Discovering the Netziv and his Ha'amaik Davar - Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin

Judaism, Summer, 2002 by Henry A. Sosland

The Netziv in this comment is responding to the fact that with the exception of Serah in vs. 17, no other granddaughter is mentioned in all of Jacob's family.

Even after he had left Volozhin and was in Minsk and Warsaw, the Netziv was preoccupied with paying off the debts that the yeshiva had incurred. An awareness of what motivates people to give and seeking to encourage them to help his institution must have been a constant concern for him. One can imagine that the Netziv was alert to any scriptural hint of what motivates people to give. That might have been the case with Exodus 35:21 in which he expresses an insight regarding what brings a person to give his time and monetary contributions to spiritual endeavors. The verse begins with the words, AND EVERYONE WHO EXCELLED IN ABILITY AND EVERYONE WHOSE SPIRIT MOVED HIM CAME. Seeing the repetition from earlier references to this generosity, Rabbi Berlin comments,

They came back, returning to Moses, and the purpose of their coming was to bring their gifts to the Lord, even though Moses had said, TAKE FROM AMONG YOU GIFTS TO THE LORD (vs. 5), implying that they should designate collectors. This refers to what happens when gifts have to be collected from people not willing to give voluntarily. But when those who brought offerings because their spirit moved them to do so, they came on their own to Moses. There were two ways one could make a freewill offering: (a) There are those who give because if they didn't, they would feel guilty and ashamed in front of their peers, or they think that they will be punished for having closed their eyes to the needs of the community. It is to these kinds of people that the words n 'sa 'o leebo, literally, "his heart raises him up," in the first part of the verse refer. (22) (b) There are those who give because their good sense and generous spirit prompt them to do so. Such people are referred to later in the verse as EVERYONE WHOSE SPIR IT MOVED HIM. In vs. 29 Scripture explains that even that person who initially gave out of guilt or shame later is moved to give a freewill offering to the Lord.

The last period of the Netziv's life in Warsaw was an extremely trying time. We know that he suffered not only from diabetes but from a stroke which affected his right arm and leg. Yet even so he had been eager to resume his goal of traveling to Eretz Israel, a dream he had for years longed to fulfill. However, as his condition worsened, his doctors could not give their approval. At 4 A.M. Thursday morning, the 28th of Av, August 10,1893, just 18 months after leaving Volozhin and the yeshiva he so loved, the Netziv died.. The funeral was held the next day, and from word which spread by newspapers or telegraph, people came from miles around. Some 40,000 people arrived in Warsaw to pay their respects. The eulogies had begun already the day before the burial. On Friday at the funeral the tributes continued. According to Meir Berlin, the most moving of all was that given by his brother Hayyim. (23) The Netziv had not merely been the leader and hands-on builder of the Volozhin Yeshiva, along with being the author of a remarkable Torah commentary and numerous other works. He was, in addition, a rabbinical figure of enormous spiritual stature who, beyond his teaching, writing, and interpreting oral and written traditions of the Torah, was deeply concerned for preserving the saving remnant of our people. (24)