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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
Introduction
The following recollections of the Alter of Slobodke zt'l
offer a spiritual portrait of one of the greatest and
most influential educators that the modern yeshiva world has
known. As well as eminently qualifying him to elucidate the
main ideas of the Alter's outlook, HaRav Chodosh's standing
as one of his closest talmidim for over twenty years
also qualifies him to demonstrate how the Alter himself was
their embodiment. From a close reading of the shmuess,
herein it seems clear that in addition, HaRav Chodosh
intends to show how the ideas which the Alter spread indeed
addressed areas of general human weakness, such as the fear
of sin and the importance of humility, with which a
superficial acquaintance with Slobodke mussar, with
its emphasis on inspiring and uplifting and their distinct
outer manifestations, may have led outsiders to believe that
the Alter was less preoccupied with than were the proponents
of other mussar systems.
Indeed, the term gadlus ho'odom, the greatness of man
or mankind, is not fully understood today. Many mistakenly
associate it with a certain air of self assurance and style
of clothing, as if this approach achieved the improvement of
the self image of bnei Torah by having them dress
smartly. In this shmuess, HaRav Chodosh sets out the
fundamental premise of gadlus ho'odom and shows how
its correct appreciation and assimilation led to the
realization of the main goals that all the different
mussar systems shared.
HaRav Chodosh demonstrates that attaining yiras Shomayim
is the work of a lifetime and that success can only
result if a person's efforts are firmly founded upon a
correct understanding of man's purpose in this world. To
achieve this, the Alter continually drew upon Chazal's
teachings concerning the greatness of Odom Horishon.
HaRav Chodosh goes on to show that the attainment of true
wisdom and humility, as well as refined and pleasant
character traits, are both an outgrowth of recognizing man's
relationship with his Creator. Obviously, this awareness will
also require that interpersonal relationships are handled
with the utmost consideration for others. An understanding of
the soul of Slobodke mussar enables its outward
features to be viewed in their proper proportions.
Why didn't the Alter write seforim? Why was he
continually speaking about Odom Horishon? His home was open
to all, twenty-four hours a day, yet he lived a life of
modesty and concealment. He was speaking all day, yet he was
a man of silence. Why did he speak softly, so that people had
to move closer in order to hear him? Why did he hold onto a
handkerchief or cloth during a shmuess? Some of the
enigmas about the Alter are explained herein.
The shmuess was delivered by HaRav Meir Chodosh on the
twenty ninth of Shevat, 5741, the Alter's yahrtzeit,
in the beis haknesses of Hisachdus Yeshivas
Chevron in Bnei Brak. It was transcribed by Rabbi Aharon Meir
Kravitz, who is a grandson of HaRav Chodosh.
Write Them On Your Heart!
In the Torah world at large and especially in the yeshivos,
the day before Rosh Chodesh Adar is a day of introspection.
This day marks the yahrtzeit of the man who founded
our holy yeshiva -- not merely with regard to its material
founding but also in the sense of having put the yeshiva upon
its feet, educating and guiding us so that we developed
spiritually. He taught us to tread along the path of Hashem,
[and showed us] an approach to serving Him.
The Alter left his Torah in oral form. He didn't record his
novel ideas in writing. On his way to Eretz Yisroel he
travelled through Berlin and went to visit one of the
greatest of his talmidim, who was one of the renowned
rabbonim of the generation. The talmid asked his
rebbe, the Alter, why he did not record his [many]
shmuessen, since the Alter used to lecture day and
night.
The talmid related that several other distinguished
talmidim of the Alter's had been with him earlier and
he had asked them what the Alter had been speaking about
lately. By way of answer, they had tried to repeat two or
three shmuessen, but they couldn't remember a fourth
one. Since it seemed that the shmuessen were being
lost, why didn't he keep a written record of them?
The Alter answered him with another question. "You have
conversed with my talmidim -- are they the same as
other people?"
"No, certainly not. The difference is recognizable at
once."
