A new book has come out containing shmuessen given by
the mashgiach HaRav Yechezkel Levenstein ztv"l
at Ponevezh Yeshiva during the years 5709-5726 (1949- 66).
All the material in this book, Or Yechezkel -- Darkei
Ho'avodo, has been taken from rare cassette recordings
of the Mashgiach collected by family members, and is divided
up according to topics. Since these printed sichos
are exact transcripts of the original, the reader has a
sense of being present at the original shmuess.
Following is a selection of the Mashgiach's insights.
In a shmuess entitled "Whoever Wants to
be Misled, is Free to Be So", the Mashgiach talks about how
young bochurim should be spending their time, and he
bemoans the phenomenon of boys dealing with
shidduchim before they have completed their training
in Torah and mussar.
"I would like to point out something, and I especially have
the younger talmidim in mind: it would be natural to
expect the younger and newer talmidim to be more
diligent in their studies than their senior colleagues,
since they have not yet managed to acquire the techniques of
learning, and if they do not utilize these years for Torah,
how will they be able to grow in learning?
"In our times, however, you do not notice any difference
between the younger and the older talmidim. Every
young bochur already considers himself as important
and complete as the older bochurim. They make do
Rachmono litzlan with a bit of Torah, are already
into shidduchim and interrupt their studies. Matters
of yiras Shomayim are totally neglected by them, even
though we have to labor hard to attain yir'oh, as we
said above. How can we expect to acquire yir'oh
without any effort on our part?
"However, we are now talking about Torah only, and even here
they make do with little, learning a few dapim from
several masechtos, and looking as if they have
reached perfection. We are unaware of the fact that
everybody must aim to acquire complete knowledge of
Shas and poskim, and this applies especially
to the younger ones among us.
"We must not be satisfied with minor achievements, we have
to aim for greatness in Torah. Whoever leaves the yeshiva
without being a real lamdan cannot hope to achieve
anything. Current methods of study do not lead to one
becoming a lamdan. Learning in a slow and lazy manner
without tremendous motivation cannot result in true
lamdonus."
In a shmuess printed in the Derech
HaTorah section of the book, the Mashgiach remonstrates
against young men who study to become rabbonim before having
become proficient in the ways of lomdus. Part of his
criticism is directed against the "worries about the future"
which motivate people to go into rabbonus:
"Taking a brief look at our times, we note that almost every
year there is a further yeridas hadoros, and even the
spiritual level of the yeshiva today cannot be compared to
that of a few years ago.
"Take, for example, those who are learning Yoreh
Deah, intending to go into rabbonus and so on. I do not
think that this is appropriate, because if someone is not a
big lamdan, he could go through Yore Deah
several times, and it would still be impossible to rely on
his rulings. The rulings of a big lamdan, on the
other hand, can be relied upon, even if he is not learning
Yoreh Deah, because he will know how to make an
halachically sound psak. The tendency to study
Yoreh Deah is externally motivated, being connected
to this-worldly considerations and not spiritual ones. We
delude ourselves into thinking that it stems from spiritual
incentives.
"Most importantly, we have to understand that we cannot
guarantee our futures and all those notions are false. To
attempt to guarantee the future is futile. The yeridas
hadoros stems from the fact that we are in the period of
the ikvesa demeshicha. The gemora tells us
various signs of this period and we see clearly how young
people cause distress to the older generation and how the
thought processes of youngsters control us: these are signs
of the ikvesa demeshicha.
"Searching for long-term security is a childish way of
thinking. Ask the elderly: they will tell you that these
foreign ideas and aspirations never helped any of them. Only
those who follow the ways of Torah and toil in it will merit
all good things, even in this world."
In another sicho, the Mashgiach talks
about the chilul Hashem resulting from yeshiva
bochurim davening in shtiblach outside the
yeshiva:
"I would like to call attention to some matters which are
opposed to kvod Shomayim. Some members of the yeshiva
regularly daven outside the yeshiva, in neighboring
shuls.
"First, they must realize that the holiness of a beis
hamedrash is greater than that of a beis
haknesses, especially a beis hamedrash in which
one learns regularly. Apart from the advantage of praying in
the place of one's studies, and there are some who even rule
that it is preferable to pray alone in a place where one
learns rather than betzibbur in a shul, even
if the person prays slowly and is present from the beginning
of the tefilloh, how much more does this
halocho apply to these places where the
davening is very fast, and it is impossible to
concentrate properly on the prayer. I especially have in
mind the kavono for the first brochos of
Shemoneh Esrei: the Mishna Berurah is doubtful
whether, when you have not yet finished the whole
tefilloh, you are obliged to go back to the beginning
of the tefilloh. In places of prayer outside the
yeshiva where the tefilloh is quick, it is certainly
impossible to have the requisite kavono.
"However, the main point I wish to make is that when bnei
Torah daven in shuls and kloislach, this
is not conducive to kvod Shomayim, since people who
see them say, `What are bnei Torah doing here? Why
are you not in the yeshiva? You must have overslept and
missed the yeshiva's minyan."
This behavior does not result in a kiddush Hashem. We
see the extent to which we are required to observe
kiddush Hashem from the gemora in Yoma
which says that we are not allowed to buy meat from a
butcher without paying immediately, and Rav Yehuda says,
`For example, if I were to go four amos without
wearing tefillin.' How much more do we have to be
careful when baalei batim think that bnei
Torah get up late, which negatively affects the
kiddush Hashem. The punishment for mechalelei
Shomayim is extremely severe.
"I think that if someone is late for davening and he
can still make Krias Shema and Shemoneh Esrei,
it is better for him to daven in the yeshiva instead
of going to a shul. It may even be better to
daven on one's own, since it is easier to concentrate
and less damage is caused to kvod Shomayim. In any
case, prayer in the yeshiva is definitely to be preferred
from every point of view."
The book contains many shmuessen about topics of the
day, from which the Mashgiach derived ethical messages.
Every event -- be it a public disaster, an earthquake or
whatever -- was analyzed from the moral perspective. In a
sicho from 5721 (1961), for example, entitled
"Following the Trial of the Oppressor ym"sh," the
Mashgiach in the context of the Eichmann trial, talks about
why Hakodosh Boruch Hu felt it necessary to remind us
of the terrible events of the Holocaust.
In another sicho entitled, "Preparing for Melech
Hamoshiach" the Mashgiach relates the following: "I
remember that in the time of the Chofetz Chaim ztv"l
a man came to him saying that he needed to travel to the
United States. He asked whether he should travel on his own
or take his family with him. The Chofetz Chaim asked him how
long he intended to stay there, and he answered (if I am not
mistaken) for about two years. The Chofetz Chaim replied
that during these two years the Melech Hamoshiach
will definitely come. The man then asked, `Does the
rebbi have the calculation of the "Kempner" in mind?'
[The Malbim, known at the time as the Kempner Rov having
served in the rabbinate at the town of Kempna, makes a
calculation in one of his books, according to which
Moshiach was due to arrive around that time.] The
Chofetz Chaim answered, `No, the Melech Hamoshiach
must come already regardless of the Kempner's computation,
because who is left that the Moshiach could come
for?' It was the Chofetz Chaim's approach that in the light
of the yeridas hadoros there was no one left for whom
the Moshiach could come. This was said regarding
previous generations which had gedolim of enormous
stature. How much more does this apply to our generation,
when gedolim and men of standing are on the decrease
and children rule over us: the Moshiach certainly has
no one to come for. Should he come and reveal himself to the
people in the yeshivot tichoniot?"
