The "Bottom Line" - Business vs. Torah

When one makes  a siyum, it is customary to recite the "hadran". One of the themes that runs through the hadran is the contrast between those who put their efforts into learning and those who invest all their time and energy into other, trivial things.

In the middle of the text we recite:
"We [those who learn Torah] work hard and they [those who spend their time on trivial things] work hard. We work hard and receive a reward for our efforts while they work hard and do not receive any reward..."

The Chofetz Chaim is reported to have explained this comparison as follows - in the physical world it's all about results. If you work and work but don't produce - you don't get paid. When it comes to learning however, it is specifically the effort and the investment of self that generates the reward - regardless of the bottom line of actual progress and accomplishment. If someone barely knows how to read Hebrew but he struggles to get through a few pesukim with Rashi, he will be rewarded like a more advanced student who pushes himself to finish a long masechta.

But that seemingly leaves us with a question - why would we emphasize this point specifically at a siyum which in and of itself is a celebration of objective accomplishment? Why do we announce that the Torah doesn't consider the juice-to-squeeze ratio at the very moment when we're enjoying this milestone that has been reached?

The passuk in Shemot (18:20 to be exact) refers to the Torah as a "Derech" - a "Path":

 וְהִזְהַרְתָּה אֶתְהֶם אֶת-הַחֻקִּים וְאֶת-הַתּוֹרֹת וְהוֹדַעְתָּ לָהֶם אֶת-הַדֶּרֶךְ יֵלְכוּ בָהּ וְאֶת-הַמַּעֲשֶׂה אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשׂוּן.

The very nature of a "path" is that it is a place where people move and progress. Stopping for a break on the side of the path is totally within reason, but this does not fulfill the ultimate purpose of the path which is to facilitate constant movement of its travelers. 


Perhaps at a siyum we stress that while we are taking a quick break on the side of the proverbial road to celebrate the completion of this leg of the journey, we must remember that this is not the final stop and our objective must be to continue as far as we can go. 


This is the difference between "us" and "them" as we say in the "Hadran". In the material world it is often all about meeting a deadline and completing a specific project or task. Meet the objective satisfactorily and you will be rewarded. Miss it and you will have to deal with the consequences. Often there is no "A for effort".

Torah however, is meant to be a "Derech" - an ongoing path for improvement and progress. You didn't daven so well this morning? Don't worry - you'll do better at Mincha. Didn't understand the answer of Tosafos? You'll give it another shot next time you review this perek. Do the best you possibly can and if you stumble don't stop to feel sorry for yourself because going forward you'll do even more and even better. One who lives with this outlook is truly worthy of his reward in the eyes of the Torah.

I pride myself on being a "balabus" who strives for effort and excellence at work, at home, in Shul and int he Beit Midrash. I don't see working and learning as "two worlds" that run in parallel but rather different aspects of a complete Avodat Hashem. Sometimes however, the "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately" attitude in the business world causes to me take a step back and try to keep things in some sort of perspective...

Perhaps this is all obvious to whoever takes the time to read it, but even the most obvious things are worth repeating once in a while

Talmud Yerushalmi vs. Talmud Bavli

I started a new chavrusa learning Gemara Brachot from the beginning. It's going great and it's amazing how sometimes a Gemara and a Rashi that you've learned many times before can suddenly start looking a lot more complex and interesting than you remember it...

While learning last night, my chavrusa asked an interesting question - why do we spend so much time learning the Talmud BAVLI??? Don't we also have a Talmud Yerushalmi? After all, we are in Israel and it would make sense to learn the local Torah. And don't Chaza"l say - "Ein Torah k'torat Eretz Yisrael"?? Why did the Bavli become the main focus of our Torah Sheba'al Peh?
precedence over the Yerushalmi.

After a bit of research, here are a few reasons suggested throughout the generations:


The Rif, at the end of Eruvin says that halachic preference is given to the Bavli because it came after the Yerushlami, and the Amoraim of the Bavli were fluent in the Yerushlami and nonetheless came to their conclusions which often differ from those Yerushlami.

Rav Yitchak Isaac Halevi Rabinowitz zt"l, in Dorot Rishonim (Chap. 20) offers an historical reason based on the opinions of some of the Geonim, that since there were persecutions on Eretz Yisrael at the time that the Yerushlami was compiled, the relevant halachic discussions were ended abruptly and were not fully developed. We therefore rely upon the Bavli which whose discussions were developed fully.

The Netziv in his commentary to the Torah, Ha'amek Davar (Shemot 34:1) compares the two Talmuds to the first and second luchot. On the one hand, the first set of luchot had a higher level of kedusha since they were formed by Hashem Himself, but the second luchot are still the ones which remained intact forever. Similarly, the Talmud Yerushalmi has a higher level of kedusha since it was written by earlier chachamim and it has the merit of being written in Eretz Yisrael, but the Bavli is the Torah that guided the Jewish people through the exile to Bavel and allowed us to maintain our traditions through a period of darkness.

