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For Your InspirationRabbi Zelig Pliskin Urges Community To Get Involved in Kiruv
On March 16, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, an internationally noted author and speaker, presented "Mastering Happiness for Yourself and Others" at a Project Inspire seminar at Az Yashir in Flatbush. The lecture was designed to encourage members of the frum community to become more involved in kiruv efforts.
On March 16, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, an internationally noted author and speaker, presented "Mastering Happiness for Yourself and Others" at a Project Inspire seminar at Az Yashir in Flatbush. The lecture was designed to encourage members of the frum community to become more involved in kiruv efforts.
Rabbi Pliskin told the audience that in the 1970s he had been influenced to become active in kiruv at Aish HaTorah, a yeshivah for baalei teshuvah in Yerushalayim, by his mentor and boss at the yeshivah, Harav Noach Weinberg, zt"l, a founding father of the modern kiruv movement, who was recently niftar in Yerushalayim.
Whenever Rabbi Meir Schuster recruited a new group of young secular Jews to Aish HaTorah, Rav Weinberg would ask them, "Would you rather be happy or wealthy?" He would then challenge the young men to stay in the yeshivah and learn how to become "happy."Many of those men became baalei teshuvah; today they are fathers and grandfathers of dynamic Jewish families that have contributed significantly to Klal Yisrael.
For the last 30 years Rabbi Pliskin has taught talmidim at Aish HaTorah the secrets of happiness. He said that when he was a bachur and then a yungerman learning in yeshivah, he did not remember anyone emphasizing the vital Torah concepts of how to be happy and how to develop other positive traits such as love for others. When he began to focus on them, he thought at first that he could never lecture, as Rav Weinberg did, because he was introverted and quite shy. But he told himself that helping people to be happier was a worthwhile endeavor that would pay great dividends.
Rabbi Pliskin began to do research. Using ideas from sources in Shas, Tanach and Chazal, he wrote a number of popular self-help books, including Building Your Self-Image and the Self Image of Others, Happiness, Kindness, Making Any Marriage Even Better, and Enthusiasm. He also compiled Nine Happiness Principles, which he has printed on cards that he distributes to everyone he meets.
Rabbi Pliskin related an important principle that Shlomo Hamelech teaches in Mishlei: "Every day in the life of a poor person is bad" (15:15). Who is a poor person? He is the opposite of a wealthy person. And who is a wealthy person? We find the answer in the fourth chapter of Pirkei Avos: "Who is wealthy? One who is happy with what he has."
This means that if a person has abundant assets but he is not happy, then he is not really wealthy. So what does it mean to be poor? A poor person is one who keeps thinking that something is missing in his life. No matter how much money he has, if he has a negative outlook on his life, he is poor.
Rabbi Pliskin explained that we all have an inner voice. If that voice is miserable, if it constantly blames others, we will live a miserable life, and we will in essence be poor. The truth, however, is that we are in control of that inner voice. If we want a good life, there are tools we can use to influence what the inner voice says.
Parashas Ki Savo, which tells us, "Rejoice in all the good that Hashem gives you," instructs us to be happy. And in the sixth perek of Pirkei Avos, Rabi Meir teaches, "One who learns Torah with pure motives merits many good things; furthermore, he is worthy to have had the entire world created because of him. He is called friend, beloved; he loves G-d, he loves [His] created beings; he brings joy to G-d, he brings joy to men."
If one strives to love Hashem, he must also love Hashem's children and His special nation, Klal Yisrael. This includes even those Yidden who are not observant. In bringing these Jews closer to Yiddishkeit, one makes Hashem happy, and he becomes especially beloved.
For those who are interested in learning how to reach out to non-frum Jews and in the process gain a deeper appreciation of Hashem's kindness to us, Project Inspire offers kiruv training programs. If you would like to attend a kiruv training seminar or you can recruit 10 or more friends to sign up for a home kiruv training program, Project Inspire will come to your home or another convenient location.
For more information about Project Inspire programs, please call (646) 961-4961, or email smarkowitz@projectinspire.com.
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