Category Archives: seforim

Connections and reality

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First, this quote from the translation of Da Es Atzmecha by R Schwartz:

We identify with the material, and think we do Hashem a favor: “Thursday night I have a class I attend, and with that, I fulfill my responsibility to study Torah for the week.” This is the opposite of the reality. I have not met anyone who eats a piece of cake Thursday night and says, “I fulfilled my responsibility to eat for the week.” Why? Because he’s hungry! You don’t think about fulfilling your obligation. If the stomach is empty, you need to eat! If we would feel spiritual hunger the way we feel bodily hunger, we would solve the whole problem of life. The problem of life is the identification with the material. People think they have specific problems. One has this problem, another has a different problem. This is all true, but underlying it all is a root problem; namely, that we have the wrong sense of reality.

We’ve been dealing with DSL issues all week. I’ve been on the phone and off the phone for several hours all week. Tonight I was dealing with tech support for about an hour, just to get an internet connection so I could check email and, now, post. All this time and effort just to go online. As I reflect, it’s sort of silly. I did, however, recall the above quote that I read over Shavuos and realized that I am lacking in the efforts to maintain strong ‘connections’ in other areas of my life. For example, understanding Tefillah (prayer). While on hold, I decided that I can easily put as much effort into understanding Tefillah and having a stronger connection to Hashem, as I can to getting my DSL connection. We have several great seforim (books) on Tefillah.

I am not one to wave a flag and shout, “Hey! Look at me and what I’m doing!”, but I write this now only to make a concrete commitment to start spending at least an hour a week looking into what I’m actually saying when I daven (pray). In this way I hope to fullfill part of my obligation.

Rav Schwab quote from "These and Those"

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Over Shabbos I had an opportunity to re-read the essay know as “These and Those” aka “E’ilu v’Eilu”, published in SELECTED ESSAYS. Several sentences that made up paragraph blew me away and then after letting a close friend browse through the sefer, he also pointed out the quote to me (with me even bringing up the quote).

He who is strong in his conviction is even strengthened by the clear exposition of the opposite viewpoint. He who is strong in his conviction will welcome an open discussion based on mutual respect for the opponent’s opinion. Mutual intolerance betrays mutual weakness. Only he who is fully convinced can afford to be fully tolerant towards his opponent and yet remain adamant and stand his ground.

As I think about how easily we, as an Am Kodesh, can draw lines in the sand and fracture our Achdus it’s really a miracle that we, as one people, were able to receive the Torah.

The right perscription….

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A Simple Jew recently asked me:


I have always preferred sifrei Chassidus over sifrei Mussar. I find sifrei Chassidus to be uplifting and many sifrei Mussar to be somewhat depressing since they break me down and remind me that I am nothing. Although they may be the right prescription for another type of neshoma, I feel that for me it would be equivalent to taking the wrong type of medicine.As someone who feels an attraction to sifrei Mussar, do you think my observation is an oversimplification?

My answer can be found here.

Parsha Tetzaveh

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כ וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית לַמָּאוֹר לְהַעֲלֹת נֵר תָּמִיד.

Rav Hirsch zt”l says on the words l’halos ner tamid, to kindle the lamps continually, that only this term is only used for the menorah. We are taught that one must hold a flame against the wick until wick burns on its own. Rav Hirsh goes on to say beautifully that this is how it should be with with the teachers of Klal Yisrael. They should have patience and be persevering with each student, so to light a flame that will burn on its own. Rav Hirsh published his commentary on Chumash in 1878.

Fast forward to 1932, the year that the Piazeczna Rebbe, Rav Kalonymous Kalman Shapiro zt”l, published the Chovos HaTalmidim. This is taken from his introduction:
An educator, however, who wishes to uncover the soul of the child that lies hidden and concealed with him, who wants to help it grown and to ignite it so it will burn with a heavenly fire, upwards, towards the holy, so that the student’s entire being, including his physical body will increase in holiness and will long for God’s Torah, such an educator must adapt himself to the student, must penetrate into the midst of his limited consciousness and small-mindedness, until he reaches the hidden soul-spark. Then he can help it emerge, blossom, and grow. (From A STUDENT’S OBLIGATION page 5)
The same idea put forth, almost 50 years later. Two distinctly different Gadolim, using similar imagery. And why not? Neither Rav Hirsch nor the Piazeczna were interested in promoting themselves, they only wanted to teach us, so that we can continue to burn! Have a great Shabbos Kodesh.

Old Navy, Home Depot, and Novardok?

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Commenting on the Novardok mussar exercises (see Moment 2 here) designed to work on humility, Rafi G wrote:

I can see how it would humble a person, but isn’t it some sort of chillul Hashem (maybe that category is extreme for this case) or something that Jews are looking so foolish and stupid walking into a hardware store and asking to buy clothes? Doesn’t it make Jews look foolish? I have a hard time believing there is really such an important benefit of humility gained that can justify the overall bad light in which it portrays Jews, and specifically yeshiva students.

