Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka, Visits Lakewood

Aharon Hirsh Cohen

Photos: Langsam Studios, Zvi Wolf

In the week of kabbalas haTorah, Lakewood had the honor of hosting one of the great marbitzei Torah of Eretz Yisrael, Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, rosh yeshivas Slabodka.

This year’s visit was a particular simchah since the Rosh Yeshivah struggled with medical complications over the last year; baruch Hashem, he is now doing much better and was able to travel to America.

The Rosh Yeshivah arrived on Sunday, February 28. A kabbalas panim was held in the Marriot hotel in Newark in conjunction with a dinner for the Slabodka Yeshivah.

The guest speaker, Rav Yeruchem Olshin, explained that through supporting the yeshivah of a gadol b’Yisrael, whose word is so revered across the olam haTorah, it is as if one supported the entire olam haTorah.

Rav Hirsch proclaimed that in turbulent times, when unfortunately, we see so many bachurim straying from the path of emunah, we must strengthen ourselves in limud haTorah b’simchah, which leads to proper, steadfast emunah.

BMG

After spending a few days in New York, the Rosh Yeshivah arrived in Lakewood on Thursday, where he delivered a shiur in Bais Medrash Govoha on the sugya of Heilach (Bava Metzia 5a). The roshei yeshivah and alumni were astounded by the breadth and depth of the shiur. In fact, Rav Malkiel Kotler took extensive notes as Rav Hirsch was speaking, like the talmidim.

After the shiur, Rav Yeruchem Olshin accompanied Rav Hirsch to the “old beis medrash” to daven Minchah. Maggidei shiur and talmidim clambered around him as he walked there, eager to discuss insights mentioned in the shiur and ask their own questions.

Later, Rav Hirsch visited the home of Rav Malkiel, where they reminisced about the Lakewood of “back then,” when Rav Hirsch learned by Rav Malkiel’s zeide, Rav Aharon Kotler, and contrasting it with today’s Lakewood and how much it has grown in quality and quantity.

That night, an asifas rabbanim regarding the shidduch crisis took place at the home of Rav Hirsch’s host R’ Zalmen Leib Drew.

Tiferes Yerachmiel

On Friday, the Rosh Yeshivah visited Rav Shlomo Feivel Schustal’s yeshivah, Tiferes Yerachmiel, where he shared divrei chizuk with the talmidim (see sidebar).

The Rosh Yeshivah spent Shabbos in Lakewood, where he davened and ate the seudah at the home of R’ Moishe Brodt. After the seudah, he said a Chumash shiur. This was followed by an oneg Shabbos with the participation of hundreds of bnei Torah, which went on until the late hours of the night. At the end, the entire crowd accompanied the Rosh Yeshivah back to Rabbi Drew’s house, with the Rosh Yeshivah discussing Torah insights the entire way.

Shabbos morning, the Rosh Yeshivah davened in Beis Medrash Khal Chassidim. Minchah and shalosh seudos took place at the home of R’ Boruch Yeremias in a similar style to Friday night, amid divrei Torah and zemiros with throngs of talmidim.

On Motza’ei Shabbos, many rabbanim, roshei yeshivos, and philanthropists came to visit the Rosh Yeshivah and seek his council on various matters.

After being sandek at a bris in Lakewood on Monday, the Rosh Yeshivah traveled for a short visit to Baltimore.

On Tuesday, the Rosh Yeshivah traveled to Passaic; on Wednesday, he was scheduled to be in Flatbush; Thursday, he was to be in Five Towns; and Shabbos, in Monsey.

Although the Rosh Yeshivah’s visit to Lakewood was short, the impression he left on the many he encountered is enduring.

Sidebar

Drashah at the yeshivah of Rav Shlomo Feivel Schustal

The Ohr Hachaim explains that “vayisu m’Refidim’ (Shemos 19:2) means that the first requirement for someone who wants to acquire Torah is “hisgabrus in toiling in Torah, because laziness” of the mind and body “is the grass that prevents understanding it.”

It is simple that the first condition for someone who wants to acquire Torah is hasmadah in quality and quantity, learning hours on end without wasting time.

Quantity means being in the learning—thinking deeper and deeper—I don’t have any other interest, only in Torah. When he walks, he thinks of Torah—this is the aleph-beis for anyone who wants to acquire Torah.

Ol Torah means an ol (yoke)—I must do it—it’s hard, but I must.

Usually, the geshmak comes from learning; the more one learns, the more he finds a geshmak.

A bachur who wants to learn and tries but it doesn’t go—he lacks the geshmak—what should he do?

Rabbeinu Yonah discuss three things that are essential to hatzlachah in limud haTorah.

