13 Oct EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RAV JUDAH MISCHEL ON HIS NEW BADERECH SEFARIM: “ALONG THE PATH OF THE TORAH”
Rav Judah Mischel, Executive Director of Camp HASC and a weekly columnist for The Jewish & Country Vues for more than five years, has released his latest sefarim, Baderech: Along the Path of the Torah. This month, Rav Judah is promoting his new sefarim throughout the Tri-State area. They are available at local seforim stores throughout the world and online through Mosaica.
The new volumes continue Rav Judah’s Baderech series, following his earlier works, Baderech: Along the Path of Teshuva and The Baderech Haggadah. Drawing on eight years of writing, Along the Path of the Torah brings together meaningful Torah insights, Chassidus, stories of gedolim and tzaddikim, and practical lessons for everyday life.
In this exclusive interview with The Jewish Vues, Rav Judah discusses the inspiration behind his new sefarim, his years of writing about the weekly parshah, his work at Camp HASC, and the messages he hopes readers will take with them on their own journeys in Torah and Yiddishkeit.
Rav Judah is also the founder of Tzama Nafshi. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife, Ora, and their family.
Your new sefarim, Baderech: Along the Path of the Torah, bring together eight years of writing. What inspired you to compile these thoughts and ideas into a book?
Thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit about Baderech on the Parsha. The sefarim are a compilation of what we might call the greatest hits of eight years of columns. I couldn’t tell you exactly how long I officially worked on them, but the truth is that they represent a lifetime of ideas, stories, and some of my favorite thoughts on Torah and Yamim Tovim.
There are countless sefarim and commentaries on every parshah. What did you want to bring to the weekly parshah that readers may not have encountered before?
The first written commentary on the Torah, as far as I know, is Midrash Rabbah, a compilation of teachings from the Tannaim of the Mishnah period. The Vilna Gaon said that even the lowest of the Amoraim was capable of techiyas hameisim. We cannot even begin to fathom the level of the Tannaim and their accomplishments.
Midrash Rabbah brings together their discussions and insights on the Torah, organized loosely around the pesukim and the order of the parshiyos.
The opening of Midrash Rabbah is Patach Rabbi Oshaya — Rabbi Oshaya opened. I find that instructive and inspiring. The first step in a Torah commentary is about being open: open to the idea that the Ribono Shel Olam invites us to be partners in interpreting Torah, and open to the messages around us. We need to have our eyes, ears, and hearts open to the world and to our experiences, and then filter everything through the prism of Torah.
The parshiyos remain the same every year. We read Bereishis, Noach, Lech Lecha, and the same weekly portions year after year. But we change and grow. The insights we gain from Torah, and the way we apply them to our lives and experiences, change as well, as long as we remain open.
Baderech is rooted in the recognition that everything in our lives is constantly growing and moving. It is an invitation to be open to the messages, lessons, and values that are relevant to our lives right here and now. In a sense, I am trying to bring myself to the weekly parshah.
Your Baderech writing often combines Torah, Chassidus, stories of gedolim and tzaddikim, and practical lessons for everyday life. How did you approach putting all of those elements together in these sefarim?
I didn’t really approach it as a process of putting all these elements together. It’s not as though I sit down looking for nuggets to mold, meld, and weld together. Rather, it’s what is on my mind and in my heart.
The writing is a patchwork, or perhaps a quilt, of ideas, experiences, thoughts, and stories from different parts of my life. We contain multitudes. If there is an underlying message in this compilation, it is the importance of remaining open to light, truth, insight, and inspiration wherever we go and from everyone we meet.
There are Shiv’im Panim LaTorah, seventy facets of Torah, and I cannot afford to cut out communities or perspectives. There is so much beauty and grandeur in different walks of life, and so much to learn from tzaddikim throughout the generations. How could we, and why would we, limit our focus to our own particular sociological community?
You have been the Executive Director of Camp HASC since 2014. How has more than a decade of working with Camp HASC campers and families influenced the way you understand people, their neshamot, and their individual journeys?
Working at Camp HASC is the honor of a lifetime, both professionally and personally, for me, Ora, and our family.
It affects the way I see myself and others in every way. There is really no aspect of my Avodas Hashem, Yiddishkeit, learning, davening, or interaction with the world that has not been influenced by the perspective of putting the person first.
We strive to relate to every Jew, and every human being, as someone created in the image of Hashem, valuing and appreciating every individual — every woman, child, and man — as a neshamah.
We are eternally grateful for the privilege of being part of the Camp HASC community. The imprint of my experience there is certainly felt throughout Baderech.
You are involved in so many different areas — Camp HASC, writing, teaching, speaking, and working with young people. What drives you to do as much as you do, and where do you find the energy and time for it all?
I don’t always have the energy, and we don’t always have the time. But that is precisely where we find the energy and time. We make time for what we decide is important enough to make time for.
The consistency of having to produce a thought and put it into words each week has been very meaningful to me.
When you sit down to write about a parshah, what comes first — the message you want to convey, a story you want to share, or a particular Torah thought that catches your attention?
Like every one of us, I have certain ideas and thoughts that I return to, as the Mishnah says, Hu haya omer. There are themes that I appreciate and that repeatedly appear throughout these sefarim and this compilation. These are things I am always thinking about and discussing.
I don’t know that I have ever opened the Chumash specifically looking for something to write about. Generally, it begins with something that is already on my mind and in my heart.
After your years of teaching, writing, and working with young people and families at Camp HASC, what have you learned about what people are really searching for from their Yiddishkeit?
We are all searching for connection. At every stage and every age, people from all walks of life and backgrounds want to feel connected — to be mechubar to Hashem, connected to one another, and aware of the great treasures that lie within.
Certain universal truths resonate with everyone. Not every story or idea in Baderech will resonate with every person. My hope is that whoever ends up with these sefarim will find a thought, a reference, or an insight that makes the journey a little gentler and helps us appreciate the blessings we have and the opportunities for dveikus in our everyday lives.
I hope readers find a message that stays with them: What we do matters, who we are matters, and we have tremendous potential in our daily interactions to feel connected to the Ribono Shel Olam and play a role in shaping Am Yisrael.
There is nothing more wonderful, and no greater zechus or privilege, than being a Yid. Ta’amu ure’u ki tov Hashem — taste and see how good Hashem is.
I appreciate the zechus and opportunity to share Torah and ideas in The Jewish & Country Vues every week, and I am eternally grateful for that privilege.
If even one idea, one thought, one word, one reference, one joke, one d’var Torah, or one story makes the journey a little easier for another Yid — if it gives someone a little more sense of self, a little pride, or a little wind in the sails and gas in the tank to continue along the path of the Torah — then the whole thing is worth it.