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8 Tishrei 5762 - September 25, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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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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