6653 —הטענות נגד הישיבה כפיתוי היצר, וללמוד מהצד הטוב שבחברים

B"H, 20th of Teves, 5719
Brooklyn.

Shalom u'Vrachah!

In reply to your letter of the fast of the Tenth — may it soon be transformed into joy and gladness^[1] — in which you write that you have been at the Yeshivah Tomchei Temimim in ...^[2] for a month and some days, and that there are details of the situation there with which you are not satisfied, which you set out in your letter, etc.

After asking your pardon, and by way of preface to what our Sages explain: although the yetzer hara is called a fool^[3], nevertheless^[4] he is cunning in his craft^[5] of how to entice a Jew; and since people's minds are not alike^[6], it is understood that he has an approach of his own for each and every one, suited to that person's nature and character.

With regard to a young man who has decided on his own, despite a number of difficulties, to study Torah with fear of Heaven, and to rise in the observance of mitzvos and in attachment to all matters of the Torah and its mitzvos, and has also begun to carry out this decision by entering the surroundings^[7] in which the emphasis is on fear of Heaven and on the study of the inner dimension of the Torah: it is understood that if he were to approach him with the argument that he should go back on his decision and return, G‑d forbid, to his former ways, he would certainly not listen to his enticement. He therefore tries a way in which he hopes (the yetzer hara, that is) that perhaps he will be enticed: by explaining to him that this is not the place, nor this the manner^[8], by which he will reach his goal. And it is understood that he will try to come up with reasons that have some hold in reason; and he may find something, since there is no perfection in the world, and so all matters are a mixture of good and bad (though of course there are differences in this from one extreme to the other — so that at the good extreme the bad is only one part in a thousand and ten thousand and is utterly nullified, and so on to the other extreme, may G‑d spare us). And the more the yetzer hara fears that the person will succeed in the path he has chosen and in the place where he is, and that he is trying to carry out his decision, the more he too intensifies his enticements — similar to what is explained in the book of the Tanya^[9], that foreign thoughts and the enticements of the yetzer hara grow stronger at the time of prayer than during the rest of the day. And this is easy to understand^[10].

It may be that the complaints you write about are (at least in part) correct, that is^[11], that the young men who are your study companions are lacking in the points you list. But this may be compared^[12] to a merchant earning his material livelihood: when people come to buy his goods, he tries to find in the customers those qualities that can help him in selling his goods and so earn him the greatest profit, and he will not emphasize those traits of the customers that work against this. So too in the analogue: when a person associates with his fellow, he should emphasize, highlight and try to strengthen his fellow's good side, and not the other side.

I am certain that among your friends, the young men in the yeshivah, dozens of them^[13] do not have several of the undesirable points you write about in your letter — although, like every human being, who is not perfect, they have some other point that needs correcting and improving. And the advice that suits is to learn from every person^[14] the good side in him, and to attach oneself to the good side in him, and not the reverse.

What emerges from all the above is that you should study with diligence and perseverance, and take help from the young men around you at Tomchei Temimim — from those who are diligent in study (even though they do not pray at length), with regard to your diligence, and from those who pray at length and with feeling (even though they are not as diligent), with regard to the manner of your own prayer, etc. And our Sages have already promised: "You have toiled and you have found"^[15].

May it be G‑d's will that my lines above, few in number relative to the importance of the matter, will have their effect, through your contemplating them and expanding on them in your own understanding and grasp, for they describe the reality as it is. And certainly, all that you yourself absorb at the Yeshivah Tomchei Temimim you will be able to use, in the course of time, for your influence on others; and the merit of the many will help you^[16] to overcome the imagined obstacles, and toward your own success during your studies in the yeshivah.

Well known is the sicha of the Rebbe Rashab^[17], printed in the book Toras Shalom^[18], that one whose task is to be a mashpia, and who wishes to succeed in this task, must first be a mekabel, a recipient, in every detail — and, in the style of our Sages, to be "an empty vessel"^[19], free of all ulterior motives and of all the confusions of his own mind, in receiving the matters — and through this he will become a mashpia in the course of time.

One more thing to add. Surely several of your friends know of your decision to change your way fundamentally, and that you have already begun to rise in this direction; and any retreat will give them the hold and the opening to come at you with all sorts of strange proofs that you are not right in this decision, etc. For, like all Jews, their G‑dly soul surely torments them: why did they not decide as you did, to return to the way of true life, which is the way of our Torah, the Torah of life, and the fulfillment of its mitzvos, of which it is said, "and he shall live by them"^[20]? And to justify their own failure to decide, the easiest way is to cast aspersions on your decision to return to the way of our fathers, to the Torah and the tradition.

With blessings for good news^[21] in all the above.