It should also be noted that the chachamim and poskim throughout the generations still held the Yerushalmi in very high regard. Anyone who has learned the Aruch Hashulchan for example, knows that he makes reference to the Yerushalmi on almost every page. Also take a look at thw Bi'ur HaGr"a (Orach Chaim 235:13) who discusses the Rambam's view.

Parshat Vayetze - Ein Mearvin Simcha B'simcha and Sheva Brachot

A thought on Parshat Vayetze that I recently printed in a Kuntress names "Katal Imrati (כטל אמרתי) In honor of our daughter Talia Rachel:

Shabbat Shalom

A Fantastic P'shat from R' Nosson Gestetner zt"l

On the bus home from work yesterday, I was going through a teshuva from a sefer called "L'Horot Natan" from R' Nosson Gestetner zt"l (vol. 11 siman 9). The teshuva outlines exactly how bad it is to bring your cell phone to shul and use it to speak in the middle of tefilla (an unfortunately relevant topic these days).

Perhaps we'll get back to cell-phone-related halacha at some point soon (I have more to say on the topic), but for now I wanted to share an absolutely beautiful idea that R' Gestetner adds parenthetically in this piece.

The Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 83:3) rules that one should go to daven after having learned a clearly defined halacha. R' Gestetner uses this ruling to offer a novel explanation to the Gemara in Brachot (31a) that one should take leave of his friend "mitoch" (lit. "from within") a d'var halacha.

I am including the first page of the teshuva (it continues on the next page in the sefer) and highlighted the section to which I am referring.

I didn't have time to translate, but his language is pretty clear. Enjoy it - I certainly did.

Remembering Rav Shach zt"l

Today, the 16th of Cheshvan, marks the 10^th anniversary of the passing of Rav Elazar Menachem Mann Shach zt”l, the great gaon and Rosh Yeshiva of the Ponevezh yeshiva in B’nei Brak and author of the Avi Ezri on the Rambam.

I never had the privilege of meeting Rav Shach in person, but when he died I took the opportunity to pay a shiva call to his only son, Rabbi Dr. Efraim Azriel Shach z”l (who lived in Jerusalem until he passed away just before Sukkot of this year).

Dr. Shach had a very interesting story – much of which is well known by now. After learning in some of the finest Yeshivot in Israel at the time, he went on to join the Irgun and later went to University in North America. He ultimately returned and spent much of his professional career filling senior positions in the Israeli Ministry of Education. Suffice it to say that he didn’t exactly fit the assumed mold of the son of the Ponovezh Rosh Yeshiva.

I was at the beginning of my second year of learning in Yeshivat Hakotel at the time, and so one afternoon in the week of shiva during my lunch break, I hopped in a cab with a Rebbe from the Yeshiva and friend. Together the three of us made the short trip to the other side of the city to visit Dr. Shach.

We walked into a very welcoming but simple apartment. I was immediately struck by the large painting on the wall depicting Rav Shach davening with tallit and tefillin.

The apartment was busy with visitors, but not overly crowded. Dr. Shach patiently and warmly gave his full attention to each and every one of his visitors – weather he had met them previously or not (we didn’t even realize that R’ Zalman Nechemia Goldberg was sitting right next to us while we waited for our turn!).

When it was our turn to approach Dr. Shach he told us about his time spent in the United States as a faculty member and administrator in the Yeshiva of Flatbush. He joked with my friend who was a graduate of MTA – “we used to beat you guys in basketball all the time!”. 

He also shared some stories about his great father.  Dr. Shach related that once while he was in the New York, he wrote his father a letter marveling at the huge skyscrapers in Manhattan. His father responded that he was unimpressed by such physical, temporary things. “After all”, wrote Rav Shach to his son, “these buildings could fall to the ground in an instant” if Hashem willed it so. Being that the events of September 11, 2001 were not even two months behind us at that time, this particular vignette gave us goose bumps.

Dr. Shach also recalled how one morning he and his father were together in Rav Shach's apartment in B'nei Brak. His father was eating a piece of dry toast for breakfast and learning Rambam. Dr. Shach asked his father if he would like something with his toast - perhaps some butter or jam. Rav Shach looked at his son as if he was speaking Chinese. "I don't understand what you mean" replied Rav Shach, "I am having Rambam with my toast". Dr. Shach said that this response from his father was 100% serious.

A few months after my visit with Dr. Shach, he came to Yeshivat Hakotel at Rav Bina’s invitation to address the student body as a whole. In a moving display, Dr. Shach implored us to put all of our efforts into the study of Torah and keeping of the mitzvot. Dr. Shach explained that as his father taught him – everything in this world is rooted in and connected to the Torah. For a Jewish person there can be nothing that exists outside of this reality. Dr. Shach with all of his “other” pursuits and accomplishments in this world taught us that at the end of the day the Torah is the umbrella that encompasses everything in life.

This was the message of Rav Shach as told by his only son.

In this politicized and polarized world, many disagreed with Rav Shach on one issue or another. But perhaps on this, his tenth yahrtzeit, we can all agree on his bottom line - that for us Jews the Torah was, is and always will be the center of our lives.

