Tefillah Gatherings Led by Gedolei Yisrael at the Kosel and at Kever of Chazon Ish
“The main teshuva is Torah!” That is what Rav Aharon Kotler teaches us. On Rosh Hashanah we will say, “Teshuva, tefillah, and tzedakah removed the evil decree.” What is teshuva? We say every day in davening Hashiveinu Avinu L’Sorasecha,” the primary teshuva is upgrading our limud Hatorah. The Chofetz Chaim’s sefarim are full of this. We must especially remember this in our times when Klal Yisrael needs so much rachamei shomayim!”
These powerful words were said while overlooking the Kosel by HaGaon HaRav Nissan Kaplan, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Nesiv Daas, at Dirshu’s 10th Annual International Yom Limud and Tefillah, held on 24 Elul/September 27, the Chofetz Chaim’s yahrtzeit.
Many lomdei Dirshu and members of Hanhalas Dirshu had joined Rav Kaplan together with Dirshu’s Nasi, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, for a special asifas tefillah at the Kosel on the yahrzeit of the Chofetz Chaim. It was deeply inspiring to witness and be part of the powerful outpouring of tefillah. It is hard to describe the sight of so many lomdei and marbitzei Torah begging Hashem for rachamim in the zechus of the Chofetz Chaim at this critical time of the year before Rosh Hashanah when Klal Yisrael is faced with such formidable challenges from within and without!
Following the asifas tefillah, a gathering held at the hall of Yeshiva Aish HaTorah was addressed by Rav Kaplan and Rav Hofstedter.
Another extremely moving tefillah gathering was held the following night at the kever of the Chazon Ish in Bnei Brak. To hear the tefillah of HaGaon HaRav Shimon Galei, shlita, wracked by sobs and copious tears as he begged Hashem for rachamim was to truly feel the pain of the Shechina. Rav Shimon was joined by HaGaon HaRav Messoud Ben Shimon, shlita, Sephardic Rav of Bnei Brak and HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Eliezer Stern, shlita, one of Bnei Brak’s most prominent poskim who also led the tzibbur in tefillah.
The outpouring of emotion just days before Rosh Hashanah highlighted the difficult matzav and uncertainty about the future that Klal Yisrael is facing.
Videocast Full of Inspiration from Past and Present Gedolim
This year’s Yom Limud and Tefillah featured a special videocast that began this past Motzoei Shabbos, 25 Elul, and ran throughout Monday. The videocast featured unique chizuk by leading Gedolei Yisrael including, Rav David Ozeri, Rav of Congregation Yad Yosef of Brooklyn, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, Nasi Dirshu, Rav Daniel Glatstein, Rav of Kehillas Tiferes Mordechai of Cedarhurst, and Rav Zev Smith, Maggid Shiur Dirshu, Daf HaYomi B’Halacha and Irgun Shiurei Torah. One of the highlights of the videocast was the historical footage of HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edelstein, zt”l, wherein he gives detailed hadracha for Bnei Torah on how to succeed in learning.
In the riveting videocast replete with chizuk and inspiration along with short, heartwarming musical interludes, Rav Zev Smith spoke about the importance of cultivating the middah of vittur, of forgoing and looking away even when someone has wronged you. He said, “Shortly before his passing, the Chofetz Chaim called his children around him and said, ‘Throughout my life, I always tried to be mevater and that is why I was always happy.’” Rav Smith gave another example of a person who came to Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman when Rav Ahron Leib was very old. Rav Aharon Leib told him, I have lived a very long life and throughout, I never saw a mevater lose out!
Where Are Our Hearts and Minds?
Rav Dovid Hofstedter’s sobering words left much food for thought. He asked the following question. “We confess our sins during these days. We beat our breasts for swearing falsely, for taking bribes, for charging interest and for many more things. But perhaps some of us have never transgressed any of these prohibitions? Why would we confess sins that we have not even done?” He cited answers given by the Rambam, the Sefer Hachassidim and the Chida, and then put forth another explanation. “The Medrash says that when the time came for Hashem to fulfill His promise to the Avos and take the Bnei Yisrael out of Mitzrayim, he could not take them out because they did not have mitzvos. He therefore gave them the mitzvos of korban Pesach and bris milah.”