"Those are my shmuessen," the Alter replied. "They are
written down on my talmidim!"
I then asked that rav, "They must have told you the most
recent shmuessen, which he delivered before leaving
for Eretz Yisroel. One of them concerned the greatness of
man, portraying him as being greater than a mal'ach,
from whom the mal'ochim [themselves] had to learn, as
HaKodosh Boruch Hu said to them, `See the creation
that I have made, whose wisdom exceeds yours . . . ' [Yet]
although Hashem told the mal'ochim to contemplate Odom
Horishon's wisdom, they couldn't learn from him in the
ordinary way, like a talmid from his rebbe. The
gemora (Sanhedrin 59) says, `Rabbi Yehuda ben Teima
says, Odom Horishon reclined in Gan Eden and the
mal'ochim roasted meat and strained wine for him . . .
' The only way they could take something from him was by
serving him -- they were able to grasp something by
performing tasks connected with the preparation of his food --
this shows us the greatness of Odom Horishon." And indeed,
this was one of the shmuessen which that rav had heard
from the talmidim.
"However," I told him, "that shmuess did not just
represent one single shmuess. In order to appreciate a
shmuess like that about Odom Horishon, one has to
first hear a number of other introductory shmuessen:
about the Creation and why it was made, about the meaning of
the `wisdom' which Hashem rated as being greater in Odom than
in the mal'ochim and what the level of Odom Horishon's
wisdom actually was. Only then [can one understand a
shmuess about] who Odom Horishon was and in what way
`his wisdom exceeds yours.' [For example,] if one asks a
young child what he is learning, he will first say `alef-
beis.' If one asks him later on, he'll tell you
`Kometz alef: oh,' and later on he'll answer that he
is learning to read sequences of letters. Later still, he'll
say he's learning to read from the siddur but he won't
mention that he's learned `alef-beis, kometz alef: oh'
and the earlier stages, because all that is included in
having learned to read siddur.
"On a later occasion, I told the rosh yeshiva, HaRav
Yechezkel Sarna zt'l, that in responding to that rav
by asking him whether the Slobodke talmidim were the
same as others, the Alter intended to convey the message that
his shmuessen actually were being recorded, in the
sense of the posuk, `Write them on the tablet of your
heart.' The principle record is the one that gets left upon
the heart. The Alter therefore `wrote' upon thousands of
hearts, building them and guiding them in the service of
Hashem."
The Foundation of Yirah
He was continually involved in the profound topic of man's
greatness. At first, his reason for speaking about Odom
Horishon at such great length was a total puzzle to his
talmidim, however, in time we understood, as we shall
explain.
It is a very widespread error to think that yiras
Shomayim is a more straightforward and self evident
acquisition than Torah knowledge. People know that learning
Torah is necessary in order to understand [Torah], yet when
it comes to the special wisdom of the fear of Heaven,
everybody supposedly knows all about it and understands what
it is by themselves. The truth however, is otherwise. In his
introduction, the Mesilas Yeshorim protests the
practice in his times, when only those with coarse minds
involved themselves in the study of yiras Shomayim.
Those who found it hard to learn Torah, studied works of
mussar and became mussar-niks, whereas those
with swift comprehension, who possessed sharp, intelligent
minds, did not spend time on this field of study, arguing
that it was all simple and well known.
The Mesilas Yeshorim introduces the idea that true
fear of Heaven is one and the same thing as wisdom. It
therefore follows that when people imagine they know what
yirah is, that can't be true yirah, about which
the posuk says, "If you seek it like silver and hunt
for it like hidden treasure, then you will understand the
fear of Hashem." [The Mesilas Yeshorim points out
that,] "It doesn't say `Then you will understand philosophy,
then you will understand engineering . . . medicine . . .
dinim . . . or halochos . . . It says, `Then
you will understand the fear of Hashem.' You see that in
order to understand yirah, one has to seek it like
silver and hunt for it like hidden treasure . . . "
Later on, in the first chapter of Mesilas Yeshorim, he
begins to explain the foundation of yirah, thereby
demonstrating to us that it has a foundation. And if there
needs to be a foundation, it follows that where it is
lacking, anything that is built there will have no permanent
existence. If someone possesses yirah but his
yirah lacks a foundation, the entire edifice is in
danger of collapse.
And what is that foundation? "The foundation of piety and the
root of the perfect service [of Hashem, the Mesilas
Yeshorim tells us,] is that a person's duty in his world
should become distinct and authentic to him." Chazal have
taught us that man was only created in order to find pleasure
in Hashem. It therefore follows that the foundation of the
entire study of yirah is the knowledge that man was
only created to enjoy Hashem. It isn't enough to know that
one is supposed to enjoy Hashem -- such knowledge is
insufficient to serve as a foundation for piety and serving
Hashem; the basis is still lacking. One has to know that this
is the only purpose for which man was created.
Included in the foundation of yiras Shomayim
therefore, is the study and the understanding of the true
purpose of man's creation. That is the reason why the Alter
was always involved in and always spoke about this profound
topic. He literally lived it and continued developing new
insights into it throughout his life. When one appreciates
what man is, what Odom Horishon's greatness was and [the
extent of] his descent from that level after he sinned, one
can then appreciate the extent to which sin is the opposite
of having pleasure in Hashem. [One can understand] how much
one ought to keep one's distance from the slightest trace of
sin, so as not to lessen one's greatness.
Raising Oneself to the Torah's
Standards
That is [also] why he always used to speak about the quality
of the Torah that was given from Heaven. That Torah was given
to man; therefore man has to tailor himself to the Torah. Man
must scale ever greater spiritual heights, so that he is
worthy of Torah, rather than making Torah suit him as he is.
He must place obligations upon himself, so that he becomes
deserving of learning Hashem's Torah.
This idea is expressed by the mishna (Sanhedrin 33):
When witnesses come to testify against a murderer, they are
first intimidated, so that they will relinquish any ideas of
basing their testimony upon anything but the facts. They are
asked, "Perhaps you are basing yourselves on circumstantial
evidence or on hearsay . . . ?" and they are taught the
severity of putting a person to death without the full
requirements of the Torah's law having been met. They are
told, "This is why man was created as an individual; to teach
you that whoever destroys a single Jewish soul, is considered
. . . as having destroyed an entire world."
[The single soul of whose importance we call the witness's
attention is his own.] "Therefore, every single individual
must say, `The world was created for me,' which Rashi
explains to mean, "I am as important as an entire world; I
won't trouble myself out of the world for the sake of a
single sin," and he will desist from it."
In order to dissuade someone from testifying falsely --
perhaps he has some partiality and because of it he won't
tell the truth -- we threaten him, and without this
intimidation, we don't accept his testimony.
What is it that we convey to him? That he ought to have a
proper estimation of his own importance and greatness, so as
not to chas vesholom trouble himself from the world on
account of a single sin. Man was created to have pleasure in
Hashem, while sin distances him from this pleasure. If man
but understood what his potential is and how the sins which
he does affect him, he would refrain from sinning. Chazal
understood that only by fully appreciating this will a man
refrain from testifying falsely.
These are realizations which must not remain as theoretical
knowledge; they must become part of life. This is something
which we continually witnessed about the Alter. He lived
these ideas and spent his entire life in the contemplation of
the purpose of Creation and the consequences of sinning. He
also used to speak at length about how teshuvah is
apparently the opposite of having pleasure in Hashem, for
teshuvah is based upon regret. Nevertheless, that too
is having pleasure in Hashem, for a person is led back to
that state by dwelling upon the Creation, upon man, upon sin
and teshuvah and upon the greatness of man's power to
return to his original level.
