The school year is ending. The summer has finally arrived. For some, this means camp is looming ahead, for others the country and bungalow colonies. In any case, many have the magic word “vacation” on their lips. In my first ArtScroll sefer, Blueprints, I had the zechus to devote two chapters to Torah vacations and routines. However, since a few years have passed, Covid and some new realities about anti-Semitism and other things have changed the world, so perhaps this topic should be revisited with a new eye.

Although the present has changed drastically, the past remains the same. Our role models for how to vacation — Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, Rav Shimon Shkop, Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz and Rav Aharon Kotler — in the forest of Drozegnik for their dacha were deeply engrossed in learning, only surrounded this time by trees and in more comfortable chairs. As is well known, Rav Yisroel Neuman, one of the roshei yeshiva of Bais Medrash Govoah in Lakewood, simply takes his beloved shtender outside and continues his ceaseless hasmodah. My own rabbeim, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, Rav Aharon Schechter and Rav Yonasan David, continued to give shiurim and maamorim in Camp Morris, with occasional mention of the gadlus haBorei around them. But these days, there are other considerations that must come first.

Rav Aharon Teitelbaum of Satmar (quoted in Eizer Shmuel, page 294) felicitously expounds a Mishnah from this week’s Pirkei Avos (3:1) to guide his Chassidim in leisure planning. Akavia Ben Mahalalel said, “Consider three things and you will not come into the grip of sin. Know where you came from, where you are going, and before Whom you will give justification and reckoning.” The rebbe gave a vacation mussar shmuess, “Know where you came from,” meaning, “Think about your parents, grandparents, rabbeim and the yeshivos you attended before you make travel plans. What would they say?” Finally, would you be comfortable explaining and presenting this to our Creator and Father in Heaven? Great advice for us all.

The Vilna Gaon (Kol Eliyahu, Parshas Bereishis) quotes an amazing Medrash about one of the causes for Adam Harishon’s sin. The Medrash says something quite cryptic: “Why did Adam sin? Because he saw two but not three.”  The first of the three of Akavia’s “considerations” was “where we came from,” meaning “a putrid drop.” Now, since Adam was created directly by Hashem, he couldn’t identify with this warning, causing him and all of mankind everything from death to destruction and all manner of tragic results. Now let us add the Vilna Gaon’s brilliant comment. We know that Adam was an unimaginably righteous person. Even after he sinned and was buried, his ankles, the lowest parts of his body, shone like two burning suns. Yet, the inability to look back upon humble beginnings caused him to be unable to imagine the abyss into which he was about to descend. We, therefore, must surely evaluate carefully if we are exposing ourselves and our families to mortal spiritual dangers when we travel.

During Covid, when travel was almost impossible, many people discovered the joys of taking a staycation. Those who were able to do so built pools or refurbished basements. Unfortunately, like other messages that Hashem kindly sent us,  the lure of travel returned and suddenly we were on the road again. More recently, the spate of diseases and illnesses spread on expensive cruise ships may have been another divine reminder that physical ailments are often symptoms of spiritual maladies. This may be a good time to revisit Shlomo Hamelech’s exhortation, “If the anger of a ruler flares up against you, do not leave your place” (Koheles 10:4). Although this warning refers to many things, some meforshim identify the “ruler” as the yeitzer hora, which often rules over us and attempts to entice us to follow him into seductive places. Shlomo Hamelech, however, warns us that we are safest spiritually at home in our familiar surroundings.

One of the proofs offered that the moshel refers to our evil inclination is that the questions about where we have been and where we are going sound suspiciously like the questions Yaakov Avinu warned his servants that Eisav would ask: “When my brother Eisav meets you and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you, where are you going…” (Bereishis 32:17). The Chiddushei Harim warns that our inner Eisav, i.e., the yeitzer hora, may ask these questions, seeking to frighten and depress us. We must be strong and resist his evil machinations. The Sefas Emes concludes that we must answer, as did Yaakov’s messengers, that “We belong to Yaakov Avinu.” This means that once we subjugate ourselves to Klal Yisroel, we have nothing to fear (see Sefas Emes, Parshas Vayishlach 5635). The Klausenburger Rebbe (Divrei Torah Shefa Chaim, Mikeitz 5723) quotes his father, the rebbe of Rodnik, with similar thoughts, only adding that these kinds of questions can come from the good source of the yeitzer tov or the evil source of the yeitzer hora and we must be careful to distinguish between the two (see also Sifsei Tzaddik, Vayishlach 25).

