Rabbi Shteinman once surprised his disciple with the following question: “How did the great people merit their great deeds?” And then he answered: “Through greatly honoring their father and mother”.
Rabbi Shteinman explained: “You can’t imagine how much Rabbi Chaim of Brisk honored his father Rabbi ‘Yosha Ber’; he trembled before him. The Chazon Ish and his family also greatly honored their parents. The Chazon Ish would not address someone with the same name as his father Shmaryahu Yosef by his name. This was how strong the Chazon Ish’s honor was for his parents.”
Rabbi Shteinman explained in the name of his mother in law, Mrs. Sarah Kornfeld of blessed memory, that she told us in her house the girls had given great importance to making their father’s bed even to the point that it was considered a prize to do it and a punishment was that they couldn’t make his bed.
Once a child asked the Chazon Ish: “How do you merit to become great in Torah?” The Chazon Ish replied: “Through the mitzvah of honoring your father and mother”. Rabbi Shteinman was once told this story by someone who said it with wonderment; “Surely the Chazon Ish merited becoming great in Torah due to his diligence and great effort in learning Torah?” Rabbi Shteinman answered: “It is true everything comes from the effort he expended to learn Torah but you also need a merit to merit learning Torah and that was his honoring his parents”. This means that through the merit of honoring his parents he merited the great ability to toil in Torah to the point that he became a Torah giant in Israel.