This chillul Hashem factor seems to be a big one, I admit. This quote might clear things up about the Alter of Novardok’s methods:
Rav Yosef Yoizel also formulated a special program aimed at helping students break their negative character traits and acquire new ones. This program consisted of various exercises designed to provide students with “spiritual courage”, a courage that would imbue them with the confidence to do whatever was needed to promote Yiddishkeit despite any deterrents that would arise. One such exercise called for them to act strangely in public, so that people would ridicule them. For this exercise, bochurim from the Novardok yeshiva would enter a shop and ask for a product not sold there, such as watermelons in a drugstore or screws in a bakery. (Originally found in the Yated, posted online here)

In essence, we see that the plan was to instill a feeling that no matter what an individual or society might think, if I can act in a way that doesn’t make me feel embarrassed, the better off I am.

I don’t think we had a situation where a yeshiva student would go into Old Navy asking where the power drills are, and then insisting that the store really does carry them in stock. I have always thought it was more like a student or two going into store or shack “A” that sold hardware and asking if they carried any fresh bread. After being told, “No”, the yeshiva student would say, “Oh, my mistake. I must be confused. Have a nice day.”

There is a great book titled BEYOND THE SUN (long out of print) by R David Zaritzky (who studied in Novardok and also with the Chofetz Chaim in Radin). I had heard about the book in 1991 and found a copy 15 years later. Sadly, I loaned it out and somehow didn’t get it back. The book itself is viewed as a fictional account of the the Novardok system and has several profiles of the Alter and other key figures in the Novardok movement. As I recall, it discusses this same issue, focusing on this idea that a student in Novardok was trained not to be embarrassed by serving Hashem and doing what was right against the various anti-Torah movements of the time.

This whole exercise could have been viewed as a chillul Hashem, as Rafi suggests. At the time, though, most yeshiva students were getting a bad rap from the Maskillim. That’s part of the reason that in Slabdoka there was an emphasis on one’s clothes looking fit and proper (it might also have been a reaction to Novardok’s emphasis on most things non-materialistic).

Either way, today, I think most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We want to be Avdai Hashem and have the strength to be a Torah Jew in all situations, yet also want to give Klal Yisrael a “good name”. I try to stay away from chillul Hashem as much as I can, to the point recently, when we went on a family outing I was against bringing saltine cracker because of the crumbs that are left when the kids eat them. Maybe, I’m taking it a little too far?

24 of Teves- Rav Dessler’s Yartzeit

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Fifty-four years ago Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler z”tl was nifter. I can pretty safely say that his Torah (both the Hebrew of Michtav M’Eliyahu and R Carmell’s translation Strive for Truth) has and continues to be a major influence in my life.

I remember once, while learning in E”Y, spending an afternoon (one of many) with R Moshe Orbach z”tl, one of his Talmidim from England. He showed me a letter of introduction that R Dessler had written him prior to his leaving England to come to America to teach Torah. He kept it in a plastic slip cover and gently hand it to me, like trophy or a fine sculpture. The Hebrew script was beautiful. It was the most artful writing I had ever seen, it seemed to reflect the sh’laymus of the writer.

One of Rav Dessler’s greatest contributions to Hashkafic thought was explaining to the Torah observant world that it is giving that leads us to love, not love that leads us to giving. Rav Dessler, in fact, divided the world into two types of people: Givers and Takers. I find myself constantly thinking about this, as it is a something I, at times, struggle with.

I’d like to share several selections from Jonathan Rosenblum’s biography of Rav Dessler. It is a remarkable work (simply worth the read for the introduction and the few chapters on the Kelm school of mussar):

Each middah with which a person is born, Rabbi Dessler showed, has both its positive and negative side. For instance, man’s innate sense of is own independence, which causes him to rebel against divine commandments and to attribute everything he achieves to his own abilities, also has its positive side. Without that sense of independence, man would lack awareness of his own free will. He could not exercise his bechira (free will)-the very purpose for which he was created. A person’s feeling of independence protects him from despairing of ever being able to change himself. (page 314)

He stressed repairing oneself and only then influencing others. A poem entitled “L’Atzmi- To Myself” expressed his attitude:
To myself I record
in order that I can review the truth I saw
I guard it and remember it…
Is this [guarding for myself] not the outgrowth of self-love?
That is what the superficial view claims. [But the true view is]:
If my heart does not learn, how will it teach?
Only that which goes out from the heart-a heart overflowing its banks-can enter the heart of another. (page 297)
One Friday night, shortly after their marriage, Rabbi Naftoli Friedler and his wife invited Rabbi Dessler for a meal. He noticed that they had only six very cheap knives that would rust easily. Rabbi Dessler came again for dinner, and this time he brought with him six new stainless steel knives. (page 226)

