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OPINION
& COMMENT
Succos in the Shadow of Current Events
What is the connection between Succos and the World Trade
Center disaster?
It is clear that the huge dimensions of the terrible
destruction that befell New York City and America in general
were not just the work of evil terrorists. Though they are
certainly responsible for the full consequences of their
actions, no schemer could, in his wildest dreams, have
expected to produce the awful wreckage that has ensued.
Ashreichem Yisroel! -- Reb Yeruchom's Last Simchas
Torah
Divrei Torah delivered by HaRav Yeruchom Levovitz, the
Mirrer mashgiach, zt'l, on his last Simchas Torah, in
5696 (1936).
HaRav Wolbe writes (in Ho'odom Biyekor, his
biographical work on Reb Yeruchom), "We will never forget
Simchas Torah with him. He used to give a rousing talk, in
great excitement. He would end each section of the
ma'amar with the melody of Ashreichem Yisroel,
[which] he would sing and dance [to on the platform in front
of the Oron Hakodesh], his hands raised heavenward. The
group of his talmidim, who were crowded together below,
would dance in front of him.
Making Every Tenth Day Holy
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
"Whoever wants a long life, should give one tenth of his
days," writes the holy Sheloh, about the practice of devoting
every tenth day to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Rabbi Akiva
Eiger zt'l kept every tenth day holy, and other
gedolim down the generations marked it by fasting. The
Alter of Kelm introduced the practice into the Talmud Torah of
Kelm.
A Radical Approach to Marriage
by Mordecai Plaut
Once, a yeshiva bochur well into his forties, never
married but who had recently become engaged, was explaining
what had happened. "I decided," said he, "that what was
missing was a decision on my part. That is, I had to decide,
and I could have decided on that lamppost over there, so to
speak of course. I decided on her."
Bereishis: Wisdom Based on Yir'ah
by L. Jungerman
In the beginning of Bereishis, Rashi asks in the name
of the Midrash: "Said R' Yitzchok: The Torah should have begun
from `This month shall be unto you' which is the first
commandment transmitted to Israel. Why then, did it begin with
`Bereishis -- in the beginning'? The answer is that
"Hashem declared the power of His works in order to bequeath
to them the heritage of nations" (Tehillim 111:6).
Tishrei in the Beis Medrash of Rabbeinu Chaim Volozhin
by Rav Dov Eliach
Zeman Simchoseinu
There was one great principle upon which Volozhin -- the
Mother of all Yeshivos -- was founded. That is, as Reb Chaim
explains in Nefesh HaChaim, " . . .that if the world --
even for one split second -- would be devoid of talmud
Torah, the universe would collapse entirely on the spot."
Because of this, Reb Chaim set up shifts in the yeshiva, that
there be continuous learning twenty-four hours, seven days a
week! Even on motzei Yom Kippur, when everyone went
home to revive themselves after the fast, Reb Chaim himself
would sit and learn, reviving his soul with talmud
Torah.
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