Daily Chidush: How To Study Torah? (23 Minutes)

0:11so it's important for a person that, when he learns Torah, to read the commentaries by Rashi specifically, because that's accepted by everyone. And then there's obviously the Rambam, Ramban, and several other major commentaries out there, but it's very, very important to learn from Rashi. That's accepted universally by everyone: Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and so on. Without learning Rashi, a person is blind, deaf, and stupid. And it doesn't matter what They think they understand it. They don't understand it. The Arizal had asked the students to give a Kabbalistic commentary on the Torah, on the Chumash. And after going over one parashah, they came back with Huge volumes, huge volumes of commentary, Kabbalistic commentary on a single parashah. And the Arizal told them, yes, this is very nice, but this is not realistic. No one's going to read several volumes on a single parashah. You have to minimize, you have to, you know, wisdom is shown in fewer words, not expanding words. You have to show the most amount of information in the least amount of words. That's true wisdom.

1:38They limited and limited and limited and limited, and each time they came back to the Ari, he told them, you have to limit it more, you have to limit it more, you have to limit it more, you have to limit it more, without cutting stuff out, limiting it, meaning by saying the same thing in fewer words. Einstein said, if you don't know how to explain something simply, then you don't know it well enough. If you can't explain it to a four-year-old, then you don't know it. So, long story short, eventually they minimized it to just literally one or two verses, one or two sentences on each sentence. And he said, ah, Baruch Hashem, you finally arrived at Rashi. Meaning all the Kabbalists that were giants of giants, working on this for an endless amount of time, minimized and minimized, used all of their power and Kabbalah and so on and so forth, finally after toiling in it and all types of things, arrived at what Rashi already did 500 years before them. So people simply don't give enough credit to Rashi and the Chachamim during his time and before him, because they think that just because he explained it in a simple way, therefore it's simple. minimized and minimized, used all of their power and Kabbalah and so on and so forth, finally, after toiling in it and all types of things, arrived at what Rashi already did 500 years before them. So, people simply don't give enough credit to Rashi and the Chachamim during his time and before him, because they think that just because he explained it in a simple way, therefore it's simple.

3:04So a person needs to know that the first and most important thing that they need to know is the pshat, the simple meaning of what Rashi said the verse means. Once they know that, then they know the ikar, the most important. Now, after that, they could learn further commentaries, and perhaps there's going to be different secrets above and beyond the pshat, but these secrets, these other meanings that you get from it, don't negate it. If it comes from a real chacham, from a real sage, then you'll see that it doesn't negate the pshat. It just adds to it. When you build a third or fourth floor, it doesn't destroy the first or second floor. It's just building on top of it. When they say the 70 faces to the Torah... They're not saying that there are 70 different faces in the sense that they all contradict each other. It's just 70 different floors. And by the way, 70 is just a figuratively speaking number. It doesn't actually mean 70. It's just a big number. There are endless amounts of commentaries on the Torah for every single verse. There's a very famous story about the Gaon of Vilna who learned with angels one night, and they gave him over 2,500 pirushim (commentaries and secrets) on a single verse in the Torah.

4:28So the point is that derech tzachkani is just figuratively speaking, and a person needs to know that each one is going to just add another layer, another meaning. It does not contradict the Pshat. If it contradicts the Pshat, then there's a serious problem. Serious problem, and in most cases, I'd say probably all cases, but let's just try to be humble and say most, because we don't know the entire Torah. in most cases, it simply means that the commentary that contradicts the Pshat is wrong. So, but either way, as far as, you know, that's when you read in the Chumash. Now, when you are reading the things that are said either directly in the Torah, in the Chumash, or in the Gemara, or by the Sifrei Tzaddikim, and they're saying Things like the fire of Gehenom is 60 times the fire of this world. That is literal. It's not figurative. It's not a metaphor. It's actually literal. But we still, as human beings, don't actually have the capacity to understand what this literally means. We don't have the capacity to understand the power of a fire that's stronger than the fire that we have. Because for us, if we just get burned by hot coffee, that's already hell for us. We don't understand something more than this and...

