A visit to a Lakewood home on Thursday turned into an unforgettable display of gadlus baTorah when Harav Yisroel Bunim Schreiber shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Nesiv Hadaas, reviewed the entirety of Maseches Bava Basra from memory before an astonished crowd.
The moment unfolded during a visit by the Keren Olam HaTorah gedolim currently touring America on behalf of the yeshivos and kollelim of Eretz Yisroel. At the home of R’ Yanky Stern, where Harav Chaim Mordechai Ausband shlit”a, Rosh Yeshiva of Ateres Shlomo, was being hosted, a bochur approached the Rosh Yeshiva with a formidable question in learning.
The challenge was no small one. The bochur wanted to know every single machlokes between Rabbah and Rav Yosef across the entire length of Maseches Bava Basra.
Rather than respond himself, Rav Ausband turned to Rav Schreiber, who is widely known as an extraordinary baki. What followed left the room in silence. Rav Schreiber began reviewing the masechta in his mind, traveling through the dafim one after another and calling out each machlokes as he reached it, navigating the full breadth of the masechta entirely from memory.
