Following is a translation of part of the
mussar
shmuess delivered by Maran HaRav Shach (zt"l) in
the Ponovezh Yeshiva on Sunday 19 Marcheshvon, 5752 (1992) as
published in the Hebrew Yated Ne'eman.
It seems to me
that we should be happy about the fact that we
have something unique,
something that no other people has. We
have, in the Torah, an exact
chronology and history of the
Creation of the world, day by day. Even
more. We were given
details of the hourly Creation: the first hour,
the second
hour and so on.
These are events that took place more
than five thousand
years ago, and we have them with such wonderful
exactness!
When we say "You have chosen us from among all the
nations,"
we should dance for joy, that He has set us apart from idol
worshipers and given us such a Torah!
Just imagine, if we had --
lehavdil -- a book of
stories about the details of events that
took place thousands
of years ago. We would be fascinated by it. We
could not put
it down, from curiosity. Now that we have the Toras
emes that is not chas vesholom a simple book of
stories
but the pure truth about what happened then, how
wonderful it is; how
happy we should be to have it.
Therefore it behooves us to pass on
to further generations
only things that are extremely accurate, and
not to distort
anything, because if anything is changed -- even in
the
slightest -- it is no longer Torah.
Similarly, the deeds of
Hashem are careful and exact.
HaTzur tomim po'olo ki chol derochov
mishpot! If
HaKodosh Boruch Hu decrees chas
vesholom
suffering on someone, it will not be delayed for even a
second: it will come and go at the exact time decreed.
The Torah
demands that all one's actions be fully in
accordance with the Torah.
Not only our "big" deeds, but even
the smallest ones have to be
wholly correct. If there is the
slightest deviation, our behavior is
no longer in accordance
with the Torah altogether.
It is like a
person who buys a diamond. He is prepared to pay
an enormous sum for
it if it is clean. If it has the
slightest scratch, the price will be
much less, seemingly out
of proportion to the small defect. The
reason is that it is
something else entirely.
Let us see how
these things are explained in the Torah. In
Bereishis and
Noach the Torah records all the
exact extent of the lives of
the earliest generations: when
they were born, when they had
children, how long they lived
and when they died. What is the reason
for this? It all comes
to teach us that we must be exact, calculated
and perfectly
in accord with the Torah.
More than this we learn
from Rabbenu Yonah in Sha'arei
Teshuva (3:15): "We find that
the people of Sedom were
evil to Hashem in a number of degenerate
ways, like theft,
robbery, distorted judgments and licentiousness.
Despite all
this, Scripture writes that they were destroyed because
of
lack of tzedokoh, as it says `This was the sin of
Sedom
your sister . . . that she did not support the hand of
the poor and
impoverished.' "
We see that along with the insistence on doing
great things
correctly, the Torah demands perfection, even in the
little
things from everyone.
Especially talmidei chachomim
must be careful in
everything they do. For even the slightest sin can
bring
about a corruption for generations, since his children may
learn from him and their children from them, carrying the
influence
through to many generations. Chas vesholom
they may say of a
ben Torah, "Woe to the rebbe who
taught him Torah."
On the
other hand, if he behaves with nobility and dignity,
he has a great
influence for the good on his environment.
How awesome are the
words of Rabbenu Yonah: "It is said about
those people who are not
constantly thinking about the proper
way in yiras Hashem `And
their fear of Him was only as
of people following a routine, so
therefore I will add on to
that people an amazing [punishment].'
"
How much do these remarks require us to constantly think
about
yiras Hashem and to learn mussar. If
Rabbenu Yonah said
that a piece of meat is treif would
anyone dare to eat it? Is
this any different?
Subsequently, HaRav Shach
said:
We must know that he who associates with reshoim
is a
partner to a destructive man. The mere fact of association
gives the rosho a chizuk [for the
rosho], even
for the future. The masses are always
drawn to whomever is in power.
Whoever has control of the
government influences mass opinion. Who
knows where it may
lead?
Those who learn Torah are not impressed
with government
power, but the masses are not so reflective and they
are
always drawn after whoever has the honor and power in his
hands.
Still, we must be careful not to use violence. One can
argue
with them, but one should refrain from violence. That is not
our way. Violence is not our way. It may be the way of
others, but
it is not our way.
We will go along our path, the pure way, and
will strengthen
our opinions that they may be correct and pure
without any
taint of violence. That is the way of Torah. Especially
the
bnei Torah need to be careful about this, that they
should be completely clean both for our own personal reasons
and due
to the fact that the street is constantly looking for
faults in
bnei Torah.
