Parshas Vayigash: The Emotional and Halachik Hurdles...and Joy...of Writing a Sefer Part 2

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com okay uh good morning RAB chabas just uh hopefully for the sake of completion just want to complete speaking about the inan that we spoke about on Wednesday we spoke about uh the topic of writing and how in many of the introductions of theim um authors writes simply in a very humble way that if all the safer has is one good redeeming idea that should be enough to uh render the saber meaningful and we explained that that might have implications based on the fact that b the Mitzvah of writing welcome is only fulfilled not by um writing a but because people don't learn from but by buying and the truth is if you buy a already made saer that also doesn't count it has to be written on your behalf it has to be written on your behalf so the publishing of is the way to be the of writing and therefore theer has to have at least one good idea um then we brought in the concept from the humility and as a justification for writing a saer is not really appropriate in today's day and age in light of the fact that there's so much subpar material and and anti-ar material and poisonous material and and uh immoral material that if somebody wants to publish something uh to support the T to to justify that would be misplaced humility would be lack of appreciation of the importance of T and actually we use that to address the concern of said that it was his position that since the only reason one is allowed to write down the oral law is a special if someone is not doing it and it would not be permitted to write and we mentioned from that this so to speak thank you so much that so to speak um that so to speak oh it's double-sided beautiful that so to speak locks the doors in front of uh any anybody who wants to write a safer because who could say that they're writing it completely sh Shay so that's something that uh a lot of the a grapple with and one of the reasons given is in today's day and age again where there's so much anti-oral immoral material nonsense that's proliferated so there's no greater than to counteract it and to proliferate Torah material albeit we cannot do it totally but under the conditions of the time we're required to to do so um that's the idea that we mentioned and plus we said from the uh that there's a concept that when you do learn the little bit ofma that you do you learn is able to rectify and purify whatever you have and the analogy and this is where we're going to start today in number 24 is the analogy of the who writes that he heard in the name of the that if a sh was written if you merely Trace over it with a PMA that rectifies the writing that was done improperly so too somebody learned if afterwards he prays to please elevate my learning that it should have been it actually rectifies it so he brings a story here um he the brings a story that he heard from a about a certain talid that was sitting and learning the whole night and one time he was up all night and learning Tyra and his rebi found out about it and his Rie said wow good going so the student said no it's not worth anything to me cuz I know my learning was not with the right Cavo and not with the right thoughts and intentions and he gave a what were what value is my T he said if I would have been learning lishma that's one thing but now that all my effort was for nothing so his rebi said no you should know my son that um that if you were groaning if your groaning is true that you came from the depths of your heart it elevated all the T that you did so there is such a concept that if somebody does learn something he's able to fix it and correct it and rectify it and uh bring it back LMA uh just in the importance of of writing writes in his footnotes to sanin he writes over here says somebody who writes a sa and to explain to students so that they should be on the truth that that's the highest level of learning in fact the on the first mission that says and one of the things that a person is to is they become that refers to being able to um expand the tah through questions and answers and addition through the the record of uh writing okay so I want to bring to your attention today a very interesting and in his in um Sim he brings the discussion about writing for him in general he says we need to thank Hashem for the Advent of the printing press cuz that allows us to publish however he says there are many advantages of the printing press and there are many detractions and disadvantages he says in the good old days what how far written you had people who wrote notes on the side of their gamar or on paper and it came to the attention of raban and gum and if the Rabon and gim figure felt that it should be published they would um command that scribes copy it over and that's how the safer was published now for a scribe to copy over safer was a major ordeal so basically nobody would go through the ordeal unless they knew they had a audience there was no audience it was not worth it to go through it so people would write private notebooks and if the ranim were pleased and they said yeah this is good stuff the would say okay you know you should publish it now the author knew it was worthwhile to go through the ordeal because he knew he had an audience cuz R supported it but if the ranam read it and they said this is nonsense then nobody's going to buy it and nobody went through the ordeal so it sort of was a safety net that the only thing that was uh the only thing that was published was uh good stuff but with the Advent of the printing press any Tom Dick and Harry could write any gibberish they want and you could publish it all you need is a few bucks and you could publish anything so that's the advantage and so okay so where does this come in say that in the good old days even if you had a m like Yeshua who wrote a wonderful saer if it was not published nobody would know about it because what you're going to get scribes to copy it over and then the says something very important many refrained from publishing right throughout history many not a lot of re and published many did and many didn't why didn't they because they said they said why go through the who we commanded on U on this I'll just write it over if anybody wants to copy they could copy so in other words there was an attitude of many like uh who needs it you know it's a major ordeal it says somewhere in the that if you're able to you have to P it doesn't say that anywhere so many refrain from doing so they wrote it over and they said if anyone wants the problem is he says um all of these books that were never published are all lost so it's really a shame in a way that they didn't publish because they were all lost but their argument was that uh it's a major ordeal um but then says let's see if I have it better on here if