The first is what Rabbeinu Yonah explains on the words of Chazal (Avos 2:17) “prepare yourself to learn Torah.” He explains it means to limit ta’anugim. Torah is ruchniyus, and in order to enter the person, he must possess a certain level of ruchniyus. Someone who indulges in worldly pleasures cannot acquire Torah.

The second thing Rabbeinu Yonah stresses is derech eretz—that the Torah cannot dwell in someone who has bad middos. The fundament of good middos is humility. To achieve this, one must learn Chovos Halevavos, Sha’ar Hakeniah and other mussar sefarim to understand which middos stem from each other, for example, jealousy comes from ga’avah.

A lack of middos will also bring a person to be lazy with regard to Torah and mitzvos and not appreciate his kochos; he will find many answers and excuses to support his laziness. Even when he does learn, the bad middos will prevent him from understanding the Torah.

The third is yiras Shamayim, which is obtained through learning mussar.

Drashah at the yeshivah of Rav Shlomo Feivel Schustal

The Ohr Hachaim explains that “vayisu m’Refidim’ (Shemos 19:2) means that the first requirement for someone who wants to acquire Torah is “hisgabrus in toiling in Torah, because laziness” of the mind and body “is the grass that prevents understanding it.”

It is simple that the first condition for someone who wants to acquire Torah is hasmadah in quality and quantity, learning hours on end without wasting time.

Quantity means being in the learning—thinking deeper and deeper—I don’t have any other interest, only in Torah. When he walks, he thinks of Torah—this is the aleph-beis for anyone who wants to acquire Torah.

Ol Torah means an ol (yoke)—I must do it—it’s hard, but I must.

Usually, the geshmak comes from learning; the more one learns, the more he finds a geshmak.

A bachur who wants to learn and tries but it doesn’t go—he lacks the geshmak—what should he do?

Rabbeinu Yonah discuss three things that are essential to hatzlachah in limud haTorah.

The first is what Rabbeinu Yonah explains on the words of Chazal (Avos 2:17) “prepare yourself to learn Torah.” He explains it means to limit ta’anugim. Torah is ruchniyus, and in order to enter the person, he must possess a certain level of ruchniyus. Someone who indulges in worldly pleasures cannot acquire Torah.

The second thing Rabbeinu Yonah stresses is derech eretz—that the Torah cannot dwell in someone who has bad middos. The fundament of good middos is humility. To achieve this, one must learn Chovos Halevavos, Sha’ar Hakeniah and other mussar sefarim to understand which middos stem from each other, for example, jealousy comes from ga’avah.

A lack of middos will also bring a person to be lazy with regard to Torah and mitzvos and not appreciate his kochos; he will find many answers and excuses to support his laziness. Even when he does learn, the bad middos will prevent him from understanding the Torah. The third is yirasShamayim, which is obtained through learning mussar

In America specifically, it’s very hard. The children have a lot of demands. How do parents manage those demands combined with chinunch at home?

I think [a concept] that is very important and that will solve to a great degree the problems is to develop a very strong relationship between father and son. This strong relationship has to be built on the son feeling that the father loves him.

The father holds of him—in other words, the father is not disappointed by him. Very often, let’s say the father is a very punctual type of person, and he has a child who is not punctual. He wants to have a child who is punctual. [Even though] the father is disappointed, the child is not allowed to feel this. He has to feel the father loves him and not only loves him, [but also] he holds of him.

The child has to feel the father loves him for who he is. The child must also feel he helps him whenever needed.

[In short,] there are three aspects needed: the father holds of him, loves him, and helps him whenever he needs it.

That’s why the son has to feel the father holds of him. But he also has to hold of the father and love him. And it’s very important [that] the father should act in such a way that the son should hold of him. If he sees that the father is a person that does things like cheating, lying, or similar things, then the son can’t look at him as a role model—then [the relationship is] dead.

So the perfect relationship is that the son looks at the father as a role model, loves him very much, and holds of him. When this relationship [is in place], then most of the time, the son will want to go along with the father.

When it’s not there, then you have a problem; how the father should act is really a problem. The way of facing all these problems is by working beforehand to develop this relationship.

And it’s a very hard thing, since sometimes a son does disappoint a parent. You can’t always [naturally] love the child, but you must work on yourself to love them. That’s the answer to your question.

What about for a daughter?

Exactly the same thing.

The mother is more important for the daughter and the father is more important for the son—is that what the Rosh Yeshivah means?

I think that the relationship between the mother and the daughter is in a way more than with the father, most of the time. Although many times, I find that the girl’s relationship is stronger with the father because with the mother she’s fighting, but it shouldn’t be that way.