Rav Reuven Feinstein (Sefer Pirkei Shalom) teaches us another lesson related to this subject. In last week’s perek, Rebbi (Rabbeinu Hakadosh) presented us with three different things to consider: “What is above you — a watchful Eye, an attentive Ear, and all your deeds are recorded in a Book” (2:1). Is this a disagreement or do these warnings coalesce?

Rav Reuven suggests that Akavia Ben Mahalalel lived at the time when the Bais Hamikdosh stood proudly and Klal Yisroel was comfortable in their Land. The yeitzer hora at such a time often leads us into arrogance and complacency. The antidote is therefore to focus on sights and sounds that will lead us to modesty and humility. On the other hand, Rebbi lived after the churban under the Roman government, when there was a danger of depression and giving up our faith. Therefore, he reminded us that Hashem is watching us even in exile and in all conditions.

We should extrapolate from these teachings that it actually does not matter where we are, since Hashem is everywhere, watching over us. That attitude is a very wise one to take with us on our vacations, even when we don’t stay at home. Just knowing and truly believing that Hashem is with us can change the way we act and even think on vacation. This is certainly not a time to forget about Hashem, but to remember that He is always with us. Sometimes he saves us from depression, sometimes from arrogance, but he doesn’t just come “for the ride.” He is the Pilot, Driver and Ultimate Travel Agent. As Shlomo Hamelech continues (Koheles 3:14), Hashem is constantly doing things to cause us to fear Him and bring us to yiras Shomayim (see Droshas HaRamban to Koheles, Toras Chaim ed., page 13).

We will end with a story inside a story that we should take with us wherever we go. Rav Aryeh Levin, the great tzaddik of Yerushalayim and father-in-law of many gedolim, including Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, was once visiting his rebbi, Rav Chaim Berlin, on an Erev Shabbos, when the latter was reciting Shir Hashirim. When Rav Chaim came to the posuk, “Behold you are beautiful, My beloved; behold you are beautiful, your eyes are doves” (1:15), he began to cry. Rav Aryeh asked his rebbi why he is crying, since this posuk is clearly describing the love between Hashem and Knesses Yisroel.

To respond, Rav Chaim, son of the Netziv, related the story inside this story.

“Once, when I was the rov of the city of Moscow, an important person asked to speak with me privately. He said that his wife had just given birth to a boy and he wanted me to circumcise him. I asked, ‘Why the need for such secrecy?’ and he answered that he occupied an important position in commerce and politically, but no one knew that he was Jewish. ‘I am asking the rov,’ he explained, ‘how to arrange for this procedure to be done secretly, because it could cost me my life.’ I told him to send away his household staff for the day and I will take care of it. The father served as sandek, there was no minyan, and I asked him to report to me on the baby’s recovery after the third day.

“When I visited the man’s home again after the third day, I asked him,

‘I see no signs of Yiddishkeit at all your home. You yourself have been hiding your Judaism, so why did you want so fiercely to make sure he has a bris milah?’ He answered, ‘I know that I have drifted far from my people, and I wonder if it will ever be possible for me to return. But for my son, there is hope. I want him to at least be a physical Jew so that someday he at least can reenter the fold.”

“When I get to that posuk in Shir Hashirim,’ Rav Chaim continued, ‘I think of that man and I understand why the words ‘my beloved is beautiful’ are repeated twice. This is, as Chazal teach, that the first is before the sin and the second is after. But why is he beautiful even after the sin? The answer is that Shlomo Hamelech is referencing the dove. Chazal teach that the dove never wanders so far from the nest that she will not be able to return. That is Klal Yisroel’s beauty as well—that even though we sometimes wander, we will always return. Rav Aryeh concluded that ‘perhaps this is the meaning of the question in the Mishnah, ‘From where have you come?’ Even if we only remember that we are a Yid, we can always return and build upon that.”

Let us build upon Rav Aryeh Levin, Rav Chaim Berlin, Akavia Ben Mahalalel and Rav Reuven Feinstein. If possible, let us not wander far at all. But if we must, like the dove, let’s not forget where our nest really is. Then we won’t get lost and we’ll be able to fly back into Hashem’s waiting arms.