Q:
Many people want to know why so very many young Jewish boys and girls are going off the yiddishe way.
A:
First of all, I won’t say ‘very many’—‘many’ is bad enough. Very many? I don’t think it’s ‘very many’. But many is bad enough. Exactly how many, I don’t know.
But I want to say one thing. The mosdos haTorah have to be attuned to the needs of the generation. I want to explain something. Once upon a time, yiras Shamayim was in the air of the Jewish street. Walking in the Jewish street once upon a time, you couldn’t help but being saturated with yiras Shamayim. You have no idea how strong the yirah and emunah was in the olden days. The Jew was a fiery Jew once upon a time. I know people think it’s an exaggeration. I always quote the Mirrer mashgiach in the Mir, in Europe. He said, “mir ken nisht farshtein unzer elte bubbes.” He said that seventy years ago. ‘We cannot understand our great grandmothers.’ Not ‘we can’t be as great as they were’—we can’t understand them they’re so far away. And therefore, they didn’t need anything, especially to teach them yiras Shamayim. But today, you have to teach yiras Shamayim. And in the yeshivos, although they’re doing a big job—no question, yeshivos are doing a tremendously good job—but they need a special instruction in yiras Shamayim. They need more mussar. You have to learn more mussar, more hashkafa. Absolutely.
There are boys sitting in the classes and they don’t understand the rebbe’s shiurim, and they’re discouraged. I once asked a rebbe, “Why are you saying pilpulim for these boys?”
He said, “I get a very small salary here. I have to accomplish something. I want to shteig. I want to shteig.” So he says his torah, his pilpulim, but the little boys don’t understand anything. They become discouraged more and more.
A boy told me he’s five years in yeshiva—he said, “You know, I’m here five years. I didn’t learn a word.”
The rebbe doesn’t say p’shat. He needs plain p’shat. Even if it’s a little Ketzos, a little piece of Torah that he’ll understand. But the rebbi says his pilpulim and the boys don’t get anything. And no ruchniyus either. At least some ruchniyus you should get.
The yeshivos have to put in mussar in all the yeshivos. It should be an integral part of the program. Yiras Shamayim!
Mussar seder? The mussar seder, fifteen minutes they open a sefer and then they wait till the bell rings. You have to have special shmuessen by the rebbe on yiras Shamayim, and on good middos, and you’ll influence them. Otherwise, they lose interest. They see nothing. It’s dry as dust to them. Halacha is not enough. Especially if the halacha is above their head. They don’t understand what Tosfos is saying. Tell them plain pshat.
But even that’s not enough. They need some ruchniyus. That’s why in the Gemara, one seventh of shas is aggadeta. One seventh! And aggadeta is all ruchniyus; it’s mussar. All the yiras Shamayim and middos tovos is in the aggadeta.
Of course, if you learn halacha properly you also get mussar from it. But especially for that purpose alone, you have to have aggadeta. And they skip the aggadeta; many places don’t even bother to learn the aggadeta.
And therefore, the boys are not getting what they need to get. It’s like taking the bread, and taking the vitamins out of it. Just eat the starch alone. You have to put back the vitamins again; and to add the vitamins again and dump them back into the starch. And that’s the mussar that’s lacking in the yeshiva.
And when they’re inspired with enthusiasm, ahavas Hashem, to love their nation, to love the mitzvos. Little by little, they become good Jews even without knowing the shiurim of the rebbe. And that’s a very important accomplishment.
I think that’s one of the reasons why you do have so many dropouts, as they claim you have today.
(February 17, 2000)
