Choosing a livelihood, By Moshe Teitelbaum

This essay was taken from a book my uncle, Moshe Teitelbaum, published for the family. Here is the intro by Rabbi Nosson Scherman The Teitelbaums – Indomitable and Triumphant By Rabbi Nosson Scherman

Menachem Av, 5769

Choosing a Way of Life Part 1. Choosing a livelihood , By Moshe Teitelbaum.

While the following was written primarily for our children at their request, there is much of general benefit contained here as well.

In “Lessons From Our Past”, I mentioned the importance of absorbing lessons from our family background. As the ideas expressed in these lessons are stated briefly, without details or background, some of the children have asked me to expand upon some of the items mentioned. I start with the following, as they relate to making a living, something we are all faced with at some point in our lives. “Al korchoch ato chai, al korchoch ato meis”, v’al korchoch must one find some sort of livelihood to sustain one’s self. Various options will be explained, but doing nothing is not one of them.

As much as possible, a person should strive not to be dependent upon others (“Lo liday matnas bosor vodom, ki im l’Yodcho”), yet by the same token, it takes ten people to make a minyan, so one needs at times to come onto other people.

Flowing With the Stream, By my uncle, Moshe Teitelbaum

This essay was taken from a book my uncle, Moshe Teitelbaum, published for the family. Here is the intro by Rabbi Nosson Scherman The Teitelbaums – Indomitable and Triumphant By Rabbi Nosson Scherman

"Our brother, Uncle Eli, had that ability, to initiate change for the better. It is due to his lack of fear, or rather his willingness and courage to act in spite of fear, which enabled him to be so successful in the tasks that he undertook."

Elul 5770 August 2010

Some people live their entire lives doing things just because everyone else does it. In other words, performing “Mitzvas anushim milmudah” (Yeshaya 29 13), i.e. performing Mitzvos perfunctory, by rote, merely as a matter of habit, and even worse, living a life of doings things only because “That’s’ the way it is done”, not at all because you truly believe in what you are doing. One can thus go through a whole life of superficial Torah, Mitzvos and Tefilla, basically, just a play act.

A person needs to live a life where he does things and leads a life in accordance with what he believes is right and wrong, not because of what everyone else does, or what other people will say or how it looks. A person acting in this manner can turn himself into being merely a robot, without any degree of self-independence.

The Teitelbaums – Indomitable and Triumphant By Rabbi Nosson Scherman

This post was written as a preface for the book my uncle, Moshe Teitelbaum, published for the family. I hope to soon post some of the articles, I think my readers will enjoy them.

The Teitelbaums – Indomitable and Triumphant

By: Rabbi Nosson Scherman

The Teitelbaums are a remarkable family. Hagoan Harov R’Yaakov Teitelbaum z”l was a pre-war talmid chacham who did not let America change him. To the contrary, he changed his corner of America. His Rebbetzin a”h was his mirror image. To them, their mesorah was inviolable. Unchanging. Unyielding.

I had the privilege of spending only six weeks in the proximity of “Reb Yankele” during his long tenure as Manhig Ruchani of Camp Agudah, in its spiritual home in Highmount, New York. He had a profound influence on the staff members and campers who were wise enough to become close to him. It was 1953, and the yeshiva world was a far cry from what it is today. Black hats were very rare and beards and payos were virtually non-existent. A case or two of cholov yisroel was delivered once or twice a week, and often there was not enough for the few people who wanted it. Reb Yankele was a major factor in the lives of many of us, and without questions he left his stamp on Camp Agudah, and through it on all the Torah camps in America. Few people today remember what an important influence he was.