Many articles rightfully highlight the achievements and exponential growth of today’s generation of Torah-observant Jewry. Some of today’s yeshivos boast more students than the combined student body of all of the great yeshivos in prewar Europe.

Our meticulous observance of mitzvos both as a klal and as individuals is constantly improving as well. Who today doesn’t have his own mehudar esrog beautiful beyond the esrogim anyone ever saw in Europe?

On a communal level there are myriad chesed social and educational organizations dealing with every type of need.

Of course the affluence of our times is equally unmatched. And clearly this money is being used to produce and maintain a Torah lifestyle undreamed of ever before. But herein lies the danger: the achievement may have engendered a stagnation-inducing complacency with our accomplishments and high standards.

Let’s look back and see where all of this growth originated.

In the postwar years there was a desperate need to rebuild what Hitler yemach shemo had destroyed. The task fell onto the shoulders of the surviving roshei yeshivah and chassidic rebbes who brought into the New World the purity of Torah learning and influenced the lost souls who survived the war and those who were floundering while making a new life for themselves. Just as a leader cannot create a viable society alone so did our roshei yeshivah and rebbes need the support of a cadre of laypeople who would do the legwork of their mentors.

These “soldiers” could not be “ordinary” bnei Torah. They had to be fueled by a burning desire to fulfill the mandate of gedolei Yisrael not for the sake of honor glory monetary gain or to live “the good life ” but only lishmah — for altruistic reasons. They had to act through purity of soul ahavas Yisrael and love for Hashem that defy description sacrificing their personal lives for the greater good in every way possible.

Under the aegis of the gedolei hador these individuals built the yeshivos day schools and Bais Yaakovs that created the Torah generation in which we have the good fortune to live. When we read about these heroes in newspapers magazines and books we are in awe of their accomplishments and of their devotion as “meshuga’im l’oso davar ” their unmitigated focus on their goal to the exclusion of anything else.

Unfortunately however their talent appears to have been theirs alone and cannot be replicated. Just as an artist has an inborn talent to paint and a musician an inborn talent to make music so did these people have a special inner talent that allowed them to create institutions change people’s lives and improve and change the Torah lifestyle across the Diaspora.

Inasmuch as the accomplishments of these builders are felt throughout our generation however we cannot allow their lives to become a “thing of the past.” With the continuous rise of the birthrate our generation will increase in population and hopefully be able to maintain the same level that we are on today. In other words our society will clone itself. But in order for the Torah way of life to sustain itself there must be constant growth in spirituality — in ahavas Hashem gadlus baTorah kiyum hamitzvos and ahavas Yisrael. And in order to achieve all this we must continue to produce the meshuga’im l’oso davar who will dedicate their entire lives toward building Torah.

Generally speaking however being a meshuga l’oso davar is a characteristic that is unfortunately not part of the psyche of our generation even though the inherent talent is certainly there and sadly we seem to lack the ability to polish the diamonds that are in our midst. Many in our generation follow the tenets of Yiddishkeit by rote (mitzvas anashim melumadah) lacking thought and foresight lacking rhyme or reason — mechanical in nature. And the latent artistic talents that can build the future cannot emerge from people “going through the motions.”

Where will the next generation of “field marshals” and “foot soldiers” — builders of individuals and institutions for the sake of Torah and Torah alone — come from? Will we see educators who will sacrifice their comfortable lifestyle to venture into “small-town America” or any other place where the need exists to advance the cause of Jewish education by building day schools and yeshivos to fight assimilation?

The builders of the past must be an inspiration and a motivational force for us to produce individuals of their caliber and it behooves us to learn from where such passionate Jews emerged.

YOUR TYPICAL meshuga l’oso davar  emerged from the influence of a great mentor or a home environment that de-emphasized material possessions and encouraged a love of Jews at all costs.

Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel ztz”l the Alter of Slabodka constantly taught the importance and greatness of man and his ability to reach great spiritual heights. He influenced thousands either directly or indirectly and a large percentage of the roshei yeshivah who rebuilt Torah from the ashes of the Holocaust were his talmidim.

By virtue of his personality and through the establishment of Torah Umesorah Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz ztz”l the father of all yeshivos and day schools in America instilled the love of fellow Jews into his students to the extent that such educators as Rabbi Avraham Abba Freedman ztz”l and Rabbi Sholom Goldstein ztz”l dedicated their entire beings toward the education of the Jews of Detroit.

In our time Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz ztz”l the rosh yeshivah of Chofetz Chaim of Queens through his personal lifestyle his teachings and love for his students influenced them to open up many many yeshivos around the country and to raise the necessary funds to maintain those institutions with little emphasis on their own personal needs.

There are also many people who dedicated their entire lives to their fellow Jews because their parents inculcated concern for others into their personalities. Rabbis Yaakov and Yechiel London ztz”l of Yeshiva Heichal HaTorah (the latter would go on to found Nefesh Academy for children of Russian immigrants)  considered their own interests completely unimportant in comparison to the need to build individuals and yeshivos. I feel that they were tremendously influenced by their mother an ordinary “Yiddishe mamme” but full of ahavas Yisrael and total dedication to others. She came every morning to the yeshivah and cooked breakfast lunch and supper for the entire student body as a volunteer for years on end until her strength was sapped by her increasing age.

What has changed today? Why aren’t we producing the foot soldiers of tomorrow as effectively as we did in the past?

Perhaps the reason why we don’t see such individuals emerging is because children today — some to a greater extent some to a lesser extent — are born with a silver spoon in their mouths. We have created a generation where everyone has pretty much everything he needs or wants without having to work hard to get it — even during these times of recession. Children raised under such conditions do not have a sense of “self.” Everything is done for them not by them. When there’s no self there cannot be a “bren” (burning desire) to disregard one’s self to forgo the calls of the modern world and become meshuga’im l’oso davar.

I believe that in order to return to the old-time mentality educators and parents should focus on two areas:

One we must imbue our children with a clear sense of independence. We must stop running interference for them with their teachers the administration friends etc. They must be held accountable for their own actions and take responsibility. This used to be called “the school of hard knocks ” and it worked very well in those days. Chesed projects must be meaningful and show responsibility for others. In fact “responsibility” must be the guiding principle in everything we teach our children.

Two we must find a way to infuse true and thorough emunah in Hashem’s love for every Jew into our children so that their souls can yearn to reach our fellow Jews and put ideals of monetary affluence aside in favor of a life of accomplishment devoted only to Hashem His Torah and His people.

Love of our people is not necessarily an inborn talent but one that can be developed through the observation inspiration and emulation of role models who exist among our people. Parents and educators certainly have the wherewithal to bring this about on a communal level and can inspire the individuals who possess hidden talents to become the selfless builders of the next generation.

Rabbi Shneur Aisenstark is the dean of Beth Jacob Seminary of Montreal.