I could read it better on this he says um there are those who published when they were younger and then they regretted it after it's very common you'll publish something and then you you know you get a little bit more SE and you realize now I shouldn't have written that or I didn't write it correctly I didn't think it through correct enough so many gum refrained from publishing because they thought you know maybe if I actually rethink this when I get a a little bit older I'll retract what's because once something is published there's no going back you know if something's just written we know the Riff after he wrote he told us him erase this erase that you could erase if something's written you can't retract if something's published so is bringing up this phenomenon that historically many did not publish their um because a where does it say why should you have to it's a big ordeal and you know maybe uh maybe you'll rethink the inion what does H do you think they you think they they read the whole saer most say like this I didn't have a chance to read the saer they looks like a nice guy so uh I'll be him that he should be successful but you know yeah I've never seen a I've gone through every single word of the saare and I take it on my shoulders that if there's any problem here it's not the author's fault mean nobody's going to do that you know it's you know I asked for so he doesn't write he writes on on a piece of paper on the top you know what that means where the Friendship where's the Friendship this way if somebody comes to him you you let this pass I don't let anything pass I'm trying to you know he looks like a nice guy so I wrote he's a nice guy but you know what about the go who didn't want to publish in conflict with harb's Torah that even for future Generations they know even though it might be a big K if they don't get it to be it gets lost in the future don't have the ability to to benefit so we're going to bring now right that's a very important SAR and that's that's what seems to be the overriding S there's a um there's a saer of fi one of the great so I'll tell you the truth this is a question I went to last year I asked kki what's better you know you have like 30 seconds with him you're waiting in this Corridor and it's you're you're like uh your people on top of you and and then they open the door and you're you're in and you have so I don't know what am I ask him you know I don't know I'm a rabbi I said what's better giving a Shear or writing a safer so thought that's pretty right no no no and and he said and then I was done meaning it's the same thing it's the same thing it's spreading so what's the difference you spread it in the printed text or you spread it orally that was R's answer and then what and then they said these people are from America said and that was the end of the uh so you know but but the sh is what's better AA or A saer both of them could put you to sleep dress vide there you I have a story really yeah I'll tell you afterward okay good I'm looking forward problem I went back there told okay okay okay so so um the says number number 31 let's see if I can read better on this when you give a it's to your city and to your place meaning what's better when you give a DHA you're only speaking to people who are there but when you ride a safer you're able to reach people who are not there but then you could say in our generation when you give a jha you could reach people who are not there also so then maybe it's better to give a to give a j them to give a safer CU you could reach people who are not there also the whole reason he's saying that safer is better Reach people not there but that but nowadays you could also reach people ah but there's another and that is in other words a is limited by time a safer is not limited by time the truth is that even today a is not limited by time either cuz you could record it if they don't take it down right so so but but um put it on YouTube I would say like this the advantage of a safer is AA you you are limited by time because you can't access it on chabas a safer because there's once a discussion you know going out of why would somebody buy a safer you could get every single safer in the world on a computer or on a tab right but on chabus and you still need a safer you know this safer still still has uh they haven't come up with you knows good book yeah no but you could just buy the cover nowadays you know you just but most Dres are recorded nowadays they're not public they may be published but they're on record because people make recording right so so right exactly that's the point that's I mean we right we that's what we mentioned it's interesting over here so if we go back to number 28 Raa in the Raa makes this point sort of arguing on those sages quote in theer and he says number 20 I'm sorry it's not really so clear here what number number 28 he says um after Hashem has helped me understand um after much effort the words of theim um he says that there's obvious toas from publishing is it publishing it because this way people understand what was difficult to them and then he'll be considered in the category of so ra is saying that he's writing the to be to be considered Under the Umbrella category of what does that mean the category of we know there are two regions in there's theud and the the is the North and says that they were and therefore their learning stuck with them the they they were notal and their learning did not stick with them was was notal wasal it says those who see me will fear and Will Rejoice sha who is notal it says wherever he turned he condemned meaning David was successful sha was not and the reason is David was and sha was not they maintain their learning because they were they did not maintain their their learning because they were not so what's so look at rashi rashi says they taught so the they taught so they maintain their learning taught so he was successful sh just learned himself or says he feels by writing theer he's being so I need to be I have I teach that's not people ask me sh I answer that's not go he said not everyone could come to the also it stays forever also people forget including myself says he says many of my that I published I wrote I forgot 1922 um when and I forgot a lot of other 1936 they didn't let me take my out ofan Russia so and because the City was destroyed many of these were lost look what he says the if you have the ability to publish then you don't fulfill properly the MIT of teaching in other words if someone is in the position to teach and he could teach more no if someone could teach um 100 people and they only teach 99 so they didn't do the they didn't do their job he says in other words one is obligated to do their utmost brings down many refrain from publishing because who says you have to says I'll tell you who says he have to in my humble opinion