Rabbi Eliyahu Krieger was my menahel in high school. Born in Berlin to an Eastern European family, he arrived in the United States when he was young and studied in Yeshiva Torah Vadaas under Rav Shraga Feivel Mendelovitz, who single-handedly created Torah chinuch (education) in the United States. Rav Shraga Feivel created Torah Umesorah, whose mandate was to build Torah day schools in every small Jewish community in the United States. To accomplish this, he rallied gedolei Yisrael from across the spectrum to support Torah Umesorah’s activities and programs. Yet this was a sidebar to his official endeavors, which were to build Yeshiva Torah Vadaas in Brooklyn, Kollel Beis Elyon in Monsey, and various programs to train Torah teachers. He created the yeshiva settings whereby Rav Shlomo Heiman, Rav Reuven Grozovsky, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, and many others were able to influence the American Torah scene, and he was also instrumental in the building of several other yeshivos in America.
Returning to Rabbi
Krieger, whereas most of his contemporaries who arrived on the American shores
as refugees from the Nazis were eager to start businesses or pursue professions,
Rabbi Krieger was interested in studying in yeshiva and became a disciple of
Rav Shraga Feivel. This meant that he became committed to chinuch, as
did the most of Rav Shraga Feivel’s talmidim. As happened to many, he
also became the de facto “rabbi of his family,” since he was the first one to receive
a yeshiva education and develop that perspective on life.
When I was in
elementary school, most of our rebbeim were alumni of Torah Vadaas. When I attended the mesivta
(high school division) of Yeshiva
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Rabbi Krieger was the menahel and
later also assumed a role in the beis hamedrash of the yeshiva.
I learned from
Rabbi Krieger many long-term lessons on many aspects of life. These were not taught
in the classroom or in any structured formal way. I learned by his example – by
osmosis, from observing him and by his interactions with others.
I am now going to
share some of these qualities I learned.
Be Yourself
Don’t attempt to
mimic someone else’s personality or approach. Certainly, learn from them how to
achieve and accomplish things, but don’t co-opt their style. Each of us has his
own distinct personality and manner of doing things. Be natural. Be yourself. Be
comfortable and proud of who you are, your family origins. There is no need to
be apologetic for following your family minhagim even if they differ
from those in your current surroundings.
In my instance, I
enjoy mixing history and geography and, of course, humor into my Torah learning
and teachings. This approach works well for me but may not work for someone
else. I did not learn this specific style from anyone else. I have allowed it
to grow with me, and I have found my own successful approach to teaching,
writing, and public speaking.
Understand your Talmidim
Think about the
group that you are facing and figure out what type of approach to the material
being taught will attract them. Plan the teaching lesson or approach to your lecture
carefully. It is not unusual for it to take more time to figure out how to
present the material to the specific audience than it took to obtain adequate
knowledge of the subject matter.
There is another
aspect to this that extends far beyond the lecture or classroom. Think about
what will motivate specific disciples to grow and what setting will be most
successful for them. Having done that, think through an approach that will work
to encourage them to choose that setting. Understand how to present an idea or
a plan of action in a way that will draw them. At times, this might involve a
very creative approach that you want them to follow and an even more creative
approach to encourage them to the challenge. And, frequently, all this needs to
be accomplished by having the student or disciple think it was his own idea to
begin with!
Family Responsibilities
Notwithstanding
your public role as a teacher, congregational leader, or administrator, you
also have a private role within your family, both nuclear and extended. Accept
that role and recognize it should not conflict with your public role.
Set Realistic Personal
Goals – and Meet Them
In addition to
your role in the community and in your family, you also need to establish
personal goals for yourself. They should be realistic, taking into
consideration your other time commitments and responsibilities. But you should devote
time to them and not ignore the need for them. Accomplishing all these goals
might require a delicate balancing act, but they should not be lost in the
shuffle.
Don’t Advise When You
Have a Bias
Perhaps the most
profound lesson that Rabbi Kreiger taught me was when I was offered a position at
the institution in which he was working at the time. When I wanted to discuss
the matter with him, he told me, in an almost curt and uncharacteristic manner,
“I will not advise someone nor attempt to influence someone when I have a
personal bias. Don’t you think they already asked me to speak to you?” He very
much wanted me to take the position, feeling on a personal and organizational
level that it would be good. But that meant, by definition, that he could not
advise me objectively, with my best interests in mind. To advise someone under
these circumstances, even when the questioner recognizes the bias and is told
to account for it, was totally anathema to him.
Rabbi Krieger
allowed me to see into a previous generation – to witness how his era had been
taught by its great leaders – how to educate according to Torah and how to grow
through Torah!
