The Three Weeks: Chashivus HaTorah, Birchas HaTorah, and the Root of the Churban

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Before the Yom Tov and before every taanis, we usually take off one week from the shiur of the Navi to talk about inyanei d'yoma and what is our avodah. The upcoming taanis, in this particular case, the three weeks, we passed Shabbos, we're holding three weeks, ready for Tisha B'Av, preparing for Tisha B'Av. We know that nikva the three weeks aveilus, aveilus on the Churban. Many halachos are in effect, which are halachos of aveilus, halachos to remind us of the Churban. And as the time goes on in the three weeks, it gets more chomer, goes from the three weeks to the nine days, to Tisha B'Av, which in Rishonim's state, meisai mutal lefanav. So, b'hadragah, in steps we prepare to move to Tisha B'Av. And interestingly enough, as Tisha B'Av continues, it goes backwards, it starts getting less and less. Within one day, we start receding in the aveilus. We start being meikel, meikel in the halachos of the aveilus. What is aveilus for Churban? Today, you could hear two people argue: Yaka peleh nishtaka peleh. This is the machlokes of today's times, nafka mina l'maaseh, in the aveilus of a chov. You're allowed to listen to a cappella, not. Theoretically, rabbeisai, we're so removed from what the aveilus is really supposed to be, that we almost minimize it to simple issues, which may even be non-issues. I'm not telling you a cappella is mutar; my rabbeim told me that a cappella is asur. As I heard muzach from the Rebbe Olam, that it's not so pashut that it's mutar. Each should go ask his rav for psak halacha on this inyan, but that's not the point of the shiur. The point is that the aveilus is a lot deeper than that. And the reason for aveilus must affect us deeper than just the issues, the small shailos, so to speak. Unfortunately, we're removed from it, and a person theoretically could find a heter to undo כמעט all the aveilus halachos. A person could come and say, Listen, I make a siyum, I can eat meat. A person could come and say, It's very hot today, kefel lachdis, sakana. Showers, music, a cappellas. What's left at the end of the day to the aveilus? And unfortunately, unfortunately, rabbeisai, I think we don't have a good understanding of the importance aveilus plays in the role of the life of a Yid. And therefore, we don't taka give it its proper attention, its proper attention. What is the aveilus? What is our avodah in these days? I begin with the Rambam. The Rambam says in Hilchos Taaniyos, perek hei, halacha aleph, why the five fasts? What's the point? What's the reason for the five fasts? Zogt the Rambam, yesh sham yamim shekol Yisrael mis'anim בהם. All of Klal Yisrael fasts, no matter where you live and in what generation you're in, everyone fasts mipnei hatzaros she'ir'u בהם. And that we understand. They're a memory of tzaros of the past, says the Rambam. But there's a point behind this taanis, and that is, k'dei l'orer halevavos liftoach darkei hateshuvah. It's supposed to be a beginning, liftoach. It's supposed to open the door for teshuvah. The fasting itself, rabosai, is not the teshuvah the Mishnah Berurah talks about, we'll speak in a moment or so. It's liftoach. It's to get the person thinking, to open the window of teshuvah.

