Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe – The Answer Within

Welcome to Madlik. My name is Geoffrey Stern, and at Madlik, we light a spark or shed some light on a Jewish text or tradition. Along with Rabbi Adam Mintz, we host Madlik Disruptive Torah on your favorite podcast platform. And now on YouTube and Substack, we also publish a source sheet on Sefaria, and a link is included in the show Notes. This week we read Parashat Vayera, and it gives me the delightful excuse to introduce to my Madlik family, my teacher and arguably the last great Mussar masterer, Rav Shlomo Wolbe. So, Adam, we’ve talked many times about Rabbi Riskin, who is a Rebbe that you and I share together, but I don’t think we have ever really talked about Rav Shlomo Wolbe. And I went after I went to Torah Vodaas and I went to a year at Long Beach Yeshiva. I was looking for more and I ended up in Beer Yaakov, which in the days was a little town, orange groves. On the other side of town was Tunis, which literally, if you went there, you thought you were in Tunisia. There was an unpaved road. We would go there. The yeshiva bochers would go there every Friday to use their hamsa there they had a schwitz. They didn’t call it a Schwitz because it was Tunisian. And then we would go to the mikvah and we got out every four weeks. So we were. It was like a little bit of a monastery. And I Really, I must say that I discovered there. You know, there are the Musser Institute today where people study Mussar. And I think if most people were asked what Mussar is, they would probably say it’s like ethics. It’s doing the right thing. And I think today, through this exploration of Kotzer Ruach, of katnut, which means smallness, and Gadlut, which is greatness, we’re gonna see a whole new insight. Mussar is, and I’m really looking forward to sharing it because a lot of us know about the Hasidic movement, and I think if I had to characterize that, that would be the joy of being a Jew. The Haskalah was the Enlightenment. To be able to look at our Torah on a more scientific level. Zionism we talk all about all the time. But Mussar is something that I think people don’t understand as much. But it too was a movement that came out of the Haskalah, where we were redefining what Judaism is.

Adam Mintz [00:04:02]:
Can you tell us a little bit about the biography of Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe?

Geoffrey Stern [00:04:07]:
Absolutely. So he was born in 1914, passed away in 2005, so 20 years ago. He actually grew up in Berlin, and he did not grow up in a religious home. I believe his father was a professor of linguistics at the University of Berlin. And somehow he became a Baal Teshuva. He discovered Judaism through his local community, and he got so involved. Kind of parallels my story a little bit, but l’havdil, I do not compare myself to Shlomo Wolbe. He ended up in the Mir Yeshiva, and there he met HaRav Yerukim Leibovitz, who was known as the the Alter fro Mir and Yechezkel Levenstein. These were greats of the Mussar movement.

Adam Mintz [00:05:01]:
These were in Mir in Lithuania.

