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Q- What are the things one needs in order to be happy?
A- Being involved in a meaningful life. Did you ever hear someone remark, "My life is meaningless, I am so happy about that?" An illustration of this is the story of the eccentric philanthropist, Zell Kravinsky who gave away 40 million dollars before his family stopped him. He declared that his happiest moment was when he donated one of his kidneys to an absolute stranger. Regarding this Mr. Kravinsky said, "In theory I can't get too depressed because I did this one thing.
Happiness is easily described, discussed and even speculated upon from a philosophical/psychological point of view. However, from a pure and authentic Torah perspective, it can be a great challenge.
From a genuine Torah perspective it is questionable as to what role happiness plays in the spirituality of Judaism. There is no question as to the effectiveness of Simcha for a successful and enduring observance of Mitzvos. But in an effort to contemplate the role and challenge that happiness plays in our life we must first attempt to define it. The contrast between the Torah and secular view regarding happiness is indeed profound.
In the epicurean world of hedonism, utilitarianism and Freudianism happiness and pleasure are synonymous. As reflected in Freud’s pleasure principle and the utilitarianism of the British philosopher, J.S. Mill, who identified happiness with pleasures of the mind.
While the above philosophers may suggest that pleasure is synonymous with happiness, Socrates entertains the idea of happiness being pleasure but then concludes, “A life spent scratching an itch may well be pleasurable, but certainly no one would call that a happy life.”
The Torah rejects all of the above. The identifiable component of happiness is something that is consistent. The constant need for varied happiness is a definitive statement of unhappiness. As the author, N. Etcoff puts it, “Trying to be happier is as futile as trying to be taller.” In other words, our Rabbis in the Talmud declare "Aizehu Ashir, Hasomeach B'chelko" telling us that for happiness to be genuine, it needs to speak about consistent soul gratifying behavior. L’havdil, the philosopher, A.J. Ayer once said, “Happiness is a satisfaction that continues to be satisfaction.”
In the world of Chasidus happiness is a virtue. Achieving happiness is in it of itself a righteous goal. In the non- Chasidic world one does not achieve happiness. In other words, happiness itself is not a goal. Instead it is a way of doing things. A person who engages in a course of conduct persistently does not arrive at a goal called persistence rather he/she is merely persistent in what they do.
On November 26, 2004, I transferred from an educational institution of 51,426 students to a school of approximately 25. The 350 acre campus and 17 libraries housing more than eight million volumes were replaced by a Monsey address and a single room filled with books written in a language that I did not understand. Electron microscopes were replaced by shtenders. A college physics professor once told me that the proportion of a single atom to the Earth is the proportion of the Earth to the Universe. Likewise, Torah studies at Kol Yaakov developed my appreciation of existence from the physical boundaries of the Universe to the Infinite.
On December 23 of the previous year, I saw tefillin for the first time- in a Jerusalem hotel room that I shared with a religious Israeli soldier during a 10 day tour of Eretz Yisrael. The polished MK-16 rifle lying on his bed perturbed me less than those smooth black boxes and leather straps.
That same day, in a parking lot outside the Old City, our Egged tour bus was parked beneath the setting crimson sun. The madrich walked down the isle of our mostly secular group waving a siddur and asked if I would help them form a minyan. “Of course I’ll help,” I said without the slightest clue what a minyan was. Perhaps the State of Israel was at war? As they started to daven Mincha outside, I was flustered. They must have reviewed the instructions without me.
My startling discovery of pious Jewry was enough to rekindle a long dormant attention to the Divine. A few years of Sunday school in a Reform Synagogue was enough to convince me that Judaism was not a serious religion. For example, the Yom Kippur services were held in a rented church, because the fact that the synagogue’s crowded, overflow rooms equipped with big screen TVs and surround sound speakers did not provide the audience with a comfortable spiritual experience. This seemed somehow to clash with the image of the G-d fearing Jew presented by the Torah.
Unfortunately, the outreach programs that I encountered did not provide much of the desired authenticity. Escapades to kibbutzim in the Negev and fencing clubs in Kfar Saba provided me with enough of the usual distractions. Shabbos in Meah She’arim and Yomim Tovim in West Bank settlements nurtured my newfound connection with Jewish spirituality.
