Rav Wallis’s talmidim were his life. With great enthusiasm and fervor, he would teach Torah to young boys. His low, rumbling voice filled the room as he sang with them, dancing and bringing them into the world of Torah learning. His jolly belly, fluffy grey beard, and kind eyes gave them a comforting home away from home. This year, however, the talmidim were missing an essential part of the experience of Rav Wallis’s class: His smile.
That is of course because the Rav wore his mask over his mouth. Diligently, he took every safety precaution necessary, because he had health issues and knew he was at risk. A large number of COVID cases in Israel have been spread by asymptomatic young children. As his students pulled at their masks and pushed past each other, too young to fully understand the concepts of social distancing, the Rebbi prayed to Hashem that he should stay safe. After all, he was doing the holy avoda of teaching Torah to the next generation. Each day upon arriving home he would wash his hands and take off his protective gear, settling back into the safety of home life. Since March, Wallis only left his home for absolute emergencies, not even having over his married children as guests.
If he did not survive, how could he provide for his wife and nine children? And how could he carry on spreading a love of Torah to future talmidim?
Tragically, it was decreed from Heaven that Rav Wallis would not make it. Last month he contracted COVID, and within a week, he was gone. Inconsolable young students and their families wept at his levaya. His wife, Rebbetzin Rochel Wallis, was overcome with grief and fear for the future. And son Shmuel Wallis, engaged to be married in a month, accepted the inevitability that the chasuna may need to be cancelled.
In his lifetime, Rav Wallis was able to do anything for his children, and for his students. Anything so that he could be there for them, as he knew how desperately they all relied on him. Now, funds are being urgently collected to continue Rav Wallis’s legacy – to fulfill his dying wish of making sure that his family will not suffer in poverty without him.
