Saturday, May 25, 2013

When Things Were More Simple

In the early 70's,  a donor gave a large sum conditioned upon Rav Soloveitchik giving  a series of private  talks on a variety  of subjects. One talk was on the subject  of marriage.   He said,  "You choose your own mates today,   and look how you are.   You  have so many divorces.   My grandmother, [the wife of R' Elyahu Pruzhaner] was playing with some friends one day,   and her mother came and told her that she was engaged.   She was 12 years old,  Reb Elyahu was 15.   They  married a year later.