“RABBI’S MUSINGS (&
AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh
Parshas Pinchos
Pirkei Avos perek 1
23 Tamuz 5776/ July 29,
2016
It was an experience I hope no one ever has. It was a
Motzei Shabbos at the end of October in 2004. We were living in the Blueberry Hill
Apartments complex with our almost three year old son Shalom, and Chani was in
her ninth month, expecting our second child. At 3 a.m. we were awakened to the
piercing screams of a young girl: “Fire! Fire! Please! There’s a fire!”
Chani immediately raced to the other room and grabbed
Shalom from his bed. I looked out the window and saw that the building opposite
ours was on fire. We rushed outside together with neighbors from all of the
apartments in the nearby buildings. It was a frightening scene as we watched
flames shoot up from the top of the building. The fire department arrived
within minutes and began their heroic efforts to battle the blaze.
At one point a fireman emerged from a window holding a
limp older woman over his shoulder. Tragically, she was the only fatality. She
did not die from the flames but from smoke inhalation while she was sleeping.
It was a painful reminder of the truism that smoke kills before fire.
I often recount that tragic night to my students and
campers to drive home to the idea that the atmosphere around us has the most
profound effect on our spiritual and mental health. When we are surrounded by a
positive and nourishing environment we are more inclined to be productive and
caring. But when we are surrounded by negativity, pessimism, and insensitivity,
it inevitably affects us negatively as well.
When I first began working in education, a friend and
veteran educator shared with me that one of the keys to motivation is in
creating a healthy motivating educational environment where students feel excited
to accomplish and to take part.
I was once discussing with a friend the merits of a
certain yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel. My friend told me that the yeshiva’s rabbeim
and hanhala did not pressure its students to learn per se, but rather, the
pressure was “in the walls”. There was a tremendous drive to grow spiritually
in that yeshiva, and that impelled the students to want to invest and grow in
their Torah learning. The faculty did not need to apply added pressure, because
it was ‘in the air’.
This idea comes to life every summer for me with the
tremendous success of Camp Dora Golding’s learning program ka”h. Aside from the
daily learning groups, it is astounding that a half hour before mincha every Erev
Shabbos there are almost three hundred campers ready for Shabbos and learning
in camp’s shul. Then on Shabbos itself, there are even more campers who learn
voluntarily for three hours on Shabbos afternoon. It’s not just the expensive and
great prizes that are raffled off, and it’s not just the massive BBQ for all
who learn a certain amount. It’s more about the positive hype and excitement
generated by Rabbi Sauber and the learning rabbeim.
We are now in the period of mourning for the
destruction of the Bais Hamikdash. The gemara in Yoma relates that the second
Bais Hamikdash was destroyed because of baseless enmity between fellow Jews. Not
every Jew may have been guilty, but that sense of disunity and distrust was in
the air and created a spiritual toxicity. When we observe Torah and mitzvos,
demonstrate sensitivity for each other, and perform acts of chesed, it’s not
merely individual acts of greatness. It creates a healthy spiritual
environment, one fitting for the rebuilding of the Bais Hasmikdash.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum