Q&A in Toras Shraga

We've been talking about getting a job as a lechatchila or bediavad that we just have to because of the klala of Adam Harishon. And nafka mina being if we should find a job that we just get the money to get by or if we can pursue a field that we're really interested in. And it's an excellent question, a very important one. A Jew is supposed to live as productively as possible. He's supposed to live, he's supposed to balance all the different obligations that the Torah gives us. Religious life is a life of balancing things. And he's supposed to, while doing that, through doing that, live as productively as possible. Depending upon what one's inclinations are professionally, depending upon whether they have intrinsic value, intrinsic worth, or whether it's just that it generates a paycheck to pay the bills, so that determines sort of what one does professionally. But a person always has to be looking to live as productively as possible. If the field that attracts me is a field that requires people to work twelve hours a day and okay they taki get rich but they don't even have time to count their money they're so tired when they come home at night. And there's nothing really of intrinsic value, so then that's not really living as productively as possible. If a person can generate the same money in half the time he should. If it's the case that the field to which a person is attracted is one which is of intrinsic value, it involves helping people, dealing with people, על אחת כמה וכמה if it involves teaching Torah in some capacity, so then that's very different. But a person should always be looking to remember that our neshama was once sent down to this world to what we were just learning about. They were sent down not for havlei hazman, not for things that don't endure. We were sent down to live as full a life as possible as avodas Hashem. One of the obligations that we're given is to make hishtadlus for parnassa and there's nothing a person doesn't need to apologize, a person shouldn't apologize for that. Whether or not you try to do that in as few hours as possible depends upon what a person is doing for parnassa, who he is, and how that person can maximize his avodas Hashem. Bein hazmanim, let's say summertime, what does Rosh Yeshiva think, should I try to learn to maintain growth and stay in the yeshiva yeshivadik feel over summer? Which things should I try to learn or to shteig in some certain... Depending upon the time available, yes, yes, yes. The main thing is to try to, one of the main things is again to the degree that a person is able to determine this and to chart his own course is also to be in an environment that's as conducive as possible to all of that. Again, depending upon we're not always in the driver's seat in terms of where we are when, but to the extent that a person is in a position to do so to be someplace where there's a beis medrash, that there's more of a support system and structure to help implement all those things. It's also it's very good, it's wonderful that you're thinking about it already because the way to successfully meet challenges in life is to as much as possible anticipate them and have a plan, have a mahalach how to deal with them. So by thinking about it, by arranging chavrusas, by figuring out sidrei halimmud ahead of time, so that's... That that positions a person b'siyata d'shmaya much better to to achieve that goal. One of the questions I'm sure that everyone deals with and I think this came out in a big way as we're learning Maseches Kiddushin in terms of men's and women's roles. Very often we find ourselves that the values that we're learning in terms of Torah are clashing with values that we are seeing and experiencing from the society in which we're living. Can the Rosh Yeshiva just address in terms of a mahalach and some kind of algorithm of how do we deal with clashes like that? Also, of major, major importance. Again, it begins with with the awareness of of the problem and then we need to try to always be cognizant of the following two things, the following two perspectives, and not to entirely equate them. Number one, we believe and we believe for good reason, for compelling reason, not just not a leap of faith, for good, compelling reason. So we believe that Torah min hashamayim. We believe that the Torah we're learning is is is the Torah Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave both Torah she-b'chsav and Torah she-ba'al peh to Moshe Rabbeinu. We believe that Chazal, the guardians of the mesorah throughout out the generations have transmitted to us the dvar Hashem. As such, we do our best to understand. We do our best to appreciate. We do our best to gain insight. But the bottom line is we're unconditionally committed. Once a person knows and once a person rationally has basis for commitment, so then the commitment is supposed to go beyond what a person understands. A person can't commit himself. A person commits himself to Torah, to Hakadosh Baruch Hu because of compelling reason. But once that commitment is made, so it doesn't make a difference whether I do or don't understand. In terms of practical obedience, in terms of acceptance, in terms of esteeming, it doesn't make a difference whether I do or don't understand. That's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu says. He knows better than I do. So that's one fundamental perspective. The other fundamental perspective, again not to equate the two, is that we should have some perspective on on the society around us. It sounds very extreme what we're about to talk about. And whatever extremism comes across is because the world we live in is a very, very