Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook's Unique Talmud Torah: 10 Breakthrough Ideas by Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider

all right good morning everyone Booker to and uh welcome everyone great to see everyone here this morning uh let's begin with the the sponsor this morning benoo Raa so we thank our our regular sponsor and um this morning what I like to look at from the teachings of R cook is um is is really a way for all of us to prepare for the holiday of shabot so we'll take a slight break this morning from eret and what I'd like to share with you essentially are 10 teachings from R cook about talut Torah and that is that is our theme that is what we're thinking about uh these days tomorrow night beem will'll be bringing in believe it or not the uh the H of and uh it's a time for for all of us to think about t Torah and as we uh anticipate the night the opportunity to learn over shivu and that it should be a day which we're uh inspired that we're M ourselves in terms of our Torah learning so I was thinking what is it uh what is it that is unique in the writings in the thought of ruuk in terms of the study of Torah and uh many rabbis throughout the generations have spoken about the importance of study and different ideas around the uh the Mitzvah of tamut Torah and what is it that Ru cook shares with us and is unique in his thought so there is a a beautiful saer that uh that was written many years ago by Riv cook it was actually not written as a saer he wrote a lot of notes and personal thoughts in what was called Theon Kim and his son Ru the cook he put together a saer called OT Torah the lights of Torah OT Torah and in that book in those many chapters he speaks about his ideas his thoughts about the study of Torah and um I'd like to study that with you and uh to see a number as I said I I think in honor of the Asser The Ten Commandments I like to touch on 10 ideas this morning 10 insights from ru cook about the uh about the topic of talmud Torah and um just to kind of get us in the mood so ruk he would spend the night teaching he would he would he would teach from sa hamit the ram not that far from here in his Yesa merav which is uh you can see the study hall today it's still there it's still used and he would spend the night that would be his topic and you would see his uh you would see his genius as he would go through the mitzvot and wherever he would stop in the morning he would say next year we're going to pick it up from here and make our way through the 613 mitzah of the Torah so that was his custom studying all night long and studying the uh the uh the tag bitv okay so let's uh let's jump into a into the the thought of R cook in terms of Tam Torah and um and the first idea from rev cook I think is something that is that really is very unique to the writings of Riv cook and he writes the following let's begin with the uh with reading the words of Riv cook this is the First Source by the way each Source has a translation and this is from a new translation just came out two three months ago um RAB khanan morison who is uh has done a lot of work in translating Riv cook and and presenting the teachings of Riv cook he just came out with a full translation of the saer orot Torah so we're going to be uh we have that access to that as well which is very helpful so he writes the following this is in t Al and you see at the very top number one follow your interest and talence says that every person needs to find what is it that speaks to them what is it in your personality that you have a a special talent or an interest in that he says that's also true and specific specifically in the area of Torah study as well now I think that's a bit of a Kish it's a bit of a novel idea not something that I've heard over the years and not the traditional way that we study we're told what we're supposed to study certainly in like the Yeshiva World to spend our day studying garas studying Haka but what what happens when you have a certain Affinity or certain love for other areas of study if it's studying Tanakh if it's studying philosophy if it's studying muser if it's studying cabala the spiritual some of the more spiritual mystical ideas of Judaism what do you do with that and R cook says you should feel very comfortable and very good about the fact that if you have an inclination to a certain area of study go for it right you enjoy it right that is and I think he believes oruk believes that your Nish actually is telling you and is giving you Direction where you should be studying now I don't think ruk is suggesting it means that you don't study other areas and everybody needs to have the foundation everybody needs to find the balance but where you have a certain interest where you have a desire where your personality kind of brings you to a certain part of Torah you should do that and he writes the following second line in the middle even though at times it might be difficult to follow that path and I think what he might mean by that is you may be in a setting or in a you know in a you might be in a Yeshiva where that's not recommended and yet you have a desire for a certain area of study which is not the traditional area he says no says you should be very strong that which your spirit right that which your personality brings you to and your uh your individuality and that's what you find to be meaningful in Torah he says that you should uh you should follow your interests and you should spend time doing that now I think he he believes that on a very spiritual level on a mystical level that every Nish is different there are nishas or there are personalities that they enjoy you know gamarra study and more analytic study and there are those that are more spiritual and and your personality one's personality is more of a a spiritual personality or one that likes Kish one that likes tanak one that that likes uh philosophy so all of that is available and R cook says and again this is especially in his day to write something like this