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HaRav Boruch Dov Povarsky shlita
When the Jewish People first entered Eretz Yisroel, Hashem told them not to be afraid. Why should they not be afraid?
They knew that they would have to wage wars which is surely frightening.
The answer is that He said to them: Turn northward, Tsofona. This word has an alternate root: tzafun, to hide. Submerge yourselves in the Torah.
This same advice applies to the reality of today, where we find ourselves at war. We are afraid of rockets and missiles; we must seek protected areas to hide in. Where is there such a place or reality? It lies in the protection of the Torah.
Alongside this, we must also know that in times of danger, we must pray for Heavenly mercy. Not in a routine way where we ask that Hashem have mercy upon the injured and on all of Jewry.
We must feel that we, too, are wounded, individually, lacking an arm or leg ch"v. ...
The Arab nations expressed modest condemnation of the Israeli attack, while it was hard not to discern their inward glee at the misfortune of Iran in their news reports on the Arab stations. They pounced with great joy over the scenes of Iranian destruction while stressing the Israeli surprise attack, especially noting the Israeli element of surprise and the fact that the attack proved how vulnerable Iran was, how weak and vulnerable to Israeli intelligence to the point that it could not defend itself and its chief officials.
Iran presented a threat to Arab regimes no less than a danger to the State of Israel. The Iranian vision is to dominate and impose a fanatic Shiite government over the entire area, with a gradual control over all of the Arab nations. Thus, Iran has (had) branches in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, from which the road is short to extend onward to Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.
This essay first appeared in 1996, 29 years ago.
Part 2
The first part gave background and began the discussion of R' Chaim's approach to Torah learning.
The Glories of a Chidush!
R' Chaim especially appreciated and valued chidushim which had been gleaned and clarified through deep analysis of the text. His students heard him say that he would exchange all his prayers for one law derived anew from the Talmud.
In Nefesh HaChaim, he expounds on the importance of Torah chidushim.
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Opinion & Comment
The rabble which clamored for meat sat and wept . . . "We remembered the fish and the squash and the watermelons . . . and now our souls are dry. All we have to look forward to is the mann . . . " (Bamidbor 11,5).
From a superficial glance, one cannot understand what the rabble really wanted. What were they lacking? Couldn't they savor any and every taste they wished within the mann, including that of squash and watermelon?
The Ibn Ezra succinctly illuminates the matter and derives a deep lesson applicable to everyday life. "And now, our souls are dry." "The soul which lusts, which is embedded in the liver -- is arid." True, they were able to savor all the good tastes in the world within the mann, but the salivating appetite, that ravenous hunger-lust that accompanies eating, was missing. A hungering, hankering soul assuages its craving through satisfying eating. But this element was missing, and their animal-souls felt dry and wanting without that preliminary craving.
The truth is that the rabble pinpointed exactly the purpose of the mann and its divine design, which was to circumvent that precise element that they felt was lacking.
Opinion & Comment
Given at a his'orerus gathering at the Bobov Center in Boro Park during the visit of HaRav Steinman and the Gerrer Rebbe in America, just over a year ago.
Although "the whole world is full of His glory" we find various levels of hashro'as Hashechinah. First we find in the Torah (at the end of parshas Yisro, Shemos 20:21), "In all places where I cause My name to be mentioned I will come to you and I will bless you." When even one single person sits engaged in Torah study, the Shechina is with him. But the gemora (Brochos 6a) teaches us that when there are two engaged in studying Torah, the level of hashro'as Hashechinah is greater; when there are three the level is still greater, and with ten people studying Torah there is a tremendous degree of hashro'as Hashechinah. There are many things that cannot be said without ten Jews present -- a dovor shebikedushah needs ten. And when there are ten Jews the Shechina comes beforehand to them (ibid.).
There is an even more elevated level. The gemora (Bovo Kama) expounds from, "And when [the aron hakodesh] rested he would say, `Return, Hashem, to the myriad thousands of Yisroel'" (Bamidbar 10:36) that the Shechina does not rest on Yisroel when they are less than twenty-two thousand people. Tosafos (ibid., s.v. shnei) remarks that although Chazal write that in every assembly of ten the Shechina rests, this posuk is referring to the hashro'as Hashechinah that rested upon the nevi'im and the mishkan, which is a much loftier level of Shechina. Ten people is not enough for that; twenty-two thousand is.
Even higher than that level is what we find in the gemora (Kesuvos 17a): a person who has studied and taught Torah needs 600,000 people to attend his funeral. The reason is that just as when the Torah was given there were that many people, similarly when it is taken away there should be that many. We see that there was a requirement at kabolas HaTorah of 600,000 Jews to be present. If you want to say that such a number was not essential for kabolas HaTorah but it just happened to be that way, how could the gemora possibly learn from kabolas HaTorah that when a chochom dies you must also have that number at his funeral? (This number was besides the children and women and the men under the age of twenty or over sixty). That was the minimum amount needed for kabolas HaTorah.
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