We should start thinking about doing teshuva l'orer, to awaken him to be liftoach darkei hateshuva. It's interesting that the Rambam continues, what is the teshuva? The Rambam spells it out clearly: teshuva for what? V'yeish zecher l'maaseinu hara'im, our actions. People think the churban, it's about what happened in the time of the churban. It's not. It's about today. It's relevant today. It's about zechron l'maaseinu hara'im and u'maasei avoseinu shehayu k'maaseinu atah, that there's a similarity. There's obviously the same continuing today. So it's not to think so much only the present or the future of the past. It's to connect the past and the present, to see what did they do wrong, and obviously we're doing the same thing wrong. Az yishtakel haRambam rabbeinu. U'mezal lishmeinen, sistam an inyan achreis hasheinah drashes. It's not drashes; the Rambam's halacha l'maaseh. That the reason for these ta'aniyos is l'orer halevavos, liftoach al darkei hateshuva, and it should be a zechron to maaseinu shehayu k'maaseihem, ad shegorem lahem v'lanu oison hatzaros. The tzaros too are not just in the past, but also in the present. So the past and present tzaros were caused by similar actions, similar aveiros, and we have to detect and we have to catch those aveiros to do teshuva for it. שבזכרו עניינים אלו נושב להיטיב, שנאמר, מזודו, we do teshuva, את אבינו ואת אבותינו, for their and their fathers, which means to connect. סיבת החורבן then to סיבת החורבן at the present. And if someone doesn't do this, the Mishnah Berurah writes clearly, תפס התפל, בניחא עיקר. Mishnah Berurah in siman taf kuf mem tes. לכן חייב כל איש, חייב כל איש, לשים אל לבו בימים, חייב, ולפשפש במעשיו ולשוב בהם. אין העיקר התענית. עיקר is not the fasting; that's what the Rambam means, לפתוח. It's actually just the starting point. So this Mishnah Berurah is pointing out, like it says by Ninveh, וירא ה' את מעשיהם, אמרו חזל, לשקם ותעניתם לא נאמר, אלא את מעשיהם. ואין התענית אלא הכנה לתשובה. Mishnah Berurah, מדויק. It's this Rambam, לפתוח. It's הכנה. It's supposed to start you on the teshuva process. וכן אותן אנשים שהם מתענים, הולכים בטל, ובדברים בטלים, תופסו התפל וניחו העיקר. Who knows, rabosai, if it's not ma'aseh yetzer hara that pooped this kufa, this time is designated for trips. Who knows that it's not ma'aseh Satan, because it's not supposed to be. If any time during the year is not supposed to be. Having leisurely trips and whatnot. And again, I'm not a kanoi. I'm not here to tell you you have to go on a trip, נישט to go on a trip. I'm not telling you not to be toifes the tafel v'haniach ikar, which is the teshuvah. It's a time of interspection, machshavah. A person has to think. Time of machshavah, just think into himself of teshuvah. So what is the teshuvah, they say? What's takkeh l'maaseh? What's al mitcharet? Safek, there's no question that it's not only the fasting. The aveilus is for this. The aveilus of the three weeks, it's not just the taanis. On the taanis is also meyuchad for the teshuvah. I heard this from Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. As a matter of fact, it's a me'iri in the hakdamah to Chibur HaTeshuvah. The Me'iri writes that in Hilchos taanis he's going to bring Hilchos aveilus, because aveilus is not just to mourn, but to do teshuvah. It's mefurash in the Rambam. The Rambam in Hilchos Evel, perek yud-gimmel, halachah yud-beis: Kol mi she'eino mis'abel k'mo shetzivu chachamim, harei zeh achzari, v'yidag, yefashfesh b'ma'asav, v'yachzor b'teshuvah.

Aveilus is also teshuvah. It's not only the fast days, not Beisai, but it's the minhag aveilus of the three weeks as well, because that's aveilus. Aveilus is to make teshuvah. What? Tzavaadah, sinas chinam. It's the pashut one, sinas chinam, is what the reason for the Churban, and ממילא dafka מסaken zayin dini aniyim of sinas chinam. That's clear. But there's also the point in the Churban which I want to bring out, and it's interesting because when you look at it from the outside, it seems to be that we're doing well in this area. It seems that we have, so to speak, a pattern, patent on how it's—we're doing the... Yet if we look a little closer, you'll see, אפס אפשניש, אפס. And how do I know this? Because this already was a dilemma to the Chazal. Chazal didn't understand why the Churban, avodah. They couldn't understand, what? ... No less than what we have today, Rabbeisai. Says the Gemara in Bava Metzia, and in the ... al me avodah. So they ... לחכמים ולא פירשוה. They went to ask the Chachamim, they asked the Neviim, ולא פירשוה, עד שפירש הקדוש ברוך הוא. Till the Ribono Shel Olam Himself explained it, שנאמר, היום ה' אלוקינו ... Rabbeinu Yonah, the Ran