Emunas Chachamim

The obvious thing going on to discuss would be this past Tuesday night. I could give my opinion on what it means to go through nisyonos, but who can compare or contrast nisyonos? I was going to discuss how I feel one should deal with his nisyonos, whether in private or public and to what degree. Instead I want to focus on an off-shoot from Tuesday night; something that has arisen from Tuesday but isn't immediately connected.

As I'm sure you're all aware, there was a letter posted that was signed by different rabbeim of YU and another letter signed by Rabbi Reiss and Richard Joel. I have heard different discussions on these letters, and (as is always the case in YU) everyone is opinionated as to how to read between the lines.
I feel that a lot of people are getting caught up in their own emotions with these topics and are looking to knock down all opposition. They aren't necessarily looking objectively at what the rabbeim are saying, but rather they are looking at how they can use it to show how ridiculous YU is, or why they hate the rabbeim, or even how the rabbeim are too "pareve" on such crucial issues. This response to our rabbeim is unacceptable in my eyes.
The halachah is that when a beis din convenes the first dayan to give his opinion is the least senior of the dayanim. The dayanim then proceed in order from least to most senior. The reason is because we don't want the less senior dayan to be embarrassed from voicing an opinion that is contrary to what was already stated by a more senior dayan.
Even if we aren't serving on a beis din, this idea can still be applied. Even if we disagree with something the rabbeim say, we should at least be humbled by the fact that they have more years and wisdom than we do. It isn't saying that they are infallible, but don't approach their opinions as being on an even playing-field as your's. Maybe they have additional insight that you don't have. It's not that you can't disagree, but don't do it so readily and with such little regard for their opinions.

FINALS!!!

It's finally here. Reading week is upon us. How do we deal with it? How can we actually make this week more productive than last semester? How do we avoid the hectic life of cramming for one final after another? And how do we keep our sanity while doing so? Personally, I know my problem has always been two-fold: keeping to a schedule and making one in the first place.
Throughout this past semester I have been reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. (I call it my mussar sefer that I can bring into the bathroom. The great thing about it is that it is 100% Jewish ideas put into a secular context. Can you think of a better book for representing Torah U'Maddah?! I think not!) Being that I have only read through the third habit it is that habit which I will discuss.
Habit number 1 is to be proactive. Be a decision maker. Don't act as if anything is out of your control because it isn't. You may be put into situations, but how you react to them is completely within your control. That is what separates man from animal. Habit 2 says to begin with the end in mind. Before you can act, you must realize the direction in which you are heading. You can't choose correctly if you don't know the goal. ("One day, Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. 'Which road do I take?' she asked. 'Where do you want to go?' was his response. 'I don't know,' Alice answered. 'Then,' said the cat, 'it doesn't matter.'")
Habit number 3 says to put first things first. You must prioritize in your life and realize the difference between urgency and importance. Finals are both urgent and important, however they are not as important as many make them seem. More important is keeping your sanity while going through finals week and being able to maintain a level of a ben torah that you can still be proud of, however you would define that for yourself.
This year I have decided to set up a schedule from the get-go. By tomorrow I plan on having a schedule detailing the next three weeks. Step 1 is laying out my coursework for my various finals and estimating the time it will take to complete each subject. Step 2 is breaking up that study time into sections to be dispersed throughout the days before each individual final. Studying one subject at a time has not worked well in the past no matter how spread out the finals are. I feel that doing a little of each subject a day will help me retain the information for each class.
Of course, while making the schedule I plan on making time for learning, hanging out with friends (shoutout Wylie), relaxing, exercising,... These are not necessarily urgent, but they are far more important in the long run. Hopefully this schedule will help in both studying and maintaining sanity through the crazy times that are finals.
As a final note on the subject, I remember something I was told in the name of one of my Rabbeim from Sha'alvim: If you fail to plan, plan to fail. Hopefully, we won't fail.

