Inspirational and Timely Advice from Rav Dov Landau, Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch and Rav Dovid Cohen

Fire! It was fire!

As the venerated Rosh Yeshiva, HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, completed his drasha, he became so animated, so full of fire, so full of passion!

With great emotion, he said, “Everyone here in this room knows that the Olam HaTorah is facing tremendous adversity. There are so many gezeiros. There is the draft and there are other gezeiros. They are trying to fight against us with every tool at their disposal. I want you to know what the approach of a ben Torah should be. How does a ben Torah battle against these gezeiros?”

“The answer,” he exclaimed passionately, while raising his arms to heaven, “is only through limud haTorah, only through being careful about mitzvos, only by creating a vibrant kesher with Hashem! If we are truly connected to Hashem that will bring us the siyatta d’Shmaya if we constantly think about what Hashem wants from us; if we live with Him and ‘know His name,’ they will not be able to touch us; you have nothing to worry about at all!”

Rav Moshe Hillel’s powerful address was given at a unique “Seder Hachanah” event held last week by Dirshu. The event, which was expressly for bachurim from all over Eretz Yisrael who are graduating yeshiva ketanah (high school age) and will be entering yeshiva gedolah (beis medrash) next year, featured leading senior Gedolei Yisrael offering practical advice on how to be successful in yeshiva.

There was a unique question and answer session with the venerated Rosh Yeshiva, HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, shlita. They were also addressed by HaGaonim HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, shlita, HaRav Dovid Cohen, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Chevron, HaRav Messoud Ben Shimon, shlita, Sephardic Rav of Bnei Brak and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Ohr Elitzur, and Rav Yaakov Shternshus, shlita, Mashgiach of Yeshiva Shaarei Shmuos. They were also treated to an address by Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita, Nasi of Dirshu.

In addition, many questions about how to be successful in yeshiva gedolah were posed during a unique shailos and teshuvos session to the three panel members, HaGaon HaRav Yehoshua Eichenstein, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Yad Aharon, HaGaon HaRav Bunim Schreiber, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Nesiv Daas, and HaGaon HaRav Chaim Peretz Berman, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva at the Ponevezh Yeshiva.
Indeed, it was an unforgettable scene!

More than four thousand bachurim all the same age, from all over Eretz Yisrael converged on the Armanot Chen Halls in Bnei Brak to hear guidance - the upstairs floor of the hall, the downstairs floor of the hall, the streets and all the hall’s environs were full, full of bachurim! Those who could not gain entry watched on screens. The bachurim came in droves anxious to quench their thirst for guidance at this pivotal stage in their lives.

HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, Shlita: The Power of Tefillah

Rav Dov Landau, who could not personally attend, answered shailos that had been posed to him in his house about how a bachur can grow and be successful in yeshiva. The video of Rav Dov answering shailos was shown at the event. Wherever one looked, one could see bachurim listening with bated breath, some taking notes as they were zoche to hear from a Rosh Yeshiva who has spent more than eighty years in the Olam Hayeshivos.

Rav Dov began by saying that one extremely important hishtadlus that one must make to be successful is simply to daven to Hashem and beg Him for success. Rav Dov explained that certainly tefillah is the primary hishtadlus but, of course, a bachur must also push himself to be deeply immersed in learning.
“The learning has to occupy his mind. He should live with what he is learning. When he encounters a new insight, he should think about it!”

Rav Landau then elaborated, “Genuine growth comes from stopping to appreciate every fresh insight in Torah rather than rushing ahead.

“When something truly new suddenly occurs to you,” Rav Landau said, “your eyes should light up! You should be excited! Every genuine chiddush should awaken a sense of wonder.”

At the same time, he emphasized how discipline is indispensable.

“A bachur must be disciplined and comply with what the yeshiva requires. He may think he’s a great genius, and he can do his own thing but that is incorrect, he must be disciplined.”