quotes in Nedarim, Rabbeinu Yonah, that if the Eibishter Himself had to come. And tell us, must have been very hidden, must have been something which was in tamun balev and not out in the open. Because out in the open it looked beautiful, it didn't shine. So vas is geven de chisaron? Al ozva mistegarsi. Yeah, that maaseh, ozva mistegarsi. So the Gemara is sho'el, peleh, chapelah, if they're learning, how can it be ozva mistegarsi? Zogt the Gemara, אמר רבי יהודה אמר רב, שלא יברכו בתורה תחילה. They didn't make birchas Torah at all. It's a nice she'eilah we could talk about. What does it mean, שלא יברכו בתורה תחילה? Zogt Rashi, הם מֵי לווס. So they don't, שלא יברכו בתורה תחילה. At best it's an aseh. Pashut it's a derabbanan, birchas haTorah. The Ramban, mitzvas aseh tes-vav, clarifies, אפשר, אפשר, אפשר, ... okay, aseh. So because of the aseh, it fits the punishment of avda haaretz, churban. On a bitul aseh, zayn chas v'shalom churban. I could just borrow the lashon of the Acharonim because I feel if we don't use their language, we might make a mistake. They call it an aveirah kalah. All of Reb Yisroel Salanter, the Beitzel Petterberg, when they speak this she'eilah, they call it an aveirah kalah. So how could it be avda haaretz from this aveirah kalah? Zogt Rashi, מכיוון דלא מברכי, ... במציאה. Since they don't make the bracha, גלי דעתייהו שאינו מתנה חשובה לה. It's not a matanah chashuvah. So it's not that they're mevazeh the Torah. They just מגלה that it's not to them such a chashuvah. You know, when you get a chashuvah zach, you say, Yasher koach, you say thank you. It's gefelt in the thank you. It's gefelt in the hoda'ah to Borei Olam of the Torah. So, אינו מתנה חשובה. It's vaz. Vayter is vaz. גלי דעתייהו, וכיוון שלא מברכי, גלי דעתייהו שאינו מתנה חשובה. You look at Rabbeinu Yonah in Ran. The Ran brings Rabbeinu Yonah in Nedarim, שאינו מתנה חשובה כל כך. So it's not a matanah chashuvah. כלומר, שלא היזה התורה חשובה בעיניהם כל כך, שיהא ראוי לברך עליה. What's the pshat, first of all, why taka? ... Here, people don't want to do something; there's a yetzer hara not to do. So I got birchas haTorah, nu. Unless maybe there's a way how to make birchas haTorah. Maybe the way they made birchas haTorah, thus hechsher can make birchas haTorah. Maybe that's the pshat.

Mach bichas haTorah, he says. He said over, Reb Yisroel Salanter, he said, Derech hashacha, you danced, you danced. I need to hear this from Chassidim, what they say. Reb Yanshel Weinhaus, chamirah, he told me that he was standing when someone went over to Reb Yerucham and asked Reb Yerucham the following question: Why, when Reb Yisroel Salanter made birchas hashachar, he danced? He went out in a dance, in a rikud. Reb Yerucham didn't answer him. It's not true. Reb Yerucham told him, I'll tell you why. Because the person said, I don't understand what happened. It's not so many generations since Reb Yerucham, since Reb Yisroel, so how come we don't have those feelings? So he said, let me tell you. The reason why we don't care so much about a birchas hashachar, because everybody has the sun, and everybody more or less has clothing. You ever see when someone has a car that everybody else on the block has, he doesn't think it's such a great segulah. But if you're the only one on the block that has it, so Reb Yerucham, it's like he lasered in on his... He says, if the sun would only shine for you, you would also dance and be happy and say, ... Follow him into the middle of us. Then he said, ... The sun shined. I heard it from Reb Yanshel Weinhaus, who stood there in the mirror when he heard this. Maybe the way we make birchas... ... doesn't need to do it at all. But does hehsheke birchas haTorah... Sometimes you can run to say them. Maybe that's what it is. It's a chashiv. But the Bisal Salant deflects this kashya. He says he doesn't understand what is the yetzer hara of nishzagin birchas haTorah. Rav Yitzel Petterburg in Peichei Oros is a me'irdike mahalach. He says Chazal tell us that if you're not appreciative of something, you don't get the ma'alos of that thing. Interesting. Because Dovid HaMelech, he cut the clothes, mimeila lo yeichem lo. In order to get the ma'alos haTorah, you need to be machshiv it. It has to be chashuv to you. Vazvil Reb Yitzel, effect a me'irdike kasha. Dos shteit in the Gemara, alaz ames Teirasi, shelo yevarechu baTorah techilah, which is something, a plainkeit, l'choira. Eibishter has to come and detect this chisaron. Look at the Gemara, shteit a klar, they did avodah zarah, giluy arayos, shefichas damim. Something doesn't match over here. What, they were doing this in bais medrash? Epes klapt zich nisht do. Zitztu me'lo, dos