Special Story For All Leaders & Rabbi's (9 Minutes) by Rabbi Yaron Reuven

0:11There's another story in the Gemara, Yoma, page 54b. This story I heard for the first time on Yom Kippur five years ago. The story never made sense until you hear it like ten times and you learn other parts of the Torah. So there was a person by the name of Rabbi Preida. Yet, they repeat the same thing 400 times in order for him to understand it. And it's not a student in his yeshiva with 10,000 people, and this is just one of them. No, this is what he is teaching himself one-on-one. He says, "No one else is going to have patience for him. I'm going to teach him." So, every day, he sits down with him. Okay, the Gemara says to do the shiur, but I look into Sanhedrin on daf mem aleph, amud aleph.

1:36Okay. Yes. Okay, number two. Four hundred times the same verse. After four hundred times, the student says, oh, I got it. And then they move on to something else. One day, Rabbi P'reida tells them, listen, son, today I have an appointment. So we have to make sure that we study carefully and that you get it after the four hundredth time. No problem. They go, they teach. One, two, three, four, five, four hundred times. At four hundred times, he says, okay, so you got it? No. No. What happened every day, Baruch Hashem, after four hundred times, Baruch Hashem, you tzadik gadol, you chacham gadol, you giant chacham, you got it after four hundred times. Why come today? No. He goes, to be honest with you, HaRav, The minute you told me that you have to hurry today, that we have to make sure to accommodate you, I couldn’t think the whole time. Maybe he’s gonna go now. Maybe he’s gonna leave now. Maybe he has to go. Maybe we’re not gonna reach 400. Maybe we're only gonna get to 390. Maybe he’s leaving, maybe somebody's coming. The whole time, I’m thinking about something else. I couldn’t focus on what you’re saying. 400 times, Rabbi Taika Leem says, “You're right. I'm not going. Let's start again.”

3:04Let's start again 400 times. I cancel my appointment, and they sit down and they learn it again 400 times. After the 400th time, he gets it and leaves. The sky opens, and a bat kol comes out and proclaims that because you broke your own middot and overcame your own nature, you have achieved greatness in Torah learning. By default, it is already amazing that you're able to teach someone something 400 times once in your life, let alone every day. You broke your own nature and overcame even that. We have decided to change everything. Hashem decided that you have a choice. We're here to give you a message. What's the message? You have a choice. What is it? You can either... live 400 years, just like the 400 times you taught extra today. Or, everyone in your generation gets Olam Haba. Now we ponder, let everybody get Olam Haba. He said, because you chose for the betterment of the nation, you're also going to live 400 years. He is actually one of the people who actually lived 400 years, even in the days of the Maharal.

4:32Now, now, what I asked this question. I mean, the story is great, but I'm asking myself a question. If he's such a giant, he could revive somebody from the dead through his prayers. His learning, every time he learned, it's like Mount Sinai all over again. Why would Hashem waste His time on some imbecile that needs to be taught the same thing 400 times? Let Him have a student like Rabbi Akiva. Let Him have a student like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Why is He bringing a maksil, a fool, that needs to be taught the same thing 400 times? This is what I asked myself for years. He's not a guy. Let's see, he just came out of school himself. He's in fifth grade, and the other guy is in fourth grade. Either way, he's got to learn it. No, this is good. Oh, imagine the audacity of the idea. Oh, well, you can teach me something, sure, but I need you to teach me 400 times. Okay, sure, every day 400 times.

5:36You learn, and after a while, the students start feeling embarrassed. Why would Hashem do such a thing? Why would He take His precious Torah time and invest it into someone that's considered a seal, a fool? Why? Anybody have an answer? You're allowed to guess. As I come over, I will test you, kehilla. The reason why is because every time you learn Gemara, for example, in the beginning of Gemara it teaches you something critical. You're supposed to say: Yehi ratzon milfanecha, Hashem Elokai, shelo te'era davar takala al yadi, v'lo ekashkel bedvar halacha, v'yismechu bi chaveirai. May it be Your will, Hashem, my G-d,

6:51Mishap not come about through me, meaning that I don't make a mistake through my studies, and may I not stumble in a matter of law and cause my colleagues to rejoice over me, meaning that I fail and other people make fun of me. Why? Because then they lose their awe above making fun of me, and I may not say regarding something which is tamei that it's tahor, meaning through my faulty judgments and my bad learning I may say something wrong. Decide something that's tall is really time, or something that's time is really tall. If something that's pure is impure, or impure that's pure, it means I make the opposite. May my colleagues not stumble in a matter of law, and I rejoice over them. Meaning, may I never get to such a point through my studies. I learn a lot, but instead of becoming a talmid chacham (a wise student), who also has good middot (character traits), I start becoming arrogant because of my learning, and... I see other people fail, and I rejoice. Why? Because then I lose a lot by anyway. And then there is a verse, a portion in my message at Bava Batra, page 28b. It says, "For Hashem grants wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding of God."

8:20Unveil my eyes that I may perceive wonders from Your Torah. This is actually a verse in Tehillim (Psalms). So here, it's something you say every time you learn Torah. Why did I mention this to you? It's because Tehillim was compiled by David HaMelech. Shlomo HaMelech, David's son, was known as the wisest man of all time. The wisest man of all time is teaching you that knowledge is not something you're going to acquire simply by studying. Knowledge of Torah is a gift from Hashem, and... You can learn the same book a thousand times and still not get it. Another person can learn it half a time and already understand the whole thing. Why? Hashem gave him understanding, and He didn't give it to you.