V'Higadeta - Galinsky - Devarim

Insights, stories, and teachings on THE WEEKLY PARASHAH from the treasure-trove of the maggid Harav Yaakov Galinsky zt"l A group of friends gathered for drinks, but there was nothing on the table. "Nu," said one, "we need a drink." They looked around, searched through the cupboards, rifled through their pockets, but came up with nothing. How depressing. "If we have no vodka," someone else piped up, "then we can at least talk about vodka." And they beamed, their melancholy forgotten.This was the story Rav Avraham Yaffen, the rosh yeshivah of Novardok and the Alter of Novardok's son-in-law, told at a gathering of erstwhile talmidim after he moved to Eretz Yisrael. They were reminiscing about the yeshivah in its glory days, when its network spread all across Poland. Those were the days when they learned Gemara and mussar with a bren, with diligence and fervor, exchanging new Torah insights, refining their worldview, and spurring each other to grow to loftier heights with incredible mesiru