Rav Meir Shapiro and the Yeshiva Dormitory
A donor tells Rav Meir Shapiro that Torah students should 'kill themselves' for Torah. Rav Shapiro answers that they should toil in Torah, not in finding meals and beds.
Rav Meir Shapiro, the founder of Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin, was fundraising for his Yeshiva. The Yeshiva was based on an innovative idea at that time, that there should be a communal dining room and dormitory. Torah students shouldn’t have to search daily to find meals and lodgings. One donor was skeptical of this idea. He challenged, “The Gemara says that Torah only endures in one who kills himself for it.” Part of “killing oneself” should include finding lodging. Rav Shapiro retorted, “The Gemara says that one should kill himself for ‘it,’ meaning the Torah. He should expend all his energy and time focused on the study of Torah. He does not and should not have to spend his time ‘killing himself’ to find meals and lodgings!”