Monthly Archives: December 2011

Straight from the Laugh Factory in Vilna…

One day in Vilna he [Rabbi Israel Salanter] was seen discussing trivialities with a Vilna resident, even trying to amuse him by telling jokes.  Passers by were astonished.  They knew very well that R. Israel weighed his words very carefully and would not utted a superfluous syllable.  Yet here he was engaging in idle chatter and apparently joking without any restraint.  At an opportune moment one of his disciples asked him the reason for his unusual behavior on that occasion.  R. Israel answered that the person with whom he had been seen was in a depressed state of mind, and that there was no greater act of chessed [kindess] than to cheer up a downcast human being and revive his spirits.

He would also adopt this same attituted to his own family.  Whenever anyone became downhearted, he would recall amusing episodes of his life to allay their anxieties and make them happy. (Told by his aged granddaughter, Chana Leah Rogovin) – From Tenuas Hamussar (The Mussar Movement) by R Dov Katz

Image created here.

Sheloshim Memorial for Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel zt"l to be held Dec 8th at HTC

Thursday, December 8, 2011   7:00 pm
A Shloshim Memorial will be held as we mourn,
together with Klal Yisrael,
the loss of the Gaon and Tzaddik
HaRav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, zt”l
Rosh HaYeshiva
Mir Yeshiva, Yerushalayim
One of the greatest builders of Torah
in our generation
who loved and treated
every talmid like his own child
and every Jew like his brother
Thursday, December 8, 2011     7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
at
Beis HaMidrash LaTorah
Hebrew Theological College
7135 North Carpenter Road, Skokie
Maspidim
HaRav Avraham Chaim Levin, shlita, Rosh HaYeshiva, Telshe Yeshiva, Chicago
HaRav Avraham Friedman, Rosh HaYeshiva, Beis HaMidrash LaTorah, Skokie
HaRav Aaron Lopiansky, Rosh HaYeshiva, Yeshiva of Greater Washington (brother-in-law of Rav Nosson Tzvi)
HaRav Gedalia Finkel, RaM, Mir Yeshiva, Yerushalayim (brother of Rav Nosson Tzvi)
 
Men and women invited

Just leave me alone

Eye catching post title, huh?

(In my best Rod Serling voice) Submitted for your approval, are two links having to do with the topic of being “alone”.  One is a post with a thought provoking comment thread, from R Gil Student and the other is a link I found was a shiur listed on 613 Commuter (my new favorite blog) from R Eric Goldman LMSW from YU.  For my only other three posts on being “lonely” click here.
Being Lonely (TorahMusings.com)
A Torah Hashgafa on Facebook, Texting, and Blogging (The 613 Commuter)

In search of…

Dr. Alan Morinis sites a passage in the name of RYS both in the beginning (page 18) and the end (page 222) of Climbing Jacobs Ladder.

“As long as one lives a life of calmness and tranquility in the service of God, it is clear that he is remote from true service.”

The line is actually from an article written by Prof. Immanuel Etkes, titled, “Rabbi Yisrael Salanter and His Pyschology of Mussar” that was included in a book titled Jewish Spirituality Vol 2.
The quote from there (thanks to Google Books) is:
“But as long as one lives a life of calmness and tranquility in the service of God it is clear that he is remote from true service…For it is impossible that a person not encounter things which he desires and which the Torah prohibits.” (Kokhvey Or, 187)

In Prof. Etkes’ book, Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Mussar Movement, he cites a more extensive version of the more the quote from Kokhvey Or (187) in the name of R Simcha Zissel Ziv:
“It is certainly understood that a man is not considered as a human being if he lives a life of ease and does not labor in fear, for this is the whole duty of man…But so long as a person is living a life of tranquility in the service of Creator, he ought to know that he has surely shaken off and is empty of the service of God, may He be blessed…for it is impossible that person not daily encounter circumstances in which his desire and [the command] the Torah conflict with one another…”

Reb Moshe and the broken tape recorder

Royalty free graphic from here

I recently listened to a shiur by Rav Weinberger that was given to a group of women in Waterbury, CT.  I think the content, messages, and stories (the “jukim” story, the “Lost Horse”, and the “I know the Shephard” story) are similar to a shiur from 2008 posted by Dixie Yid.  The shiur, titled “Chinuch & Chanukah: Chinuch with a Heart” actually starts about 50 seconds into the recording and is available here.  The shiur revolves around the difference between “teaching” and “giving over” Torah. 

Rav Weinberger tells mentions an important article on chinuch that was published in Hakirah, The Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought by Dr. Aharon Hersh Fried.  The article, titled, Is There a Disconnect between Torah Learning and Torah Living?  And If So, How Can We Connect Them? A Focus on Middos is available for reading or downloading here.

What follows in my transcription of Rav Weinberger telling over a story that was included in the above mentioned article.  Any mistakes in writing down Rav Weinberger’s words are mine.

Some years ago, in Rav Reuven Feinstein’s yeshiva, there were two boys who had an argument.  What happened?  Let’s call them Reuven and Shimon.  Revuen lent his tape recorder to Shimon and Shimon dropped the tape record and it broke.  And they were arguing.  Revuen said, “I lent you the tape recorder and you broke it.  You have to get me a new one.”

Shimon says, “It wasn’t my fault, it was an accident.”

And they were arguing and decided that they would go to the Rosh Yeshiva, which is a good thing.  They went to Reb Reuven Feinstein, they went to the Rosh Yeshiva to ask him what’s the halacha then.  This is what happened.  Rav Reuven Feinstein was absolutly astonished by the question.  Not with nachas, he was astonished.  He said, “You’re learning all year since September, your learning the gemara.  Everyday you have charts on the blackboard.   You’re learning the gemara “Bava Metzia” that teaches that when someone borrows something he’s responsible when it breaks.  If you borrow something you’re responsible.”  Rav Reuven was so distrubed by this.  He couldn’t understand how’s it possible that the boy, how could he not know that? That’s all they’re learning and they’re getting 100s on their tests. שואל חייב באונסין , it’s a gemara.  It’s all over the gemara.  If you borrow, you’re chai’ev (responsible).

So, he was so upset, Rav Reuven went to his father.  He went to Reb Moshe, Zecher Tzaddik V’Kodesh L’Vracha.  He went to Reb Moshe and he asked, “How can it be that the boys did not know that?”

So, Reb Moshe said, “Because what they’ve seen in their lives has no relationship to what they’re learning in yeshiva.  It’s completely irrelevant.  They do not see their parents living the lives that they learn in the seforim, nor do they see it so clearly in the yeshiva.”  That’s what Reb Moshe said.

They would never dream of making a connection between what they learned all year and how to practically live.  It might have been taught, but it wasn’t given over.