The Good Life

He’s a throwback to the maggidim of old, traveling from city to city to urge his people to improve, to change, to strive for more.

But Rav Asher Druk has spiced his Yerushalmi legacy and considerable speaking talents with a twist perfectly tailored to today’s generation: his mixture of stories, Torah insights, and exhortations is set to a background of gentle guitar strumming, and when he reaches an emotional climax, he switches from his usual rapid-fire pace to melodious notes that seem almost like a prayer. The music opens hearts to his messages, says the 21st-century maggid, and isn’t that the secret of his craft?

The Holly Oaks neighborhood in Manchester, New Jersey, is a small community full of young frum families and modest homes. It looks like another outpost of Lakewood, but it has yet to achieve the vibrance that has become synonymous with the bustling Torah metropolis. There are just two daily Shacharis minyanim, and rarely does one catch any sight of an Israeli meshulach making his holy rounds. That’s what made this summer visitor such an anomaly.

For one golden week during bein hazmanim, a broad and bearded man, clad in a resplendent rekkel and an up-hat clamped tightly onto his forehead, rushed through the door of the Holly Oaks shul every morning, his head stooped slightly and eyebrows creased with intent. He took a seat at the front of the shul, donned his tallis and tefillin, and in a resonant voice that matched his energetic posture, sang the birchos hashachar, relishing each word as if it were delicious, mouthwatering candy. The warmth infused in that accented davening resonated through the shul, evoking images of stone alleyways and pure-eyed children: It was the sound of Yerushalayim.

After Shacharis, the man took his leave — not with the intensity of his entrance, but in a calm, almost leisurely manner. He slowly ambled out, taking care to wish each of those in his vicinity a personal “gutt morgen,” radiating a certain sunshine on all who crossed his path.

At first, the neighborhood Jews assumed their guest was a prestigious rabbinic figure visiting America on behalf of his mosad. Then, after a few days, they learned just who their Israeli visitor was: the famed Yerushalmi maggid, Rav Asher Druk, known for his unique method of wrapping stirring messages in the most charming of packages.