HaRav Chaim Peretz Berman shlit”a, Rosh Yeshivas Ponovezh, delivered divrei chizuk at Yeshiva Ohr Shraga, speaking to the bachurim about the koach of ahavas haTorah.
The Rosh Yeshiva related that the his grandfather the Steipler Gaon zt”l wanted to instill within him, as a young bachur, a deep ahavah for Torah. Though he lived with great poverty, the Steipler went to a carpenter, gathered leftover scraps of wood, and with his own hands built a small aron kodesh, placing inside it a miniature sefer Torah. The Rosh Yeshiva shared that he still has that aron kodesh until today.
He then urged the bachurim to utilize their younger years to learn as much as they possibly can, relating that the Steipler told him that the Torah one learns in the younger years remains with a special clarity , even more than what one learns later in life.
