The rabbi didn’t need a feasibility study

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman

SAN DIEGO — Two thousand years ago lived Rebbi Akiva – the greatest Rabbi of his generation, and one of the greatest Rabbis of all time. He amassed 24,000 talmidim (students). They flocked to bask in his greatness and learn his Torah. Rebbi Akiva’s talmidim were the pride of the generation. They capably carried the banner of Torah as they represented the future of Torah Judaism.

Then, tragedy struck. A terrible plague appeared and ALL 24,000 talmidim died, except for 5 students. It would have been so easy to give in to despair; but, Rebbi Akiva forged on with these 5 talmidim. They eventually went on to produce the Mishnah – the backbone of the Talmud – the source of all Torah teaching to this day. We have that wonderful ability to find hope when it is hopeless as the following true story illustrates:

Rav Yosef Kahaneman, the last Rav of the Lithuanian town of Ponovezh, arrived in Eretz Yisrael during the Second World War. His family had been murdered, his community turned to ashes, and the German panzer Afrika Korps was at the gates of Egypt. But the Ponovezher Rav saw an empty hilltop in the little village of Bnei Brak, and he said: “On that hilltop, I will build a yeshiva as a memorial to Ponovezh; a Torah center with hundreds and hundreds of students, even larger than the great yeshivos of prewar Eastern Europe.”

They called him a dreamer. He replied, “I am dreaming; but, I am not asleep.”

Some of his friends said: “Nebach, with all the tragedies the old Rabbi has suffered, his mind has finally broken from the strain.”  The story goes that they took him to a see a psychiatrist, who reportedly said: “Well, at least he’s harmless.”

That is what happens when you are the only sane person in the asylum. Because Rav Kahaneman understood: When you go to do the Will of Hashem, you do not begin with a feasibility study, and you do not sit down to think of all the reasons why you cannot succeed. Instead, you say Naaseh V’nishma, we will do, and afterwards we will try to understand. And Rav Kahaneman went on to create Eretz Yisrael’s largest yeshiva, with branches and affiliate schools of a magnitude unmatched since the days of the Gemara. It seemed utterly impossible; but with Hashem’s help he did it.

Rav Yosef Yoizel Horvitz of Novardok, whose disciples founded more than 80 yeshivos is Russia and Poland, summed it up: “I never ask whether a particular project can be done, only whether it should be done. If it should be done, I go ahead, and I am confident that the means to succeed will be found.”

[The above true story is documented in “A Gift For Yom Tov” by Rabbi Yisroel Miller.]

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Rabbi Lederman is spiritual leader of Congregation Kehillas Torah in San Diego.  He may be contacted via baruch.lederman@sdjewishworld.com