Thank G-d it is that time again….
The following article is in memory of a giant of our times, Rabbi Noah Weinberg, of blessed memory. Although it was written for Jews, using Jewish terms and references, its core message relates to everyone, and is something we can all learn from. (I encourage Jews to read the original article)
To universalize the message however, I present the following:
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We look at the great people throughout the ages and we think: He or she was a giant. There was Abraham, Rashi, the Vilna Gaon, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and in our generation there was Rav Noach Weinberg. But what about us small people? Perhaps we can continue what they accomplished, but can we ever became giants like them?This doubting of our ability to grow and with the help of G-d become Giants, is the opposite of what the Rav Noach Weinberg (of blessed memory) tried to teach us. When he was a young student in religious school, he had bouts of fatigue and the doctor said that he needed to spend more time in bed.
So what did young Noah Weinberg do while lying in bed? He didn’t read the newspaper, or otherwise waste this time but instead used it as another opportunity to grow by reading Holy books. When he came to the Jewish Law in where the Rambam (an exceptionally learned Jewish teacher) says that true and full learning of G-d’s commandments/Law are only acquired by someone who “kills himself over it,” he said to himself, “If I listened to those telling me to lie in bed, I’ll never become exceptionally well versed in G-d’s commandments. I cannot accept that.” He jumped out of bed and dedicated himself to learning. He climbed level after level, until he got to the point of sleeping only three hours a day: from 12-1 at night, from 6-7 in the morning, and another hour after lunch. If he became a giant, we can also become giants.
Rav Noach Weinberg wasn’t born a giant. He was born a human being who took God seriously. If he became a giant, then we – who have no excuse to lie in bed – can also become giants.
That’s what Rab Weinberg taught us: Bishvili nivra ha’olam – the whole world was created for me. Does that mean I get to take all the food, and do whatever I want? No — it means that the whole world was created for me in order to repair it, and because it is “my world; I’m responsible. Often, Rabbi Weinberg would speak to new guys who just came off the street. He would ask them, “In how many years do you think there will be a world war? Ten years? Twenty years? Fifty years?……..So what are you doing about it?”
He gave everyone the strength and confidence that everyone can make a difference, and that we are all obligated to try. We cannot rely on someone else to do the job. Most today instead choose to wait, and instead rely on a giant. We cannot lessen ourselves, our purpose and our being by doing this. We all have a greater knowledge of what needs to be done, that their is a G-d, and we know what is right. This understanding is both an obligation and a privilege: Wherever we go, we can carry that flame and make a difference.
But it is not just those here who are charged to make a difference. but instead every human being. All we need to do to accomplish our mission is to first choose to accept it, and be the Giants we now would rather rely on. We must make the choice to action. G-d will help those who wish to truly act. If someone wants to change the world, he will change the world.
Rabbi Weinberg became a giant in Torah and also changed the world. But it was not accomplished without having first made the choice, acting on it, and hard work. He took positive steps everyday, all day to better himself, and better his world, and he did so without ego, or bragging. Through this commitment to making the world he lived in the world he wanted to see, he became a giant in understanding G-d, and growing individually, all the while saving the greater world around him. Luckily for him however he was not alone in this mission, as none of us are alone. For the past 50 years, Rabbi Weinberg had another giant behind him: His wife. As a partner in his mission, she would bring food to where Rab Weinberg was learning, so he would be able to learn without interruption from 5 in the morning until midnight. Rabbi Weinberg often repeated Rabbi Akiva’s famous words to his students: “What is mine and yours, is hers.”
The Rosh Yeshiva always spoke about the need to “awaken the sleeping giant.” We must become these giants. If we really commit to growing individually with G-d, while at the same time addressing the urgent needs of the greater society, we can truly awaken the sleeping giant and keep the flame of our own giants burning bright.
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If you like what you read, join me in supporting Rabbi Weinberg’s mission. If not, find one of your own this weekend and be a giant!
To those who celebrate it, Shabbat Shalom. To those who do not, have a wonderful weekend.
(I know its a bit earlier than usual, but I will be out all afternoon.)
