In Defense of Artscroll Gemara (12 minutes)

1:37Because our scroll, in essence, was a prophecy that we're going to be a generation of ignorant people. No, they meant it. This includes myself. We are going to be a generation that is not going to be able to translate what Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkonos, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai—all of the tzaddikim, all of the kedoshim—meant. We're not gonna understand what they mean. We're not going to understand what they mean. We're not going to understand. So now, when we had Rashi, it was wonderful for the previous generation because everybody knew how to read Rashi. The problem is people not only don't know how to read Rashi, but they also don't know how to read Hebrew. Many people know how to make the sounds of Hebrew. Many people know how to read Hebrew even before attending yeshiva. I was born in Israel, so I already knew how to pronounce the sounds in Hebrew. Understanding what the sounds mean, however, is a completely different story. So now, even if you know how to read Rashi, in this generation, most of the time you're not going to understand even Rashi.

2:46Deep in many cases. It's deep. You're not gonna understand the Tosafot, the point. You're not gonna understand it. So what Artscroll did for anyone who studies Artscroll properly, not just reading the top and that's it, is reading every single word on the page: the bottom, the top, the little footnotes, the small print, the side printed notes, everything. Everything on the page takes you six hours. Let it take six hours. When I first started learning, it took me six hours per page. Six hours per page. I felt overwhelmed. I used to be considered a scholar in the secular world, and now I spend six hours studying just one little page. Do you know how many books I've read in my life? Six hours for one page! I think to myself, in six hours I could build a company. So I start contemplating, six hours, and it's gnawing at me. My brain feels like it's boiling, with smoke coming out of my eyes and ears. Finally, after all that effort, I finish a page, and it feels like I've given birth. But ArtScroll made it easier. Why? Because by the time I finished, I knew what was going on. I knew what was going on. Basically, I knew what was going on. I reached the conclusion. Why? Because they told me what the conclusion is. I reached the conclusion, and from the conclusion, you build other things. You build on it. The more you learn Gemara, you finish one masechet, two masechtot, three masechtot, four masechtot, five masechtot. You finish the Shas. You get a basic understanding of knowledge. You finish it again and gain more understanding. You can learn this a thousand times and you can still learn new things. Even after a thousand times, you're still going to learn new things.

4:14Problem is that without Artscroll, we leave ourselves very vulnerable in a way that people just read the basics, and they are forced to come up with their own conclusions. Now, if you're learning in yeshiva and you have a Rav, it's a talmid chacham. Finished the sugya several times, knows what's going on, knows this specific matter, has gone over it with his Rav. He knows what's going on, the talmidim chachamim, not some guy who just started learning six months ago. When someone serious is your teacher, overseeing you and double-checking the conclusion that you arrived at by using your own intellect, you have something like that. Don't use ArtScroll. Don't use ArtScroll. Why? Because you have somebody overseeing you. You don't need ArtScroll. I He's gonna help you get to the light. He's gonna help you so that when you make a mistake, which is 99% of the time, He's gonna tell you this is why you made a mistake. Please drop your issue, but remember, you're in a supervised learning environment. However, when you're not in that type of learning and you're just learning chavruta with one of your buddies and you're a new ba'al teshuva, or you're just learning on your own—if you don't use ArtScroll, you're making a mistake. Why? Because you're gonna be wrong.

5:36gonna be wrong, and I can, I could tell you stories of how many people are wrong every day that send me stuff. The world will end, and my stories won't end. The world will end, and my stories won't end of how many people get to the wrong conclusions by learning it by themselves without ArtScroll. Why? We're not at that level. We're not a generation of giants. We're not. You can reach that level after you finish Shas several times. You'll learn it. You'll complete it. You'll master it. But in the beginning, if you don't use proper guidance, you're going to be wrong. You can live your whole life thinking you're a ba'al teshuvah, that you're a tzaddik, but for 50 years you might be with your rasha. Tomorrow I will say that the Gemara says, someone who doesn't have a Rav, God hates him. Someone who doesn't have a Rabbi, God hates him. Hater says because he's too arrogant to have a Rav. He thinks he's his own Rav. He doesn't think he's ever going to be wrong. He has too much ga'avah. He doesn't think he's going to be wrong. He thinks he's God. I hate him. So, for all of those people that say—and I hear this very often in the frum world—they say, "No, no, if you're studying Torah, you're not allowed to use ArtScroll." First of all, that's wrong.