shteit, mezitztu me'lo. Dos shteit giluy arayos, because ... Yitzel Petterburg, Chazal. ... ein Chazal. Vos men gelernt? Vi iz davka ... mitoch shebisah Torah, it would never come to do these ... So the shaylah of the Chazal was how you tochen ... How did they come to that? The Torah says, alaz ames Teirasi, shelo yevarechu baTorah techilah. In order to get the ma'alos haTorah, which is mignu mitzli, the Gemara shteit a klar, then it protects you from the yetzer hara. So vi ken a zayn az a zach, az a ...? ... it can't be, rabosai. It cannot be. Chazal didn't know. The Neviim didn't know. The Ribono Shel Olam said, Yidden, I'll tell you what it is. The chashivus haTorah, vendus gelernt Torah. What nachashiv is daf tzu zayn. Un tzu lebn dem, host opgeton ver veyst vos. You know, there was big asifes for internet. I'm a simple Jew. I don't have any shitos. Gedolei olam, they led this charge for the asifes, and I listened, and everything that they said was right. Not taining against. But there's one thing I didn't hear, I wanted to hear, or maybe I just missed it. Az m'zitzt un m'lernt Torah, mit chashivus haTorah, but there's no way in the world that you have problems this and the other. Tzachak. Are we learning Torah the proper chashivus? Everybody's learning, Baruch Hashem. It's ir shekulei Torah. But in order for the Torah to be nigneh mitzli, nigneh mitzli, it's got to be gelernt, that it's only daas. You need to have ... daas. Yeah, you have to. Torah ... chashiv.

I want to tell you something. There was a time and a place where being a ben Torah, being a shomer Torah, was a bizayon. Shmuel Birnbaum told me, I asked him once, ‘Hayitachen the Mirer bachurim got married, they were in their forties? What’s the pshat?’ My uncle, Reb Chaim Shlita from Eretz Yisrael, once went to Reb Dovid Povarsky, and he says, ‘How yimashpia a yunger bachur?’ So Reb Dovid asked him, ‘Why do you call a yunger bachur?’ He said, ‘1920, 20… yunger bachur.’ I’m sorry, excuse me, it’s been a long day. ‘How yimashpia an alter bachur?’ Excuse me. So my uncle said, ‘Alter bachur?’ So he asked him, ‘How old?’ He says, ‘19, 20.’ ‘Alter bachur? Dos tach yingelach. How is it the Mirer, an alter bachur, gefeltzik, finuf un-feltzik? Vos dos is, a alter bachur.’ They got married very late, and I asked Reb Shmuel, ‘What’s the pshat?’ Reb Shmuel told me, ‘Kein, butze nish gevalt.’ It was like marrying a baal mum. It was like marrying a paraplegic. I heard it from Shmuel. Shmuel told me klar: ‘Pirsum mit kefunern am eidel, vos vil azazach…’ But I want you to know, speak to the Mirers. ‘Dos tzietzach az ich bin a ben Torah, chashivus far Gemara, far Tosafos, for learning, for a seder, nor…’ And that’s at a time when the world mocked them. But I say today it’s the opposite. Ver vil nish kein ben Torah? The first thing on the list of the shidduchim is… Which yeshiva is the best guy in the yeshiva? Now that we have the siyata dishmaya to be matzliach, how are we matzliach in these nisyonos? Is it taka vos shteit, Gali datayi v’megaleh? And where do we see it? We see it in the way you make birchas haTorah, in the way you appreciate, in the way you thank the Ribono Shel Olam for haToras. Think about it. ... Thank the Ribono Shel Olam, ki heim chayeinu v’orech yameinu v’hem. When we say it, do we understand this is life support? Do we say those words thinking, Ribono Shel Olam, on dem vil ich nisht leben? Now, different levels of learning and different people. I don’t mean—it doesn’t have to be you sitting in a yeshiva. You could be a person who works during the day and comes at night to learn. That’s chashivas haTorah if it’s done with chashivas haTorah. That chashivas haTorah is migno mitzli. Un oib nisht, habeisai, there’s the gimel aveiros waiting in the background. It could come in different forms, habeisai. We think gimel aveiros means that we go out into the street and be bo’el aramis like Kozbi bas Tzur. We don’t mean that. It can come in a box also. Gimel aveiros can come in many different forms and fashions today. It can come in a newspaper, and it can come in a box. Shivas haTorah is going to be number one, and if not, chas v’shalom, the world, the aretz is avda. This, habeisai, is the pshat of Reb Yitzchak. The Alkut Sheveini Takah says, see the clock, there's a lomd shmuyes. I'll try to make a little bit more b'kitzur, and you'll borrow five minutes from you as well. The Medrash says, the Yalkut: Viter HaKadosh Baruch Hu al avodah zarah, giluy arayos, v'lo viter al me'aso shel Torah. Because that's where the root is. The me'aso shel Torah, the giluy arayos, we have to work on it. You can do teshuvah, efshar, work on it. But if there's me'aso shel Torah min ha'shoresh, there's no hope. There's no way to mekayeim Torah. It just doesn't work. It's a mufurasha Medrash, ha'beisai. I mispagen a kasha: me'aso shel Torah? Farkert, lei lei, hoysa chashuvah kol kach. So why is it called me'aso shel Torah? That's called—there's a difference between nishmachshev zayin l'cheirah and ma'aseh zayin. In the teretz that beisai is, az mefashteyt shei, u'mitshengelt. You don't chap vos dos is; dos is me'aso shel Torah. When someone doesn't know avada laderech, to him there's a difference between very much machshiv and ma'aseh. The teretz is, it's impossible, like the Ohr HaChaim says, someone—

