Inspired Lives 1 Class 4

[Tikvah]

I am very troubled by what we learned about the Alter of Novordok. What happened to his family while he was in the cabin? How could he burden the farmer and his daughter? Since he was known as a great Musser master I must be missing something. What don't I understand?

Tikvah

[Devora1]

Your questions are interesting. I guess one can ask the same question about all families of great people. Their wives usually supported the family so maybe he worked out some arrangement with his wife about taking over his business. It seemed from the lecture that the farmer and his wife felt priveleged to support such a great scholar so in a way he was giving them merit instead of receiving.

[Tikvah]

Dee,

You are definitely right that differant arrangements work for differant families. And often the wife of a gadol has to do much more and with much less support than the average wife. Her ability and willingness to do that allows him to be a gadol. For example, Rav Teller described how Mrs. Kotler placed her husbands calls, stuffed cake in his pocket and had him rebuff her soup. None of that bothers me. Together as a couple this arrangement allowed him to accomplish great things for Am Yisrael.  But I am still troubled by what I heard today about the Alter of Novordak, it seems to extreme.

Tikvah

[Devora1]

It turns out there is more to the story then what we heard at the lecture.
Follow this link for a detailed account of The Alter's life

www.tzemachdovid.org/Musar/navordok1.html

[Tikvah]

Thank you so much for that link. Navordak is certainly not my derech but I am no longer upset about what I heard.

Tikvah