and give this kind of direct Direction I think is a bit of a of a Kish there is a a well-known work work the egl the Saka rebbi and in the introduction to his work the EG and sort of famous in the Yeshiva World he writes about the importance of enjoying your learning and he writes that you know we we sort of have the impression that you're not supposed to enjoy learning that much right it's supposed to be difficult M atmo that you're supposed to kill yourself right it should be it should be a struggle when you're learning so he writes that that's not necessarily the case and if you find an area of learning that you that is uplifting that's joyful and if you're learning Torah in a Joyful Way that's wonderful and that's that's the ideal of Tor as well so I think R cook is is alluding to that idea beautiful beautiful exactly right I think the gamar that's the gamar that says that right that you exactly so the gamar does say the gamar BR says that you only learn where you where you have a desire to learn that material so that's uh riff cook is is emphasizing that idea the the founder of the of the muser movement R salant so he would go Community to Comm to community where he was um preaching the idea that we need to learn more muser more mus ethical teachings he felt that people were just learning and they W weren't necessarily transforming who they were we'll see that idea in just a moment and there was a fellow that came up to uh risell salant after he gave the talk and he said that I only have a half hour to learn every single day what should I what should I learn so said to him you should learn muser because if you learn muser a half hour you'll see that you have another half hour to learn as well so um I think R cook is is suggesting that as well if we learn that which we love to learn so then we're going to find more time to learn it and if you're learning things that you don't really enjoy learning so you're going to find every excuse in the world right not to learn so this is uh idea number one from Rook that he writes in aot Tora second idea this is per the pis giml and here he talks about the importance or a sign as it says here that you should be studying cabala now this is one of the one of the breakthroughs of R cook is that he believes that there's great importance to studying cabala um I know we've always we grew up with the with the idea that you have to be at least 40 years old you have to know all of Shas allim before you touch the cabala but it seems that Rook was not uh was not on board with that idea that he believ that that we should and uh certainly people that have a have an interest in that area that one should be doing that and it's interesting today there's more and more of that of people that are studying cabala by the way cabala can also mean kasic text a lot of theic texts that that we learn are really based on cabalistic ideas and that was one of the breakthroughs of ofid so they brought those those cabalistic ideas to the honam so let's read the following from rev cook the second idea sh he says this is something that's proven there's consensus on this if you see yourself if you see that your success and I think what he mean by success here is also growth your spiritual ual growth is through the which means the spiritual parts of Torah that's a term foral means the true true wisdom the deeper wisdom he's referring to cabala and you find it difficult just studying then you have an obligation an inner obligation you should spend more of your time with your the time that you have there if you see that that's something that speaks to you but there's another there's another piece here as well and that is meaning the way that it affects you as a person look at the next paragraph and you see yourself you see that it sanctifies you that it uplifts you spiritually and it brings you closer to with uh you know emotions of the heart and when you learn nigla nigla means the what's G meaning the the open parts of Torah the non Torah if you're just studying and if you're just studying Kish or Navi whatever it may be and you don't see that you are inspired by you don't think see yourself being changed by it you don't see yourself being you don't experience that you're uplifted by it so then that he says no and and with that other study the mystical study you find that you are so then you should spend more time in that and by just studying that other material you just remain the gas person that we are like you're just you know the physicality and you haven't really become a more spiritual person as this is a clear sign then you know that this is where your T is to be found right that this is what's going to be best for you in terms of your spiritual growth okay so here also this is interesting and uh I think the point here is a very interesting point and that is which is very much what the muser movement touched on as well and that is how is your learning affecting your personality right we're not just here this is not an academic exercise we're not just here to learn information right when we come to a sh or when we're learning Torah that should be something that affects us so R cook says if you see that that area of Torah is something that's uplifting so you should spend time in that area maybe more time in that area and again that's it's an interesting contrast to the traditional approach that this is what we learn this is what is required it may be difficult but break you know break your teeth on on it and uh and you're obligated to do it and Ru cook is sensitive to the the growth and spiritual growth of a person and makes a somewhat of a radical suggestion that if that's the area that you feel that you're growing in that's really where you should be putting more of your learning time of your learning effort okay good interesting okay now if we turn the page 2 two the second side we find something here which is also I find very interesting the argument that RI cook makes for the importance of studying kabala mystical Torah by the way I'll just