Rav Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan
June 1907
Embracing Encounters:
The Slobodka Mesorah of Yirah
There was a gem of a statement that was frequently repeated by Kapel Young, a scholar from the Slobodka Yeshiva:
The sharpest sword placed upon our necks, that which prevents us from standing tall in life, the heaviest iron rings on our fingers restraining our grip and preventing them from converging into a strong fist to defy the European chutzpa that battles against us – they are those mighty thoughts of the futility of this world that Mussar has conferred upon us.
But we haven’t learned when it is proper to employ them and when it is proper to turn away.
When we encounter a small wave of life, one impediment in this world, we instinctively rebut it, treating it like nothing more than dirt on the ground, fleeing from it in one breath, without any thought. We fail to stop and ask: How should we show up in the face of the challenge? What is it asking of us? Do we, at least, partially acknowledge it, or simply deny it entirely?
Our entire religious experience today stems solely from a weak “yirah” (awe or fear) – not the Ramchal’s immense fear of sin[1] – but we merely experience weakness of the nerves. We worry that perhaps we will stumble in an inappropriate area. The truth is that we constantly stumble in many inappropriate areas; we lack the pure eyes to see our own flaws, to recognize them, to investigate and dissect them. All we possess is a blind fear, the fear of blind people hopelessly fumbling against the wall.[2] We stumble with words: “Perhaps, maybe, possibly such a thing isn’t good”; we fear, “lest such an action is improper.” By acting this way, we consider ourselves to be authentic G-d-fearing exemplars.
Woe to this embarrassment and shame! What happened to the healthy nobility of the Torah intellect? Where
is the healthy nobility of sharp analysis in areas of Jewish law, judgments that pierce through mountains?[3]
Because of this, we become weak in tests of intellect, mere skeptics triggering disgust, unable to engage in conversation with others, unable to clarify and refine our reasoning to them using sharp and succinct words, in the way that the great Torah sages have always done in previous generations! Even after we combine the great powers of our hearts and our thoughts, all we are capable of responding is merely throwing out the expression: “You are far from the Torah, drowning in the grime of life, and therefore you fail to understand us.”
But what does the Torah actually say? “Return to the Almighty, against Whom you have thought deeply to turn away” (Isaiah 31:6). The Torah contains words and illuminations even for those who have already forgotten the language of human beings.
Woe, nation of ostriches!4 For how long will you bury your heads in the sand?![4]
[1] See Mesilas Yesharim, chapter 24. “Certainly it must be an important and fundamental matter and difficult to attain.” https://www.sefaria.org/Mesilat_Yesharim.24?lang=bi
[2] Seemingly a reference to Genesis 19:11, when the Sodomites searching for Lot’s guests were blinded and confused.
[3] A reference to Talmud Sanhedrin 6b: Moses would say that a judge must issue laser-sharp rulings that can “pierce a mountain”. 4 The Hebrew term he employs is שְַׁפַ ִּֽנִּֽים, which means hyrax or badger. In Tehillim 104:18 King David writes that, as opposed to mountain goats who sit on the high mountains and gaze outwards, these animals prefer to retreat into the cliffs. Similarly, in Mishlay 30:26, King Shlomo writes that they are animals that lack strength and bury themselves in the rocks. My Rebbe, Rav Beryl Gershenfeld, explained to me that the modern-day idiom would be most similar to an ostrich burying its head in the sand – retreating instead of facing reality.
[4] My Rebbe, Rav Beryl Gershenfeld, explained: Mussar, by making us subjugate ourselves to HKBH and to Daas Torah, can prevent us from having wise responses to the secular movements that emerge around us. Rather than just saying, it’s not Daas Torah / it’s not the right thing / it’s not our Mesorah, we have to come up with intelligent responses and critiques of modern thoughts; otherwise, we are going to become just a nation of hyraxes burying ourselves into the ground all the time. G-d doesn’t want a Jew to just be dismissive of everything – that is not Yiras Shomayim; it is not Mussar. The Slobodka intellectual is going to develop ideas so he can take part in the conversations of mankind.