It's not shayach. It's not pas. It's just not pas. I don't even have a taste of it. I'll tell you a nice one, because you deserve it. I'll tell you a nice one, okay? In the Brisker Bichalech, chelek daled, they have this maaseh, so you can check it up over there. It happens to be about my elter zeide, so if you want to take it from me, take it from me, and if not, you can take it from the Brisker Bichalech. Today they learn it like a Rashba, that book. Good? Ech, good. Okay. Chelek daled, the maaseh is there. The elter zeide, and this is a summer shmues already also, good for the summer, was in Krenitz. Krenitz is the Katzkels. My mother was a Katzkels; it was Krenitz. All the Gedolei Yisrael came together from Ungarn. That was the one time a year where you had from all. He sees the Brisker Rav is in Krenitz. Oh, he wants smicha from the Brisker Rav. Little did he know, you can't go ask the Brisker Rav. Smicha? Yer adeya. The last thing the Brisker Rav was going to want to do. So he comes over to the Brisker Rav, and he says, Smicha... So Brisker Rav... Shamaskim. Shin and sin interchanged by the Litvisha. They don't say the shin; they say sin. ... mashkim, right? The shamashkim from the Torah, mashkim to give... I don't do that. So the person told me, he said that I heard it from the person who the story happened to. He said to me that he felt bad, you know, and the Brisker Rav, a tzaddik, a Yid Yisrael. He wanted to teach the guy a lesson, but... He said, You know what? I don't do this. ... the Alter said, Gei tzu tzem, ... un chunt tzeich, and I'll sign underneath the smicha. Good. A chassidishe bachur, a yunger bachur, he's excited. He goes to the—he couldn't get the bechinah. Why? He told me every time he tried to reach the Alter, learning, learning, ... it was learning. So he couldn't interfere to get the bechinah. Took him two and a half weeks. Right before summer was over, he chapped him walking with somebody and asked him. He started asking him three she'eilos. He said, Valdi, I'll give you smicha. So he took out a piece of paper and he wrote him up a smicha. Kitzi tells me he takes the paper and he runs back to the Brisker Rav. The Brisker Rav told him that he'll sign. And he says to me that he wanted—the Brisker shouldn't think that he took it ten times and failed. You know, what took two and a half weeks. He didn't want the Brisker ... So he started saying, I'm sorry, because it took two and a half weeks. ... I tried to get—he was always learning, I couldn't disturb him. ... I spoke out. ... They couldn't. Could you imagine when it's not bein hazmanim, when it's not summer vacation, ... That's all the Brisker Rav had to hear. Du vil smicha? ... a smicha ... I don't know the right words in Yiddish. ... There's a chiluk tzuvishen bein hazmanim and nit bein hazmanim, zummer, nit zummer. There's a difference in your mind between the summer... I don't know what you're talking about. He says, Shein tzait, ... you should grow up before you get smicha. He says, ... the nusach of ... the liberty, he couldn't be masig it, yeah. So Brisker ... a tzaddik, yeah. Anyway, so he promised him. So he told him he took the paper, and his hands were shaking. He was signing it. He was signing, shaking, and under his breath he said, ... He couldn't. That nusach just drove him crazy. Now you tach, you hear? Someone who learns Torah and understands Torah, ... you don't get it. You don't chap. The chap isnish what this is. Reb Yisroel Salanter, rabbeisai, says a different mahalach. Reb Yisroel Salanter in Ohr Yisroel, I'm trying to do as quickly as possible, has a mahalach that they learned Torah to keep the mitzvahs. They learned Torah to keep the mitzvahs. What's the pshat? They didn't learn Torah for l'shem haTorah, which means lishmor ... So they didn't think you have to make a birchas haTorah. If I make a pair of tefillin, I have to make a bracha? No. When I wear the tefillin, I make the bracha, al kiyum hamitzvah. They looked at it as an emtzai just to know how.

