Mesirus Nefesh of a different kind

This blog entry is dedicated l'illui nishmas Rabbi Azriel Chaim Goldfein זצ"ל, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshivah Gedolah of Johannesburg, whose first yahrtzeit fell on 14 Kislev 5769.

Warning and Disclaimer: The following article contains several gross generalizations. I am fully aware that there are very large numbers of people, including several of my very good friends, who are going to be innocent "collateral damage" victims of these generalizations. The reader is therefore notified that, mikan ulhaba, all generalizations made are specifically intended to exclude all those people to whom they do not apply. Read this paragraph again, then carry on. (Note to programmers: please insert a "break" statement after the word "apply". I don't want you stuck on this blog forever; you have work to do.)


I have a certain admiration for "charedim", particularly the aspect of their general behavior that says, "Do what you're told, even if it's difficult, and even if it conflicts with your personal opinion." It takes a lot of strength to keep on learning Torah and not going out to look for a job when your family is living below the breadline and you're dependent on tzedaka. It takes a tremendous power of humility and self-abnegation to repress your own better judgment and accept that somebody else ("the gedolim") knows better than you what is good for you. I'm not saying I agree with this approach, but I really do admire the aspect of self-control that goes into living a lifestyle of complete obedience and submission to higher authority. Being "charedi" is about mesirus nefesh, being prepared to give your life (figuratively, if not literally) for what you believe is right.

So if I admire it, why do I not follow the same lifestyle? The simple answer is, I think they are mistaken in their application of the principles stated above. Mesirus nefesh is a great attribute, when applied appropriately. To give an extreme counterexample, l'havdil elef havdalos, an Arab suicide-murderer has the ultimate in mesirus nefesh - he literally gives his life for what he believes is right. Mesirus nefesh, like intelligence, happiness, anger and any other personal attributes, is a neutral thing, and is only good when it is applied in the service of Good.

Likewise, mesirus nefesh applied toward a misguided goal is itself misguided. I don't think it's a good thing for every Reuven, Shimon and Levi (Jewish Tom, Dick and Harry) to be spending their entire adult life in kollel - or even aspiring to do so. I don't think it's healthy to insulate yourself inside a frum ghetto and try to shut out any exposure to the non-frum or non-Jewish world. And, Heaven preserve my soul, I don't think it's right to unflinchingly and unquestioningly obey what is commonly referred to these days as "Daas Torah". I strongly dislike the charedi proclivity for disempowering the individual by battering him into submission with "Daas Torah" and "The Gedolim Say".

And there's a clear trend in the "Daas Torah" that gets plastered over every vertical surface in charedi neighborhoods: more separations between the sexes, more strident anti-Zionism, more stringencies in kashrus, tznius and any other mitzva bein adam laMakom you could think of. I have never seen (and probably never will see) a pashkevil condemning theft of shopping carts, for instance. ("Borrowing" a shopping cart just to take your purchases home is shoeil shelo birshus, which is complete and unmitigated gezeila, stealing.) You won't find any charedi askanim being moser nefesh to stop the wholesale vandalism of public and private property with pro-tznius or anti-Zionist graffiti. Consider what a stir it created when a pashkevil came out condemning the attack on 3 girls walking through RBS-Bet - the first time I am aware of that a pashkevil has ever been published on a matter of bein adam l'chaveiro, let alone condemning charedi behavior towards non-charedim. It's not even clear to me whether it was the local residents or activists from Sheinfeld who put out that poster.

I say that the so-called mesirus nefesh that has become the hallmark of charedi society is actually a cop-out; it's the path of least resistance that obviates any need to make real, difficult decisions and take responsibility for them.

By way of contrast, my late Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Azriel C. Goldfein זצ"ל, used to emphasize a completely different approach to life. Rabbi Goldfein was a graduate of the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland, and a primary protege of Rabbi Mordechai Gifter זצ"ל. The Telzers, he never tired of telling us, were often accused of being meikilim - too lenient in their practices. "You should know", he told us, "this was not because they didn't care about the Halacha. This was a shita, a deliberate policy!" You don't impose more on people than the halacha demands. You want to be stringent? Be stringent on yourself, not the general populace. And even then, keep your chumros, your stringencies in private; don't flaunt them in public.

