No Time for Extras
Five years ago, Rabbi Yaakov Smith picked up a Toras Avigdor booklet for the first time.
It almost didn’t happen.
Rabbi Yaakov Smith, a kollel yungerman learning in Bais Medrash Govoha, had seen the Toras Avigdor booklets around more than once. As a talmid of the Rosh Yeshivah Rabbi Yisroel Neuman, he spends much of his time transcribing Rabbi Neuman’s shiurim and preparing them for publication. Between seder, chazarah, and everything else that fills a kollel day, there isn’t much room for extra reading.
But that week, he picked one up.
“It was Parshas Vayeira,” Rabbi Smith recalls. “It was a drashah about Lot leaving Sedom, and I was blown away. I was so amazed, so taken by it, how enjoyable it was to read and how much I could learn from it, how much tochen was in it—that even though I didn’t have time for extras, it became that extra.”
From that point on, he never missed a week.
Growing up with Rabbi Miller’s Voice
In truth, Rabbi Miller’s ideas were not new to Rabbi Smith, who has lived in Lakewood all his life.
As a child, he moved with his family to a new neighborhood. Nearby was the shul of Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen, Rav Miller’s grandson-in-law, who delivers a hashkafah shiur every Motzaei Shabbos based on Rabbi Miller’s teachings.
Even though the Smith family didn’t belong to that shul, the shiur became a regular stop.
“All my teenage years, it was my bread and butter,” says Rabbi Smith.
Those lessons stayed with him long after.
Teaching People to Enjoy Life
“A large percentage of Rabbi Miller’s lessons are about appreciating life and enjoying life and all it has to offer,” Rabbi Smith explains. “Not many others talk that way.”
One teaching in particular has stuck with him.
“Rabbi Miller always said that on their deathbeds, tzaddikim cry about how they’re losing the opportunity to be in this world, to do mitzvos. But even more than that, a person’s going to regret that he’s leaving the world and he could have enjoyed it more.”
It’s a striking thought. Life itself is full of opportunities to appreciate Hashem’s gifts.
For Rabbi Smith, this is one of Rabbi Miller’s most important teachings and a great reason to read the Toras Avigdor every week.
Reading Toras Avigdor, he says simply, makes a person happier.
The Greatness of Another Jew
Another central lesson of Rabbi Miller’s teachings is learning to appreciate other Jews. Not just well-known or respected ones. Even the simplest Jew. The one standing next to you in line or the one sitting across from you in shul. Stop for a moment and consider how special he really is.
Alongside that true appreciation is another theme Rabbi Miller was famous for: his fearless honesty. He fought tirelessly against harmful influences.
“He wasn’t afraid to speak about anything that wasn’t right,” says Rabbi Smith. “There’s no question that if he were alive now, he would be on the frontline in the battle against technology.”
For him, loving other Jews also meant protecting them from spiritual harm, and speaking out when anything threatened their avodas Hashem.
Turning Inspiration Into Action
After years of absorbing these lessons, Rabbi Smith eventually found himself doing something he’d never planned.
A dear friend, Rabbi Yissacher Weisberg, became seriously ill and eventually passed away at the age of thirty-six. An exceptional talmid chacham, he had published thirty-six sefarim. As a zechus for a refuah sheleimah, and later for an iluy neshamah, Rabbi Smith began writing up Rabbi Weisberg’s Sefer Yoma D’nishmasa on the depth and beauty of Shabbos in a weekly sheet format. He called it “Shabbos Illuminated.”
The printed format gave way to an email group, and today many subscribers receive the weekly inspiration.
With time, the project grew and evolved, expanding to focus on tzipiyah l’yeshuah, the longing and anticipation for the geulah.
“At the same time, I was learning these lessons from Rabbi Miller and it impacted tremendously what I was writing,” says Rabbi Smith.
Without planning it, Rabbi Miller’s ideas began to shape his own writing.
“I felt clearly how Rabbi Miller’s ideas of enjoying eating—even plain food—just how good it feels to drink a cup of water, how good it feels to be able to walk, how good it feels to have children around your table—all those things, I was bringing them out, and I felt like Rabbi Miller was talking through me.”
At the same time, Rabbi Smith began delivering a weekly vaad to a small group of bachurim at BMG and those vaadim, too, centered on this premise of enjoying life.
Slow Down
Rabbi Smith feels there’s a danger of people reading the booklet quickly and moving on. But it deserves more attention.
“Every person should know what a treasure he has in his hands and make the most of it. If you’re reading it casually, maybe you should read it slower. Maybe you could read it to your family or read it aloud, even to yourself.”
One edition is particularly memorable to him. It was at the beginning of Adar 5781.
“Rabbi Miller was talking about loving Yidden and appreciating how special they are, how special a house with a mezuzah is. I remember it brought me to tears when I read it,” he says. I wanted to read it again just to feel those emotions even more strongly. You don’t have to read it once. You can read it twice.”
Extra or Essential?
Five years ago, Rabbi Smith had no time for extras. But he opened that booklet anyway. And since then, week after week, those pages have been delivering steady doses of inspiration.
A reminder to appreciate the small things in life.
To appreciate a fellow Jew.
To live with a little more joy.
Sometimes the greatest treasures are very close by indeed.
If you’d like to sign up for Rabbi Smith’s weekly emails, you can contact him at [email protected].
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