The Scent of Gan Eden

 

It is with enormous gratitude to Hashem that we present to the reading public this third volume of the recorded lectures of Rabbi Yaakov Meir Shechter, shlita.  While this volume is drawn from basically the same material as the previous ones, its approach is somewhat different than that of its predecessors.  Until now we have attempted to extract from a number of Rabbi Shechter’s lectures the thoughts we felt would be of most interest to the general public.  In light of the enthusiastically positive response this received, this time we decided to present transcripts of a smaller number of lectures, but with each one given more or less in its entirety.  This will explain why this volume contains repetitions of a number of points from the earlier ones, since this time we are reproducing whole lectures rather than just excerpts.

           

A true story that Rabbi Shechter enjoys telling can give a feel for the widespread appeal his thoughts have enjoyed throughout the world.  One time a businessman happened to be in Hong Kong, and had to take a taxi somewhere.   For some reason, the driver decided to ask his passenger if he was Jewish, and when the latter answered in the affirmative, the Chinese taxi driver said, “Then you’ll enjoy hearing this!”  With that, he produced a cassette from somewhere and put it into his tape player.  To the passenger’s amazement, he found himself listening to a tape of none other than Rabbi Shechter speaking in Yiddish.

 

Hashem, of course, can do anything He wants, and so we are not totally surprised if He chose this way of conveying to us the message that Rabbi Shechter’s thoughts have universal appeal.

 

The title of this volume, The Scent of Gan Eden, is taken from a discourse in the second part of Likutei Moharan (No.8), in which Rebbe Nachman observes that the best way to get someone to do teshuva is by exposing him to the scent of Gan Eden.  This deep and lovely insight beautifully captures Rabbi Shechter’s approach to Torah and avodat Hashem.  Anyone who has ever had any contact with him will readily agree that he is a vivid personal embodiment of this teaching, and that his great personal effectiveness comes largely from the enormous obvious pleasure and vitality with which he infuses all of his activities.  May we, and all readers of this volume, be privileged to absorb these qualities through studying his teachings contained in it.

 

 

(Excerpt from The Scent of Gan Eden, by Rabbi Yaakov Meir Shechter, Keren Ohr Publications. Used with author’s permission.)