They didn't see the Torah l'sheim limud haTorah, sheloy brachu baTorah. Okay. So they didn't have the Rav Chaim Volozhin's lishmah, right? There's an interesting some sefer. Some sefer says, sheloy brachu baTorah techilah. If you look at the Bach, the Bach says the same yesod, sheloy brachu baTorah techilah, they didn't learn Torah lishmah l'shem Hashem. Which is interesting, in the olam haTorah there's a chiluk between lishmah, l'shem Torah, lishmah l'shem Hashem. The Bach says they didn't learn l'shem Hashem, lishmah. You hear? He says, the some sefer in Nedarim, it doesn't say they didn't learn l'shem haTorah; they didn't learn lishmah l'shem Hashem. So we have over here either the lishmah, Rav Chaim Volozhin, they didn't learn for that, which is Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, or they didn't learn lishmah l'shem Hashem. So which bracha didn't they make, says the Bach? They didn't make nosen haTorah. So it's actually the second bracha they didn't make. So not pshat loy mevarchi, they bechlal didn't make a bracha; they didn't make the second bracha because they tried to cut away the nosen haTorah. Mashgiach Tzahal used to quote ovos from Afkas Reochel, the Beis Yosef, that the reason for the churban was sheloy lamdu agados Chazal. They tried to take away the yirah from the Torah, which means the Eibishter, and mimeila that caused the churban. Harab brais in the meibishter, from Torah geit es nisht, as eifach the iberzogn from Beis Yosef in Afkas Reochel. I heard from Rav Shach, and I think in the Maseves Mussar it's also brought, that actually it wasn't the nosen haTorah bracha they didn't make, but techilah, they didn't make the first bracha. He said over from the Vilna. He told it to me from the Vilna Gaon, the Vilna Maggid, shloy baruchu baTorah, which it says techilah. What does the word techilah mean? Techilah means the first of the two brachos, the vaharev na. They learned Torah with hanaah. Iglei tal, hanaah is a chelek of talmud Torah, bavram and Aharon. So it comes out that we actually have three or four mahalchim: what wrong? Either they weren't machshiv the Torah, or they learned Torah l'shem hamitzvah v'lo l'shem haTorah, or they learned it without lishmah of the etzem Torah, right? Or they learned it without hanaah, right? One of the above. Tell me, what's the reason for birchas haTorah? Anybody know the reason for birchas haTorah? It's a very big machlokes. The Beis Halevi in Parshas Mishpatim says that it's a birchas hamitzvos. I, noshim, they don't have the mitzvah Talmud Torah; they do. They have the mitzvahs and they geya to them, and that's a kiyum of Talmud Torah. Brisker Rav, Reb Tzvi, is not gores this Beis Halevi, and he has a whole mahalach b'shem Reb Chaim that it's not a birchas hamitzvos; it's a birchas hashevach. Torah, Torah. Even someone who doesn't have a kiyum hamitzvah has birchas haTorah. But he said the Steipler, in Kehillos Yaakov in Brachos, is a peleh, and only a Steipler can write this, and he has raayos from Rishonim. Can't go through it right now. It's a birchas hanehenin. And he says, take a look: whenever you have birchas hamitzvos, you don't make the bracha on the mitzvah. Baruch... mitzvosav... a shofar, but it's to blow a shofar. Here we make a bracha on the Torah itself, like you make a bracha on an apple. Says the Beis Halevi, the Steipler, only a Steipler, you know. Ruim hadvarim umi she'amram. Abaye says. Now you see, when a talmid chacham, tzaddikim learn, it was such a gishmak to them. They figured, Avadah davka birchas haTorah, so zega birchas hanehenin. Abaye says, if you think about the reasons for Birchas HaTorah, these are actually the machlokes of Shlomo Baruchu baTorah techilah. Did they not make the birchas hamitzvos? Did they not make it because, what, they didn't think the Torah was chashuv, or because they didn't have hana'ah in it? The three reasons is really in the Bach, in the Ar Yisrael, in the Keich. And again, if we had time, I would be mefarer it more, but I'd like to end with one last thing, Abaye. Give me another second. Let's talk l'maaseh us, okay? I don't know, you know, it's big inyanim, maybe. But I can tell you one thing. You know how we could apply it to us? I want to tell you a pshat I said in the word techilah. What's Shlomo Baruchu baTorah techilah? There's a maaseh from Reb Chaim and the Netziv, and it applies to us. I'll tell you how it applies to us, and I'll tell you the maaseh. There's a machlokes about an esrog: yesh kosher, nishkosher, okay. The Netziv held the esrog from...

