Once, Maran Rav Chaim zatzal was at the home of Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer (1870-1953) zt�l. Rav Isser Zalman related to him that the statement of Rav Yoseph on Sotah 49b that humility did not cease to exist because there is �ana� is, actually, not so strange.. How so? Because he had a tradition from the Vilna Gaon that there was, in fact, a Tanna by the name of, �Anah.�

Later, at his annual siyum of tractate Sotah he related the incident and explained that, at the time, he had thought to himself that there is no Tanna whose name was, �Anah.� There is, however, a Yerushalmi in Shabbos (6:5) where there is someone named, �annan� and some have the girsah, �Chanan� and the Vilna Gaon may have had the girsah, �Anah.�

The reason he did not voice any of this is because it would not have been proper derech eretz to say this in front of Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer zt�l. We see from this incident, not only Rav Chaim�s remarkable grasp of Kol haTorah Kullah even seventy years ago, but also his remarkable tzidkus and derech eretz.

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