I have been trying to think of a good argument why a Lithuanian Navardok Musar yeshiva is a good idea. But the whole day I have not been able to come up with any argument.
My major motivation for trying to argue my point is I already know that a Litvak yeshiva is an amazing experience. I would in fact call it perhaps the peak experience of my life if not for later on being in Israel and raising a family there.
But that in itself is not an argument because there are people I have encountered who had less than happy experiences in yeshiva, and not all yeshivas are created equal. But I also have not even wanted to argue for the great two yeshivas that I was in Shar Yashuv and the Mir in NY.
What motivates me to argue for Navardok is the idea of a Litvak yeshiva that places emphasis on trust in God. My reason is that I see myself in my own life that when I trusted in God everything went my way. When I stopped trusting in God and started doing השתדלות human effort, everything fell apart.
Many years later I was doing some review of some books of Ethics [Musar of Reb Israel Salanter] and I was surprised to see the that Reb Israel, and his disciples and the Musar Book Obligations of the Heart all preached the idea that if one can not make it with God, then the best advice is to help others get close to God's service.
What occurred to me was this new idea. That maybe this works for individual things. That is- if I am lacking some good character trait, and I can't seem to get it no matter how hard I try, then perhaps helping others get to that trait might help me by way of reflection?
The only modification I would make would be to add Physics and Math to the regular Musar and Gemara approach. And of course Music and survival skills.
These six things I see as pretty essential. Most of the other stuff I learned in High School today seems to have been a waste of time. And even then it did.
My major motivation for trying to argue my point is I already know that a Litvak yeshiva is an amazing experience. I would in fact call it perhaps the peak experience of my life if not for later on being in Israel and raising a family there.
But that in itself is not an argument because there are people I have encountered who had less than happy experiences in yeshiva, and not all yeshivas are created equal. But I also have not even wanted to argue for the great two yeshivas that I was in Shar Yashuv and the Mir in NY.
What motivates me to argue for Navardok is the idea of a Litvak yeshiva that places emphasis on trust in God. My reason is that I see myself in my own life that when I trusted in God everything went my way. When I stopped trusting in God and started doing השתדלות human effort, everything fell apart.
Many years later I was doing some review of some books of Ethics [Musar of Reb Israel Salanter] and I was surprised to see the that Reb Israel, and his disciples and the Musar Book Obligations of the Heart all preached the idea that if one can not make it with God, then the best advice is to help others get close to God's service.
What occurred to me was this new idea. That maybe this works for individual things. That is- if I am lacking some good character trait, and I can't seem to get it no matter how hard I try, then perhaps helping others get to that trait might help me by way of reflection?
The only modification I would make would be to add Physics and Math to the regular Musar and Gemara approach. And of course Music and survival skills.
These six things I see as pretty essential. Most of the other stuff I learned in High School today seems to have been a waste of time. And even then it did.
