Sefer Tomer Devorah: Chapter 8 - Rectifying the Students' "Netzach" and "Hod" By Learning Mikra

This Torah class is brought to you by torahanytime.com. Okay, welcome aboard. Welcome everyone to today's Tanya DeVorah. We're in perek ches and perek ches talks about the middos of netzach, hod, and yesod. We already spoke about uh netzach and hod yesterday together in the sense that one needs to uh assist and support limudei Torah in every possible manner, financially, with action to provide them with their needs, and not just basic necessities, but uh ritzonam. This way they will they will not be uh nisbato from Torah. Now we learn another aspect of supporting the middos of netzach and hod, which are known as limudei Hashem. They are, so to speak, the students of Tiferes. Remember we had in perek zayin that the way that uh a Tiferes has to be careful not to be misgo'ah over their talmidim, which are netzach and hod, which are called limudei Hashem. Oid tzorech ha'osek ba'Torah. One who is engaged in Torah also needs she'yilmad mikol adam, to learn from everyone. Kedachasiv, like it says, mikol melamdai hiskalti. From all of my teachers, I've become wise. Ki ein ha'Torah mishtalemes etzel rav echad. Torah will not be complete till if you learn from one rebbe. In other words, let's say a person says, "Okay, I learned in this particular yeshiva, and I only follow that approach, and uh everybody else is off the beaten path." So the the Torah will not be complete by such a person. Actually, this is based on the Gemara in Avodah Zarah. On daf yud tes, the Gemara says, kol halo yelamed Torah merav echad ein ro'eh siman bracha le'olam. Someone who learns Torah from one rebbe will never see a sign of blessing. However, that Gemara concludes that it depends. If we're talking about svara and logic, you should learn from many rabbanim. If we're talking about the text and the girsa, one should learn beki'us only from one rebbe because uh otherwise it will be confusing to a person. V'keivan she'nasah talmid lakol, once a person becomes a rebbe, a student of any of everyone, so then he is a fitting talmid. Zocheh le'hiyos merkavah el netzach v'hod. He now becomes a resting place in a chariot for netzach and hod, limudei Hashem, that are the students of God. D'hamashpi'a eilav Torah, one who influences Torah to students who b'madregas Tiferes. He's on the level of Tiferes. So Tiferes is like the rebbe, and the students are netzach and hod. And when one becomes a student of everyone, they become a talmid of everyone, we apply the rule mikol melamdai hiskalti. V'harei bei oiseh yoshev v'lo yelamed, when the first person sits and learns, zocheh el ha'Tiferes she'yashpi'a b'netzach v'hod. He is zocheh that Tiferes is influencing netzach and hod. V'hu b'madregas osam anash. Now the person is actually on the madregah of netzach and hod. And thereby he becomes a merkavah to netzach and hod. Now, the next is a very interesting comment. Binei bei oiseh yelamed mikra, when a person learns Chumash, she'hu min ha'yamin, which comes from the right side, yeish lo yichus prati el ha'netzach. He has a specific relationship with the middah of netzach. U'vei oiseh yelamed Mishnah, when a person learns Mishnayos, she'min ha'smol, which comes from the left side, yeish lo yichus prati el ha'hod. He's specifically connected to hod. So to me it's very interesting that Chumash would be uh compared to the right side, and Mishnayos would be compared to the left side, as if Chumash is middas ha'rachamim, and Mishnah is middas ha'din. However, it's interesting, there is um a kovetz called Kovetz Tzefunois, which was published in Bnei Brak in taf shin mem tes. He brings from Reb Shmuel Luria in the name of the Gra, and this is quoted in the sefer uh Maggid Devarav on page tzach, that the Medrash tells us, shishim heimah malachois, refers to the 60 masechtos. But the Recanati brings that there really 63 masechtos, and the remez is, y'hi libcha gas p'hem. And if you count Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia, Bava Basra as three separate masechtos, then it comes out there's 65 masechtos. So if there's 65 masechtos, it comes out like this, says the Gra. The 24 books of Tanach plus the two luchos correspond to the shem Havayah, yud kei vav kei, which we know is the right side, middas ha'rachamim. And the 65 masechtos, which is gematriya 65, alef dalet nun yud, is middas ha'din from the left side. So that would coincide and be uh fit in well with what the Tanya DeVorah is saying is that Chumash comes from the right side, namely Torah she'bichtav is the right side, the shem Havayah, and Mishnah, Torah she'b'al peh, is the left side, which is middas ha'din. However, we point out that this would seem to be at odds with the teaching of the Gra, that middas ha uh Torah she'bichtav is usually associated with middas ha'din. For example, Torah she'bichtav says 40 malkos, and the rabbanim say 39. Torah she'bichtav says an a Moavi can Moavis cannot marry into the kahal Hashem, and the Torah she'b'al peh says she could. That's why David ha'Melech says, samar mipachdecha besari, u'midvarecha ya'areisi. I'm afraid of your dibur in the Torah she'bichtav that says, lo yavo Amoni Moavi b'kahal Hashem. Sos anochi al imrasecha, k'motzei shalal rav. But I rejoice over your amirah, which is the Torah she'b'al peh. This all indicates that Torah she'bichtav is more uh strict than the Torah she'b'al peh. That's why the Gra says the Torah she'b'al peh uh refers to God as Rachmana, the merciful one, because from the vantage point of Torah she'b'al peh, the Torah is rachamim. That's why in the Gemara we find amar, amar, and in the Chumash, vayidaber, because Chumash is Torah um middas ha'din, and Torah she'b'al peh is middas ha'rachamim. So that would seem to be at odds with what the Tanya DeVorah is saying over here, and uh that's discussed in a footnote in the above-mentioned sefer on page chof dalet and chof hey. But here the Tanya DeVorah is clearly saying that Chumash is Torah she'bichtav, and Mishnah is Torah she'b'al peh. Meaning, excuse me, Chumash is middas ha'rachamim, and Mishnah is middas ha'din, and the Gemara is both. The Gemara is like Tiferes. A Gemara hakol ba'kol. The Gemara incorporates everything. She'mevi'a rayah l'dinei ha'Mishnah min ha'k'suvim, because it brings evidence to the words of the Mishnah from the pasuk. Harei zeh tikun shel heim yachad. So in other words, by learning Chumash, you're mesakein netzach. By learning Mishnah, you're mesakein hod, and by learning Gemara, you're mesakein both of them together. And b'ezras Hashem, tomorrow we will discuss how a person can train themself in the middah of yesod. Okay, on that note, I wish everyone an amazing day. Shki'ach. 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