The Importance of Order
HaRav Simcha Zissel of Kelm wrote (it was the first on his
list of kabbolos on erev Yom Kippur) that the
primary step in education is order.
In connection with the posuk, "And Noah the husbandman
began," Chazal explain the word `vayochel' as meaning
that Noah changed his lifestyle to a profane one. On the
surface, this appears puzzling: What evil lay concealed in
the path he chose? After all, surely his aim in planting was
to rebuild the world?
Chazal explain his mistake. He should have first worked on
other plants. His priorities were wrong. He should not have
planted a vineyard as the first effort! This deviation
triggered immense corruption in the world.
Elsewhere, Chazal stress the primary significance of order.
When Yaakov was getting ready to meet Eisov, he prepared
himself in three ways: with presents, prayer, and for
warfare. All his preparations were made in advance, and in
sequence. Everything was well thought-out beforehand.
The gemora (maseches Sota, 49), brings down the
following quote: "From the day the Beis Hamikdosh was
destroyed, ... the curse of each day is worse than that of
the preceding." On what merit does the world stand? The
answer is that the order of the kedusha recitation
holds it up.
Rashi explains this as follows: The world stands on the merit
of Torah learning and on the reciting of the kedusha
(Kodosh, kodosh, kodosh) in its daily sequence! When
the Name of the Almighty is sanctified every day in a fixed
order, the world stands, as it says (Job 10:22): "A
land of gloom, as darkness itself, and of the shadow of
death, without any order."
Chazal comment on this: Where order is absent, it is like a
gloom; darkness and the shadow of death prevail. In contrast,
where order is instituted, light emerges from the darkness.
We see the extent to which Chazal emphasize the importance of
order; the existence of the world depends on it.
Once in a household there was a great deal of turmoil as a
result of the children's escapades. The mother, who was
greatly distressed by the chaos in the house, wrote the above
posuk on a few notes, and hung them up in several key
places around the house. Strangely enough, this had a
dramatic effect on the children! They were able to
internalize the awareness of how much significance Chazal
attached to the trait of order. From then on, order was
instituted in the household.
*
The Kelm Yeshiva was well-known for its stress on the trait
of order. The shiur in Kelm began exactly at 9 o'clock
in the morning, and by that time the Beis Hamedrash
was already filled to capacity. However, at three minutes to
nine the hall was only about a third to a quarter full. On
the dot of nine, everyone rushed inside. Not a single
talmid was missing. Such is the power of strict
training to order!
This same emphasis on order was maintained even when the
Nazis (may their names be blotted out) entered Kelm and burst
into the Yeshiva hall. The bochurim marched to their
deaths in a quiet, orderly fashion, with HaRav Daniel of Kelm
(zt'l) marching at their head. The Nazis were also
paragons of order. HaRav Daniel informed them, "We want to
die in a quiet, orderly way, and therefore I wish to have a
talk with my students and instruct them how to die." The
Nazis agreed and HaRav Daniel explained to his
talmidim how to die for the Sanctification of Hashem's
Name. Following this, he asked them to sing the niggun
of the Neilah prayer: `May He conceal us in the
shelter of His hand, beneath the wings of the Divine
Presence.' Finally, he told the Nazis, "We are ready now."
The Nazis then shot and killed every one of them (May Hashem
avenge their blood). Thus, they learned how to live and die
with order. Such was the greatness of HaRav Daniel, the great
Rosh Yeshiva of Kelm.
*
The following example illustrates how problems arise in
chinuch due to a lack of order. A mother sends her
daughter to the grocery store, telling her, "Buy whatever you
like." The girl goes and picks out all kinds of items that
catch her fancy. Then when she gets to the cash register, she
discovers she doesn't have enough money to pay for
everything. Obviously, this is an inappropriate way to handle
the situation. The mother should have prepared an organized
shopping list.
Similarly, when we wish to learn a certain maseches
over a year, it is vital to prepare a plan from the beginning
of the year, specifying the amount to be learned each day,
including review and continuing progress. Detailed planning
is very beneficial. The Steipler's advice in learning
dinim was to have a daily learning program for the
Mishnah Berurah in a specific sequence. Order in
learning is most crucial! First the Mishnah Berurah
must be gone over and then, as time goes on, the learning
can be done in greater depth.
The Importance of Personal Example
Personal example is one of the most helpful factors in
education. Chazal say: "If the Rav appears like an angel of
Hashem's Legions, seek to learn Torah from his mouth. If not,
do not." In our terms, this means that only if the teacher
represents a good personal example, i.e., he looks like an
emissary of the yetzer hatov, make an effort to learn
from him.
The Chazon Ish writes in his sefer, Emunoh Ubitochon:
"One of the most damaging situations is having an instructor
who is himself not intact. However fine and proper is his
teaching, since he has not incorporated it himself, his words
will not penetrate his talmidim's hearts. Worse, they
will learn more from his deeds than from his
shiurim."
The Chazon Ish clearly held that students learn more from a
teacher's personal example that from his lecture content. We
see here how critical is a teacher's behavior and how vital
it is to choose the right teacher!
I once heard of a teacher who knew how to give over material
in the most fascinating way. However, in one of her classes
she raised the issue of modesty, certainly an important and
respected subject. The problem was that the teacher did not
impose on herself the standards she was expecting of her
talmidos in the lecture. Therefore, the girls burst
out laughing!