Geoffrey Stern [00:05:04]:
Absolutely. And then when the war started, as a German citizen and as a Jew, he was not in good shape. He was able to go to Switzerland during the war. Then he ended up in another neutral country, Sweden, and he actually ran a girls school there. So I remember being at the yeshiva. These elderly women would come to visit him all the time, and he would say, those are my girls. He would. He taught refugee girls, and he was obviously a linguist himself, spoke a bunch of languages. And he married the daughter of the Mashgiach from the Slabotka Yeshiva in Israel. So he was held in very high regard and very well known. He started Be’er Yaakov, usually at a yeshiva. It’s the Rosh haYeshiva who’s the star, but I went to Be’er Yaakov because of Wolbe and every year he would take one student to study Chumash and Rashi with him in the morning. With the first 15, 20 minutes of the day, everybody, as I talk about it all the time on Madlik, about studying Chumash and Rashi. In the second year, I was privileged to be that student. And I wish I could tell you that I remember all of his chiddushim from studying early in the morning Chumash and Rashi. But I must have gotten something because I love Rashi and I love studying Chumash, which is the first thing that I think ties us to the Madlik podcast. But he, after Be’er Yaakov went on to start something called the Beit haMussar. And he literally was thought of as one of the great Mussarniks, the types of things that he would do that maybe others don’t follow. He believed that when one studied Mussar, which means like Chovot Halavavot, where you would study a book that was called the Duties of the Heart, meaning the premise of the book is we spend a lot of time thinking about our duties, of actions, of what we eat and what we can eat, what we pray, what we can pray, and Chovot Halevavot, Duties of the Heart says, why don’t we focus a little bit on how that’s changing us or who we are? You had to study that alone, without a study partner, without a havruta. And the other thing that we used to do is we used to have va’adim, small groups of students that would get together sometimes at midnight with the mashgiach. And you could work for six months on one concept. You could work on thought and there might be thought exercises. It almost sounds like psychotherapy sometimes. How do you control your thought? How do you think about one thing and then focus on something else? Just fascinating and not within the mainstream of what I think most people are exposed to when they talk about Judaism. But I want to start with a quote that is quoted in many places and unfortunately the whole article that we’re going to read is not quoted. So I went ahead and I translated the whole thing and I’m going to post it. But it says like this. This matter is one of the foundations of our faith. He says, if I were asked what my personal credo is, Mahu ha ani maman sheli, we always say, animan, I believe in the 13 attributes. Rav Wolbe says, what would I answer if somebody asked me what my personal Ani Ma’amin is? He says, I would answer I believe in the greatness of the human being. I believe that the human being is so great that he can stand before his Creator, hear him, and that is prophecy. And speak to his Creator. That is prayer. The greatness of the people of Israel reached its summit when the entire nation stood at Mount Sinai. He goes on, and this is how we’re going to start with the end. He says, in God, all people believe. Well, maybe that was true one time, in the greatness of the human being. Not all believe. That a human being can attain a living relationship with his Creator. And not only that, but that the Creator will reveal himself to him, speak with him, that a human being can walk before God in the land of the living. This is our faith. So these quotes. If you were to ask me, Rabbi, I would say it could be Erich Fromm talking humanism. “You shall be as gods” they are. But in the Hebrew, it’s lyrical. He says, if you were to ask me what my Ani Mamin is, I would say I believe in the greatness of the human being. It’s quite remarkable. What do you know of Rabbi Wolbe or of the Mussar movement? Rabbi?

Adam Mintz [00:09:58]:
I don’t know much about Rabbi Wolbe other than the fact that he started Beer Yaakov. I just know the kind of the outline of his life. But the Mussar movement, this is. It means it’s easy to believe in God. The real challenge is, do you believe in human beings? That’s what a remarkable idea that is.

Geoffrey Stern [00:10:19]:
And I think, even though in the article that we will be going through a little bit today, superficially, I might add, doesn’t quote a verse from our Parasha, I think you’ll see why it triggered a sense in me of this is the perfect segue into this question of self doubt, belief, the greatness of the wonder of humanity in our poarsha. After God gives Moses the message one more time. And now Moses is in Egypt, it says in Exodus 6: 9. But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage. Mikotzer ruach, u’me avodah kasha. They did not have the ability to listen to Moses. It wasn’t philosophical, it wasn’t theological. It was the overbearing of their situation. Rashi says, what is this? He says through anguish, literally shortness of spirit. You almost get a sense of shortness of breath, but this is shortness of spirit. If one is in anguish, his breath comes in short gasps and he cannot draw long breaths. What struck me, Rabbi, was we were talking about the Inability to accept a message, the message of the Torah, and it had to do with you as a person. It didn’t have to do with anything external. The Ramban says similarly that they paid no attention to his words because of impatience of spirit. As a person whose soul is grieved on account of his misery, Cassuto talks about a state of depression. He says there’s a parallel in Ugaritic. Some of the other commentaries talk about impatience or fatigue. But it is a kind of a striking expression, isn’t it, Rabbi?

Adam Mintz [00:12:28]:
Well, first of all, let’s go back to the Rashi. The Rashi is remarkable because we know that’s true from psychology, that when you’re anxious it’s sometimes hard to catch your breath. And it’s so amazing that that’s what Rashi, that’s the way Rashi explains the Chumash, that they couldn’t, literally they couldn’t catch their breath. They were so upset. It’s not that they were exhausted. It’s not like they ran a marathon. They couldn’t catch their breath. When you’re anguished, then it’s hard to catch your breath. It’s like Cassuto said, it’s some kind of psychological condition, which is fantastic.