6:52Many levels, number one, because if you're not in a yeshiva environment, you should and have to use ArtScroll or something similar to arrive at the right conclusion. Two, the right conclusion is just the basics. What you're going to use your intellect for is after you go over it several times. But at least get to the basics. If you get the basic answer wrong, everything you build on it is going to be wrong anyway. So at least get to the original right conclusion so you can build on it something bigger. Without getting the right conclusion in the beginning, you're going to be wrong in general, which could cause you to stray and continue wrong for a very long time. So first of all, it's wrong to tell people not to use it. Second of all, in a generation where most of the religious Jews are Baalei Teshuva, to say you're not allowed to get help is 100% wrong because you are discouraging anyone who even wants to learn Torah by telling them their Torah is not worth anything. You tell all, you're learning without scroll, you're learning with assistance, to make it look like it's easy to learn.

8:01Three, four, five hours. An hour. They're making it like it's easy to learn. Oh, you learn Rashi. Look at these faces. Like they have some type of muscle deformity or something like that. Make these faces. You're liking the faces? Let's go. Yeah, I learned. Don't worry, I'm not worried. Oh, you're Rashi. Wow. You're Rashi. You're Rashi. Let me kiss your hand. You're Rashi. I have one guy—one guy who is like, "No, no, give me the Gemara without Rashi." Amazing. You're an amazing Tzadik, Kabbalist. Who are these people? Who are these people? The guy didn't even know Hilchot Shabbat. No, no, give me the Gemara without Rashi. These people—stay away from them, stay away from them, stay away from them. Why? They are going to be, or they are already, the koferim of the generation. They are discouraging ba'alei teshuvah. That's point number two. Point number three is...

9:03What do you think is the biggest sin? Well, let's just say, hypothetically, it's not obviously a mitzvah, a huge mitzvah. Let's say, hypothetically, that we're gonna go far now. We're gonna go far. Let's just say that learning with ArtScroll, let's say it's a sin, because you get too much help since you're not using your intellect. Let's say it's not, or let's just assume it is. What do you think is the biggest sin? Wait, who do you think goes to Gehinom? The guy that's learning in our yeshiva or the guy that says Lashon Hara about our yeshiva, about the Baalei Teshuvah in public? Does everything lead to Gehinom for eternity? Which one? Which one? Who's the newest student here? You can answer it. So when you go out there, you go in the public, you write articles. Hey, no, no, you shouldn't use this. You shouldn't use this. You tell people like this. It's Lashon Hara. You're hurting their business. You're hurting the students. You're hurting the Baalei Teshuva. You're hurting everyone. And last but not least, Gaavat Adam Tashpilenu. Shlomo HaMelech says, if you have ga'ava, your Torah is not from Shamayim anyway.

10:16If you have ga'ava, you have too much pride, whatever you're learning with Rashi, without Rashi, with Artscroll, without Artscroll, it's not from Shamayim. It's your own knowledge. It's nothing. It's worth nothing. It's worth zero, your Torah. You want to acquire Torah? Torah is used as an analogy to water. Why? Because water travels to the lowest level. Water travels to the lowest level. As it says in Gemara Masechet Ta'anit, water travels to the lowest level. Listen to the sages and approach learning with humility. It's the only way you could explain how a guy who just started keeping Shabbat a few years ago could be telling you all these gemarot for three hours over the last three years. The only way. The truth is, it's all from Hashem. We have to know how to treat it. Stop with the ga’ava, thinking we are something; every single guy thinks he's a poseik. Listen to the sages. Do the right things, relax, be a decent human being, learn some Mussar, stop thinking you're a little Rambam, stop thinking you're a little Moshe Rabbeinu, because if you were the dust under the dust that Rambam maybe stepped on, maybe, maybe you'll be something one day. But you're not even that yet.