010 Letter 115 116

Good evening. First of all, apologize for the delay. I hope you are all well. I think we said we were going to look at letters Kuf Tzadik Vav and Kuf Tzadik Zayin today. B'meshech hatkufa ha'achrona over the course of the recent period הזדמן לי כמה פעמים לקבל שמועות טובות ממצבך ומהנהגתך. As things worked out, I received several reports, several good reports as to your situation and your behavior.

האמת ניתנה להיאמר כי בראשונה עברו כמה שנים שלא שמעתי ולא ידעתי כלל אודותיך.

Several years passed that I didn't hear anything. מאז הנני חוקר ודורש עליך מדי פעם בפעם. I inquire after you from time to time. ותודה לאל כי תוצאות החקירות הללו נותנות שמחה בליבי. The results of these inquiries bring joy to my heart.

בראותי את אמיתתו של החוק כי זריעה טובה מביאה לידי צמיחה טובה.

He is clearly talking to a former talmid of the yeshiva. And he is saying that zria tova, good planting, referring to the yeshiva, מביאה לידי צמיחה טובה, it yields, it results in good growth.

וכי גרעיני התועלת אשר נפלו לתוך לבבך בתקופת החינוך שלך גדלו והביאו פירות למכביר.

And that the seeds of productivity, of purposefulness, which fell into your heart during your period of chinuch, these seeds have grown and have yielded fruit.

הנה כתוב בתורה והיו הדברים האלה על לבבך ואמר על זה חכם אחד כי בדרך כלל היה צריך לכתוב בלבבך.

What do you mean on your heart? It should be in your heart. Ela shelefamim, the lev satum. Sometimes the heart is closed. It can be a tkufa in a person's life where his heart is closed.

ומחמת חוסר פתיחת הלב אי אפשר להם לדברים שיכנסו לתוכו.

And because of the lack of opening of the heart, it is impossible for anything to enter, to penetrate.

ועל זה אמרה תורה שאפילו בזמנים כאלו השתדל שלכל הפחות יהיו הדברים על לבבך.

Referring to such a matzav, the Torah said that even at such times, even if a person is not in the matzav of be-levavecha, nevertheless a person should continue to expose himself to the divrei Torah, should continue to learn, continue his involvement be-vchinat al levavecha, bechdei, so that, in order that כאשר תגיע השעה אשר בה יפתח הלב, when the time comes when the heart will become open, yipate'ach halev, יפלו הדברים ממילא לתוך הלב. Then things will of their own accord fall into the heart. כמו כן רואים אנו לעתים תקופות, we see very often shebitkufat hachinuch atzma, that during the time of chinuch,

אין החינוך פועל אלא שימצאו הדברים על הלב. אבל אחר כך כשמתבגרים ויוצאים לשוק החיים,

when people mature and they go out to the marketplace of life, שוקעים הדברים בתוכו של הלב. That is when things penetrate to the heart. והנה עכשיו בשעה זו נמצא אצלי. Yedideinu hayakar so and so ושוב הנני מתענג לשמוע מפיו טובות ושבחים I'm delighting to hear from him good report and praise על תוקף הנהגתך בהנהגת ביתך בענייני היהדות that how you conduct your home.

העונג הזה הוליד בליבי התעוררות להביע לך בכתב את השורות האלו.

This delight is what generated in my heart the arousal, the initiative to express to you these lines.

והנני אומר לך מרחוק חזק ואמץ והחזק בדרכיך והשם יהיה בעזרך ושכרך הרבה תטול.

Maybe maybe just just two very brief comments stimulated by the letter. Number one in general and it's an important perspective I guess both for a person to have about himself in terms of in terms of peiros of chinuch but it's certainly very important at the next stage of life as parents, as mechanchim, and again to be a mechanech one doesn't have to be involved with that vocationally anyone who's blessed by the Ribbono Shel Olam with parenthood is a mechanech. It's a very very important perspective to have on chinuch. In chinuch, again, be it parenting, be it be it one's not one's biological children but one's spiritual children, one can't look for and one can't expect instant gratification, one can't expect instant instant peiros. I remember many many years ago the Rosh Yeshiva of Kerem B'Yavneh, Rav Chaim Yaakov Goldvicht, spent a Shabbos in Riverdale and hosted by yibadel l'chaim Rabbi Willig and he offered a tish in Rabbi Willig's apartment Friday night. So I was there for part of it. I remember part of his drasha or at least the beginning of his drasha so he commented on the pasuk in Kohelet שלח לחמך על פני המים כי ברוב הימים תמצאנו. And he talked about how that I think based on Chazal how that metaphor of right cast how does the English goyishe explanation go cast thy bread upon the waters? שלח לחמך על פני המים that throw your bread onto the waters because in after the passage of much time you yourself will be the recipient, you yourself will be the beneficiary. And he spoke about how that's sort of the slogan of chinuch. Chinuch is שלח לחמך על פני המים. It takes time to see results and one of the maybe the most important virtue in parenting, one of the maybe the most important virtue in chinuch is patience. A person has to be patient with children, with talmidim. The other comment that the letter stimulated is the recognition that not just in terms of maybe youth versus when one is more mature but there are tekufos in a person's life. You know if you would plot a person's life on a graph so it wouldn't be something which just had a constant upward slope. There are dips in the graph. People have most people go through difficult stretch, a stretch that they feel there's somewhat of a yeridah and that's not in the least bit uncommon. But it's very important to recognize again sometimes the yeridah may call for some you know it may need some intervention it may require some adjustments but whatever whatever that tweaking... that may or may not be warranted in that situation, but in terms of the the general approach, a person has to just sort of recognize that yeridos are are often a a just a natural part of of of the life cycle. And even if a person isn't in a on a bechina, isn't ready for the bechina of belovovecha, he should at least have this bechina of al lovovecha. But let's see the some of the next letter.