Geoffrey Stern [00:13:10]:
And that qatsar is small, but it’s also, it feels almost like narrow, it’s short. The interesting thing where Rabbi Volber is going to go is these are all negative situations, negative personal situations that we can almost understand viscerally, you know, how can you start be thinking about big ideas and revelation and all that when all you can think about is how to get another few calories into yourself to get some sleep. But this is how Rav Shlomo Wolbe begins this article, I must say. His main book is called Ali Shor. This book is called Ben Sheishet le Asur, which literally means between the 6th and the 10th. They’ve changed the name of the book because between the 6th and the 10th, Rabbi, I think, means between June 6th of the Six Day War and or the sixth month of June and the 10th, which was the October (Yom Kippur) War. He was using a secular reference even in his title for the book. But listen to how he starts this monumental essay. He starts it with Sophocles. The Greek describes in a singular poem the greatness of the human being, declaring many things are awe inspiring, but the most awe inspiring of them all is the human being how many mashgiachs. And if I’ll have to put a picture of Wolbe in the substack post, but he literally was from casting central in terms of a Haredi Jew. How many would start an essay quoting Sophocles? And then he goes on, and this was a kind of a talk he gave to religious high schoolers. He talks about getting onto the moon. There’s even more to be in awe of the human being. But he does say the event calls for renewed reflection on the old question of human greatness. And this is what he’s concerned with. He’s considered with Gadlut Ha’. Odam. He says, has humanity, through such achievements, exhausted all that lies within its power for building the world? So as a mussarnik, we can start with being a slave and not having the luxury of thinking big thoughts, but we can also think in terms of living in a world where man can land on the moon and man can control his agriculture. And also, is the answer outside of us or is it inside of us?

Adam Mintz [00:15:49]:
That’s also a very important question, right? Is the answer outside or inside of us? That’s also about the greatness of human beings, that the answer is generally inside of us.

Geoffrey Stern [00:16:03]:
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Adam Mintz [00:21:15]:
Yeah, I mean, that. That’s the idea of thinking big, what he’s saying is means we have to be able to think within ourselves, because externalities can’t really make us big in a meaningful way.

Geoffrey Stern [00:21:29]:
Absolutely. But again, you can see how I was attracted to this man. He starts with Sophocles. He’s talking about modern Marxism. This was a man when he showed up for a schmooze. He would have a pack of books and he didn’t. He would just go from. He had a little note, a little placeholder in each one. And he would go from one to the other. But here it is, next position. You can see even why I love the man. He says I can testify from experience. Once I stood atop a very high mountain, surrounded by ancient snow covered peaks and a vast eye expanding horizon. I believe that all my small traits would vanish. Amadti la’ atzmi b’amad k’zeh vaday yibatlu b’kirbi kol hamidot hakatantiot. Not the smallness. He thought that all of the katantiot, all of those narrow small things would vanish. But I soon realized that inwardly nothing had changed. Only the grand landscape had momentarily concealed the pettiness within. In again, in the Hebrew it talks about ha katantanuyut sheba libi. He is literally contrasting gadlut greatness and katantaniyut. The smallness that we all … the trivialities, the things that kind of.

Adam Mintz [00:23:04]:
That’s a great word.

Geoffrey Stern [00:23:07]:
I think it comes very close to Katsir Ruach. It’s the smallness of the breath. It’s this shortness and smallness. And it’s what made me think of this essay. But I love the fact that he references an experience that any of us could have on a hike, looking on from a mountain at the gloriousness of the horizon, thinking all those big thoughts. But does it actually affect us? He says he is still the human being. Even if his peak ascends to the heavens, even if his head reaches the clouds through some outward experience, he remains the same human being with the same traits and impulses. So where is the repair of the human being? And where is the repair of the world? So notice he links repair of the human being. Don’t look out, look in.

Adam Mintz [00:24:03]:
Did you used to hear these ideas from him? Is this familiar to you?

Geoffrey Stern [00:24:08]:
So literally, I knew what I wanted to find. I googled Gadlut v’ katnut and Rav Shlomo Wolbe. And I started to see this quote that I quoted at the beginning of our discussion. And nobody gave the source. So it took me a while to pull out my Ben Sheshet l’aser the book and actually find it there. But yes, that is how he spoke. It was a major theme for him, and it worked in many different directions. Once we were spending a whole, I would say, semester on sin. And he started by saying, does sinning upset you? Does it make you despair? Well, who do you think you were before the sin? Moshe Rabbeinu. So there too, he was using Gadlut, but he was using it. Don’t let it impugn your progress. You had not such a big shot. We all stumble. It was a major poll with him, I believe, this small and largeness.

