This week marks thirty days since the passing of R' Simcha
Sheps, a longtime maggid shiur/Talmud instructor at Yeshiva Torah
Vodaas in Brooklyn. R' Sheps was born in Wysokie Mazowieckie,
Poland (near Lomza).
At thirteen, young Simcha traveled to Baranovitch to study
under R' Elchanan Wasserman and R' David Rappaport. At first,
the yeshiva refused to accept the boy because it was already
overcrowded; however, he announced that he would learn there
anyway, but would not eat with the other boys in order not to be
a burden on the yeshiva. For a period, the boy sustained himself
by eating the scraps left behind by the other students. When
this was discovered, he was invited to eat all of his meals in
the home of the yeshiva's mashgiach/dean of students (presumably
R' Yisrael Yaakov Lubchansky).
From age sixteen until World War II (except for 1936-37), R'
Sheps learned in the Mir Yeshiva. He soon attracted the
attention of the rosh hayeshiva, R' Leizer Yehuda Finkel, and the
latter invited the young man to learn with him all night, every
Wednesday night. R' Finkel reportedly said of his student, "You
can awaken him at any time of the night and ask him about any
part of the Talmud, and he will answer you." (The two years that
he was not in Mir, he was in Brisk, studying under R' Velvel
Soloveitchik.)
In 1941, R' Sheps escaped Europe through Siberia and Japan, and
settled in New York. Soon after, he joined the faculty of Torah
Vodaas, first as a tutor, and then, in 1943, as the substitute
for the ill rosh yeshiva, R' Shlomo Heiman. After R' Heiman
passed away and was replaced by R' Yaakov Kaminetsky and R'
Reuven Grozovsky, R' Sheps continued delivering a daily shiur in
the yeshiva.
When recalling their teacher, R' Sheps' students spoke not only
of his Torah learning and teaching, but also of his love for
them. R' Sheps had an income independent of the yeshiva and gave
generously to support married students. He also was known for
the trait of hakarat hatov/acknowledging the good done for him by
others. He once insisted on attending the funeral of a chassidic
rebbe with whom he had no particular connection only because he
had once refreshed himself in the air-conditioned lobby of the
rebbe's bet midrash. (Source: Yated Ne'eman, 24 Cheshvan 5759)
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