Fitting Behavior in the King's
Presence
Rabbenu Yonah (in Sha'arei Teshuvah, sha'ar III:27)
writes, "One of the Torah's prohibitions which is dependant
upon [the thoughts and feelings of] a person's heart is,
`Guard yourself, lest you forget Hashem your G-d' (Devorim
8:11) . . . We are hereby warned to remember Hashem at
all times. [Therefore,] a man must try to acquire the
constant presence in his soul of those traits which are
consequences of this remembrance, such as yirah,
modesty, refinement of one's thoughts and the regulation of
character traits; for the members of the holy people will
attain every becoming attribute which beautifies its owner,
through remembering Hashem Yisborach, as the posuk
(Yeshaya 45:25) says, "In Hashem [i.e. by remembering Him
at all times,] all the seed of Yisroel will attain
righteousness and be praised."
From this posuk, Rabbenu Yonah shows us that
constantly remembering Hashem confers the obligation to
elevate oneself and to attain every becoming trait:
yirah, modesty and the perfection of one's thoughts.
We witnessed all this in the Alter. On every single occasion,
he would demand that our conduct be based upon wisdom;
"Hashem founded the world with wisdom," (Mishlei
3:19). He always used to say, "Don't be like horses, like
uncomprehending mules," (Tehillim 32:9).
The major portion of one's yirah had to be exercised
together with one's wisdom, while at the very same time, all
of one's wisdom had to be invested in one's yirah. All
of his own tremendous wisdom was encapsulated within his
yirah, as the mishna (Avos 3:21), says, "If
there is no wisdom there is no yirah; if there is no
yirah there is no wisdom."
The modesty with which he conducted himself was amazing. His
home was never a private place. It was a public domain. There
were talmidim coming in and out at all hours of the
day and night. He never closed his door, not even while he
ate or slept. This would seem to be a contradiction to
modesty, for while a person is in the company of others, he
cannot conceal himself. However, by appreciating his
greatness, it was possible to understand how much of it was
hidden and concealed by his modesty.
This trait is mentioned by the gemora (Makkos 24),
"Michah came and summed them up in three principle
requirements as the posuk (Michah 6:8) says, `He has
told you, man, what is good and what Hashem your G-d
requires from you, [it is] but to do justice, to love doing
kindness and to go modestly with your G-d."
One of the foundations of yirah is therefore modesty.
One might have thought that a person only needs to conduct
himself modestly when he is engaged in activities that are
usually done privately, but this is not required when doing
things that are anyway normally done in public. However, the
gemora continues, `And going modestly -- this refers
to taking out the dead and bringing in the bride."
Rashi explains that the word leches, going, is
used by the posuk (Koheles 7:2) in speaking of both
these occasions. We therefore see that modesty is a
requirement even when doing things that involve `going.' The
gemora concludes, `If the Torah tells us about `going
modestly' even when doing things that are not usually done in
private, how much more so is this necessary with those things
that are.'
Further explanation of the modesty necessary in escorting the
dead or a bride, is provided by Rashi on the gemora in
Succah (49), which brings the posuk (Shir Hashirim
7:2), "Your thigh is concealed -- Why are words of Torah
compared to a thigh? To tell you that just as a thigh should
be concealed, so too should words of Torah." The
gemora then goes on to quote Rabbi Elozor, who brings
the posuk from Michah, with the requirement to
exercise modesty. Rashi explains that, "Even there, [when
accompanying the dead or a bride,] modesty is necessary, to
eulogize to a fitting degree and to rejoice in a fitting
degree . . . " The Alter would always speak about how to
travel to a wedding in the correct manner and how to gladden
others there in a becoming manner, and it was this
gemora that he had in mind.
He worked [on himself] in this area. Although there was not a
moment when he was alone, he nevertheless succeeded in
concealing himself. All his own yirah was covered and
concealed. When he spoke about yiras Shomayim, he
would refer to it as wisdom -- but in fact he meant
yirah and the perfection of one's thoughts. It was
well known that when one was in his company, one had to pay
attention to how and what one was thinking, [and one had to
act] with beauty and with grace, as in the posuk which
Rabbenu Yonah quotes, "All the seed of Yisroel will attain
righteousness and be praised in Hashem."