Yisroel that he wanted was kosher. Chaim held, and he rised that it's not kosher. Two-thirty or three o'clock in the morning, depends which Brisker yeshiva you learned in, they tell it over with a different half hour. Everyone has a different... Adum toya b'chatzi sha'ah, the Gemara in Pesachim, the daf yomi, okay, we'll get into that a little maybe, okay. Now, af al panim, here, two-thirty in the morning or three in the morning, Reb Chaim is summoned to the zayde, the Netziv. He came in his pajamas. Reb Chaim ran the way he was. He figured the zayde had heart—something must have happened. To be called at two-thirty in the morning, Sukkos night, must be... He comes, nothing. The Netziv is sitting in the sukkah and has איצטעמט. Chavraya, take in diras, the esrog is kosher. Reb Chaim said, breath. He saw that it's not a life and death. Maybe to the Netziv it was life and death, but it wasn't really life and death, okay? Anandera einikel vazakt, zayde, this is what you woke me up for? You couldn't wait till the morning? But avade Reb Chaim wanted to hear it, so he wasn't upset, but he said, Give me a minute, I'll make birchas haTorah. The Netziv's head sank. What? Mein ainikel, three o'clock in the morning, still gonna make birchas haTorah? Couldn't take it. It was such an agmas nefesh to him. It was such an agmas nefesh to him. Hayutaf. You know what the word techilah might be? Shelo yevarchu baTorah a techilah, first thing in the morning. You know, some people think, first I'll get through it, through the day. First order of business, let me say. Is the ikar of why a person wakes up in the morning is an ikar of first order of business. What is techilah? What is the first thing on your agenda? What is the first thing? Do you wrap your schedule around the limud haTorah? So that becomes the starting point, right? Let's say you have a globe, right? So how to put your finger, and everything else is around, that's called the starting point, right? The word techilah obviously doesn't have to mean literally in the morning, morning, but it means techilah, first thing. Bachurim, if you don't mind me telling you this, I don't know if any bachurim or parents should tell their bachurim, I'm mechazek them. ... You ever see ... That’s going to be the difference ... It's little things, it's nuances ... It's something that only the Eibishter could detect it. ... And again, I'm not knocking, and ... we are ... Baruch Hashem ... bring us to beis hamikdash. But if we have to do teshuvah, ... machshiv Torah. To teach your children to be machshiv Torah. And a Shabbos table, talk ... about bnei Torah, not talk negative things about bnei Torah. Don't do it. It's a yetzer hara ... You know, it's a peleh. ... but the yetzer hara knows the one or two things that ruins completely ... And then we want to know our internet, mevil ves. What's the kasha? Haz mizitz by Shabbos table. You may have the ... shem ... talmidei chachamim, ma'alis of talmidei chachamim. That's אי חשיבות ... There's no — that's Dvar Hashem boza. That's where Rabbi Yitzchok quotes the Dvar Hashem boza, that that's what went wrong. The Rabbeinu Yonah says it's going on talmidei chachamim if you mevazeh them. Chovesh, teach the children chovesh ... This is going to be the tikun. This is going to give us — I don't have another minute, right? I have one more second. Nossi, do I have one more second? Hasheinah ma'aseh? Okay. You'll appreciate this ma'aseh. You want to know what chovesh ... is? I'll tell you. Amalek ... lived kiheim chayeinu. They lived it. They lived — that means if I don't understand the Torah, it's very ... I become sick from it. ... You know, today, unfortunately — and again, I don't mean to put down anything. I'm a simple Yid. I'm not a chashuv person, I'm a very pashut person, but it's ...