Notes

1. The fast of the Tenth — may it soon be transformed into joy and gladness (מצום העשירי יהפך בקרוב לששון ולשמחה): The Tenth of Teves (in that year Sunday, 21 December 1958). The wording follows the promise of Zechariah 8:19: "The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall become for the house of Yehudah joy and gladness and happy festivals"; Rashi: "the fast of the tenth — of Teves".

2. In ... (ב...): The name of the place is omitted in the printed text.

3. Called a fool (נקרא בשם כסיל): From the verse Koheles 4:13: "Better a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king"; Rashi: "an old and foolish king — the yetzer hara, which rules over all the limbs... and foolish, for it leads him astray onto a bad path".

4. Nevertheless (בכ"ז): בכ"ז = בכל זאת.

5. Cunning in his craft (ערום הוא באומנתו): Clever and skilled at his work. See Shabbos 105b: "For such is the craft of the yetzer hara: today it tells him, do this, and tomorrow it tells him, do that, until it tells him, worship idols, and he goes and worships." This explains what follows: the yetzer does not come openly to overturn the good decision, but by a roundabout way.

6. People's minds are not alike (בני אדם אין דיעותיהם שוות): From the beraisa in Berachos 58a: "for their minds are not alike, and their faces are not alike".

7. The surroundings (למחיצה): That is, the setting of the Yeshivah Tomchei Temimim.

8. This is not the place, nor this the manner (שלא זה המקום ולא זה האופן): This is the yetzer's argument: it does not tell him to abandon the good path, only that the place (the yeshivah) and the manner (its order and the companions there) are not the right means to his goal; and it finds "a hold in reason" for this in real shortcomings of the place, since there is no perfection in the world. The Rebbe answers the complaints in the recipient's letter below.

9. As explained in the book of the Tanya (המבואר בספר התניא): Tanya, ch. 28: "It is known how those who fight, or wrestle together, behave: when one gains strength, the other exerts himself to gain strength too with all his might. So when the G‑dly soul exerts itself and gathers strength to pray, the kelipah too gathers strength against it, to confuse it and topple it with a foreign thought of its own."

10. This is easy to understand (וק"ל): וק"ל = וקל להבין. The very growth of the complaints against the yeshivah is a sign that he is succeeding on his path and that the yetzer is "exerting itself" against him; they are no reason to turn back.

11. That is (ז.א.): ז.א. = זאת אומרת.

12. This may be compared (משל למה"ד): משל למה"ד = משל למה הדבר דומה.

13. Dozens of them (עשירות מהם): Tens of them, i.e. many of them.

14. To learn from every person (להיות למד מכל אדם): Avos 4:1: "Ben Zoma says: Who is wise? One who learns from every person." The Rebbe adds: to learn from each person the good side in him, and to attach oneself to that good side.

15. You have toiled and you have found (יגעת ומצאת): Megillah 6b: "R. Yitzchak said: If a person tells you, I toiled and did not find, do not believe him; I did not toil and found, do not believe him; I toiled and found, believe him." Whoever toils in study is assured that he will find.

16. The merit of the many will help him (וזכות הרבים מסייעתו): Cf. Avos 2:2: "All who work with the community should work with them for the sake of Heaven, for the merit of their fathers helps them." What he absorbs in the yeshivah will serve him to influence others, and the merit of the many in this will already help him now to overcome the difficulties.

17. The Rebbe Rashab (כ"ק אדמו"ר מוהרש"ב נ"ע): כ"ק אדמו"ר מוהרש"ב נ"ע = כבוד קדושת אדוננו מורנו ורבנו, מורנו הרב שלום דובער, נשמתו עדן: R. Shalom DovBer, the Rebbe Rashab, the fifth Rebbe, founder of the Yeshivah Tomchei Temimim.

18. Toras Shalom (תורת שלום): The collected sichos of the Rebbe Rashab.

19. An empty vessel (כלי ריקן): The language of our Sages in Berachos 40a: "Come and see: the way of flesh and blood is not like the way of the Holy One, blessed be He. With flesh and blood, an empty vessel holds; a full one does not hold. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so." The Rebbe takes from this "an empty vessel": only an empty vessel can receive; so to receive one must be empty of all ulterior motives and of the confusions of one's own mind, and only then will one later become a mashpia.

20. And he shall live by them (וחי בהם): Vayikra 18:5: "You shall keep My statutes and My ordinances, which a person shall do and live by them; I am G‑d."

21. Good news (בשו"ט): בשו"ט = בשורות טובות.

Summary

A young man who entered Tomchei Temimim a month earlier wrote that he was unhappy with conditions there. The Rebbe explains that the yetzer hara, unable to make him abandon his decision openly, argues that "this is not the place"; the stronger the argument, the surer the sign of progress. He should see and learn from the good in his companions, study with diligence, and remember that a mashpia must first be a receiver.