point this out I mentioned this in the class in this class uh in other classes that we've had together when I was at Yu University I don't remember a single safer in the Bas medish or people studying works or you had the brisker tradition and you had you know the salvic tradition you studied gamara I don't know there was maybe a little bit of somebody giving a Musto or something along those lines but there wasn't really study of other and certainly not far which is more of again these mystical ideas today at University you find there's a tremendous amount of shurm and the young men that are studying these works and things have changed now when ruk is writing it he's also writing at a time that people are not really studying this material and it's very much a closed book it's a bit Taboo in other words that's not an area that you that you study right that's an area for spiritualists for Mystics that's not for the average person and here R cook comes along and says no this is material that that should be open certainly if it's something that people are attuned to and they find spiritually uplifting and that interesting that that's the direction that the Jewish world has taken to some degree when we're reading it out this is not a not so much of a Kish it almost is it's kind of what's accepted but here of cook offers another reason why he believes mystical study why studying more cabala and moreid is so important today especially in our day R cook writes the following this is to this T today if you look at the world around us and if we we to make a judgment if we judge the world this is the top of page two its number says 15 on the top so so if we judge the world around us we judge the Jewish Community around us we know that we are living in a world today on the American scene North American scene where you have so many people that are not living a religious life and observing life here in Israel also they have the majority of the Jewish people not necessarily living a quote unquote a Torah a 613 commandment um you know observance so if you look at the world around us and were you to make a judgment of that world around us based on on the if you base your judgment just on What's called the just of what we have sort of in the in the and the works in the G below without the influence of a Torah that's really found in the inner dimensions of Torah then will be strengthened a judgment that is a midin which is a Stern judgment it may even bring you to a to a kind of hatred of others mik you're going to give up on on everyone around you on the situation now what is he referring to here I'm not sure if you you kind of get the the gist of what Riff cook is referring to but if we look at the Jewish world today and a person looks at the Jewish World he's writing in the early 1900s it's stly true today and you judge everyone just based on what the says now you know it's interesting the speaks about someone who the status of a Jew who isab it's very problematic by the way sort of the status the alic status of that person I was a rabbi in Mount Kisco the majority of people were not sh shabas most people drove to Shuan chabas it's a whole question in terms of counting them for a minion in terms of giving them an Aaliyah a Coen in the sh that's married to a non-jew can that person do they lose their rights as a Cohen in terms of giving them the first deah these are very complicated questions in Al serious questions and again if you just look at the and that's what ruk says if you look at the N if you look at just the halakic sources and the way that we interface and the way that we think about other Jews that are notz so if that's the only way that we judge them as he says here you're going to come you may come to a mid you're going to judge in a harsh way and it may be necessary to do that maybe the AL requires that let me just read one more line it would be difficult for us to live a life of in a where you have so many Jews that are living in non-observant life unless yes we need to be precise and the Precision of the Torah what the says however and but also with the and the light of the Torah the inner Torah the secrets of Torah then you have a then you have a synthesis of and that brings a sweetness and what does that mean it means that we need the inner to Torah we need the secret Torah because what does the secret Torah tell us what does the mystical Torah tell us when that person that just got out of their car and walks into Shou shab this morning so if I'm just looking at the alah work so how do I view this person so have a lot of problems right I'm looking at him and it's not so easy but if I open up the mystical works it tells me this person has a aama right this person has a yearning for Judaism this person is connected to Amel the person is connected to Hashem they have a a Salim so that changes the that changes the the entire way that I that I relate to that person so cra cook we need mystical teaching today even more so this is argument he says every Jew needs to be studying kidus we need to be studying the Zohar because the Zohar teaches us to look don't look at the body the Zohar says when you see another person look at their n that's how I see another person I go straight to the Nish so Rook says we need this combination and therefore every Jew needs be studying cabala every Jew needs to be studying Z according to not just for the 40 year olds that have studied Olas everybody needs to do it according to R cook radical position nobody ever said this be quite said it this way before yes Harry it's terrible correct right but I'll tell you what's interesting R cook doesn't just say you should study cabal it says you need if you look at the language here you need what he calls the dut yes you need that as well in other words there is a system we're not going to break that down okay there is a there is a status and we need to kind of find a you know a a a a yeah we we need to find a a compromise or the the right you know the right place between those two both exist