5:54Maybe you could understand lava to some extent. But that's not, you know, it's not really comprehensible how hot lava really is until something accidental happens. So to understand 60 times more than that, it's not humanly comprehensible. It's not understandable. So yes, it is literal, but we're still limited because we're in human form. When the Torah says that again, the neshama is eternal and there are seven chambers, and they cut people off and all the horrible, horrible, scary things that it says. That's all literal. That all means what it says. It's just hard for us to understand the magnitude of it. Because we're still in human form and that punishment is happening to a neshama. And so we're thinking, "Oh, if it's a neshama, that means we don't feel it." That's the mistake. We do feel it much more. We do feel it much more as the neshama. We think that we can only feel because there's a body. No, that's completely wrong. And also, there is a...

7:10a thing that sages, I saw somewhere, that they actually bring the body back with the neshama and punish it together. But that's a conversation for another time. The point being is that the punishments are literal. It's being told in that way because that's the best way for us to understand it, even though we can't understand it completely. But every person that has Yirat Shamayim and is trying to do the will of Hashem will simply get the message. And the message is, do teshuva. That's the message. The message is, do teshuva, and you have an obligation to be scared of Hashem. And it makes sense to be scared of Hashem when you understand what you're dealing with here. Even though you don't understand completely, you still understand this is not a place to play with. This is not a being to play with. And that's really the point. It's not to get a person into depression that every time they make a sin, they're going to think about all the fire they're going to go through. The point is to realize, okay, I made a mistake. I have to do teshuvah right away. I have to do something about it. I have to fix it. I have to give tzedakah. I have to do tachanun. I have to do vidui.

8:27I have to learn more. I have to learn more Mussar. I have to not repeat this mistake. I have to do something. The point is not to sit on our butt and just continue making sins, collecting sins like a vending machine, collecting dollars, and never do Teshuvah. That's the point. And for all of those who minimize... the punishment and use euphemisms. There's a Gemara in Masechet Ta'anit that says they get a special punishment. And actually, in the days of the Sanhedrin, they would kill them on the spot. So whether it's this guy that you mentioned earlier today or the thousands and thousands of people like him, they are, you know, if not part of the Erev Rav, because we don't know for sure, then they're just stupid. They're just stupid sinners that are creating much more damage with their words than any good that they could ever create in an entire lifetime. And such people, I don't feel bad for because they create a lot of damage and they destroy neshamos. Thousands and millions of people are continuing to sin

9:41because of the foolishness of such people. And it's best to simply run away from such people, not to allow learning from them, not even if what they say is right. Because once a person does such a thing like this, and you know it's a continuous thing, then you know that even his truth is tainted with falsehood, and therefore you are not allowed to learn from such a person. If a person knows a lot of Torah, But even if he has bad middot, you're not allowed to learn from him. So kal vachomer, needless to say, if there's falsehood in the things that he says, because he's using euphemisms and different things to minimize the punishment, to minimize the yirat shamayim that we're obligated to have, such people are heretics in the Torah, and there is a special place in Gehinnom for them, which we went over during this shiur on Gehinnom. The point is, to be scared is a ma'ala; it's a significance, it's an accomplishment. That's why Shlomo HaMelech and David HaMelech, his father, write it many, many times, and the sages write it all over the Torah, about how great it is for a person, how praiseworthy a person is that has Yirat Shamayim. Why? Because now he actually has a chance. He has a chance to be a tzaddik; he has a chance to get to Olam HaBa. Without Yirat Shamayim, he has zero chance.

