Part I
Floating With the Current
The fiftieth yahrtzeit of the gaon and
tzaddik Rav Eliyohu Eliezer Dessler zt'l passed
recently. The occasion led to considering a quality that
typified him as a Torah and mussar personality and
that sorely needs strengthening nowadays.
Any Torah educator or mashgiach ruchani who is
consulted about the major problem of our generation and of
the youth in particular, will affirm that hand- in-hand with
ambition for material gain and worldly pleasures there is
also a growing -- and very dangerous -- tendency towards
shallowness and superficiality.
Anybody can make a mistake but a person who is used to
deliberation and deep thinking is open to correction. When
pettiness, empty-headedness and superficiality are the order
of the day, one simply finds that "there is no one to talk
to."
We don't need to resort to things that were said or written
generations ago in order to make this point. In our own
times, we had the privilege of knowing and learning from
HaRav Shach zt'l who was outspoken in deploring
superficiality. He called for careful thinking and rising
above the facile and generally-adopted approach when
necessary. Anyone fortunate enough to have heard his profound
shiurim, his inspiring mussar shmuessen or his
analysis of contemporary issues, took away one basic lesson,
that runs like a thread through everything that he said or
wrote: Don't approach life superficially! Beware of shallow
thinking and triviality!
Torah Study and Mankind's Deterioration
"Learning Torah is thus not merely a matter of fulfilling the
mitzvah of talmud Torah. Our obligation goes further --
to ensure that Torah teaches us `laws of life.' It must guide
us in all circumstances, showing us how to live, how to
behave, how to think and how to understand, not simply
glancing at what goes on around us but thinking about it
deeply and with penetration. This is a fundamental
characteristic of Torah because it is only possible to
succeed in achieving our purpose through profound,
contemplative thought.
"Unfortunately, we live in a materialistic world that only
relates to the external aspects of events. No attempt is made
to delve into them more deeply and to uncover their genuine
meaning. Superficiality reigns supreme, with a consequent,
dreadful deterioration in human and moral values. The farther
we move away from Torah and its profound way of thinking that
traces out a path of truth along which to proceed in life,
the further mankind sinks morally.
"Everything that used to be obvious and universally agreed
upon is now losing its value and its essence is becoming
obscured. The norms of behavior to which people always used
to adhere are now being forgotten. Sadly, we are surrounded
by those who have lost even minimal standards. The ailment
has infected us as well. Alien influences have penetrated our
community. Who can declare himself untainted by his
environment?" (from the Yarchei Kallah address 5746,
Michtovim Umaamorim vol. IV).
"There is nothing more obvious than the truth. One would
think that there is no need to explain what is true, because
it is self-understood. Truth is enduring and eternal, while
falsehood, because it is a sham, is subject to change. Yet
falsehood exerts an attraction with its external sheen that
sometimes obscures the truth.
"We must realize that falsehood is nothing but a cover.
Beneath the cover, behind the fakery, the truth is hiding. It
is merely covered. All that needs to be done in order to
reveal it is to remove the cover of falsehood. To whatever
extent falsehood succeeds in beclouding the truth, it can
never displace it, because falsehood has no existence of its
own.
"Our task is to remove the covering of falsehood and to
reveal the truth -- to view everything correctly, truthfully,
not superficially but with depth. When one thinks deeply
about the world, one understands everything differently. Life
looks different. One sees that one's purpose is to elevate
oneself and thereby the entire world too, increasing Heaven's
glory! Contemplation can transform a person!" (from a
shmuess delivered in Ponovezh Yeshiva in 5734 and
printed in Hashkofoseinu, #1).
The Crucial Importance of Mussar
This is why HaRav Shach stressed the obligation to learn
mussar, in many of his letters. He noted that it was
Rav Yisroel Salanter's mussar approach that stabilized
the holy yeshivos and that saved the most recent generations
from spiritual devastation.
If mussar's message can be summed up in one word, that
word is contemplation. A person's unbiased contemplation of
himself and his environment, of pesukim, of statements
of Chazal and of the works of Rishonim, gives him an accurate
assessment of his own task in this world and a correct
approach to contemporary challenges and issues.
