The following was published CHICAGO TORAH, a monthly publication of Yeshiva University Torah Mitzion Kollel of Chicago.
The following was published CHICAGO TORAH, a monthly publication of Yeshiva University Torah Mitzion Kollel of Chicago.
The 25th of Teves is the yahrtzeit of Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler zt’l, one of the most influential post World War II baalei mussar.
I’d like to re-examine one of my favorite about him, originally posted here.
When Rav Dessler came to America in 1948, he met up with his son, Nachum Velvel in New York. Rav Dessler asked his son who had help him during his years alone in America? His son mentioned several people in New York along with Rabbi Eliezer Silver, the head of Agudah Israel and the rav of Cincinnati. Rav Dessler said, “We must thank him.”
His son offered to place a telephone call to Rabbi Silver, but Rav Dessler wanted to show personal hakaros hatov to Rabbi Silver. Nachum Velvel and his father then took a nine hour train ride to Ohio, arriving at 5:00 am in Cincinnati. Then went to Rabbi Silver’s home and waited on the porch to meet Rabbi Silver as he left his house for davening.
Rabbi Silver met his two guests when he woke up and they all went to shul and then back to the Silver’s for breakfast. After a bite to eat, Rabbi Silver said, “So, Rav Dessler, what brings you to Cincinnati?” Rav Dessler said that he had only come to show appreciation to Rabbi Silver for all he had done for his son.
Rabbi Silver thought about this and again asked, “So, Rav Dessler, what really brings you to Cincinnati?”
Rav Dessler said that he had no other purpose that to show hakaros hatov. Rabbi Silver asked, “Rav Dessler, what can I do for you?”
Rav Dessler, for a third time, repeated that he only wished to show gratitude to Rabbi Silver in person.
Rabbi Silver finally gave up and muttered, “This must be mussar.”
(Paraphrased from the Artscroll biography of Rav Dessler, by Yonoson Rosenbloom)
For other postings about Rav Dessler please click here.
T-Shirt found here |
Don’t get me wrong, please. If you blog and don’t use your real name, it doesn’t bother me. Some people have very sound reasons for doing this. However, the secret identity thing just didn’t sit to well with me. You see, this is personal blog. I’m not Spider-Man, Superman, or even a pubic member of the Fantastic Four. There might be some so-called mussar and a dvar Torah thrown in once in a while, but at the end of the day, it’s a personal blog and nothing more. That being written, there are things in my life that I don’t write about and really don’t feel like sharing even if it’s in the form of a pseudonym, which is why I decided not to get past an “about me” for that other blog. If you find the blog out there and the initial entry then great.
This isn’t isn’t my actual name, it’s fake. I wasn’t born into an observant family and read a lot of the Raymond Carver, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Ayn Rand, Jack Kerouac, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in high school. I became frum in high school before CDs were sold in record stores and then, ten years afterwards, before getting married, I discovered something about myself that gave me food for thought about my own Torah observance and Knesses Yisrael. So, without adding any more details, let’s just say that life goes on. Back in public high school my hair was often streaked with peroxide and different lengths and shapes (thanks to Aqua Net). By eventually I chopped it off so that I could look more clean cut for my interview at Yeshiva University (the things we do for Torah). Back then, I spent my free time listening to hardcore punk and college radio. Today, I have very little hair and when I do catch myself listening to Husker Du or Bad Religion on my iTouch my kids roll their eyes and call the music “complete chaos and a ruckus”. They are somewhat correct, having been raised on Uncle Moishy, Piamenta, and YBC. In the end, I am zoche to have a wife and children to love me and rock. My children, fight a genetic dislike for cleaning their rooms and display a strength of self and independence that sets them apart from many of their peers. There is nothing more hardcore than going against the grain and doing what Hashem wants each of us to do.
By the way, what is written above it a total rephrasing of what’s on the blog, so don’t bother googling any of the phrases or sentences.
Seeing a boy in shul yesterday run towards the aron kodesh to kiss the Torah and knock over a chair (almost into two people) reminded me of this saying by R Yisrael Salanter:
A person can rush to do a mitzvah and destroy the whole world in his path.
Tomer Devorah shiurim 6 and 7 by Rabbi Etan Ehrenfeld from the YU Torah Mitzion Kollel of Chicago are now available for streaming or downloading here:
In 2007 I wrote a post titled Kiruv Models for beyondbt.com. In it used Starbucks as a model and today I find myself doing the same. At locations across North America Starubucks revealed their new “Blond Roast”, a light roasted coffee being introduced to attract those who are buying coffee at donut chains and fast food joints. “We know we’re not serving those customers now. We’re going to bring in new customers,” Andrew Linnemann, director of coffee quality at Starbucks, said of Blonde, in an article today in the Chicago Tribune.