1772, he wrote, “Public service and private misery are inseparably linked together.” And he wasn’t even in the rabbinate... But I have the impression that most people, even Presidents and CEOs, dread retirement. I sympathize with stoc…