Today, the 25th of Shevat, is the yartzeit of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. Amongst his many outstanding attributes, Rabbi Yisrael was extraordinarily empathetic of others who were undergoing hardship. The following story about a Maggid, is a perfect illustration of Rav Yisrael's finely tuned sensitivity. In order to understand the story we need to know that a Maggid, was a wandering Jewish preacher. He would travel to diffferent Shuls and communities and give over a Torah based sermon. Afterwards, the listeners would make a collection for the speaker, and this is how the Maggid made a living.
Once, a Maggid came to a Beit Midrash in Kovno and asked permission to give a sermon. However, there was a group of men in the Beis Midrash who had gathered to learn together, as was their regular practice. They told the Maggid that since they had come to learn together, he could not give his sermon because it would knock out their learning.
Rabbi Salanter was present in the Beis Midrash at this time. He turned to the people who weren't willing to give up their learning and said, "Hillel said, 'Whatever is bad for you, do not do to your friend.' Why didn't Hillel say in the affirmative, 'Whatever is good for you, you should do for your friend." Rav Yisrael answered, "Many times that which if good for me, is bad for my friend." Yet, since we are focused on our good, we can't see that our good negatively impacts upon our friend. Therefore, Hillel tells us, "Whatever is bad for you, do not do to your friend." Rav Yisrael, continued to explain, 'By considering how distressed we would be if we were in our friend's shoes, we will easily understand the right thing to do. Let us consider how we would feel if we were the Maggid that was denied the chance to speak. How are you going to feed and support your family, who are depending on you for their daily bread? Therefore, it us our obligation to give up our plan to learn together, so that the Maggid can give us his sermon and make his livelihood."
Rabbi Salanter's remarks carry a powerful lesson. It teaches us how to sense the pain of our friend, that we might not be able to see when we are pursuing our own benefit. If we adapt Hillel's perspective of putting ourselves in our friend's shoes before we act, we will learn how to recognize if "our good" will have a negative impact on our friend. This will inspire us to show great sensitivity to others and avoid causing them pain in the pursuit of our "good."
Each year on Rav Yisrael's yarzeit, we ask our subscribers to send us names and email addresses of their friends and family members who will be enriched by our daily lessons. We will explain to each new subscriber that a friend recommended that we add them to our subscriber list. If they prefer not to receive, we will show them how to easily "unsubscribe."
Please send in the names and emails of your friends to salantorg@gmail.com
Rabbi Yisrael Salanter said, "Whoever encourages others to study Mussar will merit great compassion from HaShem."
Tizke L'Mitzvot!
Rabbi Zvi Miller