When I returned to Texas I continued my degree in Biomedical Engineering. I became acquainted with the 4 other bochurim who were shomrei mitzvos on campus. Not long afterwards, a fellow engineering student and former Kol Yaakov bochur informed me of Rabbi Tropper’s exceptional Torah program in Monsey. I packed my bags and left midsemester.
The University of Texas fencing team would be down one left-handed foilist, and problems stated in my Differential Equations textbook would remain unsolved. However, the stimulating challenges of yeshiva easily compensated for any imagined losses.
Recently, in February, the Rosh HaYeshiva returned with me to visit the University of Texas to give a presentation entitled, “The Search for G-d: Is It Intellectual or Emotional?” An unexpected phone call informed us that Rabbi Tropper’s presentation would be delayed for 30 minutes. So, Rabbi Tropper and I made our way amongst the campus’ 51,426 students in search of a nearby Barnes & Noble bookseller.
A second surprise met us at the storefront: a brown cardboard- covered window and a sign that read, “Last Day Ever.” There was not much else to do but loiter as the minutes ticked away on the 307 foot university clock tower. There I was with my Rosh Yeshiva standing in the middle of my old university wondering about the contrast between the two very different worlds represented here and why it was I was standing there between the two…
Not a moment passed as that thought flittered through my mind when a smile wearing a baseball cap appeared in front of us. “Are you Orthodox?” inquired the 19 year old student. “Do you know where the nearest Orthodox shul is? I want to be Orthodox.” It doesn’t get any easier than that. Of course we invited him to “The Search for G-d.” lecture.
Afterwards, he shared a warm remark with Rabbi Tropper that is perhaps indicative of the sentiment that I, personally, share with other Kol Yaakov bochurim concerning the Rosh HaYeshiva and Kol Yaakov: “Your presentation may be over,” he said, “but I feel like this is the first day of my life.”
When I see people buying lottery tickets I imagine they probably are often preoccupied with thoughts of winning the big one. I bet they even wake up in the morning and realize that they were dreaming about what they would do with all those piles of crisp green bills. Of course, those ticket buyers who are Kol Yaakov alumni are probably thinking of buying Reb Leib a private jet so he could travel to North Dakota to warm up the hearts of the four and one half Jews who live there. But as for me, my dreams don’t focus on “The Big Four” or “The Lucky Seven” or whatever those lottery games are called. I dream about dikduk – Hebrew grammar. I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat thinking, “That posuk in Iyov, it doesn’t follow the rules. You can’t have a shva nach after a…” Then I go running to get all my dikduk books out. OK, so I am exaggerating. I never wake up in the middle of the night (unless one of the children is crying) thinking about these things or for that matter thinking about much of anything. I guess one of the benefits of sleep deprivation is that when you sleep, you really sleep. Nonetheless, I have a certain passion for dikduk and that, as a yeshiva graduate, requires some explanation.
The truth is that I came to Kol Yaakov from JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary) and they were the ones who planted in my head the idea that dikduk is important. When people ask me if I learned a lot when I was there, I answer in the negative, but I add that they gave me an excellent Hebrew background and for that I am grateful. After all, it makes sense that if we don’t know if something is singular or plural, past or future, passive or active or any of the other things that a proper understanding of the rules of the language afford us, then when we are learning we will often only be making educated guesses as to the meaning of the text. Having a sophisticated understanding of the nuances of Loshon HaKodesh seems to go hand in hand with a strong background in Torah learning.
It is interesting to note that of all of the Rishonim on Chumash, not one of them was silent with regard to the fine points of dikduk. The most subtle nuances of the Hebrew language were of the most importance to them. One cannot learn Chumash with Rashi without encountering ‘dikduk Rashis’ in virtually every Parsha. In fact, many of Rashi’s comments which don’t appear to be dikduk-oriented, when understood in a more sophisticated way turn out to be onehundred- percent dikduk!