Chanukah

As I was singing Maoz Tzur tonight I couldn't help but realize the irony of the situation: Bnei Yisroel is a nation stressing spiritual and Yavan a nation stressing physical, yet here we are outlasting them physically yet steeped in their ideology, an ideology that negates spirit. If you think about it, they really won. We might still be here, but they weren't trying to kill us physically. They have turned our society into what it is today and seemingly will be forever. So what are we celebrating?
This takes us back to Adam Ha'Rishon. When Adam sinned, he thought the world would be destroyed. The magnificent light of the or ha'ganuz remained throughout shabbos but was then extinguished. Adam thought that the world was coming to its end because of his sin. Hashem then told him that it was simply nighttime and the darkness was the way of the world. He taught Adam to make fire and that is why we have a torch every week at havdalah.
What happened throughout the next few months? Adam was born on Rosh Ha'Shana. This was the Fall Equinox. As the year approached winter time, the days were getting shorter. There was less and less daylight each 24 hours. Adam was sure by now that the world was slowly ending and it would eventually be complete darkness. This continued until Chanukah. Chanukah falls out around the Winter Solstice. At this time of year Adam realized that there was hope. He saw the days starting to get longer and realized that the world was, in fact, not ending.
That is the message of Chanukah. Even when it seems darkest, don't give up hope. We may have been decimated by the mentality of Yavan, but there is still hope. The outside world may not recognize the spiritual in the choshech that Chazal teach us is Yavan, but we come in and light a candle to brighten that choshech.
Common practice nowadays is mehadrin min ha'mehadrin. Each person lights a candle since each person must keep that hope alive within himself. We keep nurturing that longing for a world full of spirituality that will come be'vias goel. And just like Adam thought the world would never reverse itself and the days would continue to get shorter until there was no more daylight yet the daylight eventually returned to normal, we must realize that although it looks as if the darkness is getting more and more bleak, there will be an end to the pattern.
That is our hope when looking at the menorah and remembering the menorah that shown forth that sacred or ha'ganuz in the Bais Ha'Mikdash.

Controlling Yourself

This shabbos in the Caf a student gave a dvar torah that I think touched on a great idea everyone can gain from. He was discussing the fight between Yaakov and the angel of Esav. Commentaries explain that the angel of Esav is the yetzer hara, and the Or Gedalyahu explains that when Yaakov asked him for his name Yaakov was trying to identify his essence. He wanted to find out how one can beat the yetzer hara and the easiest way to do that is to know his essence.
The student pointed out that the angel never answers Yaakov. The angel asks why Yaakov wants to know his name and then the posuk ends with the angel blessing Yaakov. No answer, no explanation. I forgot who he quoted but the idea is that the yetzer hara has no essence. He is a figment of our imagination. And if we realize that we are going up against nothing, if we realize we are in a fight with our own imagination, we can easily win.
As always, being that it is motzei shabbos, I was trying to think of what I will be taking on this week. Over the last couple of weeks I have tried to limit the time I have spent watching videos on YouTube. (As anyone knows, you can waste a lot of time clicking from one video to the next.) Usually with this type of endeavor I would take it gradually. One week I'd go one day without watching, the next week two days,... But that wasn't working because I would push off that day until later in the week until I would finally forget about the goal altogether.
Which brings me to my goal for the week: Don't watch YouTube at all this week. Now I know that's a serious jump, but the way I look at it is that it's only a week. I can go a week without pointless videos. It's not like I have nothing else on my plate and I'll be bored with nothing to keep me busy. I'm in YU...there's always something to keep you busy.
Now I wouldn't necessarily advocate this position to everyone and certainly not in all situations. I don't think it's that I am unique in this regard, but rather that the situation is unique. I'll explain: I'm not trying to get rid of YouTube from my life. Sometimes there may be a funny video someone wants to show me. I just want to get it under control and say this is something I don't NEED. I can go a while without it. And doing that for a week is do-able in my opinion.
And I think this is applicable to anything someone is trying to gain control over. Realize that the yetzer hara is nothing. It has no essence and you are only fighting yourself. You can hold yourself off for a week... You can do it for a lifetime! But take that first step and realize it for a week...then maybe another...then maybe another... Before you know it, CONGRATULATIONS! You have your life back!!