Rav Henoch Leibowitz Hears He Is a Gadol HaDor
Told that Rav Shmuel Birenbaum called him a gadol ha’dor, Rav Henoch Leibowitz cannot take it in, and finally credits a sugya he once explained.
Rabbi Bentzion Chait related that he once tried to tell the rosh yeshiva that HaRav Shmuel Birenbaum, zt’l, said that Rabbi Leibowitz is a gadol ha’dor. The rosh yeshiva kept asking Rabbi Chait to repeat what he said because he couldn’t understand what Rabbi Chait was saying. The rosh yeshiva couldn’t fathom that such praise was being said about him, and so it didn’t register. After several repetitions, the rosh yeshiva finally “heard” what Rabbi Chait was saying. He said “Bentzion, you’re embarrassing me” (the implication being that it couldn’t possibly be true). Finally, the rosh yeshiva said, “I know–I helped him out on the sugya of Chardal, that’s why he said that.”