but R cook says if it's only a world that's that's studying H which is interesting if you think about it to some degree sort of like the a world that just studies gamar the way that they view people that are not religious and to some degree coming out of that coming from that approach that path so it's hard it's difficult because the says the r says no you can't you know somebody doesn't have a full status of a Jew that's what the again you have to work out those those issues but it's a serious issue yes I think yeah they are yes yes in a different way right no that's very good that right yes was interesting about those two worlds is those two worlds study and put put play they Place great importance on the Zohar and those mystical ideas right right right right but a world which is I guess the traditional Lithuanian World of learning gamar and halaka that's very very precise and and very precise in terms of formulations of of the status and category of Jews so that's where cook comes along we have to find this balance and the importance he says of bringing capitalistic ideas mystical ideas into our study because in a generation if we're not studying that way as you said we're going to lose we're going to lose that part part of of amist we're going to treat them in a way that's uh that's not appropriate yes right this to me this dramatic some of what we're reading Now does not sound that dramatic because we're a hundred years later but he's introducing these ideas for him to say go and find the area of study of ter that you find most meaning full that's like who you know that who who would have said that a hundred years ago no I never heard that growing up I never heard it 20 30 well yeah 40 years ago yes yes yes yes absolutely yes and no I don't only mean The Zo are mystical mystical includes a lot I mean I would say kidus is a good example of mystical Works they're all based on mysticism a lot of them have moved away from using some of the Zohar terminology which is more difficult so the whole world ofus and you can understand what ruk is getting at when he says we need to be studying more of that in terms of our interpersonal relationships and what does kabad do kabad classic that's the the movement AIC movement which is really based on on mystical ideas that they everyone walking into sh is feels loved and that's their their whole movement is based on that idea so that's uh ruk says we need we need to be studying mysticism and again that's you're right there's a there's there there are many ways of interpreting that they are mystical parts of the Torah itself there are mystical ideas in the mafarin there mystical ideas that are found in gamarra classically again the Zohar and those and those works and I would say the kic works are are great examples of uh of studying mysticism okay so that is our uh where we up to that was the third idea from R fourth idea and this is about uh I I was I found this interesting because one of the great sins or transgressions around uh Torah study is what's called B Torah and that's something that you hear in Yeshiva Torah B Torah it's the worst thing and it is a terrible thing B Torah means that you you have an opportunity to study and you're M so is there anything positive that we could say about B I mean I've never heard anything positive about it so Rook has has one line at least there's there's some positivity here in the next piece as well so he writes there are times where we're from Torah they work for us they ask they're they're an advantage that they light up our eyes to recognize that we can see the uh the depth of holy of Tora and that you can recognize the the influence or the impact that Torah has on those that study it and I think what ruuk is saying is that when we're not it could be even in in a sort of a positive sense one goes on vacation or one kind of steps away from their regular you know uh and when you do that to and one feels that I'm I'm missing it or I see that how much that brings to my life when I'm doing it right when I'm going to the sh I haven't gone in a while and to kind of feel that and to appreciate to reape what it means to study Torah so I I I think that's like a a positivity in other words to take that okay you have you've missed your classes or you kind of fell out of your regular routine but to see that okay I see how much I miss it I I recognize what that does for me when I'm doing it and to come back to it with uh with even greater Vigor I think R cook is suggesting along those line yes exactly exactly right beautiful okay that's right that's right you've been as manum and you need to you need to recharge and right with that and recharging that you come back with a greater sense of uh a Vigor and excitement so b t don't always see it as R always finds some something optimistic something something positive to say so even your B Torah so use it as a as a springboard for more learning and um the next piece also relates to some degree to a kind of B Torah and this is actually this piece where we're going to look at is not in a Tor is found in and it's based onay is a commentary on the gar there's a gar and it says the following R RAB when he got tired of learning now even the gamar shares with us that rabbis can get a bit tired so uh he he was no longer you know able to learn to concentrate so he went and sat by the entrance of the B Med when the rabbis come in and out of theu I'll Stand Up from where I'm sitting V cabal igra and I'll get reward that's the gamar that's the gamar again this gar this this is the bottom of page two the gamar Bros you have it in the in the on the left side in the gamar and then the translation so what did Reb zra do it says he got tired when he got tired and he couldn't really learn anymore what did he do with that spare time he went he sat by the entrance the Bas medish he could at least do the Mitzvah of getting up and standing up for the and for the rabbis that were coming in and out of the Bas matter so that's the that's the gamarra so rff cook has