Yahrtzeit Yomi #949!!
ו אדר
Rav Dovid Povarsky
רב יהושע דוד ב״ר שלום
ראש ישיבת פוניבז׳
(1902 - 1999)

Special 25th Yahrtzeit Edition!!
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Today, Thursday, 6 Adar, marks the 25th Yahrtzeit of Rav (Yehoshua) Dovid Povarsky ZTL, Rosh Yeshiva of the Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak.
In his youth, Rav Dovid was a close talmid of Rav Aaron Kotler ZTL in the Slutzk Yeshiva, and later joined the Mirrer Yeshiva where he developed his lifelong connection to the Mashgiach, Rav Yerucham Levovitz ZTL.
After World War I, he married and moved to Baranovitch where he became a chavrusa of the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Elchonon Wasserman ZTL. Rav Dovid’s reputation spread, and he received an invitation to join the staff of the noted Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, which he ultimately declined, preferring instead to continue learning and teaching in Baranovitch.
For more than half a century, Rav Dovid served as Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ponovezh in Bnei Brak, where he taught and guided thousands of worthy disciples, who staunchly continue the legacy of the venerated Rosh Yeshiva until today.
For several decades, Rav Dovid’s daily routine was to awaken at 3 AM, and to walk from his home in Bnei Brak to the nearby Ponovezh Yeshiva, where he would learn Torah until Shacharis. Nothing would impede him from this regimen; neither inclement weather, nor declining health. Like a disciplined soldier in the royal guard, Rav Dovid maintained his post, studying assiduously for a four-hour, uninterrupted stretch, come what may.
In his later years, after he had slipped and fallen twice, his family, concerned for his safety, arranged for two of his closest Talmidim to escort him daily.
Once, during a very stormy, windy night, while walking to the Yeshiva, Rav Dovid remarked to his escorts: “Heint der Alter hut mir gekummen mevaker tzu zayn (The Alter came to visit me today)”.
(The Talmidim instinctively assumed that one of the great Mashgiachim from the Lithuanian Yeshivos must have appeared to Rav Dovid in a dream.)
“Fuhn Kelm? Udder fuhn Slabodka? (Was it the Alter of Kelm? Or the Alter of Slabodka?)”, one of the escorts asked.
“Nayn, nayn” corrected Rav Dovid, “nit fuhn der sort Alter (not that type of Alter)”.
“‘Der Alter’ who visited me this morning was much older than both of those”, remarked Rav Dovid with a slight smile. “This ‘Alter’, although referred to by our sages as an ‘old stupid king’, can actually be quite cunning.”
The talmidim henceforth understood that the “Alter” to which the Rosh Yeshiva was referring, was to none other than the Yetzer Hara himself!!
Realizing that there was much to learn from this seemingly casual exchange, one of the Talmidim asked, “What did the Yetzer Hara think he could accomplish by visiting the Rosh Yeshiva in the predawn hours? Couldn’t he have found a more suitable acquaintance to visit with??”
“Lummer dir eppis masbir zayn - let me explain,” said the Rosh Yeshiva. “Today, the Yetzer Hara suggested that I stay in bed for just an additional five minutes, based on an extremely logical premise: the entire world is now enjoying a sound, uninterrupted sleep. Wouldn’t it be appropriate to heed the dictum of Chazal: ׳אל תפרוש מן הציבור׳ - ‘Never detach yourself from the congregation’? He even reasoned that it would be improper to rise from bed, as that would constitute a violation of the aforementioned teaching of Chazal!!
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