Does it bother me that it was JTS that taught me Hebrew grammar and not yeshiva? No, because I realize that at JTS they are limited in ways that they cannot even imagine. They have no concept of what a Talmid Chochom is, nor do they have a concept of what lomdus is. It is only from having my formative years at Kol Yaakov that I have a proper perspective on what true greatness in Torah is. It’s true that if you can’t read it you are limited. However, if you read it but you can’t understand it or you don’t properly value it, then you are not only limited, but stuck. As I transitioned from Kol Yaakov to Yeshivas Chaim Berlin, and then to family life, I often look back and see that my overall outlook has been shaped by Kol Yaakov in the most profound ways possible because I was given a glimpse of the greatness of Torah.
Up down and back and forth- Horizons/The Lillian Jean Kaplan Jewish Pride through Education Program has been on the move looking for sparks of Jewish neshamos wherever they may be found. Rabbi Tropper has been racking up the frequent flyer points turning the Kol Yaakov/ Horizons office into a virtual travel agency. Since, not even the Rosh Yeshiva’s boundless energy allows him to parachute regularly back to all the areas where his inspiring lectures and personal approach has left an impression, Horizons has redoubled its efforts to fully exploit these outreach opportunities by expanding our phone chavrusa program. Each of the kiruv trips noted below has yielded on-going learning partners over the phone and by e-mail which is making a surprising impact. If anyone is interested in helping Kol Yaakov/Horizons in this effort by volunteering some time to learn with someone who has been inspired to know more about Judaism, by all means contact Rabbi Jacobs at the Yeshiva office.
The Rosh Yeshiva’s annual visit to the San Francisco Bay area always yields a fresh opportunity to impact the community there and inspire new talmidim to come and learn in the yeshiva. This time around, Rabbi Tropper spoke at Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim in Berkeley on the topic of "Learning Torah- Investigating the Prominence of Torah Study in Jewish Life through the Eyes of the Rambam." He also delivered a shiur to a group of students from both UC San Francisco and Stanford University. Accompanied by Kol Yaakov talmidim, Binyamin Greenberg and Reuvein Levine, Rabbi Tropper spent Shabbos Parshas Yisro with the Palo Alto community, south of San Francisco, where the Rosh Yeshiva delivered a shiur on the topic of “Truth and Lies: A Torah Perspective.” A Melava Malka at the home of past and future Kol Yaakov talmid Vadim Dukhovny in San Francisco closed out the trip with a talk on, "Does the Torah Want Our Happiness?"
Harnessing the eclectic geographic origins of the talmidim, Horizons made a 2- day outreach junket to Austin, Texas. On this trip, arranged by current KYTC talmid Yonason Mann and alumnus and fellow Texan Binyomin Shlyapobersky, Rabbi Tropper spoke at the University of Texas, at Austin, which boasts a surprisingly large Jewish population on the topic, “The Search for God: Is it Emotional or Intellectual?” While this talk was for the general Jewish population on campus, a second shiur was delivered to a more select group on, “Achieving Your Spiritual Aspirations.” The last evening in Texas, Rabbi Tropper spent at the local JCC, home to a newly formed kehilla. The lecture, “Feel Good or Being Good Judaism,” gave the audience a Torah perspective that is rarely presented in Austin.
The tail- end of February saw Horizons’ annual trip to England. On this occasion, Rabbi Tropper spoke at Warwick University in Coventry. The Jewish Society there took a break from the usual political and social fare to hear words of Torah inspiration. In London, at the City Center Hillel House, Rabbi Tropper delivered a talk entitled, “Eat, Drink and Be Happy!” – The Place of Happiness, Joy and Pleasure in Judaism,” in preparation for Purim. This lecture was arranged by an English alumnus of Kol Yaakov’s summer program.
Horizons is moving forward with the Eternal Jewish Family and is ready to take this program to the next level (this program was launched to streamline the conversion process for the non-Jewish spouse of an intermarriage). While we increase the number of couples involved in the program, Horizons is organizing a conference to be held in June in the New York area which will bring rabbanim together from around the country and beyond. The conference will focus on ways to coordinate and organize batei dinim with the purpose of facilitating a universally accepted conversion. A cornerstone of the conference will be the introduction of a Halachic manual being prepared by the Eternal Jewish Family program which will be a valuable tool for Rabbis dealing with issues of conversion as it relates to intermarriage. More information will be forthcoming as to the details of the conference.