the following comment on the gamarra and really just this first the first line or two from M cook is what I want to highlight and I think this is is also a bit of a breakthrough um for Ru cook and when we think about Torah learning Ru cook writes this is if you see the very bottom of the page he first quotes the gar and and right after the Bold when you have when you are strong actually KES means the the power of the of the nees here refers to the mind so there's strong when the body is strong therefore therefore the the rambam wrote when the body is strong when it's whole that is considered to be a path of aod of the Creator because you're not able to have clear intellectual [Music] thinking if the body is weak okay so this is something that is famous in rook's writings and that is and he writes this in aot he took a lot of heat for this when he wrote it there wrote the importance of exercise the importance of eating healthy the importance of being healthy and he says and that's his comment on this gar without getting into the the rest of the comment here but the comment on gar is he was kalash he was weak and what happens when you're weak and why did he just continue learning well when you're why do you have to go sit by the Bas Bish and stand up for people just continue learning you know kind of push through but at some point if you're not thinking clearly and if your body is not strong enough so your your learning is going to be ineffective so R cook says that if we want effective learning if we want effective a and he quotes the ramb which is really beautiful this line that Yer that having a healthy body is a path that's also considered when you're on the treadmill and when you're walking for exercise that's also a that's an a as well when you do that I had a friend by the my my I'll just I'll take a comment a friend that just got um he just got remarried he was divorced and he just got remarried bar he married a very lovely woman also happens to be a wealthy woman nice to remarry a wealthy person and um and he now has he now for the first time in his life he's my age he now now has a personal trainer because his wife has a personal trainer so he now has a personal trainer as well so he's had that the last six months and I was just speaking to him on Friday AR shab he said it's changed my life it has changed my life I I I'm telling everyone that they need if they can afford it that they should have a personal trainer he says I just feel so much stronger I feel so much better I'm able to concentrate and so that's what that's what RI cook writes as well riff cook writes the importance of exercise to see that as part part of your AEM and to see that as part of your learning your T Torah the effectiveness of your T Tor depends on your physical health as well yes that's a breakthrough you don't see this in again just to point out I I haven't seen this in any of the you know again it doesn't sound that novel but it really is quite a uh quite a breakthrough idea yes please yes healthy body healthy we all know it today we all know it today yeah yeah correct no no no I I no I wasn't no no no if you need a good good good no if I if that was misunderstood no it doesn't mean that Rie Zar didn't exercise enough and that's why he was tired no I didn't mean that right but but he um but he was TI but Riv cook on the right he Riv cook he took it in that exactly he took it and to share that lesson right not that r z right correct no absolutely that's not no 100% no no no that's not that's how R cook meant ah okay good very nice yes now he's going to take a bre when he he wants to Oh okay that's a beautiful idea R cook writes that the in the in the remainder of that uh the REM remainder of his comment that even when he couldn't learn right that's that's a beautiful idea for and for all of us if your head's not there and you're tired but there are other Mitzvah that you can do that's what R did he found something else that he could also do in the world of learning in other words that he wanted to still do something that would help the world of learning and give honor to those that were studying absolutely that's a that's a beautiful exactly he didn't just go off and exactly get into bed okay so um and and yes next uh next piece this is the top of Page Three I think we're we're moving along here we're at the sixth or seventh idea here and um speaking about Clarity the clarity of uh of learning so this is the top of Page Three this is found in aota tahid and there's a number four the joy when ala is understood clearly so I'll just preface this with the story that's found in Rab Sal's work man this is the top of Page Three there's a p there's a number four on the top as well so in the work of L man there is a story of RAB salic he's a young man I think really a boy and he's in kavich and the custom was on rashash and kavich that people would come back to scho in the afternoon and before theing for an hour or two that people would sit and recite to Hill that the community would sit and recite to hm as uh in the afternoons of rashash Shana so Rabbi or he wasn't Rabbi the time Yosef Yosh little boy so he came in and did the same thing so his father OSHA came in and saw him with a tahim he took the tahim from him and he put a gamar rashishana in his hands and said this is what you do on the afternoon of rashishana you don't say to H you learn about rashash Shana so this uh this story he uses in the RAB uses in in his work al man to talk about the importance of study that its study and its understanding of halaka understanding of ala and of Judaism that brings us the greatest meaning in mitzvot Now You could argue there there are many things that can bring us great meaning around observing mitzvot for the briskers and Rook is going to make the argument here as well the more that we understand things the more that we understand understand Shabbat the more that we understand the the more that we understand the gamar and the analysis and everything around a Mitzvah that brings us the