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Rav Joseph B Soloveitchik on Finding the Shechina in Torah Learning by Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider
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good morning everyone bov thank you for
joining us this morning and uh being
together for
these let's begin with a per
from and I'll recite it everyone is
invited to join in with
me
and with that we have our soldiers in
mind we have those that are kidnapped
those that are in captivity those that
have been injured and uh all of those
that are going through very very
difficult days um we have we have those
in mind as we recite those words of
tahim and
Wavin so the question is how do we uh
how do we respond as Jews in times of an
eight in terms of uh difficult days and
the difficult days that we are in one of
the ways
classically that we respond is what we
just did and that is davening and that
is praying reciting words of tahil there
is another way as well which as uh some
have pointed out in terms of today in
particular there are those that take on
fasting and uh there is a tradition of
the day that precedes or that goes into
Ros kodesh and tonight is Ros KES klave
so today is a day which is known as
Yumer Katan that is a day that we ask
for atonement which relates to the
atonement the kapara of the div of
KES there are those that recite special
there are those that fast as well and I
saw Ral shita of Yeshiva University and
I saw through the rabant of Israel that
there was a recommendation being that
there already is a custom which most
people don't observe but there is a
custom of fasting today to take on today
as a fast day as a uh as a day that we
that we use that fast intentionally for
uh as a prayer and asking God for raim
and for kapar for atonement so there are
many that are doing that today so the
idea of fasting is something that we do
incorporate it's one of the ways in
which we respond to times of suffering
and there's another way as well that I
want to highlight and that's going to be
the topic of my my this morning one of
the ways that we respond to to difficult
days is with Torah learning with Liu
Torah that is very much a part of what
we've done in these sessions together
over the last number of weeks to learn
Torah together and specifically learning
Torah with uh with the soldiers in mind
with uh with the difficulties that we
are facing and asking God for R there is
a source in the gamar and this is found
in Milla the very beginning of Milla DAV
giml where it talks about yosua who is
going to war as we know Yeshua
Conquering the land of Israel and one
evening an Angel appears to yosua and
says to yosua that although you are
engaged in war you also need to be
learning Torah that turn that Torah
learning itself also brings safety to am
Israel and that is one of the important
sources that we have in terms of the
connection the importance of Torah
learning how Torah learning can act as a
safeguard bringing safety to to am
Israel and uh so our Torah learning
during these days is very important and
uh the Torah learning that we're doing
right now has that added Dimension not
only the Torah learning in terms of the
Torah lishma and the learning that we're
doing but the the Torah itself we pray
should be a uh should be should be a
safeguard to Amel at this
time but that is kind of like the
spiritual a spiritual component a more
mystical component how Torah brings a
certain amount of safety to Amel but I
want to talk about and highlight another
aspect of Torah learning and why it's so
important during this time and really
based on a uh on a teaching of RAB
Sal where he talks about a particular
component of Torah learning which I
think is very significant for us and one
of the aspects of Torah learning that we
don't always have in mind because we
think about Tor learning in terms of an
intellectual pursuit in ter terms of the
wisdom that we attain through Torah
learning but there's another aspect of
Torah learning and that is the
relationship that we have with Hashem
that we Forge a deeper relationship a
closer relationship with Hashem when we
learn and here I want to highlight a Hal
that's found in the rambam and we know
that the salivic the briskers always
turn to the rambam in terms of of
sourcing their ideas and this is found
in
perlim the
and he writes something which is um a
bit out of the ordinary in terms of the
best time to learn here we are we're
Gathering right now in the morning 10:30
10:35 in Yim as a beautiful time to
learn Torah but the rambam writes
there's another time that's even more
significant for Torah learning and this
is what he
writes even though it's a Mitzvah to
learn day and
night that the nighttime learning is
when one
learns and one is able to attain the
greatest amount of Torah
knowledge if a person wants to Merit the
crown of
Torah that person should be aware should
be careful with the way that they're
spending the nighttime hours the
nighttime hours have uh provide an
opportunity many many hours at night to
be able to learn Torah and it's possible
to lose out not to take advantage of
that that's what the
ra you shouldn't
lose just sleeping off the night going
to bed
early just drinking and eating just just
conversing how important it is to learn
Torah at
night but here the ra adds the
following and the rea the joy of Torah
the song of Torah is only found in
night Kum Ron Bala that's the ramban
interesting this is in hilos rambam so
he codifies the rambam codifies the law
that there is something unique about the
learning at night and here Sal points
out that it's very very very startling
the PK that the rambam chooses and it's
a p that's found in and the in says Kumi
Ron Bala now the question is how to
translate the word Roni we're familiar
with the word Ron as Reena as song but
Roni or Reena also has another
connotation almost an opposite
connotation which means to cry or to cry
out so one of the ways of interpreting
this p and what the rambam is referring
to is that nighttime learning is also a
time to sing to God it's also a time to
cry out to God which means that the
Torah learning is not just an academic
or an intellectual ual Endeavor but
through that learning at night and
what's so special about learning at