One time, while in New York, Rabbi Dessler when to visit Rabbi Avrohom Yaffen, the Novordhok Rosh Yeshiva, together with Rabbi Naftoli Friedler. As they went through the subway turnstile. Rabbi Friedler heard the subway pulling into the station below and started to run. Rabbi Dessler, however, held him fast. “If it’s not this train, it will be the next one,” he said. “Never do anything in this world with behillus (hurriedly).” (Page 223)

“Sometimes we see with clarity that someone of no great ability succeeds in achieving something of the greatest importance to the entire world,” he writes in one letter. “With what does he succeed to such a degree? Only because no one else understood the importance of that matter. And since he was the only one to come forward, all the joy [of success] falls to his lot.” (page 201)


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Posting Update…

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While I can’t seem to find the time for a proper posting, I hope these links to give you something to think about:

Rambam’s Hilchos Teshuva (black hat tip from BeyondBT, like, almost a year ago).

Yakov David Shulman’s translation of Bnai Machshava Tova, by the Piazeczna Rebbe z”tl is worth the download. I found it to be more of an authentic translation than the previous attempt. I’ve read both and have also learned (via teleconference) with R Weinberger’s shiurim, now available like this.

To those that come by every day to see something new, thanks for taking time to look.

My favorite book that most people have never read

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I shouldn’t say that most people have never read it, but as I travel in various circles within Torah observance, and discuss writings that really give a clear image (in my opinion) of what a traditional view is our our faith, the book JEWTHINK by Rabbi Avi Shafran usually doesn’t come up in conversation.

While it was originally written in 1973 and published in 1977, I only found out about it in 2000. I was in Boston for an interview with an outreach organization and was looking through the books in the home of the organizations’ director. I read the whole thing in one sitting. It was such a concise summary of Yiddishkeit. I would humbly put it up there as a must read if you travel in the secular world.

I have used the book as a basis for outreach with both teens and adults, as well as for discussions with not-yet-religious Jews. It’s is a relatively easy read. Rabbi Shafran quotes great sources and it is written in a very clear and straighforward manner. Look at this passage from chapter 13-Fear of God:

There is yet another concept (this one more an emotion or feeling than an attitude) which goes by the nickname of “fear”. This is the “fear of G~d’s greatness” which we mentioned in passing back in the first chapter.
This is the emotion felt when one is confronted with, for instance, the vastness of the universe, or the wonders of biology, the kindness of G~d towards His creations, or, spare us, His power of destruction and retribution. In short, whenever G~d’s presence makes itself particularly evident and jolts us into a stronger realization of Him, we are experiencing this “fear”. A storm rolling in, a glance through a telescope, a baby’s development, an earthquake, or a solar eclipse all have the potential to arouse this emotion in human beings.

This is one of those books that I try to read once a year (along with the Nineteen Letters). If you have a few minutes, it worth the look.
It is available on online, by simply googling JEWTHINK and going to the first hit.

The power in your hands

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I was recently reading a chapter in Anatomy of the Soul by Rabbi Chaim Kramer and this passage jumped out at me:
Now recall that the hand is called yad because of the fourteen bones it contains. The number of Hebrew letters found in the first verse of the Torah is twenty-eight. The Hebrew word for strength is ko’ach, also numerically equal to twenty-eight. Since each hand has fourteen bones, both hands together contain “twenty-eight bones,” representing the ko’ach of God. Based on this, Rebbe Nachman teaches that every person has within himself the ability to arouse the power of Creation with his hands (i.e., his prayers). -Page 364
While Reb Nachman was speaking about the power of tefillah, I believe it could also refer to using our hands to write or type. A quick email, IM, or even (gasp) a blog post is an aspect of revealing ourselves and our neshama. It’s an act of creation and there is tremendous potential within the words we create.
Gut Shabbos Kodesh!
Mazel Tov to Dixie Yid!

A Sweet Deal on Sefrei Kodesh

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(Photo from istockphoto.com)


In Rebbetzin Jungreis’ book LIFE IS A TEST there is story on page 117 about Piazeczna Rebbe, Harav Kalonymous Kalman Shapiro, zt”l. The story tells about how after the Holocaust a manuscript of the Rebbe’s D’vrei Torah was found in among the rubble of the Warsaw Ghetto by “a young Polish boy who sold it to an American soldier for a bar of chocolate. The soldier was not Jewish, but he recognized the Hebrew writing, and he handed it over to the Jewish chaplain of his unit.”*

The Piazecnza’s manuscripts were written during the war. They are some of the only collected works that survived. For sure, they were worth more that a bar of chocolate.

We tend to put a value on things based on our needs at the time. There are time that I choose what I want to do over what I need to do.
For some, papers or books written in Hebrew seem to hold less importance than the “Great American Chocolate Bar”. Others put work over family, or family over work. If we only knew the value of what we each have? If only we could recognize what value Hashem places in each of us?

I believe it was the Vilna Gaon who said that for the cost of a few coins one can purchase tzitzis and have the zechus to constantly serve Hashem.

* Rabbi Polen has a slightly different version of the story in The Holy Fire.