Daily Chidush: There's So Much Torah teachings, What Do I choose and Who To Learn From?

I hope you had an amazing week there was a great question posted in the group yesterday about uh learning Torah and uh really with all the teachings that's out there in the world uh what should we learn what should we do which video should we watch which rabbis should we listen to as it says in uh chapter 2 which which means that the more Torah someone has the more life they have because hem is obviously this is the way we connect to Hashem and the more study the more wisdom so now we have to ask oursel how which Torah do we learn I mean there's just so much Tor Ben Zak says in a mishna actually in chapter n he says that Zak one of the greatest sages that ever lived says if you have studied much Torah do not take credit for yourself because that is what you were created to do so now we understand already at this point if we're asking this wonderful question of which Torah do we learn then obviously we know that this this is the purpose of creation this is the reason why we were created to learn T to fulfill the will of hem now ran Zak had five primary disciples one of them was rabz hul hos says many Mish many teachings but before we go into what is teachings were let's just listen to who he is what's his actual story there was one time a uh young man aged 28 according to my memory that uh his father's name was hinos and his father was a very very wealthy man and uh elazar was a son and as elzar was working on the farm working for his father but then one day his father sees that uh his son is crying he says son why why are you crying why are you crying is is the is the work too hard for you that I work you too hard he goes no no ABA it's not the work it's that I want to go learn T that's what I want to do with my life and his father says listen my son if you really want to become a big you know a sage you you would have had to start earlier you would have had to start when you were much younger you're already too old 28 years old you know it's it's too much obviously we learned later on that one of rabz been hok's disciples was RAB AKA and he only learned the Hebrew alphabet at the age of 40 but nonetheless his hinos elzar's father saying it too old and walked away continued to cry and cry to Hashem Hashem please give me the Torah please give me your Torah and as it says the Gates of Heaven are always open for Tears always despite all the all of the decrees that could be in sh and all types of things that could not be you know any good for us that a when when it's a negative decree obviously but when we cry to hem we open all of the gates hos cried his heart out to Hashem to send him Torah soem sent him elahi Elijah the prophet who in many occasions would always pose as someone else no one would know he's actually Elijah the prophet so he came to him as one of these poor men and he asked them son why why are you crying he says because I want to learn Torah that's all I want to do and he says if you want to learn T go to the Great Sage raanan B Zak he's in Jerusalem who at this point is elzar only so excited that someone acknowledged his will to learn tah that someone is saying that this is even possible he left everything on the spot didn't say goodbye didn't say anything and just went and journeyed all the way to Jerusalem he goes and he meets he says I want to I want to learn Toran says okay every day I'll sit down with you and I'll teach you a uh I'll teach you one of my teachings so excited he started to learn he started to learn and after 8 daysan was teaching him and he noticed that there was a bad smell coming out of the mouth of elazar his student so he asked the people that are hosting elazar what what are you feeding him what are you feeding him and he says no we're not Fe we're not feeding him he tells us that he's eating with you every day be Kanan says no he's not eating with me where where is he sleeping he says well he sleeps in this room and he doesn't say anything he goes he learns with you he comes back once in a while we see him reaching for something behind his pillow putting it in his mouth and he that's it and he goes and he goes back to learning he goes I want to see he goes into his room they move the pillow and they see that there's a box of sand sand people sandel because he did not want to you know be uncomfortable for anyone make anyone uncomfortable to feed him or to cook for him or to do anything for him and get in the way of his Torah was eating sand every day for eight days eight days if we ate sand for two seconds I think we'd cry for a week so ranan saw how serious elzar was and he says to him when he meets him next time from now on you're going to sit down you're going to eat with me so every day he would teach him and some years passed and the brothers of R elzar who didn't know where he was said to the father hinos father it's not fair that elezar our brother who left years ago is going to inherit a quarter of your property and everything you have once you pass he's not working he's not doing anything he left who knows where he is you should remove him from the will and hinos who also did not know where his son was said yes you're right but like a good Jew I have to go to my Rabbi and ask him for permission ask him if this is a wise thing to do okay father we trust you we respect you we'll wait for you to come back and hinos goes and Journeys to Jerusalem to see his RAV who is his ravanan and he arrives at the H at the home of he sees as a big Gathering of people and every one of them is one Sage is bigger than another all these holy people are sitting there and talking Torah and