Opinion & Comment
The Miracle Of Our Times -- Marking Chinuch Atzmai's Fiftieth Jubilee: Sivan 5713 -- Sivan 5763

The Fruits of Self-Sacrifice

Chazal note that the beneficiary of a miracle may actually be unaware that one has taken place (Brochos). It is in this sentiment that the following thoughts are offered.

The sight of the Chinuch Atzmai directorate's heartfelt notice calling for joyous celebration of this great day and impressing the occasion's importance upon the tens of thousands of their alumni, evoked emotions that are hard to put into words. The past hundred years have been marked by titanic conflicts over the education of our nation's youth but in the last fifty years, we have witnessed an unprecedented and miraculous degree of Providence and Divine mercy in this respect.

Initially, we underwent two extremely difficult periods of open conflict over the apostatizing of the younger generation; first the Enlightenment, then the Communist revolution. These robbed us of some of our most gifted youngsters, who were lost to assimilation and heresy. Shortly after the Communist Revolution, the holy Chofetz Chaim zt'l remarked that had there been more self-sacrifice, we would not have lost millions of precious Jewish souls.

However, it seems to me that in the past fifty years, we have been repaid with a large measure of Divine compassion in this very area, in direct proportion to the self-sacrifice of the Torah leaders who established Chinuch Atzmai and to that of their successors. Who can describe the devotion of men such as HaRav Aharon Kotler zt'l and HaRav Zalman Sorotzkin zt'l, who, with their colleagues from the worlds of Torah and chassidus, shouldered the burden of a global concern for the sake of the Torah education of Jewish children in Eretz Yisroel? Who can portray the extent of all the unassuming but comprehensive work that was carried out in Rav Sorotzkin's small home in the Geulah neighborhood? From there and from America where Reb Aharon lived, the organization was steered and put on a firm footing at its outset.

The talmudei Torah and Bais Yaakov schools of Chinuch Atzmai have given a splendid yield. Over two generations, tens of thousands of Torah true homes have been established, where pure Torah values and fear of Heaven reign supreme. We ourselves must be aware -- and must make others aware -- that all this exists in the merit of the wondrous devotion of the Torah leaders zy'a, who founded the organization, the sacrifice of the parents who did not hesitate despite the difficulties, the devotion of workers and activists everywhere and the selflessness of principals and teachers.

The self-sacrifice of the directorate and all its branches must also be noted. Where there is such a degree of sacrifice and of effort, the Heavenly attribute of mercy testifies that, "just as they went to all this trouble, they would also have gone to the desert in order to receive Torah at Sinai". The result is the special Divine assistance that we merited -- literally a miracle -- in educating our precious youth to Torah and yiras Shomayim, in a way that did not exist before.

Three Fundamentals

Three fundamental factors, which were integrated into Chinuch Atzmai's program from the outset, have been instrumental in its success.

First, it set out to provide Torah education for the entire klal, to which end talmudei Torah and girls' schools were opened virtually everywhere. The second factor is the adoption of three in particular of the forty-eight means by which Torah is acquired (see Ovos 6:5): fear, respect and humility, in direct opposition to the spirit of the times wherein everything is evaluated according to externals, and superfluous and unnecessary publicity. The third guideline is absolute allegiance to the Torah leaders without budging an iota from their directions.

HaRav Moshe Feinstein's zt'l, comment on the posuk, "the seven lights should provide illumination towards the face of the menorah" (Bamidbor 8:2), is particularly apt: "the lights" represent the disciples of the Torah leaders, who must in turn themselves provide further illumination for their generation whilst ensuring however, that they always remain oriented "towards the face of the menorah" i.e. facing the gedolim.

