The Secret of Sweetening the Judgments: The Immense Power of Learning Gemara
Lesson No. 31 | Part 1 - Thursday Morning, Parashas Matos, 22 Tammuz 5755, at the Yeshiva
In order to merit the level of:
"I have set Hashem before me always"
"One should strengthen himself like a lion to arise in the morning for the service of his Creator, so that he awakens the dawn... 'I have set Hashem before me always' is a great principle in the Torah and in the virtues of the tzaddikim who walk before God."
When a person sits in his home, he must feel that he is in the presence of a great King. If a person sees the King right before his eyes, he will not speak mundane words or open his mouth in vain; rather, he will remain silent and elevate his thoughts upward. This is the spiritual level of the Three Weeks (the days of mourning between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B'Av), during which all sins are forgiven. Therefore, we begin the Three Weeks by reading Parashas Pinchas, which details all the festivals. Immediately after the breaking of the Tablets, all the sins of the Jewish people were forgiven, and during these Three Weeks, the light of all three pilgrimage festivals, of Rosh Hashanah, and of Yom Kippur shines brightly. All of this is in order to reach the level of "I have set Hashem before me always."
The Path to the King Goes Through the Shas (Talmud)
However, the main problem is that a person struggles to constantly set the name of Hashem before him because he does not know the Shas (the entire Talmud) and is not immersed in Torah study. It is told about Rabbi Chaim of Brisk zt"l that he merited righteous sons whose faces shone like the sun. Rabbi Chaim Ozer zt"l explained why Rabbi Chaim of Brisk merited this: During the pogroms and wars, Rabbi Chaim of Brisk never looked at the newspaper headlines to see what was happening. Instead, he was entirely immersed in Torah, and therefore he merited such sons.
They also told a story about Rabbi Chaim of Brisk when he was a child of about seven. His father asked him to bring a single stamp from the post office. On his way, he passed by a grocery store. The store owners asked him in Yiddish, "Where are you going?" He answered, "Father told me to bring a stamp from the post office." They told him, "You can buy stamps at the grocery store too!" But the child refused: "Father said the post office. It is forbidden to deviate from Father's word, not a single utterance and not a single letter."
He took a Gemara with him, went to the post office, and there he had to stand in line for half an hour among the non-Jews. During this time, he placed the Gemara in front of his face and learned an entire tractate. At the grocery store, he could have bought the stamp in a single second, but since his father had said "at the post office," he practiced self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) to fulfill his words with absolute precision.
Litvish Hearts
Our holy Rebbe, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, explicitly stated (as brought in 'Siach Sarfei Kodesh'): "I wanted my matter to spread within the hearts of people who are diligent in their Divine service like the Jews of Lithuania... I wanted you to first be Litvaks" ("Ikh hab gevolt mayn zakh zol zikh leybn oyf litvishe hertser").
It is impossible to be a Breslov Chassid without knowing the entire Shas. What is there to discuss with a person who does not know Shas? There is nothing to talk about with him at all. The Sage of Brisk said that before one learns the entire Shas a thousand times with broad proficiency (bekius), there is no point in even beginning to learn in-depth (b'iyun). In the yeshiva, one must learn for long hours every day in-depth, and for additional hours with broad proficiency.
The Secret of "Tanu Rabanan" and the Sweetening of Judgments
The Admor of Komarno brings in Parashas Masei (in the name of the book 'Bris Olam') awesome secrets about the virtue of Torah study. When a person learns Gemara, he needs to know how to unify the Divine Names (yichudim). For example, when we say in the Gemara "Tanu Rabanan" (Our Rabbis taught) – the word "Tanu" (תנו) has a numerical value (gematria) of 456. This number corresponds to drawing down the souls of Yaakov, Rachel, and Leah (Yaakov = 182, Rachel = 238, Leah = 36. Together: 456). The entire Gemara and every 'Tanu Rabanan' are meant to draw down the souls of Yaakov, Rachel, and Leah.
If a person does not learn, how will he be attached to Hashem? From eating cake or drinking cola? From eating an omelet or just wandering around? The Komarno explains that in order to reach the illumination of "I have set Hashem before me always," the only way is through the thirty-two paths of wisdom, which is the study of Gemara. This study draws down wisdom from the World of Atzilus (the highest spiritual realm of Divine Emanation). From there, the thirty-two occurrences of the Name "Elokim" that appear in Parashas Bereishis are drawn down.
Through the study of Gemara, one sweetens the Name Elokim (which represents the attribute of strict judgment) and loving-kindness (chasadim) spreads all the way down to the end of the World of Asiyah (the physical world of Action). When a person learns Gemara, he sweetens all the harsh judgments in the world.
The Komarno brings the words of the Zohar:
"The Holy One, Blessed be He, rejoices in the pilpul (analytical Torah debate)."
When you engage in analytical debate, when you reveal novel Torah insights and learn in-depth, you bring joy to Hashem. And if Hashem is joyful, all the harsh judgments and decrees in the world are sweetened. Therefore, for anyone who wants to sweeten judgments, the only way to do so is through learning Gemara, with the awareness that every letter is a Divine unification, every word in Rashi and Tosafos is composed of holy Names, and through this, one merits to cleave to the Infinite Light (Ohr Ein Sof).
Part 1 of 2 — Lesson No. 31
All parts: Part 1 (current) | Part 2