Part II
In the first part, HaRav Diskin developed several important
yesodos. The Torah is the blueprint of the world and what it
determines, is what happens and how things work. If the Torah says
that the color of techeiles brings one to think of Hashem,
then the similar color of kolo ilan will not do, and anyone
who tries to substitute the latter is denying the full Divine aspect
of the Torah. Similarly, when Hashem said that the makkas bechoros
would force Pharaoh to release Bnei Yisroel, it acquired the
power to do so, and only it. Thus it was Hashem's ability to determine
exactly who was a bechor that ensured that the makkas bechoros
actually was what it was supposed to be and therefore that ability
forced Pharaoh to release Bnei Yisroel. Also a ben soreir
umoreh only becomes hopeless when he completely loses his connection
to Torah. A ben Torah is someone who follows these principles
and is completely formed by the Torah. "Anyone for whom the Torah
is his only guide in all he does is a ben Torah."
I once heard the following from Maran the Ponevezher
Rav, HaRav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman zt'l, in a shmuess
to the yeshiva students: "`Hashem was well pleased for His righteousness'
sake, to magnify Torah and make it glorious' (Yeshaya 42:21).
The way to do the righteousness that Hashem wants is for us to magnify
Torah and make it glorious, to increase the study of Torah and toil
over Torah study."
This refers not only to talmidim who study Torah the whole
day, but also to those forced to leave the Torah's tent and find work
for their livelihood. Such a person must feel he is working only because
he is compelled to do so, and it is the lesser of two evils. He has
no special heter to engage in as much efforts for livelihood
as he wants. He is exactly like the talmid who has remained
day and night in the Torah's tent, with the exception that he must
work because of his particular situation. Only what is needed for
his livelihood is permitted him, and no more.
Unfortunately we see talmidim who have started working
because of a genuine need, or sometimes even an imagined need, and
are now content with set times for studying Torah while considering
the rest of their time leisure time to be used as they wish. It is
as if they deserve a reward for engaging the whole day in worldly
affairs, and the night belongs exclusively to them. They do not imagine
that, on the contrary, they must make up for what they have lost out
and engage in Torah to the maximum they are able.
Besides the aveiro of bitul Torah they are missing
the main weapons to fight the yetzer. Where is the radiance
of the Torah to illuminate their way during the whole day? Where are
the zechuyos to protect them from the punishment of the aveiros
they, chas vesholom, have committed during the day? Someone
who feels he can run his life according to halocho without
studying Torah will surely, chas vesholom, languish in his
attempts.
Some defense for this behavior can be found in the fact that
the way they studied in the yeshiva does not fit into their new way
of life. They have difficulty in involving themselves in analyzing
a sugya after their studies were cut off because of their work.
This, however, does not free them from their obligation to study Torah.
They must plan their study program so that the way they study and
what they study can fill all the time they have left after work and
during the breaks they have in the middle.
Some think that there are two avenues how to live. One way is
to study the whole day. A person who falls into that category must
study to the best of his ability without any interruptions.
The second way to live, they think, is for a working man: For
him it is enough to follow a set schedule of studying a few hours
each day and with that he has fulfilled all his obligations.
Such a philosophy of life is totally mistaken. It is the work
of the yetzer hora who wants to persuade man that if he cannot
gain everything he should not try to have even the little he can get.
Another principle a person should embrace is that all he does
should be strictly according to the yardstick of halocho. There
are mitzvos about which each one of us is accustomed to ask a chochom,
such as what foods are permitted to eat, but there are many halochos
that a person paskens for himself although he is unqualified
to do so. Even when he decides for himself what the halocho
is, it is not after intensive consideration; surprisingly, he reaches
his conclusion in a foolhardy way. He applies logic that is
a farce and only skin-deep.
It is immaterial whether he rules stringently or leniently. Even
when ruling stringently, if he does not take all aspects into consideration
he sometimes commits serious aveiros, and especially those
bein odom lechavero. Occasionally he rules in an offhand fashion
about cardinal problems, hashkofo questions, matters involving
chilul Hashem, and proper interrelations with others.
Even when he realizes that he must ask a she'ela he chooses
the psak he finds suitable, whether it is a lenient or stringent
one. This person has actually decided the halocho beforehand
and is only looking for a halachic basis to support his decision.
This decision conforms with his character and standing among his friends,
and has nothing to do with what the correct halocho actually
is. This person is not qualified to pasken she'eilos and he
is even aware of his incompetence. The halocho, the Shulchan
Oruch, do not regulate his life. What does govern him is his disposition,
desires, and middos. This way of acting is appalling and it
uproots the foundations of halocho.
Unfortunately there are many people who degrade talmidei
chachomim. To justify their own lifestyle they defame even gedolei
Torah. Such behavior has an influence on their society that does
not disappear. We must take care that such conduct will not cause
yirei Hashem to act differently, that they will be able to
discern between what increases Heaven's honor and what, chas vesholom,
decreases it.
In a newspaper it is impossible to enumerate all the various
cases in which lack of forethought has become common among us. There
are certain situations that we do not think of as being even a she'ela
of issur and heter.
In the past, when our nation was more elevated, all matters of
the community and the individual were attended to by the city's Torah
leaders. They would supervise all that was happening. They would comment,
and would awaken the nation to take care that every detail of their
life should conform to halocho.
This included all elements of life, even things having to do
with measurements, weights, or the price of merchandise. Jews did
not rely on the government in such matters since they knew that everything
relevant to din Torah was decided by the rabbonim and it was
their responsibility to supervise them. Individuals knew that anything
unconventional must be brought before the local rav who would rule
whether there was any doubt of issur.
