A question that has bothered me tremendously. Until now.

Check out Shtetl Vision for the answer.

(Via Chabad.info, Via Shtetl Vision )

Note:
Obviously, I do not agree with the particular limudim that this bochur was learning; however, we must all take note of this schedule. See what a young man can accomplish.

The best way to get a glimpse into the high neshamah of Nosson Deitsch, 21, who was tragically taken in an accident on Lag Ba’Omer in Tampa, Florida (where he had gone to help a Chabad Shliach with his Lag Ba’Omer event), is to look at his daily schedule.

7 a.m.: mikvah.
7:30: mark down who came to Chassidus on time (he was themashgiach).
7:30 – 9:00: listen to Hagaon Harav Yoel Kahn’s taped shiurimon Shaar Hayichud v’Ha-emunah (chelek of Tanya containing deepest concepts of Chassidus).
9:00 – 9:30: review Likutei Amarim Tanya which he knew by heart, all 53 chapters. He knew them perfectly, word for word, letter for letter, with all the haga’osand tikunim.
9:30: daven Shacharis, every word said loudly and clearly, followed by Tehillim
10:30 – eat breakfast in 10 minutes
10:45 – 2:00 p.m. – learn b’chavrusa Hilchos Issur v’Heter, with Gemara, (with plan to eventually seek semichah), every word said out loud, with full concentration.
2:00 – 3:45 minchah and lunch. Nosson would eat quickly and then use his lunch time to call his mother (his father, Reb Zalman Yuda, z”l, passed away three years ago); eleven siblings; uncles; aunts; friends; cousins; and anyone who might need to speak with him. Nosson would use the remainder of his lunch break to learn three perakim of Yad HaChazakah by the Rambam, a takanah instituted by the Rebbe, in 1984/5744. He also fit in his daily shiur of Chumash and Tanya now.
3:45 – 7:00: back to Issur v’Heter.
7:00: He would eat supper within 10 minutes. Ever since his little cousin, Alta Shula Swerdlov, a”h,was killed in a tragic bus accident in Jerusalem eight months ago, Nosson would learn (during supper break) for 20 minutes the ma’amarim of the Frierdiker Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Rebbe Rayatz, zt”l, in zchus of his young cousin.
7:30 – 8:00: Nosson would learn Shulchan Aruch Harav with a baal teshuvah who is relatively new to the daily practice of mitzvos
8:00 – 9:30: Nosson would choose five of the younger bachurim with whom to learn the Rebbe Rashab’s ma’amarim.
9:30: Maariv. Afterwards, Nosson would learn a sichah of the Rebbe.
10:30: Despite being a very sociable person who enjoyed time with friends, and who enjoyed playing an occasional basketball game, Nosson tried to be asleep by 11:30 at the latest, in order to be able to learn in top form the next day.

Nosson was the youngest of twelve children of the chossid and baal tzedakah, Reb Zalman Yuda,z”l, and tbl”ch Mrs. Cyrel (nee Edelman) Deitsch. Mrs. Deitsch is the daughter of respected Chabad Shluchim to Springfield, Mass., Rabbi Dovid and Rebbetzin Leah Edelman, who were sent there by the Frierdiker Rebbe in 1949.

Nosson was named after Rebbetzin Leah Edelman’s uncle, Harav Nosson Nota Zuber, z”l, who was a tomim and learned in Lubavitch (both the city and the yeshivah), and was boki b’Shaas.

Nosson Deitsch, too, was well known for being an outstanding masmid and a “top bachur.”

Like his father before him, Nosson would reward younger bachurim as well as his many nephews,kein yirbu, for learning Tanya b’al peh. He got them excited about learning Tanya, and he knew that mitoch shelo lishma ba lishma.

Like his father before him, Nosson was a Lubavitcher chossid with his entire heart, soul, and all hiskochos. Every Sunday he would write a letter to the Rebbe and fax it to the Ohel, where it would be torn up by a secretary and left at the grave. What he wrote in those letters is not known.

