A Rebbe Rooted in Emunah

Rav Reuven Leuchter

The Rebbi’s Emuna
Emuna is best transmitted to the talmidim through osmosis, from the rebbi’s own emuna. This is preferable to quoting seforim about emuna because emuna is belief, and backing up belief with sources is almost self-contradictory. Therefore, to instill emuna in talmidim, the rebbi needs to have strong emuna himself. His emuna should be bubbling out naturally from events that happen in his life. We can illustrate this point with an incident that happened recently.
I have a relative who is a young man and is unfortunately very sick. I met his brother, a big talmid chochom, who challenged me with a question that was bothering him. He said the problem with tefilla is that there is no statistical evidence that it does anything. He pointed out that people who daven and secular people have the same incidence of cancer and death. This question would make many people, even rebbeim, very uncomfortable. We’re afraid to ask this question or look too deeply into it because we’re afraid that he’s right.
Before we respond to his question, this story highlights the importance of being “rooted” in emuna. Rootedness refers to a certainty – in Hebrew, we would describe it as vada’us. It’s a solidity of emuna that can withstand being confronted with questions. For example, the Gemara tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu was troubled by the famous question of tzadik v’ra lo. Of course, he had full emuna. Moshe was rooted in emuna, and so although he had a problem, an unresolved question, his emuna was unshaken. People often assume the opposite – that you must first answer all the questions before you can have emuna. However, we see from Moshe that this is a mistake. Answers can come later.
Similarly, for one who is rooted in emuna, it’s certain that tefilla does something. The lack of supporting statistics could be described as a problem. For someone with a sick brother, it’s a practical problem; he needs results that tefilla doesn’t produce, and that shakes his entire emuna. I’m certain, however, that tefilla works. He has a good question about statistics. But I know tefilla works.
The Tefilla K’tzara of Moshe Rabbeinu
In Parshas Beha’aloscha, Moshe davened for Miriam – 5 words: Kel na refa na la. Two of the five words are na – please. Interestingly, we never use the word na when we daven. In Nusach Sefard we do, and it’s one of the things that makes people comfortable with that nusach, but in Nusach Ashkenaz it’s not used. Why not? This bothered me for 10 years. I knew there was a solution, but I didn’t have it. Another question I had about this incident is, why didn’t Miriam daven for herself? Why didn’t Aharon daven for her? Why did it have to be Moshe?
If we understand the difference between a tefilla k’tzara and regular tefilla, we can answer these questions. A tefilla k’tzara goes straight to the point and can get results. Moshe was seeking immediate results – Kel na refa na la. This kind of tefilla is very brief and doesn’t address the big picture, just the immediate need. It’s appropriate when praying a tefilla k’tzara to use na, please, as you make your request for immediate help from Hashem.
But only Moshe Rabbeinu can daven a tefilla k’tzara. If you or I would daven that tefilla k’tzara it wouldn’t work; it wouldn’t provide the immediate result we seek. Of course, we believe with certainty that our tefilla does something. However, our tefilla has to be filtered through layers of considerations, so we don’t see clear results. There is a fundamental difference between our tefilla and the tefilla of Moshe Rabbeinu. It says that the thumping of a person’s heartbeat is the neshama, which every moment wants to leave the body but then sees the Borei Olam and, frightened, it comes right back. However, regarding Moshe Rabbeinu, at the end of his life, his neshama didn’t want to leave at all. We can’t survive in a world that is connected directly to Hashem – our very existence is possible because of the distance between us and Hashem, and it is this distance, these layers, that our tefilla must filter through.
When we daven, we’re offering to Hashem the possibility of changing something that we want from our perspective, and of course, Hashem listens to the tefilla and considers it. We use the formulation of tefilla aruka that addresses the larger realm. We need to start with Avos, then speak of techiyas hameisim and kedushas hasheim. Then we make requests such as Kel na refa na la, and we conclude with retzei, modim, and sim shalom. Our tefilla goes straight to a realm that’s connected to the Borei Olam and we know with certainty – we’re rooted in this belief – that it helps in that realm. The result is filtered through all the realms and the outcome is what it is.
Rooted in Emunah
This kind of answer comes from being rooted in emuna. For many years I didn’t have this answer. I learned Nefesh Hachaim Sha’ar Beis (on the topic of tefilla,) I davened, and I believed in tefilla one hundred percent. But there was a problem which I didn’t have a satisfactory answer for. I now found an answer to this problem thanks to the question of my relative’s brother. But my emuna in tefilla was always there. It was clear to my relative’s brother when he asked me his question that I shared his question but that my emuna wasn’t bothered by that. Knowing how tefilla works is a big problem, of course. This is why we need to be rooted in emuna. It allows us to live with the questions until we have answers.
There is an approach to answering these kinds of questions by quoting sources, seforim that deal with emuna. I call this the “book force of 2,000 years.” This is a cruel response to someone who is genuinely troubled, intimating that by his very question, he is a denier. Also, this is not an approach that satisfies the one with questions. For emuna, more than we need a curriculum for the students, we need a curriculum for ourselves. Some people may want a rebbi who has all the answers, but I wouldn’t be able to connect with someone like that, someone who is untouchable, hiding behind the books. I would love to associate with a person who is rooted in emuna. When the rebbi is rooted in emuna, the talmidim pick it up from him. The impression we want our talmidim to have is that the rebbi doesn’t always know the answer but he has strong emuna, such that he can have the question, but he doesn’t question emuna itself.
How did I become rooted in emuna myself? I can only speak from my own life, what helped me build my emuna. I can identify two ingredients, one that should work for everyone and one that is a bit more personal. First, I learned seforim that deal with emuna concepts in a way that produced a picture for me. This occurred because I learned them quickly, and then again and again many times. I recall that when I came to Yeshivas Mir, I was young, around 19, and I read the sefer Daas Tevunos. I read it quickly, like a thriller, a page-turner – I finished it in around 2 weeks. I read over 100 times – I used to know it practically by heart. It was a whole picture, a world I was connected to. Many people learn these seforim slowly, trying to understand each diyuk and every detail, but this method doesn’t allow a full picture to develop in their mind.
Imagine someone at an art gallery looking at a Chagall painting. The colors, blue, red, yellow, unbelievable – the art just blows you away. Someone else wants to understand the mastery of Chagall so he gets a magnifying glass and looks at the painting from up close, analyzing each brushstroke. Of course, both perspectives are valid and offer different benefits; but if you want to understand the power of the painting, the distant perspective which allows you to see the whole thing at once is better. Similarly, a person needs to develop a full picture of emuna. When you learn a sefer slowly, with perushim, you just don’t develop this picture.
The second thing was my connection to my rav, Rav Wolbe. He was a very learned man in secular knowledge and a big talmid chacham. I saw that it was possible to be connected to the world and still rooted in emuna. We saw that also in Rav Aharon Leib Steinman. If a person has a rebbi or a connection with a person like this, it allows you to become rooted in emuna.

Rabbi Reuven Leuchter, a prominent disciple of Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, zt”l, is one of the leading educators and baalei mussar of our generation. Rabbi Leuchter has served as Mashgiach in several yeshivos. Today, he heads a kollel and delivers shiurim and mussar vaadim throughout Israel and abroad. In addition, he trains future rabbis for rabbinic or kiruv careers with Ner LeElef.

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