This is the level which a person ought to achieve, as Rabbenu
Yonah explains: remembering Hashem confers an obligation to
elevate oneself and to attain every fitting attribute that
adorns its owner. He always demanded that his talmidim
become aware of and fully estimate man's greatness. Every
single one of a person's thoughts has tremendous worth, how
much more so every word that he says. How careful ought one
to be to avoid anything that cannot be considered a
"refinement of thought."
A Lifetime's Craft
This is why one of the foundations of his education was the
lesson of the gemora (Chulin 89), "Rabbi Yitzchok
said, `What is the meaning of the posuk (Tehillim
58:2), "Have you truly been struck dumb . . . ?" -- What
should a person's craft be in this world? To render himself
[as though he were] struck dumb." The gemora's use of
the term "craft" implies that creativity is necessary in
practicing this and that one needs to study ways to be
creative. It [also] implies that this pursuit is the main
object of life, as the gemora says at the end of
Kiddushin, "A man must teach his son a craft." Man's
craft and his task in this world is to render himself
speechless. The gemora goes on to say, "Perhaps this
also applies to words of Torah? The posuk says
[however,] `speaking justice.'"
We see that a special teaching is needed to tell us that one
can speak words of Torah. Without this, absolutely all speech
would have been proscribed. This shows us the power of human
speech and how carefully we have to guard it.
There seems to be a difficulty though. If one is supposed to
speak words of Torah, one should be speaking all day long, in
which case, how can one ever remain speechless?
The Alter taught us however, how one can be speaking all day
and yet remain silent. We saw with our own eyes how he talked
and talked without end, all day long, raising thousands of
disciples with his words, yet he nevertheless remained
silent. We saw how with every word that he uttered, it was as
though a dumb man's mouth had been opened. It looked as
though a dumb person had suddenly managed to start speaking.
This was how it always appeared.
Even outside the yeshiva, when he spoke to strangers, to
gentiles or to anyone else, every word he uttered seemed to
have been forced from the lips of a dumb man. Any superfluous
word was certainly unthinkable.
He would always mention the posuk (Iyov 28:12), "And
from where will the wisdom be found?" making a play on the
word mei'ayin, from where and explaining it as a
negative, meaning, from what is not. In other words,
there is wisdom to be extracted from what is not said.
A large amount of what the Alter taught us came from what he
did not say, just as entire Torah discourses have been based
upon things which the Rif did not include in his digest of
halacha. The Alter never allowed himself to escape the
sensation of being unable to speak.
The Alter used to speak quietly, and all the bochurim
had to crowd round him in order to hear. Often, they had to
rest their heads right upon their friends' heads, just to be
able to hear him. Once they asked him to speak in a louder
voice and they could see that he was trying and trying but it
didn't help -- after all, he was like a man who has been
struck dumb.
During shmuessen, he would always be holding a
handkerchief or a cloth, at which he would be humbly looking.
At one time, I thought that this practice was in keeping with
the Ramban's advice, that when one reproves someone else, one
should not look at him directly. However, I heard from the
gaon HaRav Yaakov Kamenetsky [zt'l,] that the
Alter told him that it was because he had a shy nature and
he was not used to looking people in the face.
Yet, with all his bashfulness, his modesty and his great
humility, and while he conducted himself as though he was
dumbstruck, he still managed to raise thousands of
talmidim, literally building them up.
This was his strength -- he was able to remain concealed and
silent, yet be such a prolific educator. It is impossible to
transmit this quality merely by word of mouth. One has to see
an example. Then one can learn from it what one cannot glean
from shmuessen alone. The foundation of all this was
"the greatness of man" -- that was always the basis.
In the Divine Likeness
We find that when HaKodosh Boruch Hu came to give the
Torah to the Jewish nation, His principle [prefacing] command
was, "And you shall be a treasure for Me," (Shemos
19:5). Everything was founded upon this, including the
actual receiving of the Torah.
