The Chofetz Chaim on the Categorical Superiority of the Learning of the Rashbi

Progress. Okay, a freilich Lag B'Omer everyone. I was searching high and low for a Chofetz Chaim on Lag B'Omer. I could not find it. Not anywhere. I couldn't find it in Chofetz Chaim al haTorah, Chofetz Chaim al haNevi'im u'Kesuvim, Chofetz Chaim al Agudas HaShas. I looked at the Chofetz Chaim, maybe he has something on the Gemara of the Rashbi on Maseches Shabbos, but I did find something in the biography of the Chofetz Chaim. A very nice lamdus on the Rashbi. The Gemara says in Shabbos 119a that if you have a >> [snorts] >> that if talmidei chachamim are in the middle of learning Torah, they need to interrupt to say Shema, they don't interrupt for tefillah. Rabi Yochanan said, "This is only someone like the Rashbi v'chavero she'teirasa umnasa. But we, we're mafsik not only for Shema, but for tefillah as well." Meaning, fundamentally, you're not mafsik learning for tefillah. Says Rabi Yochanan, "Only someone like the Rashbi she'teirasa umnasa." Freigt der Chofetz Chaim, "Mima nafshach, what?" He says, "L'chora kasha. Im talmud Torah chashuv mikri'as Shema u'tefillah, if talmud Torah is more chashuv, no one should interrupt for tefillah. And if it's not more chashuv, then even the Rashbi should interrupt for tefillah." The first thing you need to to determine is the respective importance of tefillah vis-a-vis Torah. What's more chashuv? If Torah is more chashuv, then even people who are not teirasa umnasa should learn Torah and not interrupt for davening. If davening is more chashuv, even the Rashbi should interrupt. Says the Chofetz Chaim, "Torah is compared to bread, like the Navi says, 'L'chu lachmu b'lachmi.' Just [snorts] like a little bread sustains a person that if you don't eat for a day, you become weak. And if you don't eat for 3 days, you become critically weak. And if you don't eat properly for a a week or a month, it can be almost impossible ever to recover." So too Torah. If you don't keep your kvi'us of daily learning, and you miss a day, you become weak. If you miss 3 days in a row, you could become critically spiritually weak. If you go a very long time, you [snorts] could become fatally spiritually weak. So we hear what we learn from here, says the Chofetz Chaim, that when we evaluate the power of Torah, it's not just Torah, isolated Torah. The important factor is the consistency. Consistent Torah is far superior to inconsistent Torah. The Torah of the Rashbi, who Torah was their career and they didn't interrupt for anything, that Torah was on such a high level. In fact, that Torah was greater than tefillah. And therefore, the Rashbi, who did not interrupt his learning for any mundane purpose, any profane purpose, any personal purpose, that Torah was on such a high level that he would not interrupt for davening. But our Torah, we interrupt our Torah for many mundane things. Therefore, our Torah is qualitatively weaker. And therefore, what we will interrupt our Torah for tefillah because the the level of Torah that we're on, the level that our Torah is on, is not as valuable as davening. Says the Chofetz Chaim, "Alainu l'havin shekeishim sheyeish heivdil bein kvi'usa shelo One second. Ach l'fi d'vareinu hamurim m'Toras Misham shehaTorah l'she'eina nolmedes b'tzedirus, when Torah is not learned consistently, ein ko'ach hakdusha sheba chazak ad k'dei lidchos tefillah u'kri'as Shema." And we need to understand that the same way there is a qualitative and fundamental difference between the kvi'us of the Rashbi and the kvi'us of Rabi Yochanan, so too, to every degree that we strengthen our consistency in our limudim, our limudim are catapulted to a categorically different stratosphere. The more consistent we are in our limudim, the greater our Torah will be qualitatively. V'al kein, suma al kol echad v'echad l'kvi'a itim l'Torah k'chol hayecholsa. Everyone needs to try to establish their limudim as consistent as possible. V'lishma al akvi'us mikol mishma. And if for whatever reason you can't fulfill your kvi'us, you should consider like a debt. Like the Gemara says by Rav Achai bar Yaakov, he borrowed from the day and he paid back at night. Says the Chofetz Chaim, "From this Gemara we learn how consistency is key to generating kdusha in our learning. And that's learned from the Torah of haTanna hu aleiki, Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. A freilich Lag B'Omer everyone. Have a great day. Kol tuv. Recording stopped.