ran noticed that hinos came and he knew that his son probably did not know that he's been learning that he his father did not know that his son has been learning with him so he told elz why don't you give us one of your T why don't you tell us one of the things that you learned andar says no there's really nothing that I can teach I'm like a drop of water I don't I don't know whatever you give me is what I have andan says no you're not like a drop of water in fact you are like a river where if we put a drop of water in you it's you make it into something completely different and elaborate on it and toil with it and develop it into something very special but maybe maybe you're just shy that I'm here and you don't want to say your in front of your so I'm gonna leave he says no no no no I don't want you to leave shom and he stands up and he starts saying and he says and oros the father is seeing his son speaking and everyone is listening to wisdom that has never been heard since the beginning of the world as the mishna chapter 2 M 11 says about his student R hinos hos was cemented sistern that loses not a drop meaning that everything you teach him he has he keeps he retains but he also develops it and makes it stronger so hinos was watching his son and then his son sees him and he says father what are you doing here and he says my son I came here because I thought that you were just wasting your life and that I was here to ask the rav to allow me and permit me to remove you from from my will but in fact I realized that you have fulfilled the purpose of Hashem you have become a giant in Torah and I'm going to do the opposite and remove your brothers from the will and give it all to you and says no father I already have everything I don't need any money I already have Torah I have I have life and they say that the that H said throughout that night continued all the way until the next morning and is the level of Kus that he was delivering was so significant that he had the same light that mosenu had when he came down from Mount saai so this is the level of Torah that rabar hos got to even though he started very late as we said in one of the other Kim there was one time one of his students RAB AKA one of Rab's students RAB AKA came to him and he said why didn't you come visit me RAB AKA why didn't you come visit me in many years I have so much Torah to teach you he says how much Torah do you have K he says if all of the ocean was ink and all of the trees were pens and all of the land was paper it would not be enough to write down the Torah that I know and what I know is not even a percentage point of what's really out there and what's really available to us so here we see how big the Torah is this is very intimidating because we're not rabos let's face it we're not we're not AKA we're not even enough to be one of their nails that they throw out after they cut but we do have the Torah and we do have the teachings of R and the beauty of it is that in their teachings they teach us exactly what to learn and how to learn and in in in the oral Torah their students their disciples and them themselves are actually teaching us many many things about the Torah as it says in Chapter 2 Mish 19 it says razar this is a different person razar translation says be diligent in the study of Torah and you know what to answer to a heretic because as we obviously all know there are many Heretics in the world you need to get to a point where you are so comfortable with your Torah that if there's ever a heretic that comes to you you can answer them you could prove to them that God exists and you can feel him you can prove to them that the Torah is divine and you can prove it in any way you want whether it's scientifically or rationally or any other way that they could imagine you can prove the Torah that's the level we have to reach and lastly this mishna says know before whom you toil and know that your employer obviously meaning Hashem can be relied upon to pay you the wage of your labor remember all of this Torah that you're learning is for Hashem it's theem hashem's will and you you can rely on Hashem he doesn't change his mind he doesn't change his opinion he just told us on another mishna that that's the reason why you were created so you must toil But to answer the question of what Torah do we learn in Mish in Chapter 2 Mish 21 answers us you are not required to complete the task yet you are not free to withdraw from it if you have studied much Torah they give you great reward this my friends is the key finishing the Torah completing the Torah is impossible because even if you get to the level of r hos with all of the Torah that he had that the world could not even contain enough of it it still was not everything so the imagination that you could ever complete anything even if you've read it a million times not a thousand not 10,000 a million times you've read thear you're still not going to finish you're still not going to finish there's no such thing as finishing the Torah what you are paid for by this employer this holy employer is for toiling for studying hard for putting your life on a line to make sure that it becomes a permanent part of your life and as the mishna continues your employer can be relied upon to pay your wage of your labor but be aware that the reward of the righteous will be given in the world to come just as it says that you've studied much and you get great reward right before it it says don't worry you don't you're not going to complete the task but you're also not free to withdraw it withdraw from it meaning that just because you can't complete it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it you