Rav Henoch Leibowitz’s Shalom Aleichem at Kiddush Levanah

One time when the rosh yeshiva wasn’t feeling well, he davened Maariv in his house on motzaei Shabbos. That motzaei Shabbos was the appropriate time to recite Kiddush Levanah. So, after Maariv, the rosh yeshiva went outside to say Kiddush Levanah. There were five bachurim present. Two bachurim were standing right next to him. Two other bachurim and I were standing a short distance away. The custom during Kiddush Levanah is to say “shalom aleichem” three times, each time to a different person. In our group of three bachurim, we were talking among ourselves. We were wondering which one of us the rosh yeshiva was going to say “shalom alei-chem” to. Sure enough, he turned to the bachur on his right and said “shalom aleichem.” He turned to the bachur on his left and said “shalom aleichem.” Then he looked at our group of three, immediately sized up the situation, and made a big display of waving his hand in the air to all of us and said loudly “shalom aleichem!” We hadn’t thought of that possibility of saying one big shalom aleichem to us all, but the rosh yeshiva did, and he avoided any hurt feelings.

Still, in the back of my mind I wondered, What if it hadn’t worked out so perfectly, with two people next to him and one group away from him? What if the situation didn’t lend itself to such an easy solution? What would the rosh yeshiva do? Well, I had my chance to find out. On another occasion, the rosh yeshiva was reciting Kiddush Levanah with six bachurim around him. After saying “shalom aleichem” to three different individuals, he just continued saying “shalom aleichem” three more times. The custom is to say “shalom aleichem” a minimum of three times, but there’s nothing wrong with adding a few more for good measure. Why risk having someone be insulted that his rosh yeshiva didn’t say “shalom aleichem” to him?