greatest meaning in performing the Mitzvah that's that's and interesting here and I kind of bring this R cook idea this not not a spiritual idea this is not a capitalistic idea this kind of brings us back to a more traditional idea and again really where I I saw it the first time in the writings of RAB salvic that that is the that's the heart heart and soul of of our of of bringing meaning to our performance of Mitzvah the more that we learn and I was thinking about that here in our class many of us have been together the last year two years whatever it may be we've been studying a lot about arrell I think studying about Israel I mean I can I can take you on a t and we kind of like talk about the beauty of Israel but studying the sources and to see the kadat and to see what it means you know in our in all the sources I think that's that brings us the greatest sense of of meaning of of performing a Mitzvah let's look at the words of of ruk the more that we understand the the actually and again interesting here because kind of the whole gist up to this point is kind of like moving away from the world of ala but here he says you know what the more that you understand the AL actually brings great joy even though we normally think about Al is something that kind of weighs us down and all the you know the details of halaka but ruk says no the more Hala that we know the more that we understand about the mitz and about our Jewish lives it actually brings a great amount of joy and I think I think it's very true to those that keep them and are careful of them when we don't understand there's something missing in terms of we kind of just have this kind of general idea about about a mitzvah but we've never really studied it right what is it and just coming off of last class the Min of dairy I just heard the last five minutes of Rabbi Manning right how beautiful you spend an hour talking about then you go into shivu and now you're eating your cheesecake and balinas you now like you know now that you know that it's one thing just to to kind of do it but to study it to understand it to see like a whole world around it that's what brings great joy and that's what R cook says as well and when you don't have that uh understanding that's when you feel that Torah is is weighty and you're not very excited about Torah when you're not familiar with the law the more that you're familiar and that you study the law that you understand the laws the the more meaning and the more joy that it brings interesting he says that and if you don't know it one that never studies then it could really you could almost be to use right to use a language to be turned off you're turned off from those but you've never studied them you never you never went into depth you never really looked you know further than just you know hearing about that ala and just hearing about it and never really studying it carefully so he says there's a danger there the importance of studying H so that's R cook back in the traditional Camp yes ER empe yes yes yes no that's can yes absolutely no that's true as well we should uh we need to study all the alas about all the things that we that we're obligated to do that absolutely right okay the next topic sort of a big topic but we'll just really put in a sentence or two and that is a term that's used which is TMA and I'm sure you've heard that that terminology it's a study TMA right now that's what we're doing right nobody forc you to be here is that right anybody getting a stiping for coming to this class not that I know of I'm not getting one either but um so we're learning just lishma lishma by the way what does lishma mean for the name literally for the name of God or for the sake of Torah so what does the mean so R ofin so he wrote a uh he wrote a saer and in that sa he speaks about the means that we study just for the sake of knowledge in other words that we we want to know God's Torah we want to know God's will that's what it means torma in theic world there's another kind of T lishma and this is found in the in the Tanya and the B speaks about it is well TMA means that you're studying for the sake of being close to Hashem interesting kind of like what we touched on before that we're not just studying for the knowledgein really speaks about Torah in that sense but that we study lishma means for his name to get closer to hasem okay so those are two ideas from the world of the Lithuanian World ofin and theic world there's another lishma that ruk adds to the to this uh to this picture or to this discussion of what it means one of the ways we speak about what are we referring to at this is a very interesting idea and here you'll see in a moment why this is so so um characteristic of rev cook so this yeah this is n this is page three right in the middle of the page and it's number four where it says enriching the nation's spirit page three right in the middle of the page what is T lishma according to ruk or he adds this component at least of T lishma why do we study because it enriches in order to enrich we want the Jewish people to be a more spiritual people we have an obligation to one another we have an obligation ourselves to study in order that we are knowledgeable and we bring that spirituality to the nation and I would add here as well that what does it mean to bring spiritual spirituality to the nation if you are knowledgeable in Torah what does that afford a person person it affords a person the opportunity to share that with others Torah lishma means that I care about Torah my study that I have a sense of not only my right my obligation or my relationship with Torah right that's says study Tor says study Torah because you should know the will of God Rook says you should know Torah because you have an obligation to the company you have an obligation to the organization you need to be knowledgeable in Torah because you bring that spirituality to the nation and I would say practically if you know Torah if you're knowledgeable the more knowledgeable you are you then