A teacher can make the most impressive demands, but if she
herself does live up to the standard, her words will meet
only scorn and derision, will not be taken seriously, and
certainly will have no impact on her talmidos.
Avrohom Ovinu was the first Jewish teacher. He gave the young
Yishmoel a tender, fine calf to train him in the mitzvah of
hospitality. He taught Yishmoel how to carry out the mitzvah
of chesed with mesiras nefesh. As we know, this
occurred on the third day after Avrohom's bris, the
most difficult and painful day. Yishmoel, son of the
maidservant, was in a similar situation, it being also the
third day after his bris. Despite the enormous
difficulty, Avrohom's personal example influenced Yishmoel to
fulfill the mitzvah of hospitality with mesiras
nefesh. Some say that even up till today the children of
Yishmoel excel in the virtue of hospitality due to the impact
of Avrohom Ovinu's teachings.
Thus we see the power of genuine education by means of
demonstrating mesiras nefesh for a mitzvah, and a
personal example.
It is well known that there are countless Jews who sacrificed
their lives for a detail in halacha, even a minute
one. Clinging tightly to truth and principle, and to the
knowledge acquired in their childhood, they never deviated
from the straight and narrow path, no matter what conditions
they faced. The story of Rav Nachman bar Yitzhak
(Shabbos 156), is a case in point. When he was born,
the astrologers told his mother, "That one is destined to be
a thief." As a preventative measure, the mother constantly
kept a head covering on the baby, so that he would be imbued
with yiras Shomayim. She always taught Rav Nachman
that he should never lift a finger, nor move an inch, without
his head covered, and he kept to that. As time went on, he
grew up to become a tremendous talmid chochom, and was
approached to take up the post of Rosh Yeshiva.
However, before the final decision was made on his
appointment, his character was closely examined. On the day
that Rav Nachman was called to the yeshiva, he was followed,
and his behavior carefully observed. It was a stifling and
oppressively hot day, and Rav Nachman bar Yitzhak, who was
walking along a path inside a fruit orchard, sat down in the
shade of one of the richly laden fruit trees. Soon he leaned
backwards and dozed off. When he opened his eyes, he caught
sight of a luscious, juicy fruit over his head. His throat
was parched with thirst and the fruit was very inviting, so
he stretched out a hand to pick the fruit. However, as he
inclined his body, with his hand in midair, his head-cover
slipped off. Instantly, he recalled his mother's words,
managed to overcome his desire for the fruit, and retrieved
the head cover. Those who witnessed this act were amazed at
the awesome level of yiras Shomayim exhibited by it.
Based on this, the decision was made to appoint him as rosh
yeshiva.
All the school children since that time have been reared on
the foundation of his Torah learning.
On the foundations of that occurrence a child grew up who
would one day be appointed the Rosh Yeshiva of Baltimore
Yeshiva. The rov in question was in the habit of taking a
weekly flight to Miami, staying overnight there, and the
following day returning to his home in Baltimore. In Miami,
aside from the five hours that he spent sleeping, he would
spend every spare moment disseminating Torah and giving
shiurim to retired elderly people in numerous Old Age
Homes. He kept this up for a long period of time.
On the last flight before he was appointed rosh yeshiva, when
meals were served on the plane, the rov opened his bag and
took out a sandwich wrapped in foil, prepared for him by his
wife. He removed the wrapping from the meat sandwich and the
delicious smell of the meatball assailed him. He placed it on
the tray in front of him and went to the back of the plane to
wash his hands for hamotzi. The rov struggled to
maneuver along the narrow aisle, taking care that no one
should touch his hands. Suddenly he went pale, and a cold
sweat broke out on his forehead. He sat down heavily in his
seat. After a few seconds he recited the brochoh of
hamotzi and broke off a little piece of the roll his
wife had prepared for him. Every so often he broke off a few
more little pieces. All the while the person seated next to
him (a gentile) did not take his eyes off him. Finally, the
gentile could not contain his curiosity and asked, "Is that
the way you and other Jewish people generally eat?"
Just another nuisance, the rov reflected and kept quiet.
After a moment of silence, the gentile repeated his question,
adding that he was not asking in jest. The rov then replied,
"Since you really want to know, I will give you an honest
reply. When I came back to my seat after I had washed my
hands in accordance with Jewish Law, I remembered a Jewish
law that I had learned in my youth which says that it is
forbidden to eat any meat that is left unobserved. That's the
reason I could only eat the home-baked roll."
Now it was the gentile who turned pale and began to tremble.
His voice was very high pitched as he said, "Tell me how I
can understand and learn more about this amazing Judaism of
yours. You should know that because you followed your
childhood teaching, you were saved from eating pork, because
when you got up from your seat I had a yearning for your
delicious smelling meatball and I switched it for the one I
was served on the plane."
One hour after he landed in Miami the rov received a call
telling him that the Rosh Yeshiva of Baltimore had passed
away and that he had been appointed to take his place.
*
HaRav Yaakov Kamenetsky said that we can boost particular
areas we wish the talmidim to improve on by telling
them stories of tzaddikim as examples. Even though we
might be far removed from the lofty heights that the
tzaddikim achieved, by setting our sights high we can
at least aspire to them and gradually rise up towards
them.