night is the relationship that we Forge
with Hashem and night there's something
about the nighttime hours there's
something about sitting under the moon
and the stars the relationship the
closeness maybe during the nighttime
that we feel a bit more vulnerable and
that we're turning to Hashem even
through that learning of Torah and
ideally through that learning of Torah
that one feels the of hem the closeness
of the interesting that P that the ramb
quotes the second half of the p is
something a part of the P that many of
us are familiar with again he quoted
from it's and I read
the that's what the ramb quotes and the
end of the that same
is that I pour out my heart that I pour
out my insides to towards Hashem which
you see in this P the PK sounds like
really davening it sounds like and yet
the rambam is speaking about in the
context of learning and we see that
there is an aspect of learning that R
salich Points out so beautifully that
when we sit and learn Torah that not
only is it an academic Pursuit not only
is it about knowledge is it about wisdom
about learning facts about learning Hala
but it's also to use the wording of RAB
salic it is a
randevu with Hashem that we feel a
closeness with Hashem as we're learning
Torah and he quotes a another source in
the rambam and this is something that
we're familiar with I think mostly from
pavos where the rambam writes and this
is in this
is that a person should be K that a
person should should set time a
particular time for Torah learning and
the way that generally that's understood
is that yes we need to have set times in
our schedule and that's how we're going
to in advance in terms of our learning
that we're going to every single day DAV
yomi Mish yomi whatever it is that we're
learning on a regular basis and that's
how we that's how we uh that's how we
Ascend in terms of our learning said
there's another aspect to to being K man
to be kave man is to make a date and we
make a date in our calendar when we're
when we're looking forward to meeting
somebody we're looking forward to
getting together with somebody that we
have a particular time that we do that
we make that time we set that time and
there we are getting together with that
individual and Ros Al said
this that we have to make a set time
also Intimates it also loots the idea
that we're making a set time with a
kades that we're getting together on a
regular basis with the Holy One with the
almighty and we sit together learning
his words learning his Torah and with
that we Forge a closer connection with
asem ro Salvation quotes another gamar
this is found
in
and and it says the following the gamar
says and also a well-known statement in
the gamarra it says that you cannot
compare a person that studies Torah a
100 times who reviews it 100 times to
reviewing it 101 times that's the
statement in the gamar there's nothing
no
comparison so Rob salvic said well what
do you mean there's no comparison I mean
if you reviewed something a 100 times
you know it quite well you've gone over
it over and over and over again and what
does it mean that and first time and I
want to just I'll share with you just a
quote from from Rabbi salvic the way
that he understands his gumara he says
the talet here is referring to a
different facet of Torah learning the
student refuses to depart from his
learning
even after he repeated the chapter 100
times they feel that studying Torah is a
randevu with the the divine presence
therefore they constantly seek to
prolong the
experience they just cannot bring
themselves to close the text so here
Rabbi salvic interprets isamar a little
bit differently generally it's
understood that know the more you go
over the more insight you're going to
have he says no at some point there's
there may not be any more Insight but
the fact that you don't want to leave
that piece of gamar that you don't want
to leave learning you don't want to
leave your Torah learning it means that
you drawn to that you feel attached to
that Torah that you feel attached to
Hashem that you feel the closest to
Hashem and the truth is this idea maybe
maybe perhaps we can Source this in the
Torah itself in the way that the Torah
speaks about Torah learning and the
Torah itself and it's the well-known P
that that is is the P that describes the
Mitzvah of learning Torah or writing a
safer
Torah a that we're familiar with and
look at how the Torah speaks of the
Torah you are to write the Shir you are
to write this song interesting the Torah
speaks about the Torah speaking about
speaking about the words of Torah as a
song to AEM and a song is something that
is loving a song is something that
brings us closer a song is something
that relates to the emotion that's not
the intellect when we talk about the
song so the Torah itself when it speaks
about the Mitzvah of writing a saer
Torah and learning Torah it refers to it
in the context of Shir of song something
that brings us closer to Hashem R salic
and the world of brisk was very much
influenced by R Vin who is the great
student of the vnon and ran writes a
classic work about Torah learning and
it's studied in the ISA world in the
Yesa world the
ne and um there he speaks about the
importance of the Mitzvah of learning
Torah how we learn Torah the effect that
Torah learning has on the world and very
much the theme that uh that I open with
this morning in terms of the effect the
impact the influence the the the
spiritual impact that Tor learning has
on everything around
us but here the ne writes something
about the intimacy that one is to feel
with Hashem when one studies Tor and I
think this may be one of the one of the
sources that RAB salv draws from as he's
highlighting this idea of Torah learning
being experiential of feeling the
presence of Hashem when we study Torah
as well and I want to just quote to you
this is from per Zion NE two lines from
the ne this is from shid from the fourth
the fourth gate the fourth chapter perig
Zion and he writes the
following
he says right before you begin to engage
in the study of Torah you should take a
moment before you begin
learning to think for a
moment to think about that you are in
the presence of
hem you should feel a purity of heart
you should fear feel in awe of
hem but he recommends and I don't think
most of us do this I don't do this is um