11:05So, the most important thing that a person needs to do in his life is to verify things and read the books of previous generations. Don't spend so much time and money on books that are written by people today. Even if I wrote a book, I wouldn't buy it. Why? Because why would I buy the book of some guy who wrote today? Buy a book from Rashi? Buy Rambam? Buy from 300 years ago? Buy from the real tzaddikim? Unless I know that the person who wrote today, his entire book is full of sources from those other books, and there is very, very little of his own opinion, if any at all. Then, okay, maybe. But most books today are full of opinions and very, very little substance from the chachamim. You understand? So it's a, once you actually already go to the books that were written by real Chachamim from just even a simple previous generation, one generation, 15, 20 years ago, very, very different from the comic books that are in today, you see that they're full of sources, they're full of Gemara, they're full of Tosafot, they're full of Rambam, they're full of Rashi, they're full of...

12:24So they're full of all these amazing things, meaning that they didn't necessarily give you their own opinion for the most part. What they did is they compiled. They gave you a thought and they go after compiling all of the proofs and they provided you all the proofs. And that's actually why, by the way, the Rambam's work was nearly rejected by his generation because he didn't provide sources. But once they read it and they saw that it is the source and everything has a source of what it says. It's not from his own thoughts. Then they accepted it. And obviously, he was the Gadol HaDor and the biggest posek in the last thousand years. But the point being is that everyone learned from that and they provide sources for what they say until this generation where they write you 20 pages of opinion with one point of source. by his generation because he didn't provide sources. But once they read it and they saw that it is the source and everything has a source for what it says, not from his own thoughts, then they accepted it. And obviously, he was the Gadol HaDor and the biggest Posek in the last thousand years. But the point being is that everyone learned from that and they provide sources for what they say until this generation, where they write you 20 pages of opinion with one point of source. for only one point out of the 20 pages, so it's better to, um, make sure that everything you read has sources—every verse, every line, everything. That way, you're always going to arrive at the truth that our holy sages arrived at, and therefore, you eliminate your own. Yes, you eliminate your own opinion; you eliminate all of that stuff. Why? It's more important to arrive at the truth than our own opinion. Once you have the truth...

13:46then your opinion itself, over time, will actually by default become Da'at Torah. It will become the opinion of the Torah, and therefore, your opinion is kosher at that point. Then you have a straight mind, and you become a Kodesh Kodashim, and you have nothing to worry about. But until you arrive at Da'at Torah... You have to stay away. You have to keep yourself away from damaging yourself. You have to protect yourself from yourself. And all of those people who think that their opinion could dare be in competition with the opinion of the sages, even the simple ones from the generation before us, not just, you know, Rashi 900 years ago. Just one generation. Go to the generation of Avigdor Miller. Go to the generation of, you know, the Chatam Sofer, the Chafetz Chaim, Rav Ovadia. Go, go, just a few years ago. And you think that your little book that you wrote and sold many copies of and made yourself rich with, you think that that can negate anything before you. You're going against the Torah with that type of thing. So that's why it's important for a person to be humble. That's why the Ramban

15:07writes that humility is the most important and most valuable character trait to have. Why? Because once a person has humility, then he can become a vessel for learning Torah. But when you see these speakers or authors spewing their venom of opinion without having a source to speak of, this, by default, should give you a red flag the size of the equator to run away from these people because it's very dangerous to decipher what's the truth within the sheker. What's the truth within the lies? And who has time for that? Just go straight to a book, get to someone that's verified by all of the people in this generation and the generations after. It's already verifiably true. give you a red flag the size of the equator to run away from these people because it's very dangerous to decipher what's the truth within the sheker. What's the truth within the lies? And who has time for that? Just go straight to a book, get to someone that's verified by all of the people in this generation and the generations after. It's already verifiably true. We don't need to take a risk, something that may not be true, may be true, may not. Let's just go to something that's verifiably true, and that way you stay away from any safek, many doubts, and B'ezrat Hashem, arrive at Da'at Torah, and that's how you teach your children to have Da'at Torah, and you teach your wife to have Da'at Torah, and then B'ezrat Hashem, all of you will go

