Eli Steinberg

“What’s this?” Laibel fingered the pink slip of paper. “What does it look like? A lottery ticket,” Zeidy said, reaching high to pinch his grandson’s cheek. “I follow the news. You kids are drowning in student debt, I figured this was the only way you’d make it out alive.” Laibel chuckled, put the ticket back in the card, and passed it to Shira. “Zeidy’s graduation gift.” Shira attempted a laugh, but it didn’t sound natural like her husband’s.

Podcast: Eli Steinberg This past Sunday, photographs began to appear on social media of a sports stadium, the Wells Fargo Center just outside of Philadelphia, full of ḥaredi men—some 27,000 of them. The name of the gathering was Adirei HaTorah, a Hebrew phrase that means “warriors of Torah.” All those people were convened in order to honor a small group of men: hundreds of relatively anonymous adults engaged in full-time Torah study at Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey.

“It is not difficult to build a sanctuary,” wrote the great 19th-century German rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. “It requires a moment of inspiration and a mood of generosity. But it is much more difficult to generate an enduring enthusiasm to be retained for years—or even a lifetime. Without such support, the structure itself would remain cold and lifeless. Enthusiasm for the Sanctuary must never subside.