extreme world. It's hard to have that sense. I assume all of you are approximately 19, 20 years old. So the whole world as you know it is, I don't know, the past 10 years. But the world is it has its good points, the society around us, the culture around us. It has made strides in in important areas that we benefit from, it's made strides in in recognizing and dealing with learning disabilities and and in some areas of education, in terms of education for for certain classes of people that it was harder, we didn't know how to reach. There are definitely areas in which society has progressed. But by and large, the society we live in is is a crazy, immoral society. That's that's what it is. What's axiomatic today, not what's a possibility, what's what's what's heresy by definition of the society around us, is is what's normal, is what's normal. Everything in so much of society around us, everything is extroversion, everything is extroverted, everything is about power and control, and that's the categories in which everything is viewed in life. So that when we are unfortunately infected to a degree by that society that we can't understand halachos which reflect tznius and an emphasis on introversion and not seeing the world in terms of people having power, seeing the world in terms of people carrying out whatever responsibilities Hakadosh Baruch Hu assigned to them, it's just a totally it's not the same language and there's no reason that a person should feel in the least bit defensive. A, what we live by is Dvar Hashem, Ratzon Hashem. B, the alternative is crazy, is immoral. That's the world we live in. It sounds extreme, but not because we're being extreme, but because the world around us is in the course of my lifetime has gone crazy. We learned that Talmud Torah is keneged kulam, but at the same time the ultimate goal is to connect with Hashem, to develop a strong relationship, as strong of a relationship as we can with Hashem, to share in Hashem's goodness, as the Ramchal put it, which is the ultimate goodness. That seems to be on a very something that's achieved on a very individualistic basis and it makes sense to me that let's say through tefillah, conversation with Hashem, that can be done through chesed, making people happy, impacting the world in a positive way, it could lead to such a relationship, but in terms of Talmud Torah, what advice would the Rosh Yeshiva give to have in terms of mindset that can help us better achieve that goal of becoming close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu? So we believe that a person has to holistically improve himself, elevate himself to come close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but that ultimately the main connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is intellectual, but the intellectual can't be isolated from the rest of who the person is. So we have the whole gamut of Torah mitzvos which help refine our middos, which tell us how to behave, but ultimately, ultimately, it's through one's the seichel is the pivotal dimension of connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, which is why Talmud Torah is so central. Both Rav Soloveitchik wrote a mini essay in which he juxtaposed a passage from Rav Chaim Volozhiner's Nefesh HaChaim to what the Baal HaTanya writes in Tanya. And they both, there are obvious differences elsewhere between the two works, but he shows a strikingly and almost identical formulation that I think the way the Baal HaTanya writes it is that heyos that Torah is Chochmas Hashem so that when a person learns Torah, so sichlo melubash, his seichel is enveloped with the chochma elokis and that creates a יחוד נפלא שאין כמוהו. And that's why there is such a primacy on Talmud Torah, not a primacy on Talmud Torah that can allow for rachmana litzlan not being very. back in all of the mitzvos because how a person is positioned to take advantage of Talmud Torah depends upon again holistically who he is and what he is. That's why the Nefesh Hachaim says that before we learn we should always do teshuva. We should always be meharer and be misvadeh on our chatoim so that we can approach the learning b'kedusha u'tahora and be able to forge that connection. If one wants to pursue a career that will take many many years and grueling hours, but one could see themselves in a different career on a different career path that would be less hours and still provide parnassa, what would Rebbe recommend? It's a very I don't think that there's an objective answer to the question. It has to be individualized and it has to be personalized. Besides defining the variables of what the two careers are and again what the respective intrinsic value of each, it has to do with the person's kochos and how he is best and maximize his kochos again to live as productively as possible. So I don't think that there's one objective answer to that question. It depends upon who the person is, what his kochos are, what the professions he's considering are, and with all those factors taken into account, then one can hope to try to come to the right decision. A lot of boys in yeshiva work really really hard baruch Hashem in their learning and their development and growth and they're doing beautifully. They expect to feel a certain level of enjoyment, excitement to learning, which if I'm not there completely and it really knocks them down a lot. They may find even that maybe other areas of Torah learning besides Gemara would be a little bit easier for them and more appreciated by them. How would Rebbe advise them on one hand to look at their hours of effort and not see what they hoped would be the excitement on one hand, and secondly, would