In the present, people act differently: they decide for themselves
what the halocho is. We must realize how incorrect this is
and backtrack to the way we once acted concerning both Torah study
and the awareness within the nation that all ways of life are
to be judged by halocho. We must appoint ourselves a rav
and acquire a friend.
We must study what it means to appoint a rav for ourselves and
acquire a friend. What is a rav and who is he? How do we obtain a
friend and what is his duty?
People include in the title of rav two types of people, but in
Chazal the title fits only one of them and the other is only a bogus
application of the title.
A rav, according to Chazal, is someone who teaches Torah and
yiras Shomayim and educates others in their growth in Torah
so they can understand the Torah's ways and its wisdom. Through studying
from a rav a person becomes a talmid chochom in perceiving
logic, in gaining extensive knowledge of Torah, in the Torah's wisdom,
in yirah, and in hashkofo. In general, everything embraced
in ruchniyus is built and refined through a rav.
Just as there is a rav for an individual so is there one for
the community, and a definition of such a rav complies with what is
specified above. A Rabbon shel Yisroel is someone who, through
his eminence in Torah and yiras Shomayim, influences those
living in his times. He molds their hashkofo, their way of
thinking, he clarifies what are the proper outlooks and separates
them from the false ones, and educates and guides the masses in the
means to ascend in their avoda. This Rabbon shel Yisroel
instructs talmidei chachomim to build their Torah study on
unadulterated straight-as-an-arrow reasoning, and reminds them to
keep their way of studying Torah along the way the gedolei Yisroel
instilled in the previous generation. He should influence the talmidei
chachomim in his generation through his depth of understanding
and broad-mindedness.
The other person called a rav is merely using the title as an
alias. It would be more proper to call him a moreh horo'oh,
although this title does not fit him either. More proper would be
to call him a halachic expert. In our present times, because we are
incapable of examining the halocho deeply and arriving at the
halocho from the sources' depth Hashem, in His abundant mercy,
has supplied us with detailed halocho seforim that show every
case that can possibly happen, and in them is explained, in black
on white, what to do. In our generation the spiritual decline is so
enormous that people are even too lazy to look into the Kitzur
Shulchan Oruch and surely not in the Mishnah Berurah to
see what is explicitly ruled there. Any halachic question they encounter
they ask of an expert in that particular area. There are experts in
hilchos Shabbos, in mitzvos aseh shehazman gromo, in
tumah vetohoroh, and other such areas.
These experts should not be called rabbonim. Even if they
are experts in many halachic areas, and even if they are a walking
encyclopedia, they are only like someone carrying a load of books.
They only supply us with references. We should not rely on their rulings
without insuring that the question in hand is the same that is written
in the sefer. We must be certain that this expert also possesses
a logical mind and knows how to compare one matter to another and
to distinguish between matters.
We must be extremely careful in this matter, since often,
because we are overwhelmed with someone's miraculous memory and his
organized knowledge, and because we see that many ask him questions,
we think he is a prominent rav. Although this expert should be
honored since he surely had Divine Assistance in acquiring this knowledge,
and surely devoted much effort and diligence to reaching this goal,
he is not yet considered a rav. Besides the fact that we need to check
his rulings, whatever he says outside of his particular expertise
should not be relied upon at all. Chazal's statement that we should
appoint a rav over ourselves does not apply to such a rav.
It is definitely difficult to ask a simple Jew who is not knowledgeable
in halachic intricacies to decide who a proper rav is. The simplest
way is, therefore, to make it the first condition for choosing a rav
that he be an illustrious talmid chochom. Being a talmid
chochom means someone proficient in the Talmud and gifted
with straight reasoning and clear power of comprehension, and who
follows the same way as the Torah leaders of the previous generations.
To find out who meets this description we must see who is relied on
by other known talmidei chachomim who are discerning people,
yirei Shomayim, and disseminate Torah to others.
Doubtless, if other chachomim have decided on someone
special to be called a rav, and are confident that what he tells them
is unsullied daas Torah without personal interests and pilpulim,
it is proper to rely on them that they have not been mistaken in whom
they have chosen, and we can also choose him as rav. Of course, this
does not include a rav who was chosen by ignorant people and laymen,
those whose yardstick is not one of Torah knowledge, since they lack
this themselves, and in addition they have many considerations for who
is preferable to them. The main thing that counts for them is that
their rav agrees with them. Although it may happen that they will
choose a rav who is great in Torah, this is rare. The choice of amei
ho'oretz for a rav is worthless, since they are like blind people.
On the contrary, such a rav needs to be examined: how can it be that
he agrees with those who are ignorant? We should not rely on such
a choice at all.
Acquiring a friend means first of all finding a chavrusa
to study with. It is, nonetheless, proper for someone to have a friend
for all his matters, for all matters of ruchniyus. Each one
should strengthen the other and advise the other how to improve his
ways, and what should be added to his avodas Hashem. They should
delight together in their progress and together fashion a way to reach
what they lack. This is the true chavrusa, each helping the
other. Their love for each other is true and deep, a love based on
their wanting to fulfill the Creator's will.
Naturally, in choosing such a friend a person should insure that
their ways in life are akin in reference to their being available
to each other, living in the same neighborhood, and having compatible
middos, or those that complete each other. If he succeeds in
finding such a friend he can be sure to have Divine Assistance and
will be zoche to many things.
This is the real ben Torah. He is a person whose every
act is directed towards doing Hashem's will. Whatever he does
is based on daas Torah and his behavior -- as a ben
Torah -- "Both someone who does much and someone who does
little [are acceptable] as long as his intentions are lesheim
Shomayim" (Brochos 5b).
HaRav Shimon Moshe Diskin zt'l was a rosh yeshiva in Yeshivas
Kol Torah in Yerushalayim