have to do it you must do it this is the reason why you created but remember the key here is to know that this this employee is going to pay us but the reward is going to be in the world to come yes there are rewards in this world we he gives us parasa he give USA he give us you know uh sustenance and he gives us a uh good health and all the rewards in this world but most importantly when someone's learning T they must realize that they're learning fora to prepare themselves the greatest they could possibly imagine and what Torah do we learn what Torah are they talking about they're not talking about learning to love a few stories here and there and it's nice and it's pleasing they want you to toil with Torah they want you to learn the things that shake your heart if you're listening to a lecture and the rabbi is telling you things that are nice but they're not really shaking you up they're not touching your heart they're not making you do chuva every day not once every day you have to do cha if your teaching is not shaking your heart you're learning the wrong Torah you're not learning the wage you're supposed to you have to be shaken up you have to be shaken up so it is not just a Torah that you're learning for just to gather wisdom but rather to gather enough information to change your life to shake your heart shake your soul and change your life so when you do arrive ataba you have something to look forward to so my dear tadim when you're learning Torah make sure that it's shaking you up and don't be don't feel bad if it's not shaking you up some people connect to certain rabbis some people don't connect to certain rabbis one Rabbi could be a uh you know a great mind but perhaps you're not connecting to him on another end someone could be a much lesser mind he's not as big of a genius he's not as big of a as he is but the way he talks the way he delivers the message the way he explains things touches your heart that my friends is what you need to learn and as far as the basics of actually what to learn learn most importantly each week we are commanded by the which is the book of laws we must learn the three times meaning that you have to read the parasha twice and then the third time with the commentary and the commentary you must make sure it's rashi's commentary this is Rashi we cannot learn Torah without Rashi we don't understand anything this is commentary by Rashi and obviously if you want to elaborate and add the rambam or the ramban and and and so on please do but the first thing you have to learn if you have to learn the Torah the five books of Moses minimum you have to learn that each week so obviously the next thing after that you must learn M every day you have to learn ethics you have to learn how to become a human being not a human being like this world has today that they're half animals half man talking about human being like AEM created that created us in the image of man image of man meaning holy so we have to act holy we have to know what holy even means so you have to learn m the m that hasem taught us through his sages so this is something every day five minutes a day 10 minutes a day an hour a day however much time you have next thing is for men is once you've gotten very comfortable with the CH and the mid the explanations the commentary of what actually transpired be beyond the literal then you have to start learning you have to start learning the teachings of the sages because that is the highest level of toiling in Torah so you have three major things here obviously there's many other things the last part is being the laws of Torah each day learn one learn one new law whether it's a Shabbat law or it's a uh you know Kut law or anything else learn one law each day small little law each day okay today I know okay I'm not allowed to eat milk and meat great you learned your law move next go back to par CH go back to M go back to thear but this is a lot of Torah every day so obviously you have to manage your time very very well you have to be very disciplined you have to make sure that you don't waste even a second a second you know watching nonsense TV and doing things that are just wasting your life why because as we said the purpose of creation is for you to learn toah the reason why you were even created was for you to come learn tah men are obligated on a much higher level than women but don't misunderstand this women are also obligated to learn tah because they're going to be the foundation of the home they have to learn enough to teach the children until the children have teachers and so on but they have to learn all of the laws of Shabbat the the basic of how to run a home education you know family Purity modesty obviously modesty is at least 60% of the mitv that a woman has to do so there's a lot to learn my friends but key for B for converts is the last thing I'm going to say the key thing aside from the teachers and the teachings touching your heart you have to obviously get into things that touch your heart but the key and the most important thing that you do when you learn tah is remember the only reason you're learning Torah is because hasem commanded you to do so nothing else not because you're trying to gather wisdom not because you're trying to go give lectures one day not because you want fame and fortune not because you even want reward you're learning T you're learning T purely because hem command Ed you to do so and created you just for that purpose everything else is secondary you all have shabbat shalom a lot of Torah and remember hem loves you hasem wants you to succeed and he's going to help you in every single step that you take towards the right direction