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HaRav Dov Lando shlita: We Need More People Engrossed in Torah Learning
This past week, the rabbonim and heads of the Lev Shomeia organization — chairman HaRav Eliav Miller; HaRav Eliyahu Eliezer Kellerman, Mashgiach in Yeshivas Ponovezh; HaRav Mordechai Fish, Mashgiach in Yeshiva leZeirim Ohr Elcchanan and Ateres Shlomo, and others — paid a visit to HaRav Dov Lando in his home in order to present him with central questions regarding the spiritual world of Torah students and their pivotal role in reinforcing the position of the Jewish people in the merit of Torah which protects and saves us.
They were privy to over an hour of spiritual renewal and reinforcement from the answers to questions brought up by the students and their parents regarding the daily contention with the challenges of these present times.
At first, HaRav Lando shlita stressed his desire that they convey to the yeshiva students that "accomplishments are fine and good, but that a student is not measured by these but rather by the extent of his dedication to his study. We must be engrossed in study to the utmost, without distractions and anxieties, without striving for excellence. Study must be a prime preoccupation, each according to his strength. This is what the Jewish People need for this is what constitutes a true Ben Torah."
Lev Shomeia: How must we relate to all the clamor and incitement of the street against Torah students?
Next Monday, a new householder will be entering the White House. This fact is accelerating the negotiations between Israel and Hamas. According to information coming from several sources, the impression created indicates that this time it is very serious and that there is a likely chance that an agreement will be signed between the two sides. And who knows? Perhaps it will even materialize before the words emerge from the printer's block.
In fact it was announced that an agreement had been reached. However Israel has so far not approved it, saying that Hamas is trying to make last minute changes.
Notwithstanding, we can still leave the option open that it might not happen. But we allow ourselves the leeway of being either optimistic or pessimistic, each according to his outlook regarding the deal. All of the factors involved come from different sources, which talk about the gradual release of all the hostages, while the price to be paid by Israel will be heavy, indeed.
This article was originally published in 1996.
His Torah Lives Forever
R' Matzliach was raised on the knees of the great sages of Tunis, and from them he imbibed his ability to toil in Torah, his perspicacity and his vast Torah knowledge.
As a youth, he studied with amazing diligence. Even then, the remarkable traits of perfection and precision were evident in him. He would spend his nights in the bais medrash, surrounded by sacred seforim over which he would pore until dawn. Then he would proceed to the local synagogue, and pray with the first minyan. Even then, he was careful to pray with the netz.
It was his adherence to so rigid a schedule which caused him, as a youth, to long for a watch — a costly item during those days. When he finally received one, he used it to his plan his day: a part for praying, a part for sleeping, a part for eating, and the majority of the time for Torah study.
By the age of sixteen, he had already written responsa, which in their style and length were like those of venerable scholars. One time, his mentor asked him to write an essay on the mitzvah of fulfilling a deceased person's last will and testament. Two weeks passed, and R' Matzliach still hadn't returned a reply. His mentor asked: "What is taking so long? The whole answer shouldn't occupy more than four or five pages." R' Matzliach then showed his rav a number of the pages he had written, and said that he still hadn't competed his answer.
In the end, he wrote about three hundred pages, saying: "I still have two hundred more to go."
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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
With the petirah of the Tolna Rebbe, Reb Yochonon Twersky zt'l, on the first day of Chanukah, Klal Yisroel has lost an irreplaceable tzaddik whose presence will be sorely missed. Although the Rebbe always shunned the limelight and tried to conceal himself and his greatness as much as possible, even he was unable to totally suppress the beacons of light that radiated from within him. Indeed just to stand in the Rebbe's presence was enough to somehow uplift a person and to elevate him to new heights.
One appreciated the words of Chazal, "tov le tzaddik, tov le scheino." The Rebbe was blessed with the ability to inspire those around him with just a few words or even just a gesture. His reassuring smile and the devotion and love with which he gave his heartfelt brochos, drew thousands of Yidden to him. You could feel how the Rebbe was genuinely concerned for you and was joining in your problem. You left the room feeling that a heavy load had been taken from your shoulders: you were not alone any longer, the Rebbe was davening for you as well.
Despite his busy daily schedule, in his great mesiras nefesh, the Rebbe was always willing to sacrifice himself and his time for others. A chosson once came to the Rebbe for a brocho before his chasuna. The Rebbe told the chosson -- who was one of his close chassidim, that although he refrained from going to many simchas due to his weakness, he would come to his chasuna. The chosson told the Rebbe that the chasuna would not be taking place in Eretz Yisroel but in chutz la'aretz.
Opinion & Comment
The Beis Halevi expands upon the messages of this parsha regarding age-old antisemitism. This hatred, he maintains, is not to be considered a punishment, for at this point in Mitzrayim, the Jews had not sinned. Rather, it was a safeguard established for the benefit of the Jewish people. The more they attempted to integrate among the Egyptians, the greater a measure of hatred Hashem planted in the latter's hearts, to prevent this assimilation.
And so has it been throughout the ages. Just like oil and water can never mix, so can Israel never completely assimilate, and every attempt to flout this rule has always borne tragic consequences. If Jews, themselves, do not create their division and separation, the nations will do so for them. Thus has it been throughout history, and so will it continue for all time.
In the margins of rabid antisemitism lies a point for reflection.
"Antisemitism," said the French philosopher, Sartre, "belongs to the category of circumstances, not to the category of attitudes. One does not argue about circumstances."
Opinion & Comment
One is not accustomed to thinking of science as a creator of myths. A myth is "an ill-founded belief held uncritically, especially by an interested group." Science is generally considered to be a rational discipline grounded in logic and clear thinking. Nevertheless, science has its own share of myths. One such myth it has engendered, maybe unwittingly, is commonly referred to as "monkeys and typewriters."
Though the power of this myth has become somewhat diluted over the course of time, it still affects the way people think about the world. The myth has been used, if not formally, then at least in the minds of the general public, to explain how life with its overwhelming diversity could have come about without divine intervention.
Years ago, my wife was arguing with one of her Jewish co- workers, a college educated young woman, about the ideas of G- d and evolution. But she could make no headway with her. Whenever my wife tried to argue that without the intervention of a Creator, life was improbable, her co-worker simply said "monkeys and typewriters." The phrase served as a conversation stopper, a buzzword that could be used to offer a neat and short explanation for the existence and diversity of life.
The parable goes something like this. If one places many monkeys in front of typewriters, eventually these monkeys will type out some large number of meaningful texts. (This of course assumes that they will indeed begin to type and will do so regularly.) By analogy, given enough time and the right conditions, small molecules that are in close proximity to each other will eventually randomly combine to form large, biologically functional molecules and by these random combinations life, in all its incredible complexity, inevitably will develop and flourish.
Anyone who does the calculation quickly realizes the absurdity of the whole idea.
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