Rabbi Eizel HaCharif (the brilliant) wished to acquire a superior Torah scholar as a husband for his daughter. He went to one of the leading yeshivos and gave a lecture, in which he raised a very difficult problem in a particular Talmudic subject. He stated that any student who could resolve the difficulty would be considered as a candidate to become his son-in-law. Various students proposed solutions to the problem, but he refuted all of them. When no one presented a satisfactory answer, R. Eizel left the yeshivah.
- based on R. Twerski's Visions of the Fathers pg. 398
As the coach was pulling away, R. Eizel heard a shout and saw that one of the students was calling to him. The student was breathless as he overtook him. "Did you find the answer to the problem?" R. Eizel asked.
"No I did not. It doesn't concern me that I did not become a candidate to be your son-in-law. But I must know the answer to your problem. Please tell it to me."
R. Eizel told the student the answer and said, "You are the only one I desire for my daughter. Of all the students, you are the only one who could not be at peace without knowing the answer."
A student whose thirst for Torah knowledge is intense has the ability to make his teachers wiser, because it is this student who persists in attaining an understanding of Torah, forcing the teacher to enunciate and elucidate the meanings and intricacies of the Torah.