that we take a moment before we open the
gamar before we open thees before we
begin learning just to take a moment to
take a few seconds and to be cognizant
to recognize that we're about to learn
the Torah of hem we're about to sit in
the presence of hem as we are learning
and one more one more line from the
ne uh and he says
the and he says also within the learning
as one is learning you sit you're
learning for a half hour learning for 40
minutes learning for an hour as you're
learning in the middle of learning how
to it's appropriate and one can do the
following just to take a moment stop
what you're learning just for for a few
seconds you should be aware that you are
in the presence of
hem that same feeling that you had going
into your learning of
Torah that you should think for a moment
and renew that thought theem that you
have a of hem that you that you in that
you are in the presence of Hashem as you
are learning very very interesting um
this is the great teacher of Lithuanian
learning I'm not sure if this is done in
the aiva world um but it's something
that he recommends in the in the ne but
clearly we see from from clearly we see
from from RAB Sal that tradition the
importance of the experiential component
of of Torah learning and what is that
experience the experience of of feeling
God's presence to feel that the is with
us to feel that we are that we are close
to Hashem and let me let me close the
learning with the following the idea of
feeling the is something that uh that we
find that we find that the mishna speaks
about as well this idea is not not a new
not a new idea but very much rooted in
the mishna what we would call an mishna
that it's it's an open mishna it says it
very clearly it's inos per giml and the
third the third mishna in per giml giml
giml two people that are sitting Torah
and they are sitting together and
they're learning Torah with one
another the is there the is palpable
it's interesting in this context and
again you have many sources that talk
about it but in this context that I'm uh
that I'm quoting it speaks about two
people that are learning Torah with one
another and that that's a beautiful way
of learning as well and especially
during during these days not only to sit
ourselves and open open a a saare open
open learning toorah learning but to
learn with others and here the mission
is highlighting that idea that when two
people are learning together when
they're sharing with one another maybe
they're are arguing a bit with one
another the different ideas but having
respect in that argument that the is
pres and that we can feel the present in
uh in that setting I want to close with
the following story and this comes from
one of the great kic Masters reali of
RIT the rebi the the ru shits a rebbi
and he tells a story of his childhood
when he was a little boy when he was
learning how just beginning how to learn
to read The KES and one of the things
that is rebbi pointed out is when you
see two two Ys that are next to one
another yud yud that that's the name of
Hashem that's one of the ways that the
name of of Hashem appears in the text so
the next day when the uh little naali
when he came in and he read thees when
he was reading theim he read the PK at
the at the very end of the PK he would
say Hashem and the next PK he'd read the
PK and he would say Hashem and the rebi
said what are you doing why are you
saying Hashem at the end of the PK well
he said I see that there are two UDS two
little dots at the end of every PK and
that's the name of Hashem a lot of a lot
of kashim have that that's the way as
opposed to just the period at the end
that there are two two periods or or two
dots at the end to end the
PK so the rebi turned to R naali well he
wasn't rabali but just naali a little
boy at that time and he said to him no
that's not the name of Hashem and he
said the following he said that when you
have two Ys that are on top of one
another on top of one another that's not
the name of Hashem it's only when there
are two yudes next to one another and a
yud is like the word yid and a yid means
Jews and when Jews are sitting next to
one another when
they're when they're together with one
another then you have the yes Hashem is
there but when the yous if it's one on
top of the other if one is kind of sees
himself higher than the next then the
God's presence is not interested in
being
there is not there so part of Torah
learning one of the most beautiful
aspects of Torah learning is to feel the
is to feel hashem's presence when we are
learning together uh that should be a
great source of to us as we are learning
during this time as we take time during
our day and I heard R aser Weiss one of
the great G Torah of Our Generation he
said that if the soldiers are
sacrificing if they are putting in more
time as they all are and putting in
great energy at this time so we need to
do the same on our front in terms of our
T learning to add to our learning to add
uh to add a few minutes maybe even a
half hour or an hour to our Torah
learning during these days and our Torah
learning should be a source of bringing
security to to our nation in a spiritual
sense but also to each of us who are
studying Torah that it should be a
source of that we feel hashem's presence
that we feel the closeness of Hashem and
uh I want to wish everyone we'll
conclude withu but I'll wish
everyone we're just just hours away here
in
toes and when we think about rades kave
it's a time a time of Joy I don't know
if anyone has seen the Su rolling out
yet usually by this time they're already
out in the bakeries but uh we can look
forward to please God a month of the
month that celebrates
Kaneka and a time please God of Miracles
and wonders of for a time that we're
going going to be lighting the manura
that we should see greater light in the
world greater light for am Israel and
For All Mankind uh in the coming days as
we celebrate please God this evening
Roes let's conclude with the uh withu
together as we pray for our brethren for
our soldiers for those in captivity
those that are
healing hem should bring them from
Darkness to light and bring a great
salvation quickly in our day and we say
Amen wish everyone a a good day and um
and AES please got a month of of
goodness and
blessing ctive everyone