Q:
What words of chizuk can you tell us today on the day after Yom Kippur?
A:
I recall the day after Yom Kippur in Slabodka. The Rosh Yeshiva, zichrono livracha, spoke to the bnei yeshiva in the morning after tefillas shacharis. The bnei yeshiva were going to leave to their homes soon – some would remain for yomtiv but many were going home to their families. And this is one of the things that he said to us: “You labored very much on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. You put your hearts into your tefillah – you prayed with all your heart in the yeshivah and you were elevated and inspired. And you accomplished a precious achievement because to pray in a good place these three days is equivalent to three months learning. But it is important now to be on guard. The Mesillas Yesharim makes a statement: achas leitzanus k’neged meah tokachos – One thoughtless jest can overthrow the results of one hundred sessions of serious thought. Let’s say you go someplace and you hear one hundred lectures on yiras Shomayim, on understanding, on daas Hashem. And after the lectures you sit in the company of leitzim, jesters, empty people, then you must know that you have lost all that you have accomplished. If you hear one foolish remark it can overthrow one hundred edifices of yiras Shomayim that took you a long time to build.”
Soon will begin the yomtiv of Sukkos and all the way through Simchas Torah it’s going to be days of happiness. So it depends how you’ll celebrate. If it will be a thoughtful celebration, lisheim Shomayim — of course you’ll dance, of course you’ll sing on yomtiv; of course you’re happy. Mi yiten shir v’zimrah b’batei lomdei Torah. Who should be happy if not those who learn and those who keep the Torah?! They’re the ones in whose houses should always be the sound of song and there they should always be dancing. But if it deteriorates into wildness, into hefkeirus and frivolity, then all the achievements of Yom Kippur is lost. Yom Kippur is a very precious possession and we have to hold on to the effect of the day as long as possible. TAPE # R-31