Superficiality, public opinion and the sweeping, coarse and
instinctive grasp of the street -- which HaRav Shach would
derisively dismiss as oilem goilem -- are the
antithesis of the way that the ben Torah and the
yirei Shomayim think. All of our generation's
problems, all of the distorted ideas and the confusion that
are prevalent even among observant Jews, stem from this lack
of contemplation.
By distancing us from superficiality and showing us the
meaning of contemplation, HaRav Shach set us on the correct
path. Whatever the issue he was addressing, he articulated a
clear Torah outlook, explaining himself fully. Whoever was
interested in understanding him, and thought over what he
said, grasped his views on all topics very well.
It should be borne in mind that the duty to follow the
rulings of Torah authorities applies even when they "tell you
that right is left and that left is right." However, HaRav
Shach did not want us to listen to him just because we had
to. He made every effort to clarify his position and to
demonstrate that Torah itself leads and guides us as to how
to act and think.
Armor Against Haskalah
"The true gaon, light of [Klal] Yisroel, [Rav
Yisroel] Salanter . . . Through his work on his approach of
mussar study he saved all the yeshivos from being
ensnared by the maskilim and the accursed
haskalah" (from HaRav Shach's letter of approbation to
The Writings of the Alter of Kelm).
HaRav Shach's contention that mussar was the salvation
of the yeshivos has contemporary implications. Only if one is
aware of the crucial need to avoid superficiality and reach a
deeper understanding of life, can one hope to acquire an
authentic Torah outlook and successfully face the challenges
of the times.
Haskalah was only able to wreak spiritual devastation
of such terrible dimensions because observant Jews were blind
to the dangers it posed. Many of them initially admired and
espoused it. Religious Jews even wrote a number of the
pamphlets and books that spread haskalah. These were
written in a style that was familiar to the knowledgeable
reader.
Haskalah ideas were expressed in phrases and concepts
gleaned from sifrei Chazal, and many readers, who had
only a superficial understanding of Chazal to begin with,
were oblivious to the poison that they harbored. The prospect
of material betterment was also a powerful lure, which
provided the movement's leaders with an opening by which to
try to change the face of Jewish life.
Only those who had developed in botei medrash where
the greatest emphasis was placed on achieving a profound
understanding of gemora and on mussar study,
who had been trained to examine every topic with sharpness
and penetration -- only they succeeded in distinguishing
between falsehood and the genuine article, guided by the
Torah leaders of recent generations.
Tools for Life
Anyone who is in the habit of studying the works of the
mussar masters will be familiar with the deep
satisfaction that this study affords. This results from the
light that their ideas suddenly shed on the topic of
discussion. One feels that one is being given a new way of
looking at the issue, even when it is something that is
usually taken for granted and never dwelt upon.
The printed teachings of Rav Yeruchom Levovitz zt'l
are a superb example of this kind of scholarly and analytical
approach to every aspect of life. Rav Dessler, too, arrayed
fundamental ideas on topics that require deep thinking. After
absorbing them, one feels that the topic is truly elementary
and can hardly understand how one never before realized such
basic truths, which provide such important instruction
throughout life.
It was this need for clarity that led Rav Dessler to lay down
certain axioms that are crucial for gaining a clear
perspective on a number of contemporary problems and issues,
such as the correct balance between bitochon and
endeavor, between spiritual obligations and the compulsion of
finding a livelihood, the dangers involved in secular studies
and a host of others. These issues are aired in the essays
published in Michtav MeEliyohu as well as in hitherto
unpublished material.
The Mashgiach was very concerned about boorishness
seeping into the realm of Torah outlook and he warned against
getting swept along by the crowd mentality and the
superficiality of his generation. In one shmuess he
said that he was doubly worried over someone ignorant in
matters of Torah outlook, even more than over someone
deficient in Torah knowledge.
The latter is at least aware of what he lacks and realizes
his level. He will never presume to respond to questions of
halochoh and will instead refer them to a competent
authority. On issues of Torah outlook and approach however,
even the greatest ignoramus who has never thought properly
about anything and who has no experience of the way Torah
authorities view life, feels that he "understands" and that
he possesses the necessary wisdom to guide others. He goes
astray and takes others with him along a path of confusion
and distortion.
End of Part I