אהובי ויקירי שלום וברכה. מכתבך אשר העיד מטוהר לבבי הגיעני נכון.

Your letter which which made me tremble arrived, I received it.

כי אמנם מעיד הוא מכתבך על טוהר נפש ובור רוח של כותבו.

The letter testifies to the the purity of soul and and the depth of spirit of its author.

וכמעט שגם בלי התאריך של המכתב היתה ההשערה הנכונה יודעת כי נכתב בחודש אלול.

And even if there hadn't been a date on the letter an educated guess would have would have been able to recognize it was written in Chodesh Elul. Erev is an Elul'dike brief. It's an Elul'dike letter. ashrecha. Fortunate are you שפחד יום הדין ניכר עליך. Fortunate are you that that the fear of the Yom Hadin is discernible upon you umechafeif al ktivatcha and it hovers over your writing. ומכיוון שבכאן השנים נתנה ונתקבלה ד"ש על הטלפון. We exchanged that gut yoar on the phone.

לא היתה כאן נחיצות לדחות את כל הטרדות שהן בבחינת מצוה עוברת שאפפוני בימים הללו בכדי להשיב על מכתבך בתכיפות.

Since we had wished each other a gut yoar on the phone, so there was no pressing need to push aside all the tirdos which engulfed me in those days to respond to your letter. אבל לבי יודע לך, but you should know שמכתבך נשאר שמור בידי, that that your letter has been safeguarded in my hand, מפני שחשוב אני אותו לבעל ערך קיים because I consider it something of lasting value. uvsha'a zo. Now again, the date at the beginning of the letter was was Yud Aleph Tishrei.

ובשעה זו שהיא שעת חילוף משמרות מעבודת התשובה לעבודת השמחה.

Now when there is a changing of the guard as it were from the avoda of teshuva to the avoda of simcha, היא השעה הנכונה לאשר קבלת מכתבך. It's the appropriate time to acknowledge the receipt of your letter. כי כן גדלה שמחתי למקרא דברי האלו שלך because I had so much simcha to see how you experienced Chodesh Elul.

בקווי כי כבר התחלת ונכנסת לתוך התכנית שעליה נדברנו בשעת הפרידה.

I hope you've already initiated and already already into the thick of things in terms of the plan that we had spoken about when you left. ye'enam li me'od. It would be very pleasant to me, very sweet to me lishmoa mimcha bifiroot to hear in detail על מהלך עבודתך בשטח זה about your your work in in this area. halo yaduah hu. I don't know if he maybe we I don't remember what will become clear from the rest of the letter whether he went into chinuch or whether he went into rabbonus, but but kimedumeh that the letter is addressed to someone who who became a klei kodesh. halo yaduah hu. It's known, it's a fact. כי המנקת זקוקה היא לעודף מזונות. A woman who's nursing needs to to eat and drink more than at other stages of her life. mibeli ha'odef hazeh. If the woman doesn't have this extra this upgrade in her in her own diet ידבק לשון היונק אל חכו בצמא. So she won't be able... to provide, she won't be able to provide, she won't have the milk to give the infant, right, and literally ידבק לשון היונק אל חיכו בצמא from Tehillim, literally his tongue will stick to his palate in hunger. והלו מקומך בקהילתך הוא מקום של השפעה. The place you occupy in your community is one of influence. ובאין עודף מזונות לנפשך אתה and without an increase of your own spiritual mezonos, אי אפשר לך בלי לעשות חלילה מלאכתך רמיה. Again, ארור עושה מלאכת השם רמיה is what he's alluding to here. As is the case for all Rabbinic Hebrew, it's just sort of overflowing with allusions to psukim, to ma'amarei chazal. That's the way rabbanim always and still write. אי אפשר לך בלי לעשות חלילה מלאכתך רמיה. If you won't have an increase in your own spiritual mezonos, it'll be impossible for you to carry out your task unless it'll be rachmana litzlan in a deceitful way. התוכנית שעליה הוחלטנו לפני נסיעתך. And the plan, I guess it was a plan for his personal learning, maybe avodat hamiddot also, I don't remember if it's going to become clear from the balance of the letter what the tachnit consisted of. התוכנית שעליה הוחלטנו לפני נסיעתך. The plan on which was agreed upon lifnei nesiyat'cha, before you left, היא היא העודף הזה. That represents the increase in your spiritual mezonos.

