I am writing this article from Yerushalayim, ir hakodesh, my home base to visit prospective Yeshivot and Seminaries for our students and to visit our alumni who are studying in Eretz Yisrael for the year. It is such a privilege and honor to represent our school in this way. I am so proud of our students – each one of our students have shared with me how successful they are in their studies and I have heard so many wonderful reports from the heads of the programs that our students are attending regarding the positive contributions that our students are making.
Israel is an unbelievable country and Yerushalayim is a very special city. The land itself is beautiful. So far, my visits have taken me from the northern part of the country – Haifa – where I visited Technion University, to the southern coastline of the country – Givat Washington and Kibbutz Yavneh – where I visited Machon Ma’ayan Seminary and Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh. In this two-hour drive, I saw the landscape change from verdant green, to urban center to industry to sand and then to beautiful agricultural fields – all seen without leaving the freeway. In traveling from the southern coast to Yerushalayim, the land turned dry again. Despite this drier climate, the land appeared to be very productive – I even saw the world-famous Barkan Winery.
Each time that I come to Yerushalayim, I am entranced by the energy of the city and I am taken by how deeply embedded the values of learning, chesed and growth are in the city’s residents. It is truly unique. What other city has a pushka in a covered bus stop? As a visitor, I see that the depth of these values has even influenced me during my short stay in the city. I will share with you just one example.
Lately, I have been working on a certain Torah topic and I did most of the research on this topic in our own Beit Midrash. During this trip, I have had the great fortune of visiting a number of wonderful libraries – Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh, Technion University, Eretz Hemdah Institute (where I saw former KTM Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Daniel Mann) and Midreshet Lindenbaum stand out – and I have been able to consult a few other relevant volumes that I had not previously seen. However, there is one relatively recently published volume of a set (we have the set in our school library) which I had been wanting to consult during my trip and which I have wanted to add to my own personal library.
As I had 90 minutes free between my afternoon appointment and my dinner with the CYHSB Alumni, I decided to try to hunt down this volume. Where else to go for sefarim but the neighborhoods of Geula and Me’a Shearim. I hurried down Rechov King George and up Rechov Strauss and down again towards the intersection separating Geula and Me’a Shearim. Seventy-five minutes left. I decide to take a right and make my first stop - The Israel Flagship Store of Feldheim Publishing. The shop is sizeable and there were a lot of customers. Walking up and down the aisles, I saw some very interesting sets, volumes and books, but, alas, my volume was nowhere to be found. Next stop is deeper into Me’a Shearim – Manny’s. Forty-five minutes left. I went right to the spot where it should be, but alas, there, on the shelf, was another volume of the same set but not the volume that I want to purchase. I approached the manager and asked, in Hebrew, if they carried the other volumes of the set. Yes, he responded – but they are out of stock. Somewhat dejected, I returned the volume to the shelf. 30 minutes left. With a little bit of time to spare, I decided to peruse some of the other books that they did have in stock – and what an impressive selection they have! After looking around for a little bit, there, in the far end of one corner of the store was – not my volume – but another volume which looked relevant to the topic that I have been working on and that I had not been familiar with. I opened the book, and there, to my great surprise, was a discussion on the very topic that I have been studying. I was overjoyed! I bought the book and continued my search. After stops at another three stores, I ran out of time and went to meet the students for a wonderful dinner.
On my walk from Ge’ula to the restaurant, I considered the experience of finding this book. Was it Divine Intervention? Was it luck? Given my limits in the area of prophecy, I quickly moved on to other lines of consideration. I thought about two statements from our Rabbis. The first – b’derech she’adam rotze lelech molichin oto – a person is led in the way in which he or she wants to go. The second (and the 2017-18 MHA-FYOS Faculty Theme) – l’fum tze’ara agra – according to the effort is the reward. I started on a path and put in effort to locate the volume and I found a treasure that I never expected to find.
This story would never have been possible without the influence and environment of Yerushalayim. In another city, I likely would never have begun my quest to find this sefer. In Yerushalayim, I was pushed by its core values of learning and growth to advance my studies in a way that I could not have expected. The existence and power of this city and this country are an unbelievable bracha from Hashem and I am blessed to be here.
Israel is an unbelievable country and Yerushalayim is a very special city. The land itself is beautiful. So far, my visits have taken me from the northern part of the country – Haifa – where I visited Technion University, to the southern coastline of the country – Givat Washington and Kibbutz Yavneh – where I visited Machon Ma’ayan Seminary and Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh. In this two-hour drive, I saw the landscape change from verdant green, to urban center to industry to sand and then to beautiful agricultural fields – all seen without leaving the freeway. In traveling from the southern coast to Yerushalayim, the land turned dry again. Despite this drier climate, the land appeared to be very productive – I even saw the world-famous Barkan Winery.
Each time that I come to Yerushalayim, I am entranced by the energy of the city and I am taken by how deeply embedded the values of learning, chesed and growth are in the city’s residents. It is truly unique. What other city has a pushka in a covered bus stop? As a visitor, I see that the depth of these values has even influenced me during my short stay in the city. I will share with you just one example.
Lately, I have been working on a certain Torah topic and I did most of the research on this topic in our own Beit Midrash. During this trip, I have had the great fortune of visiting a number of wonderful libraries – Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh, Technion University, Eretz Hemdah Institute (where I saw former KTM Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Daniel Mann) and Midreshet Lindenbaum stand out – and I have been able to consult a few other relevant volumes that I had not previously seen. However, there is one relatively recently published volume of a set (we have the set in our school library) which I had been wanting to consult during my trip and which I have wanted to add to my own personal library.
As I had 90 minutes free between my afternoon appointment and my dinner with the CYHSB Alumni, I decided to try to hunt down this volume. Where else to go for sefarim but the neighborhoods of Geula and Me’a Shearim. I hurried down Rechov King George and up Rechov Strauss and down again towards the intersection separating Geula and Me’a Shearim. Seventy-five minutes left. I decide to take a right and make my first stop - The Israel Flagship Store of Feldheim Publishing. The shop is sizeable and there were a lot of customers. Walking up and down the aisles, I saw some very interesting sets, volumes and books, but, alas, my volume was nowhere to be found. Next stop is deeper into Me’a Shearim – Manny’s. Forty-five minutes left. I went right to the spot where it should be, but alas, there, on the shelf, was another volume of the same set but not the volume that I want to purchase. I approached the manager and asked, in Hebrew, if they carried the other volumes of the set. Yes, he responded – but they are out of stock. Somewhat dejected, I returned the volume to the shelf. 30 minutes left. With a little bit of time to spare, I decided to peruse some of the other books that they did have in stock – and what an impressive selection they have! After looking around for a little bit, there, in the far end of one corner of the store was – not my volume – but another volume which looked relevant to the topic that I have been working on and that I had not been familiar with. I opened the book, and there, to my great surprise, was a discussion on the very topic that I have been studying. I was overjoyed! I bought the book and continued my search. After stops at another three stores, I ran out of time and went to meet the students for a wonderful dinner.
On my walk from Ge’ula to the restaurant, I considered the experience of finding this book. Was it Divine Intervention? Was it luck? Given my limits in the area of prophecy, I quickly moved on to other lines of consideration. I thought about two statements from our Rabbis. The first – b’derech she’adam rotze lelech molichin oto – a person is led in the way in which he or she wants to go. The second (and the 2017-18 MHA-FYOS Faculty Theme) – l’fum tze’ara agra – according to the effort is the reward. I started on a path and put in effort to locate the volume and I found a treasure that I never expected to find.
This story would never have been possible without the influence and environment of Yerushalayim. In another city, I likely would never have begun my quest to find this sefer. In Yerushalayim, I was pushed by its core values of learning and growth to advance my studies in a way that I could not have expected. The existence and power of this city and this country are an unbelievable bracha from Hashem and I am blessed to be here.
Comments
Post a Comment