His mother was suffering from arthritis, and was advised by her doctor to spend the summer months in the healing air of a resort town, Druskenik.

What the words Cape Cod do for a blue-blooded American, does the name Druskenik do to the student of the prewar yeshiva world. While Druskenik doesn't evoke memories of balmy, lazy summer days at the beach, it is conjures up a yearning for a 'Druskenik summer': the resort town was the gathering place for the budding scholars, a place to share, argue and deliberate the fine points of a Rashb'a or a nuance in the Ramba'm with the best and brightest of the other yeshivos.

Its proximity to Vilna and Grodno meant that the likes of Rav Chaim Ozer and Rav Shimon Shkop made Druskenik their summer home, as did Rav Aron Kotler, Rav Boruch Ber and many chassidic leaders. In fact, it seemed that everyone wanted space in Druskenik: every home became a hotel, every kitchen a restaurant, and the poor Jews of the town looked to the summer for the economic boost. Unwilling to ignore the bnei yeshiva who had no connections or money, the rov of Druskenik formed a committee to help every bochur find a bed in the town for the days of bein hazmanim, and the tranquil streets would be filled with the sounds, the passion and energy of a beis medrash for those few weeks.

And so, Moshe Chaim, who was off from cheder, was allowed to accompany his mother to the enjoy the country air, and he arrived

that she sent it to her brother, in America, with a note on the back. Later, when I reached America, I went to visit this uncle, in Lowell, Massachusetts. He handed me the picture, a reminder of a simpler time, the most peaceful few weeks of my life.”

And so, when the vacation came to a close, Moshe Chaim joined Yehoshua and his grandparents for the trip to Kamenetz. They took a train to Brisk, and from there, a wagon to Kamenetz. True to his word., Reb Boruch Ber looked out for the boy throughout the trip.

LIKE A SON

“I moved into their home, they insisted, although there was clearly no room. Reb Yaakov Moshe Leibowitz lived on one floor with his family, and Rav Reuven Grozovsky and Rav Moshe Bernstein, the two sons-in-law, lived upstairs with their families. So Reb Boruch Ber and his rebbetzin had only the middle floor. In addition, my friend Yehoshua, his sister and their widowed mother lived in one of the rooms on the main floor, so space was at a premium. The rebbetzin set me up a bed in the table of the dining room, where the rosh yeshiva sat and learned, and I felt like I would never be able to sleep there. So finally they arranged a bed for me in a room with older bochurim from the yeshiva, but insisted that rather than eat 'teg' by the townspeople, like the bochurim, I would eat with the family. So each day, I ate the meal with one of their children, and all Shabbos and Yom Tov meals I ate at the table of Reb Boruch Ber and his rebbetzin.”

“I was too young to attend, or understand his shiur, but I would sometimes sneak in and stand in the back, just to watch him. The main thing I remember is his passion when he said the words “der heilege Ramba'm, der heilege Rashb'a, and of course, der heilege Rebbe.” What an impression that made!”

I ask about the role that Reb Boruch Ber had in the goings-on outside the yeshiva, in the town.

“He vehemently refused to pasken sheilos, to get involved in community affairs: 'there's a rov here, ask him the sheilos' he would say. He was focused on the yeshiva.”

Yet, there were times when he stepped out of this boundary. “When there were threats from the Haskala, or one of the youth groups that were pulling in yeshiva bochurim, then he rose a lion, refusing to allow them entry.

Reb Moshe Chaim recalls Reb Boruch Ber standing at the bima in the large central shul, addressing the community after hearing that a group of parents in town were considering allowing a Tarbut school to open.

Reb Boruch Ber stood there, with great emotion, and recalled how his yeshiva had originally been in Vilna, but he had decided that the impure influences were too strong there and he sought a quieter village. There were three towns that expressed interest, Kosova, Kamenetz, and Birza. He approached the Chofetz

in Druskenik. As boys will do, he went to the shul and soon found himself a friend, another youngster of the same age. The two children spent a happy afternoon playing together.

The boy, whose name was Yehoshua, asked Moshe Chaim if he wanted to meet his grandfather.

“Who is your grandfather?”

“The Kamenetzer Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Boruch Ber,” was the reply.

The boy had never heard of Kamenetz or its rosh yeshiva, but he took his new friend up on the offer. Together, they walked into the woods, where, surrounded by a wall of pine trees, Reb Boruch Ber sat on a striped beach chair, engrossed in learning.

He looked up and greeted his einekel- who introduced his new friend. Reb Boruch Ber greeted him warmly.

Over the next few days, as Moshe Chaim and Yehoshua formed a real bond, Moshe Chaim spent more and more time in holy proximity to the rosh yeshiva. One day, Reb Boruch Ber asked the boy where he learned. He replied that he had graduated cheder in Suvalk and would likely go the yeshiva in Lomza, as did most of the boys in his hometown.

“Come learn by us, Kamenetz has a wonderful yeshiva ketana, for younger boys, and I will take care of you.”

The young boy learned well in the Kamenetzer Yeshiva Ketana. He laughs. “I was farhered by Reb Boruch Ber each week.”

At the Shabbos meals, in which family members and other talmidim joined, the Rosh Yeshiva would go around the table, asking each one what they had learned that week.

“I remember how the house would fill with guests, yet he was sitting at his desk, engrossed in his learning, until the rebbetzin would call “Boruch Ber'l, come eat the seudah.”

The boy grew older, but he still hadn't heard much about chassidus or chassidim.

“I remember the first time I heard the word 'Lubavitch.” Kamenetz Yeshiva was filled with chassidishe bochurim, especially Gerrer and Alexander chassidim. Reb Boruch Ber loved every talmid, and there was no hint of machlokess or tension between the litvishe and chassidishe bochurim. I remember the impression made on me when, that first Pesach bein hazmanim, I watched Reb Boruch Ber bid farewell to each bochur. He would kiss them with such warmth, like a father who wouldn't be able to handle the absence of his son. He loved each and every bochur that way.”

“We had never really heard of any chassidus'n besides Ger, and maybe Belz, but the last Shabbos, before Pesach, a bochur ate by Reb Boruch Ber's table. His name was Noach Minsker, and he

Chaim, who advised him to go to Kamenetz, where 'there is a chazaka of Torah and yiras shamayim.”

Then Reb Boruch Ber recalled his discomfort at the honor he was shown upon his arrival, how the townspeople unhitched his horses from the wagon and insisted on pulling it by themselves. “I couldn't handle the excessive display of kovod, by Reb Reuven assured me that you were sincere people, who just wanted to show honor for the Torah itself, not for me.”

Then, in a choked voice, he continued. “How can it be that you, the people of Kamenetz, are considering allowing a school to open where they will teach students to mock the Torah?”

His words found their mark and the plan was dropped.

Reb Moshe Chaim indicates a book, one of several biographical sketches of his rebbi, and says “there are stories that no one knows, because no one was there. That summer in Druskenik, it was just Yehoshua and me, and the Rosh Yeshiva. The Rosh Yeshiva is not here and Yehoshua was murdered by the reshaim...so it's just me.”

Another memory from the summer. “On Tisha B'av, we davened in the shul in Druskenik. They would wait for Reb Boruch Ber there, out of respect, but when he got to the kinnah of Arzei Halevanon, which recalls the deaths of the Assara Harugei Malchus, he began to sob uncontrollably. He wept and wept,