Chinuch Atzmai is typified by the words of the posuk in Bamidbor 21:18, according to the wonderful explanation of the Or HaChaim. Whatever was newly instituted by later generations, says the Or HaChaim, was akin to merely making an impression, as opposed to the digging and cutting of the earlier generations. Even this much, he says, leans for support on the work of the earlier Sages and "whatever is not based upon the teachings of the early Sages, should not be relied upon . . . what their heirs merited receiving was only in the merit of [the latter's] viewing themselves as desert for Torah is only acquired through humility . . ."

Whoever was present at the meetings of the directorate, led by the Torah leaders and the chassidishe leaders, witnessed their humility and their simplicity and the great sense of responsibility in the atmosphere and could literally feel the meaning of the Or Hachaim's comments.

Memories

With Heaven's assistance, I merited working for Chinuch Atzmai under the Torah leader who in particular abandoned everything else for the sake of the organization -- HaRav Aharon Kotler zt'l. He did everything he could for its sake, working days and nights. What joy he had from each of his letters reporting higher enrollment of graduates into yeshivos, the students' heightened comprehension and increased hours of Torah learning in the classrooms. He reviewed each letter and always helped with extra financial support for the added hours of Torah study.

Our precious students returned the love that he bore toward them. I shall never forget the pleasure that they brought him. On one of his first visits to Eretz Yisroel, the directorate asked me to arrange a reception befitting a Torah gaon. I taught one of the outstanding pupils at talmud Torah Ohel Yaakov in Tel Aviv, a shiur of Reb Aharon's (that is printed in Even Ho'ezel. His father-in- law HaRav Isser Zalman Meltzer's zt'l sefer) on the subject of "Borrowing and Redeeming by Halves," for him to repeat in front of the gathering of gedolei Torah who would be at the reception at the airport. I shall not attempt to describe the sublime, inward spiritual satisfaction that our master must have felt at being received with one of his own shiurim, rather then with a bouquet of flowers. We certainly reciprocated his love for us with genuine love and friendship.

Looking back over the decades of working to imbue the talmidim with love of Torah and with the ambition to achieve true greatness, I recall many wonderful examples of the Heavenly assistance that we had. Chinuch Atzmai was a countrywide organization that operated in both the northern and southern regions. All the wondrous successes that took place in all the different locations really ought to be collected in one volume. For now, I would just like to dwell on one story that illustrates Chinuch Atzmai's success, that took place in the settlement Magdiel, in the Sharon region -- a place where all the youth, both boys and girls, merited following the path of Torah and yiras Shomayim. One of the residents told me that on Shavuos night, all the botei knesses were filled with bnei Torah, avreichim and yeshiva students. This outstanding success owed itself to the sacrifices made by the townspeople, who merited having all their offspring learn in yeshivos kedoshos.

It is awe-inspiring to record the amazing story of one of the residents, who was extremely sick and who left instructions for his son who was then studying in the eighth grade, that he should not dare to go to a Yeshiva High School, only to a yeshiva kedoshoh. Those were his last words.

With Heaven's Consent

I shall conclude in a similar vein to my introduction, by quoting from the declaration that was made at Chinuch Atzmai's foundation at Tel Aviv Halls on the eleventh of Sivan 5713, in the presence of the gedolei haTorah. The declaration was read out in trepidation and reverence by Reb Aharon's partner in founding the organization, HaRav Zalman Sorotzkin.

He said, "On this momentous and holy occasion, with Heaven's consent and with the public's consent and in the presence of the community's elders, the gedolei haTorah, we announce, be'ezras Hashem yisborach, the founding of Chinuch Atzmai [an independent educational network] for Torah and yiras Shomayim. We call upon every Jewish parent to transfer his sons and daughters to this [stream of] authentic Torah education and we place an obligation, that is truly a merit, upon all Jews to participate with both their strength and their means, in sustaining this educational stream in Klal Yisroel, until Moshiach's arrival."

May this anniversary be a milestone and a landmark on the path to Chinuch Atzmai's continued existence and growth. May this holy endeavor extend to educate all Jewish children, be'ezras Hashem yisborach, to Torah and yiras Shomayim.

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