Lilmod U'l'lamed

In an article by R' Mordechai Kamenetzky about R' Aharon Kotler, he states that it was R' Aharon's trailblazing commitment to the ideal of instilling Torah lishma that completely changed the face of Jewish life in America.   

He defines this as learning Torah without any aspirations to be a rabbi or even a teacher, but only for the sake of learning.  This is despite the fact that in Europe, the talmidim of the Lithuanian yeshivos invariably went on to take rabbinic positions.  There was one famous contemporary of R' Aharon who never took a position and that was the Chazon Ish, but who else did the same? The rest became rabbonim, magidei shiur or roshei yeshiva.   R' Aharon invented something new which hadn't been the goal of the roshei yeshiva back in Europe.

In fact, in bulletins published by Beth Medrash Govoha in the 1970's it states, "The perpetuation of Jewish peoplehood depends on the development and growth of authentic Torah scholars ... In the absence of Torah scholars, Jewry lacks the great teachers who are the links in the great chain of tradition spanning the ages.  It lacks the educators to instruct the coming generations  ..."

So apparently, according to the Lakewood yeshiva manifesto, the goal is to produce Torah teachers! In fact, aren't there hundreds (thousands?) of men in Lakewood who would be thrilled to get a shteller?  Does that mean they have dropped the "lishma" goal in which someone continues to sit and learn for himself without teaching others? And is that what learning Torah lishma actually means?

G-d is Alive and Well in America

According to a 2007 Newsweek poll, 13% of self-described atheists or agnostics believe that "G-d created humans pretty much in the present form at one time within the last ten thousand years or so." Makes me wonder why they describe themselves as atheists or agnostics!

Young earth creationism is the most commonly held belief about the origin and development of life, held by 48% of all Americans.  How nice!

Another 30% believe that humans developed over millions of years but that the process was guided by G-d.

Interestingly, among firm religious believers alone, denial of evolution correlates with high education.

I find it encouraging that in this modern day and age, after decades of evolution indoctrination which eliminates G-d from the picture, 78% of Americans believe G-d is very much in the picture.

Proud to be an American

The Gemara says that a person's place of residence "finds favor" in his eyes, even if the area is not salubrious or otherwise wonderful.  Even as Jews who daven for Moshiach and a return to Eretz Yisrael, our places of residence while in galus appeal to us.

I welcome those from other countries to tell us what you find special about your country.  As for me, I am an American.  Americans are known for various traits, some more positive than others.  What makes me proud to be an American are two aspects that have been pointed out by various rabbis.  One is that America is a "malchus shel chesed," a nation of kindness.  America has provided enormous sums of aid to countries around the world and it is not necessarily done to receive some benefit in return.  Americans are a generous bunch.  Americans also do "chesed b'gufo" such as the Peace Corps volunteers who offer their help in areas such as education and health.

A second wonderful thing is that Americans are a deeply religious bunch.  58% believe that the strength of American society is predicated on the religious faith of its people.  6 out of 10 Americans say that their faith is involved in every aspect of their lives.  Americans pray a lot, on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.  45% of Americans believe that G-d created human beings in their present form at one time within the past 10,000 years.  82% of Americans say that G-d is very important to them.  And so on.

Chesed and Emuna - reasons to be proud indeed!