When Rav Dov was asked whether bochurim should involve themselves in issues surrounding the gezeiros on bnei yeshiva he answered, unequivocally, “They should learn. They should not be thinking about those things. They should think about their learning, and about bein adam l’chaveiro. Respecting another person is extremely important - listening to him, rejoicing when things go well for him, and if, chas v’shalom, things are not going well, sharing in his pain.”

HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, Shlita: “Yeshiva Gedolah Is A Fresh Slate!

Rav Moshe Hillel’s drasha was a shiur klali in what it takes to be successful in yeshiva. “The first thing a bachur should know,” Rav Hirsch began, “is that in just one month from now, you will be making what might be the most transformative change of your life.”

He went on to enumerate several points that every bachur must know before coming into yeshiva gedolah, advice that would empower them to truly succeed in yeshiva and in life.

“A bachur must really understand the purpose of the ostensible ‘freedom’ in yeshiva gedolah in comparison with yeshiva ketana. Until now you were always under someone’s control. You slept at home and were under your parents. The yeshiva ketanas are very regimented and you are under constant watch. In yeshiva gedolah there is much more ‘freedom’. When a person has more freedom, he likes to think, ‘I will now decide what is good for me and otherwise…’ That is a mistake! That is the yetzer hara talking! A person must make for himself a rav, a guide. He cannot rely on his own seichel because often the yetzer hara is in charge of his seichel. Independence doesn’t mean that ‘I alone can do what I think is good for me’. You must remain under the guidance and rules of the yeshiva.”

Rav Moshe Hillel emphasized that “Yeshiva gedolah is a fresh slate! Even someone who was not so successful in yeshiva ketanah is empowered to make a fresh start and should come in with great she’ifos. Never let the past define you. Even if you were not previously successful in Torah, in tefillah, in yiras shamayim, now is the time to break with the past and start fresh!”

HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen, Shlita: “What IS a Yeshiva? A Yeshiva is a Factory!”

When the Rosh Yeshiva of Chevron got up to speak everyone saw that he was gripped by emotion. “It is a very emotional moment for me to stand before this amazing elevated tzibbur. We in the Olam Hayeshivos have been through a difficult year. It has been a year when the Olam Hayeshivos has been under attack and myriad efforts have been made to harm the yeshiva world. I think that the greatest response to what we have been through is what we are seeing here tonight. We are standing here in front of a crowd of thousands of bachurim that want to do one thing, they want to join Hashem’s army, the army of the yeshivos. They know where the eternal truth lies. They know what their purpose is in the world!”

Rav Dovid went on to give seminal advice on how they could be successful in yeshiva. “Let us try to encapsulate what a yeshiva is, some say it is a place where we learn Gemara or learn how to learn Gemara. That is incorrect. Yes, what we primarily do in yeshiva is learn Gemara, but that does not define what is a yeshiva. When a person l’havdil wants to become a doctor or an accountant he goes to college to learn that trade. A yeshiva,” the Rosh Yeshiva continued, “is not a college! It is a factory, a factory that builds and produces the unique product called a ‘ben Torah’. It is a factory that creates and raises the talmidei chachomim who will continue the mesorah of Klal Yisrael for the coming generation.”

Rav Dovid also spoke about social standing in the yeshivos. “In more recent years, I have seen that a bachur’s social standing in the yeshiva has become a big deal. Everyone wants to be looked at as geshmak, normal, a person who people want to be around. I am not minimizing the importance of social interaction to a degree, but incessant focus on it? Not only doesn’t the incessant focus help one’s social standing, but it will ultimately hurt his social standing as well.

“If a person focuses more on his learning and not on his place in the social life of the yeshiva, perhaps at the beginning, he won’t be looked at with as much admiration but with time, the entire yeshiva will look at him with great admiration. He will be more socially acceptable than the bachur who spent so much time in idle chatter in order to be ‘with it.’”

HaGaon HaRav Messoud Ben Shimon, Shlita: “You Will Receive the Reward of All of Them!”

