Transforming Pain into Growth and Challenge into Destiny

When the author, Yisroel Roll, was offered a partnership in his law firm in Toronto, he decided to take time off to learn in Eretz Yisrael, and learned in chaburos under Harav HaGaon Rav Moshe Shapiro, zatza”l. After a few years, when Yisroel Roll asked Rav Moshe whether he should return to law, or go into the Rabbinate, Rav Moshe answered “I guarantee you that if you return to law you will earn $250,000.00 per year, ולא כדאי לך — and it is not worth it for you”. The author took a position as the Rabbi of the New West End Synagogue under Dayan Ehrentreu of the London Beis Din. Rav Moshe later said to the author “You had a personal techias hameisim in London, and you were mechayeh many people and institutions in England.”

The journey from law to the Rabbinate, from the mundane to kedushah, and from challenge to destiny, is the theme of contrast, growth and transformation, explained in this sefer, Mitzur Dvash — From a Rock, Honey. Yisroel Roll presents some of the Torah contrasts and conflicts explained by his rebbe, Harav Hagaon Rav Moshe Shapiro zatza”l, including chomer and tzurah, darkness and light, exile and redemption, and shows how we can learn the true meaning of yesodos in Torah by analyzing the contrast and clash of ideas and by seeking their resolution and common denominator.

The goal of this sefer is to discover that the Sole Source of all contrasts is the Creator, and Only He Can Resolve all conflict and contradiction. When we work on finding the wholeness within a world of dualities, we will discover that only emunah is the pathway to Shleimus, understanding of the self, and your unique role in the world.