I know for myself. Svara, yes svara, netz svara. Is it good? It's a nisht gut. It's alt gut, you know. Sounds good. Oh, it sounds good. You know, oh, that's pretty good. That I don't like it. Hamafleg l'netzol of a chiddush teira. You know, that Rav Keller got up at the Agudah convention, and he said that there was a time and a place where you had a chiddush, you walk over to your friend and say, I have a chiddush. You want to pay for it? And the guy would say, Yeah, I'm ready to pay for it. And he would take out, he would pay for it. I'd say, ... You know, they do it like that. ... Yeah, they talk like that. ... came to Rav Dovid, and he tells Rav Dovid, ... I have a vort. Ten million dollar. ... ... I'm ready to pay. Good? Rav Chaim starts from the beginning of the Gemara, and if you know how we used to say, you used to start from the beginning, read the whole Gemara baal peh, and then go to the Rashi and read it baal peh, ... Rav Chaim. Anyone was zoche to see this. It was ... with the ... Okay. After twenty minutes, Rav Chaim turns around, ... He said, ... I'm not paying you. What, you didn't like my vort? And I feel you didn't like it. There's halachos, you mekabel that. Something ... ... Sorry, pay it back, and then you gave me another million, I gave you back a million. ... My zeide, since brought down in the Torah Chaim on the Chaim al HaTorah, in the back, Rav Meir Rotenberg brings this maaseh. But I heard it a little differently in the shtub, in my house. I heard it with a little shinui, more or less the same, but I'll say it over the way I heard it in the house, okay? But he brings Rav Meir Rotenberg, the yeshiva beis medrash in Eretz Yisroel, this maaseh. The Alter Zeide came to New York, to Boston, to all over for Agudah in 1918. He went back afterwards, and he was killed in the war, whatever happened, but he was here in America. When he came back, they asked him, Did you see Torah? He says, I went to a few yeshivas here. Is there Torah in America? ... He says, I'll tell you the emes, I did see learning. Eina doimeh the learning in Europe to the learning that was being done in America in 1918. A yeshiva bachur in Volozhin, in Europe, in Kamenetz, Volozhin, he said, ... So his chavrusa would say, Wait a minute, by Simchas ... in the end of the masechta, by Simchas, when the Rashba and the Ritva, nishtumtzach, ... it's a storm, oh, ... Came in a yeshiva in America, and he saw two bachurim learning. One bachur says, ... and the other guy says to him, Ah, poor guy. Maybe you'll have better luck next time. And they went to the next Gemara. Yeah, that ... If you learn Torah like it's a storybook, you learn Torah like it's a ... If you come in, ... okay, it's time for lunch and learn to eat. Okay, you're right. By the way, I agree with you, it's time for lunch. Let's learn. Let's learn. And the truth is, take it from what once was. Learn from the Amaleke. Listen, listen to the Gedolim talk to Amalek. Listen to their stories. Chofetz Chaim writes clearly, V'ahavta es Hashem Elokecha... you're supposed to love Torah as if echad mi'banav. Says it clearly in Chomas HaDas. Love it as you love your own child. He says to love it that you'd give away all your money. He says we can't do it. That's too much of a madreigah. Al kol panim, k'echad mi'banav. You know, the Baal Ber never held the Gemara underneath his arm. You know that? Azoi halt a kind? Would you hold your kid that way? He would hold him in the front like you hold a child. Nuances, my friends, nuances. The nuances in shtub of ahavas haTorah go a long way in how your children respect Torah, love Torah, respect talmidei chachamim. Don't come later and blame, Ah, it had to do with the way you spoke in the house. I'm telling you, klor, sorry to say, between the eyes. Shivas haTorah in the children is only one person's shoulders.

Don't blame the yeshivas, even though they could work on that area. I'm not saying not. It has to do with the shidduch. Is that the tatte is machshiv Torah, machshiv. And to him, it's the ikar of his life. If a Yid is mechubed b'Torah, then the children will be bnei, bnei, bnei Torah. Zechus zayns in the Bis HaGadol. I apologize. Forgive me, forgive me. It's a topic close to my heart. I try my best for you, I really do. I come every week from Mesiras Nefesh. It's not easy for me. Please take it from where it comes from. It comes from deep here. Machshivs, I'm toiveh. This is what we are. This is Klal Yisroel. It's the difference between a Klal Yisroel and the rest of the umos ha'olam. Machshivs haTorah. Love Torah, love, love. ... zoche zayns in Bis HaGadol. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.