Moreover, before you take a stringency on yourself, said the Rosh Yeshiva, ask yourself, what kulos am I introducing with my chumra? He brought the example of the growing trend of "mehadrin" hechsherim popping up on the market. The demand for so-called "mehadrin" meat grew, because people felt it was somehow better than "regular" kosher meat, it was more accepted by everybody, the restaurants and caterers started using only "mehadrin" meat... and all this happened at the expense of the "regular" kosher shochtim. Rabbi Goldfein recalled how he had gone to see a certain shochet, who for years had made his parnassa under the "regular" kosher shechita. A fine, upstanding Yid, a talmid chacham, supporting a large family - left destitute and dependent on tzedaka because the demand for "regular" kosher meat was shredded by the new "mehadrin" standard. Effectively a collective chumra robbed a man of his parnassa. "Do you know what it is to take away a person's parnassa?", the Rosh Yeshiva asked us. "I'll tell you what it is: it's shefichas damim (bloodshed) - that's what it is!"

Similarly, he told us how the Litvishe gedolim of generations past would sit literally sweating, with a slaughtered chicken in one hand and the other hand frantically paging through gemoras, Shulchan Aruch, rishonim, acharonim, trying to find something that would prove the blemish on this bird not to make it treif, because some poor widow was depending on it to feed her children. Not, chas v'shalom, that they would invent leniencies or be intellectually dishonest - but if there was any way in existence of ruling leniently, they made it their business to find it.

They viewed shalom, peace, as paramount. Communal unity between Jews was one of their highest priorities. The founders of the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland, Rav Mottel Katz זצ"ל and Rav Elya Meir Bloch זצ"ל, never interfered in the rabbonus, and did everything they could to uphold the authority of the Orthodox rabbinate of Cleveland. For decades they resisted the pressure to build their own mikve - the wives of the (few) avreichim in the Telz Kollel had to travel 45 minutes to get to mikve in Cleveland - lest they should appear to be casting aspersions on the kashrus of the Cleveland mikve. They did not start their own school, despite the fact that the Orthodox day school in Cleveland was at a lower level than they would have lechatchila wanted for their own children - because chas veshalom that they should create disunity! Rather, they sent their children to the Cleveland school, and contributed whatever they could to that school by way of mechanchim and physical and moral support.

Now I am certain that most of today's Torah giants, people who learned from the gedolim of Europe, if you managed to get past their protective ring of askanim, would tell you they identify with this attitude. But in charedi society in general, the attitude is completely the opposite: wherever the opportunity exists to institute a new chumra, it will be instituted, and those who do not get with the trend will be ostracized. The more divisions, the more machlokes, the better. One-upmanship in frumkeit is the national sport: "I've got a chumra that you've never even heard of!" And this has led to a situation where a mob of 40 goons can beat up 3 defenceless girls, with intent to do grievous bodily harm, permitting themselves to transgress countless Torah prohibitions - and think that they are Great And Holy Men for doing so, because they are moser nefesh for the "purity of the camp".

The gedolim of previous years were also moser nefesh - but their mesirus nefesh was for balance, for peace, for unity. Their challenge was always to find Rambam's "Golden Path" - and they sweated tears and blood to achieve the harmony in life to which they aspired. As difficult and as challenging as it is to be moser nefesh for the stringencies of the charedi lifestyle, it is way, way more difficult to be moser nefesh for balance. Extremism is actually relatively easy - all you have to do is always be strict. Finding balance is a lifelong struggle, always questioning, always weighing each individual decision in the light of what is the best path forward that will lead to the greatest overall good.

Rabbi Goldfein, to me, was a model of balance, of ahavas Yisrael, of living Harmony. As a Talmid Chacham - who am I to comment on his greatness? But as a human being, I know nobody else who has reached such levels of personal greatness, saintliness and holiness.

May we always emulate his example, and may we merit to reach even a fraction of the level of greatness that he achieved.

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