Midrash B'Reshis Rabah 48:16: "When you come to a city, behave according to the local etiquette. [From where do we learn this?] Since there is no eating and drinking in heaven, when Moshe went up to heaven [to retrieve the Torah], he did not eat, as it says... 'I did not eat bread nor did I drink water' (Deut. 9:9). But below (on earth), where there is eating and drinking, [it says,] 'And [Avraham] stood over [the angels] under the tree and they ate.'
"Peoples will gather to the Mount . . . they will suckle the bounty of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand." (Devarim 33:19)
Herein can be found the insights and inspiration of a yeshivah-man living on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Among the hills and sands of the Judean Desert, he continues to discover treasures hidden and revealed, as he sails the sea of Torah, and suckles its bounty.
"Originally, anyone who proposed to me that I should become Nasi - I wished to feed him to the lions. However, after I became the Nasi, if anyone would propose to me that I relinquish that office, I would douse him with boiling water!"
-R' Yehoshua ben Perachyah (Menachos 109B)
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