Rav Messoud Ben Shimon, the venerated Sephardic Rav of Bnei Brak, began his address by asking a question. “What do we do? We find ourselves in such difficult times, what do we do?”

He answered, “The Yerushalmi writes, ‘If you see that people have given up on learning Torah, your job is to be strong and learn with even greater tenacity and you will receive the reward of everyone. The Alter of Kelm explains that if a person learns when others are not learning, being that he is standing in the breach and doing what is ostensibly their job, he will receive their reward.

“This gathering and the deep desire of each bachur here to be successful in yeshiva,” Rav Ben Shimon thundered, “is the greatest testament to the eternity of the Torah. You will receive the reward of all of them!”

Rav Dovid Hofstedter, Shlita: The Importance of Recognizing that “Everything Depends on Me”

Another highlight of the event was the passionate address by Dirshu’s Nasi, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita. Rav Hofstedter was not able to attend in person this year and instead a video of his address was played.
Rav Hofstedter cited the words of Rav Eliyahu Dessler who compares the way a person progresses in Torah and avodas Hashem to a ladder that is rooted in the ground but reaches all the way to the heavens.
He explained that a person must climb that ladder one rung at a time. He must conquer the yetzer hara at the level where he is currently. Rav Chaim Volozhiner says that when a person tells his slave to climb up to the roof, he doesn’t demand that he jump up from the ground to the roof in one jump. He means that he should climb up one level at a time.

“It is this important lesson,” Rav Hofstedter continued, “that every bachur has to understand about aliyah in ruchniyus. He must proceed step by step. Don’t jump and try to do everything at once. A bachur should not think, ‘I am in yeshiva gedolah, I can reach shleimus right away!’

“That is not a healthy thought. Growth in ruchniyus is a process. Slow and steady. Our she’ifos must be to reach very high, but the way to get there is slowly, step by step.

“Even if a bachur periodically falls, he must remember that the ladder is still there, waiting for him. Just because you fell once, that shouldn’t be an excuse to fall again. The ladder is always waiting for you.”
Rav Dovid added that it is important for a bachur in yeshiva gedolah to realize that his entire hatzlachah in yeshiva and in life depends on… him and him alone!

“If you invest the effort and realize that everything depends on you, then you will be successful!”
He related a story that transpired in the Holocaust with one of his family members. The Nazis came to their city and shut down their fabric store. Without the store, they could not live but they also could not try to escape.

The problem was that any older person caught on the street was beaten and taken to a concentration camp. There was one child, the youngest in the family who realized that at that time the Nazis weren’t rounding up children. The child took fabric, rolled it around his body and then put his clothing on top of the fabric. The child journeyed by himself to another city and was able to sell the fabric at a handsome profit. The child returned to his town with money and thus helped keep the family going.

“How did this child have the strength and courage to venture out alone among the Nazi beasts? How? Because he realized, ‘It all depends on me!’”

“Baruch Hashem, you bachurim are living in times where you don’t have to take your life into your hands. Your parents are responsible for you, you have supportive families and rebbeim, you have food and board, but still, there is an element of ‘everything depends on me,’ that you must internalize if you really want to have hatzlacha in yeshiva. If you realize that everything depends on you,” Rav Hofstedter concluded, “Hashem will give you strength that you didn’t even know you had to succeed!”

Fortunate Is The Generation Where The Young Listen To The Elders!

One could see the smiling, yet earnest faces of the bachurim as they exited after being infused with such divrei chizuk and hearing so many real-life scenarios played out in the question-and-answer sessions. Their shining countenances were the best testament to how glad they were to have heard practical guidance from the Gedolei Hador on the most important period of growth in their lives!

The sense of achdus that permeated the event was likewise phenomenal. Thousands of bachurim - Litvishe, Sephardic, Chassidic, all the same age, came together to hear guidance from Gedolei Yisrael. This is Dirshu! Enhancing limud haTorah for Yidden of all ages and affiliations!

Fortunate is the generation where the young listen to the elders!