Rav Koppelman: “We must work to strengthen our homes, because the final Geulah is close at hand.”

Hamodia's Rabbi Tuvia Freund accompanies the venerable Rosh Yeshivah of Lucerne, Switzerland on his inspiring visit to Eretz Yisrael

The name Harav Yitzchak Dov Koppelman, shlita, is synonymous with decades of harbotzas Torah. The centenarian Rosh Yeshivah has thousands of students worldwide.

Sixty years ago he established a yeshivah in Kapellen, Belgium, to begin the process of rebuilding Torah after the Holocaust. He spent a short time in the United States, where he founded Yeshivas Shaarei Yosher in Boro Park, in memory of his rebbi, Harav Shimon Shkop, zt"l, and then moved to Lucerne, Switzerland, where he continues to be mar­ bitz Torah.

When the Rosh Yeshivah learned in Grodno, he transcribed Rav Shkop's shmuessen. He also saved many of Rav Shkop's manuscripts from the Nazis, carrying them for five years in a special pocket sewn into the back of his coat. It is in his merit that we have the sefarim Chiddusehi Rabi Shimon Shkop on Shas, a basic work used in yeshivos.

Rav Koppelman's yeshivah in Lucerne draws talmidim from all over Europe, the United States and Canada. At the age of 104, he travels extensively to solicit funds for its operation. The esteem in which his disciples hold him was apparent on his recent visit to Eretz Yisrael, when hundreds turned out to greet him, many with children, wearing their Shabbos finery.

One of his elder talmidim, who is around 70, asked Rav Koppelman how he was feeling. The latter smiled and replied, "Baruch Hashem, trying to get stronger. The second century is harder than the first."

Upon landing, even before going to his accommodations, the Rosh Yeshivah asked to visit his longtime friend, Harav Shmuel Halevi Wosner, the Shevet Halevi. The two have been close for many years and see each other every summer, when Rav Wosner visits Switzerland.

Watching them speak to each other, the camaraderie was obvious. Rav Wosner expressed his hakaras hatov to Rav Koppelman, as it was in the yeshivah in Lucerne that he wrote many of the teshuvos that appear in Shevet Halevi. For the past 30 years, Rav Wosner has spent summers in Rav Koppleman's yeshivah, noting that it is an ideal place to work out complex she'eilos.

Rav Wosner served l'chaim to his guest, and asked all those present to sing in his honor. The singing continued for 20 minutes as the two Gedolim sat hand in hand.

From there, the Rosh Yeshivah continued to Modiin Ilit, where large numbers of residents, including several hundred Lucerne alumni, crowded near the entrance of the home of his host and talmid, Rabbi Binyamin Rothschild.

Rav Koppelman had come to attend the wedding of his talmid, Rabbi Chaim Adler, who also learned b'chavrusa with the Rosh Yeshivah for three years.

A large crowd attended the wedding, and it took the Rosh Yeshivah some time to wend his way to the chuppah stage as many greeted him along the way.

After the chuppah, it was announced that the Rosh ­ Yeshivah would deliver a drashah during the dinner (as is the custom in Europe), and the family had agreed that city residents could attend.

Rav Koppleman's talmidim pleaded with him to rest, afraid that the chuppah had been a strain, but the Rosh Yeshivah insisted on receiving the rest of his talmidim and davening Maariv.

After Maariv, the Toldos Aharon Rebbe, shlita, arrived from Teveria, where he had been resting. The Rosh Yeshivah served the Rebbe l'chaim, but the latter asked to fill the Rosh Yeshivah's cup, saying that he wanted to be meshamesh a talmid chacham.

They spoke about the deep friendship between Rav Koppelman and the Rebbe's father, the Divrei Emunah, zt"l, who visited the yeshivah in Switzerland several times, and even, on one occasion, delivered a shiur (the Rosh Yeshivah remembered on which sugya it was).

The Rosh Yeshivah asked the Rebbe about his stay in Teveria, and the Rebbe replied that he was able to learn there without  distractions. Rav Koppelman related that during Rav Shimon Shkop's final years, he was weak and ill and required complex surgeries, to which the Rosh Yeshivah would accompany him. Doctors ordered Rav Shkop to desist from getting deeply involved in the sugyos, as it was detrimental to his health. Rav Shkop replied apologetically, "Ich ken zich nisht ein halten, I can't help it."

Later, the Rosh Yeshivah returned to the Nof Ilit hall, which was filled with people who had come to hear his address. He began speaking in honor of the chassan and kallah, and then delivered divrei chizuk. Following are some excerpts:

“The passuk states, ‘Kol chelev l’Hashem,’ one should give the best of what he has for a mitzvah, which expresses his ahavas Hashem.

“Today many people are busy earning a living, but they set aside time to learn. They should choose the best hours of the day, ideally the morning when the mind is still clear, to devote to learning.

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