Rabbi Dovid Stefansky was imported to Kol Yaakov direct from Eretz Yisroel. He came to the yeshiva in 1991, having studied at the world-renowned Ponevezh Yeshiva in B’nai Brak. In addition, Reb Dovid’s Torah erudition has been complimented by time spent learning in places known for setting the standard by which others are judged. His learning resume reads like a veritable who’s who in world-renowned yeshivos, namely the Mir and Brisk yeshivos in Yerushalyim as well as Bais HaMedrash Govoha in Lakewood, NJ.
Rabbi Stefansky has brought to Kol Yaakov the spirit of these great Torah Centers. In synch with the Kol Yaakov philosophy on education, Reb Dovid inspires commitment to Judaism not through engaging in philosophical dialogue; but rather by highlighting the greatness of Torah, which results in a true sense of Jewish pride. His classes have formed the backbone of the Yeshiva’s afternoon program for many years. His shiurim on Halacha has transmitted to his students a strong practical foundation for Torah observance while his popular bekius shiur in gemara has imparted a breadth of learning on his students through the completion of many masechtos. Both shiurim have become hallmarks in the Yeshiva’s afternoon program. In 1994 Rabbi Stefansky beacame a Rosh Yeshiva in Kol Yaakov.
More than just his erudition, Reb Dovid’s devotion and concern for the yeshiva are best illustrated by his continued personal involvement in both the ruchnius and gashmius of current and former talmidim of Kol Yaakov.
NEWS FROM THE N'SHEI
By Suri Witonsky
N'shei Kol Yaakov's 1st Annual Family Melave Malka held on
January 8th, was a huge success! Over 100 men, women and
children gathered in the Bais Medrash for an evening that was
both inspiring as well as fun; offering something for every age
group. The girls enjoyed spelling out their names with Hebrew
letter beads and stringing them, along with other colorful
beads, into decorative ID bracelets. Thanks go to Gila and
Rena Tropper
who supervised
the project. The
boys were treated
to a special Safrus
workshop by our
resident Sofer,
Rabbi Daniel
Melamed. They
enjoyed learning
how the Sofer
forms letters on
parchment to
create a Mezuzah,
Tefillin and
Sifrei Torah. Everyone
enjoyed the
sumptuous food
provided by Glatt Wok and the melodious music of Yitzchak
HaLevi. Our MC for the evening, Mr. Reuven Weinstein, introduced
our speakers: Rabbi Leib Tropper, Rabbi Melech
Michaels and Rabbi Dovid Jacobs who took us down memory
lane, describing the beginnings and roots of Kol Yaakov. The
evening was topped off by our ice cream sundae bar with lots
of delicious toppings and who could resist our sweet and fluffy
cotton candy. We'd like to thank everyone who worked so
hard to make this evening so special. We can't wait to see
what's in store for next year!
1. The Chazon Ish was careful to eat Melave Malka on Motzoei Yom Tov as on Motzoei Shabbos.
2. The Chazon Ish said that it is prohibited for a rebbe to threaten a child who misbehaves saying, “I’ll tell your father about your bad conduct."
Elliot & Suzanne Balaban on the birth of their son, Refoel
Yechezkel
Shmuel & Rivka Meiselman upon the birth of their son
Mr. & Mrs. Tuvia Hammer upon the bar mitzvah of their
son, Dovid
Rabbi & Mrs. Dovid Illions upon the bar mitzvah of their
son
Mr. & Mrs. Yitzchak Gensler upon the engagement of their
daughter, Shaindy
Drew Leban on his engagement
Zvi Yosef Nulman upon his engagement to Ilana D’ver
Nosson Shvarts upon his engagement to Victoria Kanevsky
Mr. & Mrs. Ezra Beyman upon the marriage of their
daughter, Yehudis to Simcha Podolsky
Aaron Rosenberg on making a siyum on Shisha Sidrei
Mishna
YOUR MAZEL TOVS ARE OUR MAZEL TOVS. PLEASE LET US KNOW ABOUT YOUR SIMCHOS BY CALLING THE OFFICE OR EMAILING US.
Rabbi Yaakov Kapelner on the loss of his father
Dan & Shane Ronay on the loss of their mother
Mrs. Miriam Cantor on the loss of her father
Mrs. Janet Goldman on the loss of her father