16:26have eternal goodness, a wonderful time in this world, and a wonderful time in the next world. Why? Because you humbled yourself to just become a vessel. Become a vessel for Da'at Torah. All I want to do is what Hashem wants. And look how I'm winning. Look how I'm winning with what Hashem wants. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah, it's difficult because the Yetzer Hara constantly tells us, no, no, but maybe this, but maybe this, but maybe this, but maybe this. But when a person says, "Listen, what maybe? Who am I to have even a maybe?" The more humble a person is, the more he becomes a bigger vessel for da'at Torah, and then he has a wonderful life. Why? Because everything has an answer then. Once you've accepted the opinion of the sages, then there's an answer for everything. So, there's no debate. There's no nothing. It's just that you have to get to the answer. It takes time sometimes to get to the answer, but there is an answer. But once he doesn't accept the sages, and only sometimes accepts the sages, then he's a danger to himself and to society. Why? Because his truth is not to be found. It's subjective. It's objective. It's something. It's nothing. It moves. It's dynamic. His truth constantly moves from place to place. There's no debate. There's nothing. It's just that you have to get to the answer. It takes time sometimes to get to the answer, but there is an answer. But once he doesn't accept the sages and only sometimes accepts the sages, then he's a danger to himself and to society. Why? Because his truth is not to be found. It's subjective. It's not objective. It's something. It's nothing. It moves. It's dynamic. His truth constantly moves from place to place.

17:46And it's never verifiable and it's never something you can rely on. It's never reliable. It's a danger. It's no different than Avodah Zarah. It's no different than Christianity or Islam or worshipping cows or being a Zionist that shoots other Jews because he thinks that Their purpose of Zionism is more important than the purpose of life. And, you know, Nazis and all the goyim and Esav and Edom and all, they're different. And in fact, probably even worse. Why? Because he has the neshama of a Jew. And the neshama of a Jew has a lot of power. So that's why it's very, very important for a person to just simply be simple. Tamim tiheyeh im Hashem. Be like Noach. Be simple, accepting, whole, complete. Meaning, I completely accept the word of Hashem. I completely accept the word of His sages as if He said it Himself. I completely accept it even if I don't agree with it. Even if it doesn't make sense to me. Even if it goes against my logic because my logic is tainted with yetzer hara. I accept it. Why? Because it's the emet. Even if I don't understand how it's the emet, it is the emet indeed.

19:01And I trust that Hashem will show me how it is at some point or another when I deserve to get it. But if that's a person that needs to know, that's it. That's it. This is emet. This is from Hashem. Hashem instilled power in His sages to deliver His emet, generation after generation after generation, for thousands of years, so you and I and our families can be kedoshim to Him. Holy. Why? Ki Kadosh Ani. Be holy, because I am holy, Hashem says in Parashat Kedoshim. So, b'ezrat Hashem, this gives you a little bit of chizuk to continue chasing the emet, the way the emet is supposed to be chased, and not let your yetzer hara and other people's yetzer hara get in the way of telling you, oh, maybe there's this, or maybe, no, no, no, let's see, what is the accepted truth? Yeah, but the accepted truth is not relevant. It may not be relevant to your mind, but if they said it, it's relevant. And that's it. And that's the way a person needs to go about things. Honestly, one of the best Musar books in the world is the Siddur. If we only understood what we're saying. We do Teshuva every day just by simply praying in the morning. You read just the first few prayers right in the morning before Shema Yisrael, before Hodu. Throughout the whole prayer, you see what it says over there. A person really understands those words. What kind of Teshuva are you able to do? We start learning more and more what the sages meant to say the way it's supposed to be said because that's Dvar Hashem. That's the words of Hashem. Hatzlacha Rabba.

20:19We do Teshuva every day just by simply praying in the morning. You read just the first few prayers right in the morning before Shema Yisrael, before Hodu. Throughout the whole prayer, you see what it says over there. If a person really understands those words, what kind of Teshuva are you able to do? We start learning more and more what the sages meant to say the way it's supposed to be said because that's Devar Hashem. That's the words of Hashem. Hatzlacha Rabbah. And it was a champagne poster. All too of them.