“Did they really have no merits?” Rav Hofstedter asked. “Doesn’t the Medrash teache us that it was in the merit of righteous women that our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt? Furthermore, Chazal tell us that it was in the merit of the Jews not changing their names, language and clothing that they were redeemed. Chazal explain that they didn’t speak lashon hara, they were upstanding in areas of morality, they had yeshivos in Mitzrayim and elders who ruled on halachic matters. How then can we say that they had no merits?”
Rav Hofstedter answered by citing a Chazal that teaches us that the Bnei Yisrael were on the 49th level of tumah when they left Mitzrayim. It was the heroic act of bringing the korban Pesach - when they slaughtered the deity of Mitzrayim - that enabled them to overcome the avodah zarah influence that permeated their minds. It was the mitzvah of shedding the blood of bris milah that enabled them to overcome the immoral impulses that permeated the culture of Mitzrayim.
“From here we see,” Rav Hofstedter explained, “that even though their actions until now were good, their minds had already been completely infiltrated by the cultural rot and tumah of Mitzrayim.
“Yes, sometimes we can have great deeds and merit, but the question is where are our hearts and minds? Are they immersed and enmeshed in a foreign culture and ideology?
“Perhaps this is why someone has to beat his breast and confess sins that he hasn’t done. Perhaps he was never presented with the opportunity to transgress that sin, but had he been presented with it, he would have fallen. The question is, where are out hearts and minds?! Hashem wants our hearts and minds! Hashem wants us to be a mamleches kohanim v’goy Kadosh!”
Rosh Hashanah: An Invitation to the Royal Palace
With his drasha, Rav David Ozeri gave a gift to his listeners, gifting them with a better understanding of the opportunity presented by Rosh Hashanah. He pointed out how the famed Mashgiach of Lakewood, Rav Nosson Wachtfogel, asked, “What is Rosh Hashanah?” The Mashgiach then answered, “Rosh Hashanah is an invitation into the royal place. It is a two-day invitation to show us what malchut is all about. Why is Hashem inviting us inside? Because He loves us. If He is angry at us, He is not inviting us. Yes, Rosh Hashanah is a time of fear of judgement, yet we must also remember who is the judge? The judge is our Father, Avinu! He is also Malkeinu, thus He is our Father who loves us and can do anything! We must realize that although Rosh Hashanah is a solemn day, it is also a joyous day. A day that we spend with our Father and King who loves us.”
Rav Daniel Glatstein highlighted the fact that the yahrtzeit of the Chofetz Chaim coming right before the Yamim Noraim offers us the perfect opportunity to strive to emulate the Chofetz Chaim as we turn over a new leaf and begin our avodah anew for the next year. We should be asking ourselves, “How can I make this year THE year when I will live in accordance with the blueprint of guidance that the Chofetz Chaim gave us?”
When the elevator was invented, Rav Glatsein continued, the Chofetz Chaim saw it as an excellent analogy of what our responsibilities in avodas Hashem should be.
“What is an elevator?” he asked, “It is something that can take you from the bottom floor all the way to the top. All you have to do is put your foot forward and press the button! The Chofetz Chaim teaches us that aspiring ovdei Hashem have unlimited siyatta d’Shmaya from Hashem. All we have to do is press the button indicating where we want to go and then put our best foot forward!”
Rav Gershon Edelstein: The Antidote to Yetzer Hara is Geshmak in Learning
Another highlight of the videocast was the rare historic footage from fifteen years ago of Rav Gershon Edelstein answering questions. One of the questions was, “What is the proper approach for a ben Torah to manage with all the difficult, spiritual challenges in our times?”
Rav Gershon answered, “He must have a geshmak in learning and that means learning things that his heart desires. Not everyone enjoys learning the same thing. Some like iyun, some are more inclined to bekius, and yet others prefer halacha. Having a geshmak in what one learns overrides anything else. It is a geshmak in matters of kedusha that empowers him to tear himself from the other so called ‘geshmak’ pastimes.”
Special Programing in Chadarim and Schools Worldwide
In addition to the Yom Tefillah and videocast, the special programing for schools on the Chofetz Chaim was a resounding success. “As soon as our cheder received the package from Dirshu, I knew its message would have a deep impact on our talmidim. The beautifully written and illustrated, age-appropriate material, containing halachos from the sefarim of the Chofetz Chaim and stories about the Chofetz Chaim, would connect our talmidim to the Chofetz Chaim and his message in a unique way”, said the menahel of a Cheder in Lakewood.
