“Davening and learning, that’s the life!”

It was a short Chanukah vacation day and Lakewood Rosh Yeshivah Rav Dovid Schustal was participating in a bris. As I passed by just after the bris, I overheard some Sephardic boys speaking with the Rosh Yeshivah and asking for a brachah. But before the Rosh Yeshivah let them off, he asked what the boys would be doing with their free time that day. They replied, “We’re on vacation. Ah, that’s the life.” The Rosh Yeshivah paused for a moment and then said, while tapping them on the cheek, “Davening and learning, that’s the life!”

Later on that morning, as I was putting away my equipment, I noticed a chavrusashaft smack in the middle of the beis medrash — it was those boys who got the Rosh Yeshivah’s message.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 890)