Are you ***really*** baking matza?

Today is the 106^th yahrzeit of the Alter of Novarodok, the title given to the great Mussar teacher, Rabbi Yosef Yozel Hurwitz, who was born in 1847 and died on December 9, 1919. In the fall of that final year, a deadly typhoid epidemic broke out in Kiev. The Alter opened his home to people who had contracted the disease and cared for them himself. Ultimately, he contracted and succumbed to typhoid and passed away at the age of 72.

Among the many teachers of Mussar from the 19^th and 20^th century, the Alter of Novarodok was likely the most quotable. He was the master of the one-liner and had he lived in our generation, he would have thrived on social media.

“When it is necessary to send a letter, I send a telegram. When it is necessary to send a telegram, I send an emissary. When it is necessary to send an emissary, I go myself.”

“Before a person gives up his portion in the next world for others, let’s see if he is willing to forgo some of his share in this world for others.”

“When one can’t go above, one must go above.”

“If you come to the train station and your train has already departed, don’t say you were late for the train; say you were early for the next one.”

“A person who works to develop trust [bitachon] with a backup plan is like someone who tries to learn to swim but keeps one foot on the land.”

“You can change in an instant. The only thing that prevents you from doing so is a rationalization.”

This last statement is a good introduction to the focus I am going to move into with this blog. For the next while, I’m going to open up subjects from my new book. I’ll blush (a little) as I share the most recent review of the book, from The Jewish Book Council.https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/the-shabbat-effect-jewish-wisdom-for-growth-and-transformation. I am delighted it is being so well received.

The title of the book is “The Shabbat Effect” and the subtitle is “Jewish Wisdom for Growth and Transformation.” In introducing the book, I wrote:

The drive to improve is deeply seated in the human soul, and every human being feels it. We intuit that we have the potential to be so much more than we are today. In the Jewish world, that impulse has given rise to a tradition of thought and practice called Mussar.

This is precisely what the Alter was addressing when he talked about change.

We learn from our Mussar teachers that working to develop our inner traits is the central activity of every aspect of our lives. In the Introduction, I quote Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz (1875 – 1936), the Alter’s contemporary and the revered Mussar supervisor (mashgiach) at the Mir yeshiva in pre-war Belarus, who makes this point with a clear but charming analogy:

If we ask a person who is baking matza what they are doing, the answer should not be, “I am baking matza,” but rather, “I am developing the traits of watchfulness and alacrity,”

… or whatever aspect of their inner life they are consciously cultivating through the process of engaging in their worldly activities.

Can you think of a single activity in life that does not offer an opportunity to work on yourself?

And if not, I’d love to hear about a recent experience you’ve had when you weren’t simply “baking matza.”

Next time, we’ll tighten the focus onto the commandments that are the backbone of Jewish religious practice, because high on the list of important commandments is “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy.”

Stay tuned.

And if you want to know more about the Alter of Novarodok whose yahrzeit is today, you can read the tribute by Rabbi Yair Hoffman at https://vinnews.com/2025/12/06/the-alter-of-novardok-a-yahrtzeit-tribute/