they were wrong because of their great humility teaching even himself says many were lost so this way when a person publishes you're the of and go even for later but you may regret it says ra I have a question some comes to you for so you refrain from giving up cuz you might regret it someone needs to learn so you can't teach because you might change your mind and say a different shot when you when you become wiser no you do what you need to do you have to teach you have to learn okay and so on so I want to bring to your attention um in number 34 I want to thank my friend Ralia Schwarz from norol Virginia he got me and I brought it in Wednesday I didn't bring it today a massive volume a very big beautiful volume um a masterpiece the official biography of the Ben which has colored pages of Baghdad and Iraq and it's incredible work it was compiled and overseen by R H the great M and gave me the English version and the Hebrew version so I was reading the English version honestly you know it's um I found something very interesting about the Ben first of all Ben how did he how was he M himself how did he make a living so he he had brothers who had a business in India and they they sort of split the earnings with him he had a in the business what's not so well known is they got in trouble with the law they were incarcerated and people don't know the Benes disappeared for something like seven years where did he go he was taken to prison in India as part of the be it as it may the benai fell on very hard financial times he became an h and we have here letters from him describing what he asked for money for he never asked anyone to borrow money or or to to give him money ever there's only one thing that hurt him so much that he didn't have money for that he went out of his way he would ask for money for it for sponsoring his farm and we have over here a letter I found that he had an ancient saera which was his most prized possession and he was so pained by napping the he gave the sa as a gift to somebody to give him money in exchange to publish a saer i you're now to sell a saer toy he said it's not selling it I'm not going to take a penny from it I just using it to to to publish Forum now we in light of what we learned that writing is saer is writing is sa this is even more uh more logical and reasonable and and uh just to see how important it was to the to publish his works so if you look at number 34 this is quite an interesting um quite an interesting letter that we have here um look at number 34 only for the publication of sort of had the audacity to request help from others and from his letters we see this lacking in his life that he didn't have the requisite sponsorship that was his main distress in life we have many letters that the beseeches and asks the the generous hearted and here's one letter we're going to read two letters that's he writes to some Nadin yeah this in Iraq they were well known as very wealthy families yeah so so this was a person of means he says I'm not making ends me publishing is much more important to me it's known from rabbis and and and books somebody has what to publish to try to publish in their lifetime meaning there were that so to speak did not publish and their Works were published published pous but not all of them you go to the great libraries of the world today um you find you go to Great Library of the world today you find um manuscripts of all the the Brooklyn live the New York live the Brooklyn Li IO jts Leningrad uh St Petersburg the British museum uh the Oxford University all of these great um repositories have works of the who were never able to publish very possibly they couldn't afford it you want to hear something amazing and it's painful to me R MOA writes in his look back at number 28 he says I'm writing a commentary but I'm going to stop at the end of per maruba you know why I can't pay for it can you imagine RHA Feinstein didn't have people to sponsor a safer can you imagine that did he probably maybe he didn't maybe he was very humble about it I'm sure he was I'm sure he was maybe that but I'm sure maybe in his lifetime people didn't appreciate you know now ra but uh here we fight could not publish the safe he said Europe in America in America yeah but you know I I think first of all the Jewish Community was not as affluent as it is today and maybe the concept of helping uh with publication was not as ingrained but be it ASA says he hopes one day to have enough to be able to publish the second volume of bakama what on the second I'm not sure I'm not sure many now they're they're continuously being published here we have another another letter this this one was really powerful what back in back in 34 here the is sending a letter to the chief Rabbi France the 28th day of klave 1898 okay so this is KH very old very high quality It Was Written basically in the like the year 1510 Beyond by a holy sage like King on ker CL very thin it's like the the thickness of the CL is the CLA is like an onion so this is really a special CL how could he afford to obtained a sa like that he had no money no he probably inherited maybe he was an ear Loom yeah it doesn't say how we got it it took 5 years to write in the end this is my share in life and I was never read but keeping it in your house is a great blessing and you could do hus with it on fully loaded saer okay I just want to let you know I used to be wealthy I used to be a business partner with my brothers it's gone I can't ask people for help everyone used to come to me for help I don't have the punm to ask for help basically enough said you get it right but I have to tell you my great distress is whatever I've published is very little compared what I need to we know published more than 100 so he had a lot to publish I have a great desire to publish for reasons that I'm sure you know about this stress is greater than the fact that I can't support my family Al therefore it arose in my heart Paris so I'm sending the sa forra to Baron Walch child through the rich woman Rael the the baso of Albert s cuz I know her husband and I think I thought whatever she sells whatever she gives me in L of the saare I'm going to publish my and I'm GNA give taking care of his family I'm gonna po I'm gonna give the SW out for free and I'm not being n from the so it's not considered like selling the anyway that's the story that's brought the so we see how dear how important this was to him how meaningful it was to him and uh for probably the reasons as we saw in the that this is all in because yes we do live in amazing times and the ability to spread is is unheralded but there is a a dimension that far and provide that uh no other venue provides okay the second share today is M we're going to start on the button at 11 o' we're going to hold it here you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by Torah anytime.com