The same way I said about the father and the son, so applies to the mother and the daughter.

Let’s say someone has two sons. They’re totally different. How can one sometimes be mechanech one in a way they wouldn’t do to the other? For example, one of the sons is more difficult, and the father lets him stay up later or get away with more things.

And the other son will have a kashia?

He sees it, but the father can’t always say that what’s right for one is right for the other [so he can’t be given equal treatment].

Right, 100 percent. But I’m asking the question about the other son. Which one is “better”—the older or younger?

The older one is the better one, let’s say.

The older one can more or less understand what he’s doing with the younger boy?

He can understand if the father sits down and explains it to him, but at the time, he won’t.

So this is another point.Really, anything you want to do, you should not wait for the sh’as ma’aseh. You should do something very good for the older son, and at that point you sit him down and tell him, “Sometimes I have to do something for your brother that I can’t do for you, and you have to understand that there’s a reason for it, and you do understand.”

But not b’sh’as ma’aseh, when you’re giving leeway to the younger one.

It should be done when the older one feels good toward you. You should both be sitting, not standing. You sit him down and tell him, “I want to tell you something”; you make him feel like you’re confiding in him—like he’s mechubad.

The other way is harder, if you have to give concessions for the older one, since the younger child is incapable of understanding.

So what should one do in such a scenario?

You tell him, “Now you are young, so you have to have this type of chinuch; when you are older you will get a different type.” Or you say, “You’ll understand it better when you’re older.” So when the child gets older, he understands it’s not applicable to him, but for now it’s a good answer.

Someone wants to bring up his family to be Torah’dig, but he is not necessarily living that kind of life—he is a ba’al habayis. How can he convey this message to them when he himself doesn’t actually do it?

What does he want from them?

To know that the best thing is just to learn.

So, if the child feels from you a feeling of “Oy, if only I would be able to sit and learn, but I have no choice,” in other words, like you would have preferred to be in kollel yourself—the fact that you work is b’di’eved to a certain degree—then you have no problem at all. That’s number one.

Number two: if the house is a house like a ben Torah’s. Recently, I spoke in Eretz Yisrael about this. Nowadays, there are a lot of ba’alei batim in Eretz Yisrael, something which never used to exist on such a big scale. We are trying to see how to integrate them together [with bnei Torah who are still learning]. Until now, someone who went to work automatically went all the way down, as he felt like he was totally out of everything. We are trying to make it like the American ba’alei batim. One of the ideas I said was not to call yourself a ba’al habayis, rather, a ben Torah who has to go to work—you’re still bnei Torah.

Then there is the house itself, for example, the dikduk halachah—the Mishnah Berurah should be no less on the table of the ba’al habayis than in the house of a yungerman.

And the same thing is the way of speaking, the tznius. The house can be like the house of a yungerman, just in terms of wealth—of comfort—he doesn’t have to live as restricted as a yungerman does, but apart from that, the tznius, the dikduk halachah should be the same. There should always be a Gemara or a Shulchan Aruch on the table, so the kid gets the idea that the kollel yungeleit are the prime of Klal Yisrael. You talk every once in a while about kollel yungerleit—it depends how you speak about them; if it’s with respect and awe, then the kid chaps that you hold of them, and they go along with that. The kid chaps from the half-words.

We have a chaburah of ba’alei batim every morning, where we go through the sugya together b’iyun with a lot of chazarah. We sit around the table and discuss the sugya. Could the Rosh Yeshivah give us some chizuk?

In the parshah, it says “Vayisu m’Refidim…” The Ohr Hachaim says they went away from the feeling of rifyon. That’s one point that has to be done—not rifyon, rather, hasmadah and ameilus b’Torah. That’s very important, to shteig in learning. Sitting together discussing and learning strongly is a gevaldige zach.

Then, another thing is “vayachanu b’midbar”—middos tovos. When sitting around a table talking, one has to be very careful about kvod chavercha. That is “vayachnu b’midbar”—anavah.

In such a group, these two points are very important: hasmadah and ameilus.

There is only one problem with this type of learning: that if someone doesn’t want to be a masmid and exert himself, he could more or less get away with “group therapy.”

When I was a bachur, there used to be a certain rav, a rebbi, who used to ask a kasha; then, when he came to the answer, he wanted everybody to join in, to shout out the answer. So there was a whole group who just yelled—they didn’t actually know what was going on—but everyone was yelling, so they yelled also.

So they have to be very careful that in this group, everybody should still feel that he has to push himself. That’s very important, even if it’s a group; everybody should be a part of that group. That’s number one.

Number two is the anavah and the derech eretz and the respect. No one should belittle what the other person says; rather, everyone should value what the other says.