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Please include Israel's captive soldiers in
your tefillot: Zecharia Shlomo ben Miriam Baumel, Tzvi ben Penina
Feldman, Yekutiel Yehuda Nachman ben Sarah Katz, Ron ben Batya Arad, Guy ben
Rina Chever, Gilad ben Aviva Shalit. Thursday, 23 Elul 5770 – September 2, 2010
Yesterday, we discussed a peculiar exchange recorded by
the Gemara in Masekhet Chagiga (3a) that ensued when Rabbi Yochanan ben
Beroka and Rabbi Elazar Chisma visited Rabbi Yehoshua, after studying in the
yeshiva of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya.
Rabbi Yehoshua asked the visitors to share with him the material
taught in the yeshiva that day. The students
initially refused, expressing their preference to hear Rabbi Yehoshua teach
them. But Rabbi Yehoshua insisted, and so Rabbi Yochanan ben Beroka and Rabbi
Elazar Chisma reported to him the lesson they had heard that day from Rabbi
Elazar ben Azarya. They said that
Rabbi Elazar discussed the subject of hakhel, the national assembly
that was held in the Beit Ha-mikdash every seven years, as the Torah
commands in Parashat Vayelekh (31:12).
Rabbi Elazar raised the question of why the Torah required bringing
the young children to hakhel, even though they could not understand,
let alone internalize or apply, the words of Torah spoken at this
assembly. He explained, ambiguously,
“In order to reward those who brought them.” Upon hearing Rabbi Elazar’s explanation,
Rabbi Yehoshua scolded his students for their initial refusal to share with
him this insight: “That was a precious gem in your hands, and you wished to
deprive me of it?” What exactly did Rabbi Elazar mean
by his comment, and why did Rabbi Yehoshua find this explanation to be
“precious”? The Rosh Yeshiva, HaRav Baruch Gigi shelit”a
(http://vbm-torah.org/archive/sichot68/48-68nitzavim-vayelekh.htm),
suggested that when Rabbi Elazar spoke of the parents receiving “reward” for
bringing their children, he meant that the parents learn a valuable lesson
about Torah from their children’s inclusion in hakhel. Quite obviously, the youngsters do not come
to hakhel learn, to gain knowledge, to grow intellectually. Rather, they attend because even they are
affected by the experience – not intellectually, but emotionally. The experience of attending a large Torah
gathering has an impact upon children.
Their connection to Torah and to Am Yisrael is enhanced by the
special atmosphere of the event, even though they do not understand the
material that is taught. And this is the “reward” that the
parents earn. They are reminded that
Torah is not only about the mind, but also about the heart, that we must
develop an emotional attachment to Torah alongside our intellectual study of
Torah. As Rav Gigi explained: Sometimes we say to ourselves, “I’m
not impressed by atmosphere and by externals,” or “I want to understand and
don’t need an emotional connection.” The hak’hel ceremony teaches us
to absorb and make the most of every aspect of the occasion. There are people
who, when exposed to a learned, complicated proof, will understand nothing,
yet sometimes these very people demonstrate immense power of Torah and of
fear of heaven. “To give reward to those who bring them” means learning a
lesson from the children. A person may bring his children, wondering at the
same time why he is bringing them, but then he witnesses the child’s excitement
and the fear of God that the child attains – and this should signal to the
parent to learn from the child and to absorb some of that aspect of the
occasion, too. People gather for hak’hel in
order to learn, but at the same time it is important to know that the Torah
also addresses itself beyond the intellectual level; there is always an
aspect of inner, soul-connection with things. We…must be aware of this
aspect, and be prepared to internalize it and absorb it into ourselves. This was the “precious gem”
revealed to us by Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya in his discourse on hakhel –
that the Torah must be not only studied, but absorbed; that one must apply
himself to Torah learning not only intellectually, but emotionally, as well. David Silverberg |
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THE COMPLETE SALT ARCHIVES
CAN BE FOUND AT: www.vbm-torah.org/salt-archives.html (c) 2010 Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash, Yeshivat Har Etzion.
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