In a rousing talk preceding Shavuos, HaRav Meir Bergman, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Rashbi in Bnei Brak and son-in-law of Maran HaRav Shach zt"l, dwelled on the worth of those who toil in Torah and are the target of forces who seek to shame them with vile, acerbic words and enact harsh edicts to curb them financially and diminish Torah.
"We find ourselves on the eve of Mattan Torah. My late father-in-law, HaRav Shach, and HaRav Isser Zalman Meltzer, repeatedly dwelled upon this matter which is based on the teaching of the Sheloh, that Shavuos is a judgment day for being lax in Torah study in the past, and a projection on how much he can expect to acquire Torah knowledge henceforth. Consequently, we must arouse and reinforce ourselves in awareness of the power that lies in Torah study and of those who pursue it diligently. The street, and what it symbolizes, does not comprehend such concepts. Only bnei Torah who toil in Torah year-round can absorb this.
"The Torah advises: 'If you walk in my statutes...' Rashi there comments, '...that you toil in Torah,' as being the condition whereby Jewry will reap the blessing of timely rainfall and bountiful produce. You will eat your bread to satiety and will reside securely in your land and I will bring peace to the land... And 'I will focus My attention upon you and I will increase [your numbers]... and I will keep My covenant with you. And you will eat of the old crops... and I will walk in your midst... And I will lead you upright.' We see here that the secret behind everything is the toil in Torah.
"I saw in the sefer 'Betzel Ha'eida,' a compilation on Torah in the name of the Alter of Slobodka, about an event that took place in a town on a sweltering day. There was no water but one good man took a post at a crossroads and gave the travelers to drink from a barrel of cold water. When one townsman praised this fine deed, another retorted, 'Don't think he is so righteous. I saw him just before filling water from a pipe channeling water to our town. I warned him that he was tampering with the water supply of our entire town. He ignored me and eventually damaged the pipe. So don't be so quick to commend him.'
"The Alter of Slobodka said that those who ostensibly are concerned with the livelihood of Torah scholars should not be so proud and boastful since by turning their backs on Torah study and embracing the means of livelihood, they themselves are to blame for the lack of income for the public at large. Torah is the provider. While they do help support them, as it were, they are the ones who are tampering with the overall supply of income and the lack of it." This is what I saw.
"The community of avreichim and talmidei chachomim who are attached to the holy Torah day and night, with diligence and toil in Torah, to understand Shas, rishonim and acharonim, and they set aside the transient life and disregard all the many calculations — they are the one who sustain the world. Everything that there is in the world, all the `I will bring the rains at the right time,' `you will eat your food to satisfaction,' `you will live in security in your land,' all this is in the merit of those who sacrifice themselves in the tents of Torah.
"Let no one be mistaken and think that the security in the land of Israel, and the parnossoh of the avreichim and their food, comes or is dependent on someone. We do not live from them. We live and are sustained only in the merit and power of those who learn the holy Torah, the merit of '...that you toil in Torah.' The avreichim and bochurim who are dedicated to Torah and avodas Hashem, they are the ones who sustain Klal Yisroel.
"They can try to pass decrees, to try to pinch the lifestyle of those who learn Torah, to try to decrease their already meager income. But we must remember and remind ourselves: We do not live from them! The parnossoh that every one enjoys is in the merit of those who learn Torah. They are the real providers of parnossoh to Klal Yisroel. In the merit of their Torah, all enjoy the blessings of, `you will eat your food to satisfaction.'
"May HaKodosh Boruch Hu help us so that all will be among the toilers in Torah. They we will all merit all the brochos of the Torah, and we will receive the brochoh of And I will lead you upright, with the building of the Beis Hamikdash, in our days."