ועל כן אל נא תעריך את חשיבותה של התוכנית הזאת רק בקנה המידה של תועלתך הפרטית.

Don't evaluate the importance of this plan just according to the criterion of the personal gain, אף על פי שמאוד יתכן הדבר, even though it's very very likely,

שאף אחד בסביבתך לא ירגיש כי סעודתך היא סעודה שאינה מספקת.

It could be, meaning even if you're not holding and learning, it could be no one else is going to be able to tell, and no one else is going to be able to tell that really the meal in which you're sharing with them is really too meager. Right? The din is that a person if a person is invited somewhere, if it's a seudah she'einah maspeket סעודה שאינה מספקת לבעליה, if the host, if the potential host is rachmana litzlan so poor that he doesn't really have enough food for himself and his own family, so a person should decline the invitation. That's the context of the idiom of a seudah she'einah maspeket. It could be that no one will realize that the meal you're serving is so meager, אבל לא הגשת הזולת היא העיקר בזה, but the ikar is not what someone else does or does not recognize. והעיקר בזה הוא הקושטא דמילתא, the truth of the matter. v'hinneni me'id lacha and I'm giving you edus, I'm saying edus, כי הקושטא דמילתא היא, the truth is שאם לא תהיה שקוע באיזה מהלך של עבודה לנפשך, if you won't be immersed in some path of avodah for your own improvement, for your own growth, be'al korchacha, inevitably, involuntarily, שכוח השפעתך יתמעט שבעתיים, that your ability to be mashpia will be greatly greatly diminished. והלו יודע אני את כוחך הגדול בסדר ומשטר. I know the power you have in terms of being organized and disciplined. השתמש נא בכוח זה. Please utilize that ability

לבלי להפסיד את הסבלנות והרעננות הנפשית. הזקוקה לשמירה קפדנית על התוכנית שעליה דיברנו.

There needs to be a zealous safeguarding of that spiritual freshness. Excuse me, I'm sorry. The spiritual freshness is necessary to again zealously safeguard the plan which we spoke about.

זריזות וזהירות חובני ממש של הכרת הטובה שהטילה עליך ההשגחה. נוח ונוחה בבי יקירי מנעת עצמך מתביעה של כפיית טובה חלילה. ונראה לי כי המסלול הנכון של עבודת הכרת טובה זו היא ההוצאה לפועל של תוכניתנו הנ"ל.

Chazak ve-amatz yakiri, harbeh, I think that's tzivuy I think, ביגיעה ועמל של תורה ועבודה על עצמך. Increase your yegia, your amala shel Torah again for your own learning and mi-meila yigdal ha-or and mi-meila the light will become greater asher tafitz svivatecha that you'll be able to spread around you. והנני בזה בברכת חג שמח מבפנים ומבחוץ, Dov Chayim Yitzchak Hutner. It's a very very important yesod if a person is ever in a position of hanhala. It's important to know if a person is just in the position of chinuch or rabbanut, it's important to know. From the vantage point of hanhala, so a person has to make sure that the demands upon the rebbeim, the demands upon the mechanchim are realistic to allow for time for the mechanech, for the rav to be learning not just because of the shibudim that the job places upon him. The shibudim that the job places upon a person don't necessarily blend with what his learning would be as part of his own avoda, as part of his own growth. And it's very important that as a menahel, as a whether it's as balabatim in a kehillah, whether it's a rav, it's very very important to provide that time and opportunity. Who do they tell the story about? Is it about Rav Leizer Silver? I forget now, I think it's about Rav Leizer Silver, but I may be getting mixed up. That after he had come to America and he was in rabbanut so he was learning once and a balabos came in and sees him learning and says Rabbi, what are you doing? And he says well I'm learning. He says what do you mean learning? He says I thought you were a Rabbi already. I thought you finished learning already. As balabatim, so balabatim have an obligation to allow for the rav to continue learning, to allow for the rebbe, for the mechanech to be able to have certain kviusun above and beyond what's directly related to his shibud. I think they tell the story that Rav Shlomo Zalman had this hideaway apartment where he would go for a few hours in the morning to learn. And eppes once someone sort of tracked him down or uncovered it and Rav Shlomo Zalman basically told him you know that if I don't have this time to learn I can't serve the tzibur the rest of the day and the night as as as as is needed. It's a very, very yesod, it's it's an inyan, it's an inyan because there are so many things that a person has to juggle, balance, there are so many claims on a person's time and lav bechdi that Rav Hutner referred to the need for seder umishtar, for organization and discipline in in this in this context. Hanoch Teller wrote in his book about Rav Shlomo Zalman that he never met anyone who was as efficient or organized as as Rav Shlomo Zalman. So there's a smichus haparshiyos between these two these two stories about Rav Shlomo Zalman. Okay, im yirtzeh Hashem, excuse me, we'll we'll reconvene at at 11:30 I think for today's Thursday limud and next week's, so maybe we'll do inyana deyoma, so if if you could have a Rambam Hilchos Chametz Umatzah and maybe a Gemara Pesachim on hand, that that would be good. Okay, so have have a productive morning rabosai, gut chodesh again, be well, be safe, kol tuv. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye bye.