During a free Shabbos or bein hazemanim, Nosson would help Chabad shluchim. He traveled all over, wherever there was a need, leading programs, learning and putting on Tefillin with Yidden, and adding tochen and freilichkeit to Chabad events.

He made a tremendous impact on the people he met. As one Jew told the shliach after Nosson left, “Can we get that student rabbi here more often? I love hearing his speeches. He is so sincere, and so lovable, I just want to do whatever he encourages.”

Nosson utilized his famous sense of humor and outstanding lebedikeit to further his Chabad work. For example, this past Chanukah, he helped organize a public menorah-lighting, and it began raining. Instead of sticking with the program (speeches), Nosson told the musicians to crank it up, grabbed some men, and began dancing. Everyone was surprised but joined in, perhaps thinking that dancing in the rain on Chanukah was another Chassidic custom.

Frequently, when the bachurim were on their way to an event, Nosson would spot a mall or office building and say, “Wait! Let’s go in there and find some Jews who need to put on Tefillin!” The bachurim would quickly fan out and cover the building, put on Tefillin with some Yidden (some for the first time ever), and then rush back to the vehicle to get to their destination.

The last thing Nosson learned was the part of Shaar Hayichud v’Ha-emunah that says we cannot understand Hashem’s ways.

Nosson leaves behind his shocked and heartbroken mother, grandparents, siblings, and extended family; the hundreds who have come closer to Hashem because of him; his many loyal friends; and the bachurim and staff at the Yeshivah Gedolah of Miami Beach (founded by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1974 and headed by Rosh Yeshivah Hagaon Harav Leib Schapiro).

He was paid for his work as mashgiach at the yeshivah, but every month he would keep just the little he needed to live, and give the rest to his siblings who are on Shlichus in Toronto, Canada; Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; Chandler, Arizona; Tyson’s Corner, Virginia; S. Rosa, California; and Boulder, Colorado.

Family is sitting shivah at 518 Crown Street, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, until Shabbos.

(Warning. This one hurts… proceed at your own risk.)

StillInShidduchim has this post about the pain of spending Yom Tov with the family.

I quote, partially:

And you wonder, if this is supposed to be a happy time, why am I in my room crying? Why do I feel so overworked? Why do I feel like I’m doing everything wrong, though I’m trying so hard? Why can’t I keep my cool? Why is this so hard?

Although I cannot pretend to share in the pain, I can extend my sympathy, and I/we do.

I would also be presumptuous enough to throw out a quote, if I may, from Lawrence  Kelemen’s Permission to Believe, p 94, second footnote (located in the chapter on Tzaddik V’ra Lo).

“Logic notwithstanding, people cannot be expected to accept apparent Divine injustice peaceably. Someone who has experienced real agony- or supported someone who has- will take little comfort in intellectual explanations. Suffering afflicts the heart, and reason can only satisfy the mind…

… To someone in pain we can offer only compassion.”

Compassion offered.

BadforShidduchim was talking about Things the other day. I couldn’t resist taking a stab at this (not least of all because I had this cutesy title for it). So here goes. I think that Things are great. And terrible. Depends on the person.

Take Bad4, for example. Clearly one who knows Things.

Bad? Nope. Good? Nope. Neither. The sum total of her Things is neither good nor bad. It’s a nice fat zero. Because the thing about Things is this: No matter who you are, no matter what you know, it’s what you do with the information that will determine your life course, and who you should travel the course with. It’s about how you utilize the Things, or don’t.

So your potential partner might know a little more about the world than you do? So what! You will never, ever, find someone who knows precisely the same amount of Things as you do. You’ll always either be marrying someone who knows more Things than you, or less Things.

The  bottom line?

As Aubrey Graham says:

“The thing is, life is random…If you’re lucky enough to find someone you love, who loves you back, it’s a gift.”

Which translated into Jewish speak means that if you find your zivug, go for it. Don’t look back, or to the side, because there are Things involved.

Below find an unusually heartwarming exchange between this blogger, and a precocious five year old. Wow.

Bava Basra 12b: The Adorable, Beautiful Girl