ושמי השם לא נודעתי להם (וארא ו:ג)

Rashi says: “חבל על דאבדין ולא משתכחין” – it is a pity about those who are gone and can no longer be found.

There was once a big city where the Jewish community wanted to appoint a highly regarded Gaon to serve as its Rav. The city’s leaders —Yidden, who were not very learned—tried to convince a prospective candidate to accept the position by saying that their city is prominent for great Gedolim—Torah leaders. Great Gedolim, such as the Turei Zohov zt”l, the Magen Avraham zt”l, and Reb Akiva Eiger of Pozen zt”l, are all buried in their historic cemetery.

After a short investigation, the prospective Rav found out that Turei Zohov is buried in Lemberg (Lviv, Ukraine), the Magen Avraham in Kalish (Kalisz, Poland), and Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s resting place is in Pozen (Poznań, Poland). He asked the Kehilla leaders why they fooled him. 

They replied: “Rebbi, we did not fool you completely.  In Lemberg, they learn the “Turei Zohov”; therefore, he is not buried there, but the Sefer is alive there.  In Kalish, the Sefer Magen Avraham is alive, for they learn the Sefer, and so too with Rabbi Akiva Eiger – he is alive and thriving in Posen.  However, in our city, where there are not too many people learning Torah, these Seforim are buried!”.

According to the story mentioned above, the Rashi can be explained as follows: “חבל על דאבדין – Woe is to those people whose thoughts, words and actions do not have life to them “ולא משתכחין” – this is called a loss – but when there are Talmidim – Torah scholars that learn – then there is not a loss.