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His wit and warm smile are disarming arent bona fide baalei
mussar supposed to be harsh, stoic, demanding? Growing up on
the streets of Tel Aviv, yet finding spiritual refuge in the halls of
Slabodka and Ponevezh, elder mashgiach Rav Dov Yaffe has a
piercing understanding of our inner struggles, yet knows well be
happiest when we let ourselves harness our ability to grow
BY
Be Simple, Be Great
the term baal mussar conjures up an image of a critical person, constantly seeking
to point out what others are doing wrong. Others might envision a somewhat
morose individual, seated in a tiny wooden shul in a shtetl repeating words of
Chazal over and over to break his yetzer hara. To a third group, a baal mussar might
be someone a little more cheery, but it doesnt really matter because they consider
the title to be long retired, buried with some of the great mashgichim of yesteryear.
To meet the zekan hamashgichim, Harav Hatzaddik Dov Yaffe shlita, is to break
many perceptions about a baal mussar. In complete control of every muscle in his
body, the Mashgiach exudes the self-authority of Kelm. Yet his wit and warm smile
are disarming, making you wonder if this could really be a bona fide baal mussar.
But then he starts talking, selecting his words carefully before uttering them, and
you see the image of his rebbeim, Rav Eizik Sher, Rav Elya Lopian, and Rav Chatzkel
Levenstein shining forth.
And as a quintessential baal mussar, Eretz Yisraels elder Mashgiach has a
message for every single Jew man and woman, old and young, working and
learning: If you want to be happy in this world, you have to learn mussar.
Not a Shoo-In In everything Rav Dov does from delivering a sichah (mussar
discourse) to sharing some words of chizuk with a boy escorting him down a
hallway; from answering a question in a vaad on Derech Hashem to discussing the
role his rebbeim played in his life you see the image of a truly humble person,
completely at ease with his self-image and finding no need to put on any airs. When
he forgets a name during a shmuess a forgivable frailty of his advanced age
he does not grow uncomfortable or blush. He simply turns to those sitting next
to him and waits for a reminder. When a young bochur asks a question during a
vaad, he doesnt assume that he has already grasped what the boy is asking when
the question is only halfway out. He listens intently to every word, thinks for a few
moments and sometimes for a few minutes and then responds. And each word
of his response is measured and weighed before it leaves his mouth.
Yet for his own obvious lofty levels, Rav Dov reminds talmidim in one of the first
sichos of Elul that gadlus doesnt come easily to anyone; the gedolim had to fight to
get where they were a lesson he learned from personal experience.
Born in Poland in the late 1920s, the young Dov Yaffe immigrated to Eretz
Yisrael with his family at the age of seven. His father, who worked as real estate
agent, sent him to one of the local schools in Tel Aviv, where the family settled.
The young boys upbringing was far from the idyllic conditions under which one
would imagine a tzaddik of his stature being raised. The streets of Tel Aviv were not
sheltered, and unlike the wunderkind stories told about many gedolim, Rav Dov
tells his talmidim that he grew up like every other child his age eating ice cream
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Be Simple, Be Great
Full Cups
Yeshivas Knesses Chizkiyahu was the first yeshivah gedolah established outside of the Yerushalayim
and Bnei Brak enclaves, as gedolei Torah
toiled to rebuild what had been destroyed
in Europe. Founding rosh yeshivah Rav
Noach Shimanowitz, a premier talmid
of Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz, wanted to
establish a yeshivah, and he went to the
Chazon Ish for guidance and a brachah
for success. The Chazon Ish advised him
to establish his yeshivah in the north of
Eretz Yisrael, where there were no Torah
institutions.
Together with his brother-in-law Rav
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Everybodys Talmid
When Rav
Dov was just 28, Rav Elya appointed
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25 Elul 5775 | September 9, 2015
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Be Simple, Be Great
As the Yom Hadin approaches, watch out
for forgeries
When
in the presence of Rav Dov, you find
yourself wishing you could emulate his
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Be Simple, Be Great
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Traveling Light
The overarching
middah that strikes you when speaking
to the Mashgiach or about him to his
talmidim is his absolute humility. Reb
Duvi Honig, a noted Lakewood askan
who learned in Kfar Chassidim and
still remains close to the Mashgiach,
remarks that in Kfar Chassidim, he was
taught that gadlus is pashtus. You
become great by remaining the regular
person you are, but doing everything in
your power to grow and help others.
Reb Duvi relates that when Rav Dov
was in America two years ago to deliver
the keynote address at the Lakewood
Tent Event, he was given a welcome
worthy of the zekan hamashgichim, the
eldest mashgiach of our generation.
In a famous moment captured on