Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
Heartfelt wishes to haTomim Sholom Dov Ber ben Miriam for a complete and immediate refuah shleima. May the brochos of ןוהי' עקב תשמעון...ושמר ה"א לך את הברית ואת החסד...ואהבך וברכך והרבך...ברוך תהי' מכל העמים...והסיר ה' ממך כל חולי...ונתנם בכל שונאיך, be nimshach kemato meiasoro tfochim, and especially in the eikev and the raglayim, betov hanireh vehanigleh!
Mazel tov to Shimshie Teitelman on the occasion of his engagement. May he use out the period of yokor mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Zevi Slavin on the birth of their son. May they bring him up lTOveCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be a true chayol! (If anyone is aware of any mazeltov’s that I omitted please let me know).
Thank you as always for the feedback, it is much appreciated.
The past week and a half I spent some time in Eretz yisroel, from the day after Tishab’Av until today; - in fact, I’m beginning writing this during my return flight. I hope very soon to return, all of us together, for good, but – in the meantime – I will share with you 2 experiences of my trip:
Part of the mitzvah of visiting Eretz Yisroel, as I’m sure many of you are aware, is to spend as much time as possible running from one place to another, from mekomos hakedoshim to places that are – perhaps – not as holy, from the famous tourist haunts to the scoops that your friend told you about. Those who reside in Eretz Yisroel can live in the same city for decades, satisfied with the holiness that permeates the entire land, without ever visiting mekomos hakedoshim that are minutes away from them. But visitors (according to most deios) don’t properly fulfill the mitzvah unless they visit somewhere new every hour on the hour (and take at least 12 selfies in each location).
So, one of the days of our trip, on Friday, I designated for myself and my son Dovi to visit holy places that were within Yerusholayim itself (as if ירושלים עיר הקודש itself is not holy enough...) Our first stop was the tomb of Shimon haTzadik. Now, it’s really quite easy to get around in Eretz Yisroel, - with the google maps on your phone the directions are generally quite clear. But here we ran into a bit of an obstacle. I knew that we were getting close, because I saw signs pointing us to kever Shimon haTzadik. But our GPS seemed to be sending us to a slightly different final destination than the signs. We finally realized that there is a bus stop or train station named Shimon haTzadik (which is also the name of the street there), not far from where the actual tziyon is.
When we finally cleared that up, our “google maps” took us across the big street, into a neighborhood in which all the signs and names were Arabic (and the people who were spotted no longer looked like from meah she’orim). It was definitely unnerving, but when we reached the kever, there were many other people there, so I calmed down. But, upon leaving, I was definitely slightly tense until I was back in a recognizably Jewish neighborhood.
Our next stop was the kever of the novi Zechariah which was not far away. Our guide (Google maps) took us along the wall of the old city, and then had us take a sharp right. We were now driving down a very steep and very narrow street called “wadi” something or other. Once again, there were no Jewish-looking people to be seen, and no Hebrew, - all of the signs were in Arabic (and English). Turning around (which was very tempting) was out of the question, there was barely enough room to drive my car through that “street” going forward! It was definitely daunting, but I figured that, like by Shimon haTzadik, I would find many people at the end, we just didn’t notice them en route.
So, we continued following the road and the directions. We passed by the “shiluach” where there were a few kippot in sight, which was encouraging (although they all had the appearance of “mitnachalim” as opposed to hare-brained, misguided tourists..), but after we passed it there were no others in sight. It then took us through a tiny village with a store with a sign only in Arabic etc., - that was definitely disconcerting.
The road seemed to continue to become narrower and bumpier (and eerier), but at least I knew our ordeal was almost over, we were getting closer. I was, officially, only 800 meters away, when I saw a concrete barrier blocking the whole road just ahead of me. No kevorin or anything in sight up ahead, or even signs. There was an Arab with a big moustache at the side of the road, watching us with an amused look on his face, and another Arab (seemed like) on a motorcycle right behind us. Dovi said: “Looks like we’ll have to do a bit of walking from here to get there”, but I said “No way!” (even assuming that the directions were accurate, which they usually were, and we were right around our destination). Leaving my car there, in the middle of nowhere, and walking through that area was out of the question! Instead, I backed up until I could (just barely) turn around, and got away from there as fast as I could.
I ended up leaving from Eretz Yisroel without ever having visted Zechariah hanovi!
What is the lesson of this anecdote? Some say the lesson is to only use “waze” while in Israel, which will keep you in desirable areas. That may be, but I think there is a more pertinent and more universal lesson to be taken from this: We can all sometimes be result-focused, looking at the best way to arrive at our desired destination, without attaching enough importance to what places we go through to get there. But – as the above experience seems to show – sometimes as important as it is to get to where we are going, it is no less important which directions we use to get there.
Take the following classic example: A bochur wakes up in the morning very very tired. He can either force himself out of bed, and be tired all day, or sleep another half hour (or 45 minutes, or an hour, or 2 hours, or 4 hours ...) and be able to learn all day (or what’s left of it..) and really accomplish something. Isn’t the point of being in Yeshiva to learn, to know, to achieve? In that case, shouldn’t I choose the path that’s is bound to bring results, to get me to where I want to go the fastest?
Or, you’re on shlichus. The most important thing is to have many Jews doing mitzvos, many baalei teshuvos, many programs and many many dollars. Do we need to pay so much attention to what method exactly we use to achieve that?
[Everyone knows the story with Rabbi Moshe Feller, while visiting Professor Velvel Greene a”h for the first time, to request of him to lend his name to one of the Chabad events. Rabbi Feller, who was a new shliach in the region, suddenly realized that it would soon be too late to daven mincha, and he interrupted a ten minute meeting to daven mincha for 5 minutes (when I was a young bochur, before “Lchayim’s” or “Lamplighters”, what we gave out on mivtzoim on Friday was a small printout called “A thought for the week”. One of them was titled “A black hat and a beard” and was that story).
Had he been focused solely on the result, on getting a name and an endorsement from a local celebrity (which in turn would – most likely – bring more participants to his event and enhance his success), then this behavior would be completely illogical. But he knew he was a shliach, and – foremost in his mind – he must be acting the way Hashem demands of him. And, within that framework he has to bring about results. As the story goes, this experience had a profound impact on Professor Greene, that remained with him throughout his life].
The route that we travel through to get to where we want to go is also important. What may seem like the perfect short cut, the most effective way to achieve our desired results, if it’s not exactly what is prescribed by shulchan aruch or by our Rebbeim, may be dangerous either b’gashmyus or b’ruchnyus (or both). It’s not enough that the place that we want to get to is holy and spiritual. It’s equally crucial that the path we use to get there be Jewish, Torah’dig, Chassidish.
