They both knew that clause in the Jewish marriage contract was practically fictitious, piously ignored even (especially?) by the same rabbis who were fanatical in every other regard concerning strict observance of even the most minor of religious duties or customs. But it wasn’t right. Bitter words rose to Yaakov’s throat, but he forced them back. He looked at his innocent, happy, fortunate friend Meir, who was learning full-time, his wife, Bruriah, and her parents supporting him and their children. He was happy for him, and devastated at how their ways had finally—and irrevocably—parted.

Yaakov took a deep breath, then sighed. “We have the whole day, Meir. My last day. Let’s not waste any time, my friend. Let’s learn.”

As the day drew to a close, there was one last thing he had to do. He went to Rav Alter’s office and knocked on the door. The assistant let him in. The office, as usual, was packed with petitioners: housewives anxious to save a meat pot and its contents from being discarded because a drop of milk had leaked upon it in the refrigerator; busybodies wanting to enlist the rav’s endorsement for various causes—worthy and less so; poor people needing charitable donations; yeshiva boys in moral turmoil; parents inquiring about certain shidduch prospects … It was endless.

“It is my last day in kollel,” he told the assistant. “I wanted to say goodbye.”

“Your last day, Yaakov? Come,” he said firmly, leading him past the others directly into the rav’s inner sanctum. “And may HaShem bless you, Yaakov.”

Yaakov looked at the mahogany bookcases that reached from floor to ceiling on every wall, crammed with heavy books. Volumes of the Jerusalem Talmud, the Babylonian Talmud, the Code of Jewish Law, and hundreds of commentaries and exegeses stared back accusingly. His legs trembled with sudden weakness. The room, so familiar to him from the countless times he had found his way there seeking comfort, inspiration, or just a simple human connection, seemed almost hostile now.

But there was the rav. He exhaled. He never really understood what it was about this elderly man that mesmerized him so completely. Perhaps it was simply the knowledge that each word he uttered came from huge treasuries of wisdom garnered not only from decades of intense study but also countless interactions with people from every background who streamed unceasingly through these doors seeking answers that touched on every aspect of human existence.