The Gemorah in Babba Kammah (82a) says: דתניא (שמות טו, כב) וילכו שלשת ימים במדבר ולא מצאו מים דורשי רשומות אמרו אין מים אלא תורה שנאמר (ישעיהו נה, א) הוי כל צמא לכו למים כיון שהלכו שלשת ימים בלא תורה נלאו עמדו נביאים שביניהם ותיקנו להם שיהו קורין בשבת ומפסיקין באחד בשבת וקורין בשני ומפסיקין שלישי ורביעי וקורין בחמישי ומפסיקין ערב שבת כדי שלא ילינו ג' ימים בלא תורה. The Maharsha explains where the Gemorah sees in the possuk this derash: דרשינן ליה משום דמה ענין שם שם לו חק וגו' ויאמר אם שמוע וגו' לענין שהלכו ג' ימים ולא מצאו מים וע"כ דרשו שהלכו ג' ימים בלא תורה ונתחזק להם ביטול התורה והיו נלאין לשתות מי התורה כי היו מרים להם כנאמר אם תעזבני יום וכו' עד שהורה להם ה' עץ וגו' שהתורה היא עץ חיים למחזיקים בה והחזקה הוא בכל דבר בג' פעמים וע"כ בהפך זה קאמר שלא יתחזק להן חזקת לינה ג' ימים בלא תורה ובזה ימתקו להן מי התורה. This is codified by the Rambam in Ch. 12 of the Laws of Prayer: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ תִּקֵּן לָהֶם לִישְׂרָאֵל שֶׁיְּהוּ קוֹרִין בַּתּוֹרָה בָּרַבִּים בְּשַׁבָּת וּבְשֵׁנִי וּבַחֲמִישִׁי בְּשַׁחֲרִית כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יִשְׁהוּ שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים בְּלֹא שְׁמִיעַת תּוֹרָה. The Rambam adds one word to the Gemorah, שְׁמִיעַת. What does this additional word tell us? Rav Solevetchik explains the Rambam means to highlight that its not the understanding of Torah that Moshe initiated; it is merely just to hear words of Torah itself. What is the point of merely hearing words of Torah without understanding?
The possuk at the end of Bo says וְהָיָה֩ לְךָ֨ לְא֜וֹת עַל־יָדְךָ֗ וּלְזִכָּרוֹן֙ בֵּ֣ין עֵינֶ֔יךָ לְמַ֗עַן תִּהְיֶ֛ה תּוֹרַ֥ת י״י֖ בְּפִ֑יךָ. There is a היקש between Torah and tefillin. In the last post, we saw from Rav Solevetchik that besides the mitzvah of wearing tefillin, it is also a קיום in the person. The tefillin have an affect on the person as well. He extends the same thing to the words of Torah as well. There is the mitzvah of understanding Torah but then there is another aspect to Torah. That is the spiritual purification that washes over a person when in contact with Torah. That was the point of the תקנה of Moshe. The nation had gone through the makkos, krias Yam Suf etc. but all of that was an external experience. It comes and goes. That's why a minute later Klal Yisroel were complaining about the state of affairs. In order to have a lasting affect on the person himself, to quench the spiritual thirst, there must be words of Torah. The point of the תקנה isn't to learn Torah, but the effect the words of Torah will have on the individual and that is highlighted by it merely being a תקנה to hear words of Torah.
To take this a step further, we can add that not only does Torah purify the person, but it purifies the world as well. The Gemorah in Shabbos (119b) says אמר ריש לקיש משום רבי יהודה נשיאה אין העולם מתקיים אלא בשביל הבל תינוקות של בית רבן. The children don't understand what they are learning, there isn't even a fulfillment of Talmud Torah, they are merely memorizing texts, so how does their learning keep the world running? We see that is the power of the words of Torah that keeps the world running. Irrespective of the mitzvah, the words of Torah itself have a affect on the world. We see the same idea from this Gemorah as well. There was no mitzvah of Talmud Torah yet; it was pre-mattan Torah. Yet, the words of Torah are what satiated Klal Yisroel. That is the idea of the midrash that the Maharsha cites that its the עץ החיים, the Torah that sweetened the water. The מתיקות התורה transformed the water from מר to מתוק. This may be the understanding of Rav Chayim that the חפצא of the words of Torah require a beracha, In order to merely read the words of Torah, to tap into such a spiritual energy source, requires a beracha.
Rav Solevetchik goes on to contrast this תקנה with the later details of עזרה added to the krias hatorah. He explains that the two תקנות are fundamentally different. Moshe's תקנה is to hear words of Torah. Ezra's תקנה is to learn, understand Torah. (As they say in Jewish, עיי"ש.) He connects this with their time frames in history as well. The times of Moshe is the generation of ביאה ראשונה, this כיבוש was done with the ארון going in front of them. It is the חפצא of the Torah, the Sefer Torah in the ארון that brings kedusha to the land. Rav Solevetchik views the kedusha of the land as an extension of the kedusha of the mikdash and therefore it must be done with Torah. That is the generation of the תקנת משה, to tap into the power of the words of Torah. In the times of עזרה there was no ארון so how did they extend the kedusha of the מקדש? He explains that its the תורה שבעל פה as represented by the body of Klal Yisroel that brings the kedusha to the land. That is the time of תקנת עזרה, to learn and understand Torah. (Again for more details, עיי"ש.)
I would like to add that these two types of learning Torah are connected to the two types of relationship one has with God. The possuk says זה קלי ואנוהו אלקי אָבִ֖י וַאֲרֹמְמֶֽנְהוּ. The Shla (beginning of י' מאמרות,) explains that these are two types of relationships we have with Hashem. There is the קלי, how one understands God and His service based upon one's understanding. Then the relationship is ואנוהו, אני והוא, one has a strong connection to Hashem. However, if that leads to doubts or is unsuccessful, the fallback is אלקי אָבִ֖י, the emunah that we have built into us from the Avos. With that approach וַאֲרֹמְמֶֽנְהוּ, Hashem is above me, the connection isn't established well in my heart.
The Tanya delineates two basic approaches to understand the possuk כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד. The first approach is by learning and contemplating about Hashem. The second approach, as this blog mentioned last week is that we merely have to awaken within ourselves the natural connection to Hashem that we have from our forefathers. These are the two relationships described in קלי ואלקי אבי. The connection to Hashem sown into our DNA is akin to the kedusha of the words of Torah itself. This connection is beyond human logic, it is the כיבוש of our נפש הבהמית through the Aron. The second approach is to do a כיבוש on our נפש הבהמית through our understand and learning about Hashem and His Torah. That is akin to the כיבוש of יהושע through the תורה שבעל פה. As with the כיבוש of the ארץ, it is only the כיבוש of תורה שבעל פה that exists forever, it can't be removed. So too, as the Shla says, this is the connection with Hashem that resinates deeper in the heart of a person.
No comments:
Post a Comment