To you, dearest Ben Torah!
You must know that it is as easy to lose divrei Torah
as it is to break a glass dish. If one is not mindful, one
can lose the priceless treasures he has acquired over the
past year in one moment. It is a pity to destroy with one's
own hands the deep acquisitions of a ben Torah. Here
are a number of points about which one should be very heedful
during bein hazmanim.
1) To pray betzibbur in a permanent, orderly place,
and not to mumble one's prayer. It is superfluous to add that
one should not recite mincha at the beach or on the
side of the road.
2) To recite Shema with its accompanying blessings at
the correct time. One should not run the risk of missing the
correct time by waiting until the last moment, for whoever
misses krias Shema bizmano even once in his life can
never rectify that oversight; it remains an eternal
deficit.
3) One should set aside fixed times for Torah study. In 5730
(1970), the gedolei Yisroel issued a call saying that
one should have no less than a four-hour keviyus in
the bein hazmanim yeshivos.
4) Don't visit or take trips to places where there is a
problem of "shemiras ho'einayim," which involves
violation of both a negative command and a positive one. This
includes not visiting a beach where the nearby access routes
are not tsnius. When traveling to the beach, one
should avoid forbidden sights. The Admor of Gur, the Beis
Yisroel, once warned: with one forbidden sight one can lose
all that he acquired in an entire zman.
5) One should honor his parents and maintain good
relationships with the other members of his family.
6) One who conquers his inclination is called brave. He takes
no risks. All trips and hikes that could prove dangerous are
forbidden by Torah prohibition by dint of the command:
"venishmartem . . . " Many accidents have occurred,
Rachmono litzlan, due to a failure to heed this
warning.
7) At unsupervised vacation spots one must be careful to
insure that the other people present are yirei
Shomayim. One should also ascertain that the
kashrus is mehadrin.
8) During summer vacation, bnei Torah should not
associate with friends who are on a low spiritual level. Such
association can ruin an entire year's spiritual attainments.
During bein hazmanim, one should not read newspapers
and secular books which cause one to instantly lose all of
his emunah and yiras Shomayim and dampen his
fervor for Torah and mitzvos.
9) We are commanded to be kedoshim and not to be drawn
after the pleasures of this world. For this reason, one
should examine whether the trips one takes (not dangerous
ones, of course) are permitted or can be categorized as,
"novol bireshus haTorah," because too much pleasurable
pursuit has an element of prikas ol, a concept taken
from the non-Jews. One must be on guard against this.
10) One should be a kiddush Hashem everywhere he goes,
and certainly not cause any chilul Hashem.
11) One should be constantly mindful of halocho during
bein hazmanim. This includes the laws of
tefilla. One should pray in the proper manner, with a
hat and jacket.
Remember: A ben Torah must remain a ben Torah
at all times wherever he is.
This letter was seen by the gedolei Yisroel who asked
that it be published. They added that by adhering to such
guidelines, sheim Shomayim is sanctified and the glory
of Torah is magnified. In this manner, bein hazmanim
becomes a time of preparation for the Elul zman, may
it be successful.