O.C. 1:1 - Am I Allowed to Sleep In????

The Shulchan Aruch and Rama begin with what looks like some words of encouragement for getting going in the morning:

יתגבר כארי לעמוד בבוקר לעבודת בוראו, שיהא הוא מעורר השחר הגה: ועכ"פ לא יאחר זמן התפלה שהצבור מתפללין 

At first glance this looks like a pep talk of sorts to encourage getting up early in the morning as well as a reminder from the Rama that you need to at least get up to daven with the community (I know this is not an exact translation of the Rama - but we'll leave it at this for the time being) . There is nothing in this short formulation of the Shulchan Aruch that makes us think that there is an actual obligation to wake up early in the morning.

The Tur however elaborates and gives us a different impression:

 לכן צריך האדם להתגבר כארי לעמוד בבקר לעבודת בוראו ואף אם ישיאנו יצרו בחורף לאמר איך תעמוד בבקר כי הקור גדול או ישיאנו בקיץ לאמר איך תעמוד ממטתך ועדיין לא שבעת משנתך התגבר עליו לקום שתהא אתה מעורר השחר ולא יהא הוא מעירך כמו שאמר דוד ע"ה עורה כבודי עורה הנבל וכנור אעירה שחר אני מעיר השחר ואין השחר מעיר אותי... ואם אינו יכול להשכים קודם אור הבוקר מכל מקום התפלה אשר היא מועד לכל חי אל יאחר אותה ויחשוב בלבו אילו היה בעבודת מלך בשר ודם וציוהו להשכים באור הבוקר לעבודתו היה זהיר וזריז לעמוד לעבודתו כאשר ציוהו כ"ש וק"ו בנו של קל וחומר לפני מלך מלכי המלכים הקב"ה

When reading this Tur, I get the strong impression that getting up early is actually a full-fledged obligation. At the beginning of his comments the Tur clearly adds the word "tzarich" - "one must” work hard to get up in the morning.

Also at the end of his comments, the Tur introduces a parable for emphasis – “One should think in is heart that if he was serving a king of flesh and blood who commanded him to wake up early in the morning to begin his service, one would be careful to do so… How much more so with regards to the service of Hashem”.

It is difficult to understand this mashal of the Tur unless we say that just as this human king is commanding his subjects to wake up early, so too Hashem is commanding us to do so – the lesson being that we must be at least as careful with the commandments of Hashem as we would be with the commandments of a mortal king. 

The question then is, what is the source of this obligation to get up? How does the Tur know that we must wake up so early in the morning? 

Maybe the Tur answers this question himself in his continuation where he quotes support for this idea from the passuk/Gemara about David HaMelech: 

עורה כבודי עורה הנבל וכנור אעירה שחר - אני מעיר השחר ואין השחר מעיר אותי 

David HaMelech set a precedent of waking up early in order to serve Hashem. It is this precedent that obligates us to wake up early to serve Hashem as well. 

I found what sounds like a second answer in the Prisha (in his commentary to the Tur here). The Prisha suggests that since the obligation to say shema and daven begins and sunrise, a person must obviously wake up before then and be prepared (the Prisha then ties this into the reference to David HaMelech – take a look inside there).

Regardless of how you understand it, it seems clear from the Tur that a Jew is expected to wake up as early as he can (ideally before sunrise) to start his service of Hashem. 

One final point worth mentioning is that in general we assume “zereizin makdimin l’mitzvot” – One should hurry to perform a mitzvah at the earliest possible time. It seems that the Prisha is starting to go in this direction with regards to getting up early to get ready for tefilla, but I have not found anyone of the major poskim apply this principle anywhere in this context.

This last question not withstanding, the bottom line seems to point to an obligation (on some level) to get out of bed and start your day as early as possible. 

[After posting, I found support for this idea (that there is an actual obligation to wake up early) in other sources as well. The Biur HaGr"a here quotes several sources discouraging sleeping during the morning hours. One of those sources is a Mishna in Pirkei Avot that says that sleeping during the day is one of the things that removes a person from this world.

While most mefarshim explain this to be referring to one who sleeps past the time for kriat shema and tefilla, the Sefat Emet (in his commentary to Gemara Sukka 26b) seems to explain that the Mishna is prohibiting sleep in the morning since there is an obligation to recite Shema and Tefilla right away, similar to the approach of the Prisha discussed above].

I'm Back

Shavua Tov.

I am inclined to start by quoting a cultural icon from my youth who once proclaimed simply and famously - "I'm Back". 

I too "am back" in a sense. Not that I ever really went anywhere, but as far as this blog goes, I have been absent for a few weeks and hope that with this post we're back into the swing of things.

Just a reminder to my multitude of readers - for the most part the content of the blog will revolve around the Shulchan Aruch - matters of halacha and minhag. I also intend to post Divrei Torah on the Parsha and Holidays and possibly other random ideas and musings as they come to mind. 

I will continue to try and blog by the words of wisdom that my father continues to remind me of to this day - before opening your mouth, be sure what you are about to say is an improvement over silence.