share it with others and that R cook again R cook is always concerned not only with yourself but certainly you know as we're going back to the land of Israel with the nation as a whole so he sees Torah learning in that context okay and now we move into what is absolutely unique yeah yeah very good it's individualistic and why is it individualistic because they were living more individualistic everybody is just everyone's fighting to survive every Community everyone every every person is just trying to so I'm trying to learn Torah and take care of my obligation and um and do Torah lishma the way that I I can do it so of cook for the first time is talking about t lishma in in a wider context as what the col to the collective exactly to the collective beautiful okay so we have what's that yes very nice all right so now we're going to see two we're I think we're in our last three pieces last three ideas and here we cannot talk about rook and Tamor unless we talk about and I would that would be the first thing where you'd to wake me in the middle of the night and say what does ruk say about tamur or what he what might he say about Torah study in the land of Israel is a different Torah study and that we don't really have others speaking about as R saffrin is just suggested living in that world I'm not sure if that's going to be the first topic that you're going to speak about when it comes to tamura but Ru cook is going to talk a lot about the idea that only in the land of Israel does one study Torah in the most authentic way in the most authentic way so look at what R cook writes this is aot this is number seven it's found the Jewish people as a whole they live outside the land of Israel it's not the real life of a Jew outside the land of Israel authentic very good authentic it's not the authentic Jewish life I was just talking to my wife this morning about there was a beautiful video that was going around of AAS gel that the uh that one of the soldiers that went in and saved the hostages that he recited in front of hundreds of soldiers that he did you see that so I said that's um that's like the Torah idea of of of Fighters and of of of of courageous soldiers like we had aam that went to war and Dav that went to war right our greatest sikim are people that went to war that led that led battalions into battle and we're coming back to the land of Israel and this and we're we're kind of like we're not sure exactly what this is we're like and to see that right that's a taste of of of the Torah of the Bible of biblical figures that sikim that that that lead us in war and and make a Braha afterwards recite to hilum afterwards something that we we haven't seen in 2,000 years sort of cook says when he talk about the Jewish people outside the land of Israel that's it's not the authentic Jewish people we're not seeing it's it's it's a beautiful Jewish people it's a Jewish people but it's not it's not the it's not the real thing it's not the authentic Jewish people and even the how much more so and again I'm not sure if the outside of Israel would necessarily want to hear this from R but he says that the great rabbis outside of Israel their lives are spiritual lives but that outside the land of Israel they're not receiving that spirituality in its most pristine in its most pure way so learning ter in the land of Israel is is is unique it's authentic it's most authentic there was a piece and I just came across this piece for Aaj who was the chief Rabbi zel the chief spartic Rabbi one of the most important personalities of the last uh of whatever the last years in Israel so he has a a long article about the question of is there a Mitzvah to live in the land of Israel I mean that's been discussed by everyone is there a Mitzvah can we say that there's an obligation to live in the land of Israel so is masana is yes based on all the sources there is a Mitzvah no doubt there is a Mitzvah to live in the land of Israel but then he says even for those that say that there is not a full-fledged Mitzvah there's not a Mitzvah he says the following but there's a Mitzvah of Tama Torah everybody agrees the Mitzvah the study Torah and the most authentic study of Torah is in the land of Israel so you're obligated to come to the land of Israel to study Torah authentically that's what he WR that's what he writes in this uh in this article so Ru cook writes that as well if we want Torah study in its most pure in its most authentic it's only here in the land of Israel again it's a spiritual idea and he writes it's impossible for this Unity perfect unity and wholeness shahu Bab that comes which is emanates from God and God is here God's presence is here in the land of Israel it's just impossible for that to develop for that to open up outside of the land of Israel okay and one other thing along these lines there's something else and this is also maybe a bit of a a radical idea of Rook outside the land of Israel do you know what you need you need pill poool now what does anybody know what pill poool is pill poool means like a lot of a lot of discussion a lot of analysis right a lot of back and forth if you study every page of talmud would you call that there's a lot of pill pull on the page to some degree yes there's a lot of a lot of discussion a lot of complex discussion he says he here in the land of Israel that's not necessary the person is able to know the truth that one can just sense it and what is he referring to hear he's referring to rues and he's referring to n prophecy his T his his prize the nazer and we're going to be reading about the nazer there was a nazer here in yam he passed away 197 a very very holy man he wrote a book called The the sound or the voice of Prophecy and he argue that now that we're back in the land of Israel we can now once again after 2,000 years we can begin to receive prophecy once again here in the land of Israel we need to prepare for that and work towards that rev cook says you know why there's so much argument on every page of the talud why there's so much