Adam Mintz [00:25:13]:
Was he someone who was like. Was very humble in his personality?

Geoffrey Stern [00:25:18]:
Absolutely. He was kind of hard of hearing. So he always would go like this to hear you. He’d cup his ears. And he was therefore kind of intimate. But he was very soft spoken.

Adam Mintz [00:25:31]:
Oh, he was. Did you used to go to his house for Shabbos?

Geoffrey Stern [00:25:35]:
No, we would go mostly after Shabbos for the Vadim. They would always be there. There would be a heater and we’ kind of sit around. And he’d be wearing those woolen house shoes that I know Kippy Ben Kiipod wore. They’re plaid, brown plaid. But it was quiet. He could shout. He would shout. When he would say, who do you think you are, Moshe Rabbeinu? At that point, he would shout. But I mean, there was one time he used to tell a story from Reb Yerucham. And Rabbi Yerucham came over to a student and said, have you ever said Shema? And the student says, of course, Rabbi, I say it twice a day. He says, so you mean you accept upon yourself the Ol Malchut Shamayim, the yoke of heaven, twice a day, and you never feel like rebelling? And the student said, of course not, Rebbe. So he said to him, so then you’ve never said Shema in your life. This was the kind of. It was a little bit like the Kotzk Rebbe too. It was sharp. It was sharp, sharp.

Adam Mintz [00:26:39]:
Surprising. What he said surprised you. That’s what the real good musserniks do.

Geoffrey Stern [00:26:45]:
Surprised you. Stopped you in your tracks and made you want to think. And so what he ends up by saying is the quotes that I gave you. And yes, he makes a long Talmudic argument about combining Abraham, Moses and the Messiah, that according to the Talmud, they all rode a Hamor (donkey), the same Hamor. A Rashi in last week’s Parasha talked about the Hamor that Moshe rode. And he Says, really, it’s not a Hamor, it’s Homer, it’s material. And what both of them, all three of them were great leaders. And he says what we need to be, each one of us is a great leader. The way he ends is fascinating. Of course he does the perfunctory we’re waiting for the Great One, the Messiah who should come. But he said, says, yet the awe inspiring power of the human being is not reserved for one meaning the Messiah alone. For each and every one of us, let us uncover the treasures of kindness in our hearts, the flame of faith, and marshal our faculties to magnify our deeds, each in his own place and surroundings. For it is upon us to ascribe greatness to the Master of all. He’s quoting the Aleynu (prayer) there. He says, to give greatness to the Creator of the beginning, Greatness of whom he blessed be. He is great even without us, but it is upon us to give our own greatness in service of God. The awe inspiring power of the human being lies in his inner life. Let us reveal its light through our deeds. So now when we say Aleynu le shabayach la’adon hakol, yotzer bereishit, the Gedulah, the greatness that we are ascribing in the words of Shlomo Wolbe is not to God. It is, it’s to ourselves. It’s to celebrate the greatness that God put in us. And it is that, I think that is ultimately the story of the Exodus, which is how to put the greatness back into the hearts of the broken Israelite slaves. And I think that really is the whole story. It’s not so much of all of the signs and wonders and even convincing Pharaoh. It’s taking this downtrodden people and trying to make them believe in their own greatness, right?

Adam Mintz [00:29:31]:
I mean, believe in themselves, believe that they can do it. I mean, Moshe had part of that. That’s why Moshe grew up in the house of Pharaoh, because allowed him to believe in himself, so he could then teach that to the slaves. That’s what the Ibn Ezra says on last week’s Parasha. Okay, Beautiful. This was fantastic.

Geoffrey Stern [00:29:50]:
I adjure all of you, if you’re interested, look in the Sefaria source sheet and read the whole article of Shlomo Wolbe and introduce yourself to the world of Mussar. But in any case, Shabbat Shalom and let us all never have Kotzer Ruach, shortness of spiritual breath. Let us all strive for the stars. Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom. See you all next week.

Adam Mintz [00:30:19]:
Shabbat shalom. Fantastic.