His remarks echoed those of numerous menahlim and principals of chadorim, boys’ and girls’ schools covering the entire cross-section of Torah observant Jewry throughout the United States and Canada and in almost every continent in the world!
The principal of a Day School in the deep south related, “The lessons and message from the life of the Chofetz Chaim that Dirshu sent to our school was taught by our rebbeim and teachers to students at all age levels and had special meaning for them.”
Nearly a million Yidden from over 25 countries came together to learn the sefarim of the Chofetz Chaim and daven on behalf of Klal Yisrael in the zechus of the Chofetz Chaim.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, a citywide tefillah rally for children was held, where all of the children in the various Torah schools in the city gathered together at the Shaarei Chaim shul to storm the gates of Heaven on behalf of Acheinu Bnei Yisrael. “It was a deeply inspiring event permeated by remarkable achdus,” said Rabbi Ari Taback, Dirshu’s South African Director.
The Learning of the Chofetz Chaim’s Sefarim Have Power to Invoke Rachmei Shamayim
The Yom Limud and Tefillah was established by Dirshu to bring all of Klal Yisrael together specifically on the auspicious occasion of the Chofetz Chaim’s yahrzeit just before Rosh Hashanah in unified tefilla on behalf of Klal Yisrael and to encourage the continued learning of the Chofetz Chaim’s sefarim that have such power to invoke rachmei shamayim.
This year, perhaps more than in any previous year, the Yom Limud and Tefillah resonated in a more profound way - as the world is in real danger. In Eretz Yisrael the danger is obvious, but in America and Europe, the rise of antisemitism and unapologetic Jew hatred in the mainstream is affecting the physical, spiritual and economic health of our community in an unprecedented way.
On the Yom Limud and Tefillah, Yidden throughout the world said perakim of Tehillim on behalf of Klal Yisrael and learned. The remarkable achdus that was seen on that day as Klal Yisrael, on six continents, across various countries, were united by learning the same page of Mishnah Berurah, from siman 266 in hilchos Shabbos, the page learned in the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program for 24 Elul, and chapter 11 in the sefer Chomas Hadas, written by the Chofetz Chaim. “The zechus of limud haTorah, tefillah and the extra sensitivity in matters of speech will certainly serve as a shield for Klal Yisrael in the upcoming Yom Hadin,” said Rabbi Avigdor Bernstein, a senior member of Dirshu’s hanhala.
In Remarkable Display of Achdus, Diverse Communities Participate
Throughout diverse communities across the United States and Canada, a wide range of some 200 schools that represented the entire panoply of Orthodox Jewry, participated in the Yom Limud and Tefillah school programs. Whether it was Ashkenazim, Sefardim, Chassidim, Yeshiva types, Day Schools, Chadarim, Bais Yaakovs; all of them were represented at Dirshu’s Yom Limud and Tefillah. They include schools hailing from communities such as Monsey, NY; Lakewood, NJ; Brooklyn, NY; Manhattan, NY; Toronto, Canada; Houston, TX; Baltimore, MD; Cleveland, OH; Waterbury, CN; Phoenix, AZ; Passaic, NJ; Denver, CO; Boston, MA; Los Angeles, CA; and Providence, RI and so many more.
Indeed, Dirshu produced riveting USBs with stories about the Chofetz Chaim told by the famed Rabbi Yoel Ferber in English and by Rabbi Leibish Lish, legendary Yiddish storyteller. The children listened to the stories in school and were each given their own USB to take home and listen to on their own time.
One menahel related, “I spoke to the boys about who the Chofetz Chaim was and how, through his seforim, he immeasurably enriched each and every one of us. Although the children had certainly heard of the Chofetz Chaim they nevertheless gained a true appreciation of what he did for us when I showed them the sifrei Chofetz Chaim and Mishnah Berurah and explained how pivotal they are in our everyday lives. They became cognizant of how the Chofetz Chaim relates to them on a personal level.”
May the zechus of the Chofetz Chaim and all of the tefillos and Torah learned on his yartzeit protect Klal Yisrael and be a zechus for Jews the world over.