complexity because they didn't have R Kesh because outside the land of Israel you do not have Clarity of thought we always thought of a page was the most beautiful thing all that complexity Rook says no it's not so beautiful he says if you look at you me which is written here you don't have that complexity you have it's straight it's forward because people are receiving they're understanding things in a in a pure way in a decisive way it's only when you're outside the land of Israel and you're and you don't have the influence you don't have the the presence of Hashem and you don't have that purity of R Kesh that you have all of that uh all that what he calls the pill poool okay yes pleaseth by the way I believe everything that Ru cook says has truth now it could be no no no I just I just want to point that out he's a person that that he has in other words he has everything in his in his in his palm in other words he has everything in his hand he has all of Zohar he has all of post scheme he has all and he's using that he's he's giving to us in a line but he has all of all of that great to learning in every in every word yeah yeah yeah yeah I know you right yeah right no that's right right correct correct correct but we didn't have errell but he he believes once we have er no no no absolutely right but we've had 2,000 years without erel so all the great works all the Ron all Theon the V everybody yes is producing outside the land of Israel but R cook would say that they would they would have produced something that much greater would they have been in AR okay so that's uh yes please well Ru cook writes and he he alludes to it here but he writes that the talmud B is flawed the talmud B the way that we have it is not is not ideal and if you compare it he makes a comparison to the Tami and you'll see the difference in style it's not just a difference in style it's a difference on an influence because it was written Kesh It Was Written where there's Clarity so it's a gamar that has Clarity the B is written in a place without Clarity and that's why every page of towood is so difficult okay okay ah okay good good good very right so that's a theory yes but Riv cook yeah this RI Cook's argument no no no I he yeah this Riv Cook's argument we could take it or leave it okay and the last uh the last uh the last teaching we'll close with this this is Page four and we have covered 10 ideas I think original ideas of ruk about t Torah which you do not hear from the uh the typical godal so to speak and here he writes the following this is found in tah page four and the rebuke of Scholars we actually touched on this uh for those that were here last week but we'll see it we'll see it fresh yeah so he writes that the scholars of Earth Israel require a lot of mus the he writes that they need to be rebuked those rabbis living in the land of Israel we have to give them a great rebuke now what rebuke is he referring to that's surprising for Ru cook to say that we have to rebuke great rabbis of Israel I thought we just said all the rabbis of Israel are are above and beyond but he says but the that I want to give them this is just the opposite of the of the mus that's generally given and what's the mus that's generally given and you can you can uh you can look at the the rest of this on your own the muser that's generally given says ruk is that one needs to be humble one needs to be an un of and that people have too much ego that people are too confident and that's one of the one of the classic muser ideas R cook says I have to give just the opposite muser to those rabbis in the land of Israel and that is that they don't believe enough in themselves and what they are to be bring to the Jewish world they're treating themselves they think of themselves like regular rabbis of the galut says rev cook that they don't have the confidence and to know that they are now living in the land of Israel they now are in tune with a kind of rues and a heightened spirituality and they have a tremendous amount to give to the Jewish World now let's read this one line so we'll see it there there are great rabbis in Israel they feel all the burden the Pains of Israel they feel that deep in their heart they do not they're not recognizing their greatness and their Glory that they have a particular light and potential in their and they have an that they are how do you translate that they're very good refined they have a certain they need to see their great value andon means even more right yet there more than those living outside the land of Israel where do they get it from where are we all getting it from that there's a do in the land of Israel there's a spirituality here in the land of Israel but here I want to end with this and he doesn't just say the he says how do you translate that it's it is it is an obligation for all Ben Israel that means you and me Rook is saying that every Jew living in Israel studying the Torah that we need to see the great potential that we have and a special blessing that we have in our learning in the land of Israel to recognize that and to take advantage of that so I think that's the uh I think that's that's a a nice closing message from R cook for all of us this that we have and it's not only Theus but the blessing that we have and that we should see blessing in our learning in terms of how it transforms us as people how we can give to others how we can be a light to others in inspiration to others here in Israel outside of Israel the kind of religious lives that we're living the the Torah that we're learning and ruk believes in this great potential that we have as we should continue to see that um we saw a little bit of a little bit of light this m shabas as I came out of shul somebody ran over to me before I even got home and said did you hear about the hostages the hostages and all of us felt uplifted we should continue to to feel that and to see that and to see uh things turn around and uh and peace and and amen I wish everyone a tomorrow night everyone ever wonderful sh