By Yossi Shaffer
Good evening,
My name is Yossi Shaffer, my full name is Yosef Yitzchok Shaffer named after the Lubavitch Rebbe Yosef Yitchok Schnerson of bleased memory. Even though I have a very Lubavitch name and say ‘Toireh’ instead of Torah, my journey has been unconventional.
I grew up immersed in the warmth of a Torah environment. My parents are Lubavitch and I was brought up in a Torah-observant household. I attended Yeshiva Lubavitch from infancy through grade 3. However, I wasn’t doing too well in Torah studies and my parents believed that a secular education would serve me in adulthood and at the time, Yeshiva Lubavitch didn’t offer one.
So, I transitioned to Yeshiva Gedola, a non-Lubavitch and non-Chassidic school that offered a full high school diploma. Just weeks before the grade 10 school year started, my parents received a polite request that I not return for the coming year. We tried homeschooling as a last-minute solution, but that quickly failed. When I heard the options that were being discussed by my parents I wasn’t thrilled. With some sabotage, rebellion, resourcefulness, and forged documents, I ended up in public school. That was a massive culture shock.
For most of my adult years after that, I lived as a non-religious Jew, distanced from Torah. I am naturally a curious person and immersed myself in all sorts of studies, like history, economics, psychology, anthropology, social evolution, the theory of natural selection and many more.
Life has a way of circling back, and I slowly began reconnecting. I found that once I started looking for answers to the questions, truth became unavoidable.
Initially, my return to Torah was practical and self-serving. After getting married and having children, I realized that certain behaviours brought better outcomes, while others led to more life challenges and frustrations. Torah's principles offered profound guidance:
For example:
SHABBOS: In a world bombarded by technology and constant noise, Shabbos became a haven of peace, balance and reconnecting with family and friends.
TZNIUS/ MODESTY: As a father of three girls, I recognized how current societal norms would mislead them, and Torah’s values offered a better path to a healthy future.
CHINUCH/EDUCATION: I saw the wisdom in raising children grounded in Torah values that surpassed the allure of the current expedient culture.
Through these practical steps, I discovered emunah — faith. For me, emunah was an educated trust. If many mitzvos or precepts improved my life tangibly and where true in the most fundamental way, I could trust that other precepts would have similar effects, even if I didn’t fully understand them yet.
The timeless relevance of Torah amazed me. Take Shabbos, for example. Even though 1000’s of years old and at the time a unprecedented labor standard, it is still profoundly meaningful today amidst our fast-paced lives. Recognizing this all consuming truth made the leap to faith both logical and natural.
My journey brought me to MTC, a transformative experience. While I grew up in Lubavitch and had some exposure to Chassidus through osmosis, leaving yeshiva in grade 3 meant I never learned it. My first formal introduction to Chassidus was here at MTC.
Learning Chassidus has been personally transformative. The teachings are revolutionary, visionary, an adventure of the next frontier. Unifying—bridging disciplines and philosophies with coherent ease.
When asked to share my personal reflections on Chassidus, I felt overwhelmed. How can I put into words something so profound? It’s intellectual, emotional, philosophical and practical yet it transcends all those. It’s the indescribable: The most significant relationship a person can have, a relationship with the Torah and with G-d Himself.
Until I began learning Chassidus, I didn’t fully grasp that a constant relationship with G-D is possible. While Torah gave me guidance for daily life, Chassidus revealed the connection and the interplay between the Creator and His creation—between G-d and me. Armed with this information, I am now positioned to build, enhance and expand this relationship. This also allows me to properly place myself with a well rounded existential awareness, and in consequence do the same for my family, community and the world.
So I wish you all l’chaim — "to life." This embodies what it means to be a Jew and live by Torah. To life! To everything that supports life, making sure that we do nothing to detract from it. To everything good, and to everything true. May we all be the leaders of this until the time where this purest Truth, the essence of truth, will be all that is known.
Remarks delivered at the MTC Yud-Tes Kislev Dinner
