• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
 Yaakov's Story – The Birth of One Above and SevenBelow
In the Acknowledgements page of my book, I wrote: A special note of recognition goes to my oldest son, Yaakov, whoinspired me to the main premise of the One Above and Seven Below.To date, only one person has ever inquired from me how exactly did Yaakov inspire me to this premise. And that person was Yaakov. And what exactly did Yaakov do?The story goes back to the late fall of 2001 when Yaakov was half past 12,about five months before his Bar Mitzvah. Yaakov approached me andannounced that he intends to complete all of Shisha Sidrei Mishna for theoccasion of his Bar Mitzvah. I told him that he is not realistic. This is a much bigger and tougher job than it looks, you will never get it done in five months. As an aside, we were studying a short masechet of Gemara (Taanis) and we were very nicely on track to complete it in time for the Bar Mitzvah - so we hada siyum already lined up. Yaakov, as usual, was quite adamant. He said that he calculated the timeavailable and if he makes sure to learn about 5 perakim each and every day he will get it done. I told him that 5 perakim is no small quota and there can beall kinds of distractions that will cause some days to go by before he can fill it. Yaakov was undaunted. He is just that kind of a guy. When he wants to dosomething, he doesn't let anything stop him. Incidentally, I am not alwaysthrilled about this - but I digress... In short, he sure enough got the job done. And I was proud as a peacock. When the Bar Mitzvah did indeed roll around in February of 2002, we held astandard Kaballas Panim reception and featured a siyum on Shisha SidreiMishna in place of the planned siyum on Masechet Taanis. As would beexpected, the siyum was initiated by reciting the last Mishna in Uktzin thatsays: "In the future, G-d will bequeath to each and every 
tzaddik
310 worlds..."Toward the end of the affair (when it looked safe), I took the floor to speak.Rest assured, I am not the strong silent type! I blessed the simcha andremarked as follows:This siyum that we made on Shisha Sidrei Mishna was not the one weplanned. We were planning a more modest siyum on one of the smallermasechtos of Shas. The story behind the change is that Yaakov told meabout 5 months ago that he intends to complete all of the 6 SidreiMishna. I thought Yaakov was off his rocker and told him so. I said thatit is a bigger job than it looks. You will never get it done on time.
 
 Well, Yaakov persisted and got the job done. I can't believe it but youdid it, Yaakov. But what exactly did you do? How did you get this done?This is what is called "
ameilus b'Torah
". Yaakov, what you did waspure
ameilus b'Torah
. There is no question about that. But do youreally understand what
ameilus b'Torah
is? Do you really know what
ameilus b'Torah
can achieve? At this point, I want to talk about what is currently on everybody'smind. It is what we here in Eretz Yisrael call "the matzav" - thesituation. We are all concerned about the matzav and we all see thatright now the matzav is far from rosey. What do I know about the current matzav? Not all that much. But I amsure that we will agree that were we to list our most urgent problems,the following four problems would top the list. If we couldspontaneously solve these four problems, any other problems afterthese would be a cake walk. What are the four most pressing problems?These:
•
The water shortage
-
 Explanatory note: There had been a series of verydry winters and the water reserves were at threatening levels. It was a seriousshortage although the current drought is much worse.
•
Unemployment
-
 Explanatory note: This was shortly after the great dot-com crash of 2000-2001. Although the Israeli economy has since recovered tosome extent, that was the lowest ebb since the prosperity of the 90s.
•
The security situation and the hostility of our enemies
-
 Explanatory note: During the last half of 2001 and the first half of 2002 (and actually on to the end of 2003) we suffered some of the most vicious and fatal terrorist attacks in short succession including the Sbarro Pizza shop attack, the Motzai Shabbos Bais Yisroel attack, the Seder night attack at the Park Hotel in Netanya among others.
 
•
The discord that we unfortunately have among ourselves
-
 Explanatory note: No need to explain.
 These are our most difficult problems. If we can only get past theseproblems, we have it made!Does anybody have a suggestion on how to solve all these problems? Well, I do! I have had it for years. The solution is right here --- in this book (I held up a Chumash Vayikra). Now here is what it says in this book (Vayikra 26:4-6):
 And I will give your rains in their times...
- Do you hear that?End of water crisis! What else?
 And your threshing will last until the grape harvest and the
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...