Afterwards too, He told them, "You have seen that I spoke to
you from the Heavens." The posuk continues, "You shall
not make [what is] with me; you shall not make for yourselves
gods of silver and gods of gold." Rashi explains that this
prohibits making Keruvim like those in the Beis
Hamikdosh, to place in botei knesses and botei
medrash. This is denoted by the word "lochem, for
yourselves" meaning that even Keruvim, which are
certainly not intended to be for idol worship chas
vesholom but to facilitate the presence of the
Shechina, are considered idolatrous if they are made
elsewhere.
In what area is it permissible for man to add to and expand
his service of Hashem? Only [through offering voluntary
sacrifices] upon the "mizbei'ach of earth" which "you
shall make for Me." This is the only way.
However [here] there is another condition, to which careful
attention should be paid. "You shall not ascend my
mizbei'ach on stairs, [so] that you do not reveal your
nakedness over it." Rashi explains that when going up stairs,
one needs to take wide steps and even though the cohen
remains covered, because the Torah commands that he wear
trousers, opening the legs wide is akin to revealing oneself.
This denotes a belittling attitude towards the
mizbei'ach. Rashi then quotes Chazal's reasoning that
if the Torah is so demanding concerning inanimate stones,
simply because they have a purpose -- although they remain
unaware if something shameful is directed at them -- how much
more so ought we to be concerned to avoid shaming a fellow
man, who is created in Hashem's image and who cares greatly
about his shame.
Let us consider this more deeply. When one wants to fashion
inert metal into Keruvim -- not for avoda zorah
but for serving Hashem -- this retains the appearance of
idolatry, with the sole exception of the Beis
Hamikdosh. When it comes to a human being however --
Hashem's handiwork, the purpose of Creation, for whom the
entire world was made, whom the posuk tells us is made
in the likeness of his Creator -- the obligation is far
greater: to be aware of and to act in accordance with the
knowledge that a fellow man is a likeness of the Creator and
to look upon him as though one were looking at the likeness
of the Divine, as it were. [The worth of a human being is so
great that it supersedes any "appearance" of idolatry.] All
this applies to other humans, despite the fact that to relate
to any other kind of object in this way is utter idolatry
chas vesholom, even if one doesn't imagine there is
any likeness to Hashem (as in the case of the Keruvim,
that are made only to facilitate the presence of the
Shechina.) We see here what value the Torah places on
a person's self respect.
Yet there is still another point to consider. The Torah's
warning to a cohen not to behave disrespectfully when
serving Hashem on the mizbei'ach, is apparently
limited to the duration and the place of the actual
avoda, as the posuk specifically states. What
grounds are there for applying it universally to one's fellow
man? We must therefore conclude that the Torah places greater
value on a person's honor than it does on that of the
mizbei'ach, to the point where the former can indeed
be learned from the latter through a kal vachomer.
Know Your Purpose! Understand Your
Importance!
This is the foundation of "the greatness of man." As a result
of contemplating this profound topic -- which encompasses the
ultimate purpose of Creation as well as the basis of the fear
of Heaven, as we explained earlier from the words of the
Mesilas Yeshorim -- [one will know] how to value one's
fellow man properly and how to respect him. One will also be
aware of how carefully his dignity should be preserved, so
that one does not chas vesholom assail the honor of
the likeness of Hashem.
This is the day's message: [appreciate] each person's worth
and the importance of each and every action. This was what we
saw in the Alter, how he weighed every movement and every
step that he took.
I once travelled with him on vacation. I wanted to see how he
would conduct himself outside the walls of the yeshiva. I saw
that nothing changed in the slightest, neither in the way he
arranged his day, nor in the way he spoke.
One cannot be a yirei Shomayim without studying the
Creation and Odom Horishon, so that one knows what the world
was created for. This knowledge is the foundation of
yirah and the wisdom with which it must be invested.
It must be delved into deeply and contemplated, so that one
becomes sensitive to the lessons it imparts.
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