The 90 Year Old Rabbi Who Fell on Purim: His Remarkable Reaction

The kabbalist Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz, Rosh Yeshiva of Shaar HaShamayim, shared a remarkable story about his father, Rabbi Levi Rabinowitz z"l, author of Maadanei HaShulchan. The story reveals what it means to live a life completely devoted to Torah.

Mishnah Instead of Complaints

“It happened in the last years of his life,” Rabbi Rabinowitz recalled. “He was already over ninety years old. One Purim he was standing in a side area when a drunk man passed by and, apparently without noticing, pushed him. My father fell to the floor, and no one saw him. He lay there and tried to get up, but he could not.”

At that moment, Rabbi Rabinowitz’s son in law happened to be on his way to visit him. To his shock, he noticed an elderly Jew lying on the ground. When he approached to help, he was horrified to discover that it was his grandfather, the great Torah scholar and author of Maadanei HaShulchan.

Alarmed, he cried out, “Grandpa, what happened? Why are you lying on the floor like this?”
Rabbi Levi Rabinowitz answered calmly.

“It is fine, it is fine. I was saying Mishnayot in the meantime. I fell and could not get up, but everything is fine. Now you will help me up. Until now I was just reviewing Mishnayot by heart. I have already completed twenty chapters of Mishnah. Is that something small in your eyes?”
Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz would repeat this story with emotion.

“Do you hear this? A Jew in his nineties. Instead of getting angry at the drunk who pushed him down, instead of shouting for help or complaining about the pain, he learned Mishnah. He was content lying there on the floor. If you can review Mishnah by heart, what more do you need?”

A Life Filled With Torah

Rabbi Rabinowitz emphasized that this was not an isolated incident but a reflection of his father’s entire way of life.

“This is not just a story to listen to. It is something to internalize,” he said. “Every chapter of Mishnah was like a treasure to him. As long as he could learn Torah, nothing else mattered. Even lying on the floor did not disturb him. He did not even feel the pain.”

In the final years of his life, Rabbi Levi Rabinowitz needed assistance, and his son devoted himself to caring for him and fulfilling the mitzvah of honoring a parent.

Not a Moment to Waste

On one occasion Rabbi Gamliel approached his father and gently suggested that it was time to go to sleep.

“Dad, it is already late. Maybe we should start getting ready for bed.”

His father looked at him with genuine confusion.

“Go to sleep? I am reciting Mishnah by heart right now. We can still manage a few more chapters. Why waste the time? So quickly to go to sleep? I do not want to miss saying these Mishnayot.”
Rabbi Levi Rabinowitz reviewed the six orders of the Mishnah thousands of times, yet he always wanted more. It was never enough.

“If I walked into the room and wanted to know whether my father was awake or asleep,” Rabbi Rabinowitz concluded, “I would look at his lips. If he was awake, his lips were always murmuring Mishnayot by heart.”

This remarkable story shows what it means to treasure every moment and to live with a deep love for Torah that fills every part of life.