Telshe Teacher Who Exemplified Living With Moshiach

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel Archives.

From Pesach we have a minhag (custom) to say Pirkei Avos, and we have a minhag to say it from Pesach until Rosh Hashanah. Why specifically in the summer months? Because the heat is stronger in the summer — the yetzer hara (evil inclination) is stronger in the summer. So by learning Pirkei Avos, which speaks of ethics — bein adam l'chaveiro, how a person should behave between people: respect, honesty, judging everyone favorably, not speaking loshon hora, being humble — all of this will give a person the koach (strength) to overcome the yetzer hara. So it's not only bein adam l'chaveiro, but also bein adam laMakom, and also between a man and his wife, like it says in Pirkei Avos: "[unclear Hebrew phrase]" — when a person is at peace with people, a person will be at peace with his wife as well. So it will help also with the mitzvos.

That's why we say Pirkei Avos specifically in the summer, because in the summer the heat — the yetzer hara — works harder, and this will be able to help overcome the yetzer hara.

Now, when does that work? When we know that these ethics are true because Hashem said so — not because you understand them on your own. You have to be ethical because it's commanded, like it says at the beginning of Pirkei Avos: "Moshe kibel Torah miSinai" — Moses received the Torah from Sinai. That's the beginning, and this is Pirkei Avos: everything comes from [unclear] Sinai. So when it says in the Torah, when it says in Pirkei Avos, that you're not supposed to speak loshon hora, it's not because you want to be a nice person, but because Hashem said so. Or to be humble, or to be honest, or to judge everybody favorably — anything you do is because Hashem said so. This is the most important thing.

Now I want to share with you a paragraph of a letter that the Rebbe wrote:

"It should be remembered, however, that moral education which is not based on religion does not in itself answer the need, and science can in no way replace religion, as has been illustrated all too well in the case of Germany, where science and philosophy had attained the highest levels, and nevertheless the Germans have perpetrated the most inhuman acts of barbarism. In other words, we cannot be sure of the observance of the commandments 'thou shalt not murder,' 'thou shalt not steal,' and so on, unless they are preceded by — based on — the teaching of the commandment 'I am Hashem thy G-d.' This indeed is one of the most fundamental lessons of Shavuos, the festival of the giving of the Torah."

So everything, if it's based on Hashem, is going to work. And the same thing — we know that this was very much impressed upon in the yeshivas, because when a child learns ethics in a general way, but if it's not based on Hashem, then it's not going to be lasting. And [it] also writes in a place that in yeshivas they learn Torah — Torah is the knowledge of Hashem — but they should also learn mussar, and the learning of Torah should always have as its preparation that there is a yiras shomayim.

Like I heard once from Rabbi Shea [?] — he should have long life — he once said that many, many years ago, before they started the day, before they started to learn in the morning — they started with Gemara, for example, or anything — before they said the Gemara they would say, "the Mishnah says, 'Rabbi Akiva omer,' or 'Abaye omer,'" or whatever you learned — I believe it's not the Rebbe, it's Rabbi Akiva — yes, Rabbi Akiva is speaking — but they mention Hashem. That's a mesorah, and this is how a person should be.

So this is Pirkei Avos in the summertime. This is what gives the koach for bein adam l'chaveiro and bein adam laMakom.

Now, the truth of the matter is, in places like Florida they should really learn Pirkei Avos — it's warm there all year anyway! But the question is: Pirkei Avos is ethics — why is it called "Avos," which means fathers, parents? It should have been called "Pirkei Mussar" — it should be called "Pirkei Midos," or "ethics studies" — why is it called "Avos," parents?

There have been many things said about this, but in one letter that the Rebbe writes to a mother, to a parent — I'm just going to [quote] that one line — he mentions that "Avos" means parents. This is a sefer for parents: if the parents are a living example, a dugma chaya, then the children will grow up like this. This is a sefer for parents. Parents should learn Pirkei Avos, and they should live by what Pirkei Avos [teaches], and if they behave like it says in Pirkei Avos, then with the children there won't be any problems.

With the children — the telephone rings, and the daughter or the son, the ten-year-old, or the fifteen-year-old, or the twenty-year-old, answers the telephone, and they want to speak to the mother. So they say, "Mother, you have a telephone call." So the mother says to the child, "Tell them I'm not home." You've lost the child! This is not a dugma chaya — you'll never be able to teach the child, because the child sees that you can — that you can say an untruth, you can say a lie — you'll never be able [to correct that].

Or the father learns with a child, and then the child sees certain things from the father where he does the opposite — then it will never work. The child will never have that respect. If a father sits with a child in shul, and the father tells the child, "You cannot speak during davening or during the reading of the Torah," and then the child sees that the father speaks, or doesn't answer Amen when he's able to — you cannot, you cannot — the child will never be able to have proper kavod for the parents.

So Pirkei Avos is a sefer for parents. And as I once heard, Rabbi Yaakov [?] once told me, and I will repeat it again: "Kibud av va'em" doesn't only mean that a child should honor the parents. "Kabed es avicha" — honor the father that is within you. "V'es imecha" — honor the mother that is within you. If you're a father, honor the father — behave like a father, not only when you have to correct a child. You're a father, a mother, when you go to sleep. You're a father, a mother, when you wake up. You're a father and mother when you go to shul. You're a father and mother when you go shopping. You're a mother when you cook — you're always a mother. If you honor the father and mother within you, then you won't have a problem with the children. And this is Pirkei Avos — that's why it's called "Avos."

Now I want to finish off with one little story. As I spoke about in the previous episode, we lived in Cleveland, Ohio. We came to Cleveland — I was about eight years old. I went to the Hebrew Academy. The Hebrew Academy is a Yiddishkeit school that's under Telshe Yeshiva. There was a principal there — his name was Rabbi Feivel Katz [?] — very, very honest, very yiras shomayim, and a man of fine character. And he had twelve children in his home. You walked into his home — every child had a suitcase under the bed. What was in the suitcase? A small suitcase — a tie, a pair of pants for the boys; the girls had a dress, socks, a shirt, pajamas, and a siddur. Every single child [had this].

So [we asked], "Why do you do that? What is that?" So they said — and this is what the mother and father [taught] — the children know that we are ready for Moshiach, that as soon as Moshiach comes, they have everything ready — they have clothes ready, they have a siddur ready — to go and greet Moshiach. This is how the children lived. And this is how, when their children got married — which, b'li ayin hara, they're already grandparents — their children also have a suitcase under their beds, and they know that when Moshiach comes we are ready for Moshiach. Every single day the children know this, because they grew up like that. This is kibud av va'em — because the children see in the parents' home the belief in Moshiach, then the children will believe and be ready to greet Moshiach, and act accordingly.

The same thing goes also with melamdim — that if melamdim, teachers — Rabbi [?] once mentioned to me, we started having meetings about how we should be better, [about] being a dugma chaya, a living example, not only in the classroom. When you have to teach your child, you are a melamed — you know, you are a mechanech — you show the child. When you go to shul, the child sees you, he sees how you daven, and the child is going to daven the same way. He sees the way you speak to other people, and he is going to be the same way — not only in the classroom. And this is the lesson that we can learn from Pirkei Avos — why it's called Pirkei Avos.

Next week I'm going to share with you a very interesting letter from the Rebbe [?] to the Rabbi, Rabbi [?] [?], and I think we can learn a big lesson from that.