Part II
The first part discussed the force of habit, and how we
reach higher levels on Yom Kippur but fall back. HaRav Shach
compared the promise of eternal life of the Torah with the
life of enjoyment that most of the world pursues. He noted
that living longer is a burden for those whose goal in life
is pleasure because one must seek pleasure for a longer time.
He also noted that the Torah that one innovates is eternally
quoted in Heaven.
*
Erev Rosh Hashonoh and Yom Kippur are almost
upon us, we have to do teshuvoh, but what is the world
doing on erev Rosh Hashonoh? They shave, bathe, sleep
and then come to shul, this is Rosh Hashonoh? The
first thing a person has to do is teshuvoh! A person
has to labor, to do teshuvoh. A person has to know
what he neglected, did he miss davening, he has to
strengthen himself in his tefillos, if he was lacking
in his learning, he has to strengthen himself in his
learning.
You should know that when you are in Yeshiva and you are not
careful with all your actions you are playing with fire! When
a person talks to his friend in the middle of learning he
causes bitul Torah, not only to himself and his friend
but to everyone! It is certainly justified to hold Reuven
responsible if his failure to learn caused his friend's
children and grandchildren not to learn, because their
grandfather did not learn because of you. You have to make
sure to learn and that your friend will learn and not to
waste time during the limud.
However, you are not allowed to exert yourself more than you
are capable. You have to eat on time, drink on time, sleep on
time, and learn on time. You should come to seder on
time and learn mussar when necessary. Do not think
that mussar is just an invention. Mussar is
Toras Emes, one is obligated to learn mussar.
Without it one cannot be a proper Jew! A man is a man [flesh
and blood], and half an hour of mussar study was
therefore instituted so that a person will be able to find
out and correct what he is lacking. Every person knows his
drawbacks and he has to work on them in order to correct
them.
Punishment is Ready and Waiting on Rosh Hashonoh.
I want to tell you something, we learned in parshas
Bechukosai and parshas Ki Sovo about the curses,
terrible curses! Frightening things! We tend to think that
Hashem sends these punishments to us, but in Eichoh(3,
38) it says, "Misfortunes and good do not stem from above,"
on which Chazal say (ibid. in Rashi), "R. Yochonon
says, From the day that Hashem said (Devorim 30, 15),
`See, I have set before you today life and good . . . ` bad
and good do not stem from Him, but bad comes to the wicked
automatically, as does good to the righteous, therefore a
person cannot blame anything except his sins." This Chazal
requires some explanation.
The explanation is this: Hashem created the world, and two
thirds of the globe is covered with seas which can flow over
the dry land and in one minute there would be nothing left of
it. But Hashem made boundaries for the sea, "A boundary that
they may not cross, so they will not return to cover the
land" (Tehillim 104, 9). Hashem said to the sea,
"Until here you may come" (Iyov 38, 11). The wave
rises, in the middle of the sea the waves can reach a height
equivalent to fifteen floors, it could engulf the whole of
Tel-Aviv. But Hashem determines that when the wave reaches
its limit, it breaks. We know that the sea itself could
destroy the world but Hashem does not want it to.
Similarly in the forests and the depths of the sea there are
hundreds of different species of wild animals, lions, and
tigers, and they are all hungry. Read and learn "Borchi
Nafshi" (Tehillim 104) and you will see, during the day
all the animals go into their burrows, caves and ruins and
hide, "the sun rises, they slink away and crouch in their
dens" Tehillim (v. 22) and at night they emerge in
search of food, "You make darkness and it is night, wherein
all the animals of the forest creep forth" (v. 20). Millions
of animals run around the forests searching for food, and
there are also birds of prey, if they would come to civilized
places they could destroy the world, but Hashem prepares food
for each one and they stay in the forests where there are no
people.
This is the explanation of the words, "Misfortunes and good
do not stem from above": the evils are all present and in
existence, the sea is here, the wild animals are here and
they can destroy the world. But Hashem has given them
boundaries so that they will not destroy it. But when a
person does aveiros, Hashem departs. He lets the
barrier down, and then "bad comes to the wicked
automatically."
So we see that a curse is not a punishment from Hashem to
those who sin but comes on its own, because if Hashem does
not watch over us, the calamity comes on its own. When a
person sins he brings about his own misfortune. Just as a
lion bites and kills so the kloloh itself kills. This
is what is written in the Nefesh HaChaim and other
seforim.
When Rosh Hashonoh and Yom Kippur come round, a Jew should
know that it is not simple. It is the Day of Judgment when
Hashem sits in judgment, and the punishment is ready and
waiting and when Hashem deserts Creation, punishment comes on
its own. When Hashem withdrew [deserted us] six million Jews
were murdered! Therefore we have to daven, do complete
teshuvoh and accept upon ourselves to walk in the path
of righteousness. We cannot, in any case, talk to everybody,
but bnei Torah need to know what Yom Hadin
means, Hashem wants us to return to Him: "Return to me and I
will return to you."
I have been punished, greatly punished, I would like to pour
out my heart, but what can I do, I have no strength. I cannot
see. I cannot walk. May Hashem give me good health and
strength and if I will be able to, I will complete as much as
I can.
And as for you, I ask you, the young ones, the new
bochurim who have joined the Yeshiva. You have to go
to the shiurim, to sit and hear the shiurim and
review them and not to leave in the middle of a shiur
but to sit through the entire shiur and review and
learn more.
Daven as a Jew davens, get up on time, do not
miss davening. And you have to come to mussar
seder. This is not my regulation, [but that of] Rav
Yisroel Salanter, who was one of the great gedolim,
[and] Rav Chaim Volozhiner who was a talmid of the
Vilna Gaon. A person can be very talented but if he is
lacking in yiras Shomayim he will not be able to
learn, as it says in Chazal, (Ovos, 3, 21) "If there
is no fear, there is no wisdom," without yiras
Shomayim a person is an am ho'oretz! You hear what
I am telling you: if someone has the name of being very
talented, and he has learned other wisdoms [disciplines], you
may be sure that he is an am ho'oretz. One cannot
reach the way of truth with talent alone. The real truth is
when one learns Toras emes, with the correct
sevoros and with yiras Shomayim.
May HaKodosh Boruch Hu grant you a kesivoh
vechasimoh tovoh.
(This shmuess was given in the Yeshiva and is
published here almost verbatim. It is from, Hi
Sichosi.)