Rebbe still encourage strongly that they should still invest in the Gemara learning though maybe less exciting as opposed to more halacha or Tanakh type of learning? I recently, very very recently, it was not last night but it was just the other day if I'm not mistaken, saw in the commentary of the Rokeach on Mishlei in kapittel hey when he's commenting on the psukim there that are talking about Torah. So the Rokeach writes that lomdei Torah initially have tzaar and then subsequently they're oheivim es haTorah. Which means lehavdil, lehavdil, lehavdil, just to give a moshal. So let's say a person is very interested in literature. It's moshech him, very interested in literature. And he wants to not only be able to read English literature, he wants to read comparative literature. So he's going to learn other languages. He's going to learn let's say French and Spanish and Russian and German, wants to be able to read the literature in many different languages. Most people find the process of learning a language very tedious. You have to memorize all the grammatical forms and all the declensions and it's very tedious. But if you want to read the literature in the original, so you have to make that investment. So lehavdil, lehavdil, elef alfei havdalos, Torah is no different in the sense that how can it be that how can I expect to walk into the beis medrash and in a relatively short period of time, in three months, six months, 18 months, which is a relatively short period of time, expect to achieve the proficiency and a person can't really first We need to know how to read easily and fluently the Gemara, we need to get a sense for the rhythm of the Gemara, for how a shakla v'tarya goes, we need to do the same in Rashi, we need to do the same in Tosafot, we need to do the same in the Rambam. It requires a tremendous investment of effort and in the same way, lehavdil, lehavdil, lehavdil, if I want to read Tolstoy in the original, I can't expect three months into my first year Russian course or even my second year of taking Russian language to be reading and enjoying Tolstoy in the original. It requires an investment. So it's, I think that's what's reflected in the Rokeach amongst, that's one of the considerations that's reflected. It's just, it's not a quick fix. It's, it requires an investment and that investment requires persistence on our part. What's the shiur? So the Gemara says in Chulin, commenting on the pasuk in Parshas Behaalotecha, that תלמיד שלא ראה סימן ברכה חמש שנים. And that talks about a five-year investment before a person can really tell that, you know what, maybe this limud isn't for me. And even those five years, it means five years of being in the right shiur and putting in the right amount of effort vechulu vechulu. So it's, it's undoubtedly premature to draw any conclusions about, you know, do I or don't I have a Gemara kopf if I haven't given it, you know, the time that's necessary. That having been said, lemaaseh, there needs to be an effort in the schedule that people have a peiros to keep themselves going. There needs to be enough that people are enjoying, that they don't get down, they don't get demoralized. So part of it is this perspective to know that it's premature to expect the return so quickly. But if that needs supplementing by diversifying it a little bit, so it's all Talmud Torah, so there's absolutely nothing to apologize for there. Ultimately, ultimately, there is such a thing. You find in Chazal, Chazal refer to some people as baalei aggada and they refer to some people as more as baalei halacha. I mean ultimately, there are, there is such a thing as a person being more on a wavelength of halacha and another person being more on a wavelength of aggada. It doesn't mean that it's an all-or-nothing proposition, but there certainly is such a thing. But until and unless a person makes the investment, a person doesn't really find out who he is and where his kochot are best applied. It's similar to the Rebbe's question. When it comes to tefillah, some students, including myself, have a hard time, you know, wanting to get out of bed in the morning to go to Shacharit, or when we get there, to have the proper mindset that we don't, you know, let's say Ashrei just say it by heart stam because we know it, Shema just run through it, Shmoneh Esrei run through it, Aleinu run through it, there are things we do just habitually like, it's not a good way to do it. I mean, what's the mindset that the Rosh Yeshiva says, what mindset should we have when it comes to davening so we should be able to get out of bed in the morning and just quickly run to the beis and be able to daven with proper kavanah? It's a very big challenge. It's a very big challenge. In terms of, I mean what I'm about to say, I mean seriously, I don't mean facetiously. In terms of getting out of bed in the morning, the best thing is not to leave your alarm clock within arm's reach. Leave the alarm clock the other side of the room. It's going to sufficiently drive you crazy that you're going to get out of bed and then there's still a nisayon not to go back to bed, but lemaaseh that's less of a nisayon than staying in bed in the first place. So that's a helpful thing to do. I think they say beshem Yaakov Kamenetsky that a big problem that especially Americans have when it comes to tefillah is that we begin to learn how to daven before we understand what we. So we get into the habit of mouthing words that don't mean anything to us. So when we begin davening at age three, four, five, six, whatever age we begin davening, so we don't really understand what we're saying and tefillah becomes an exercise in saying words and turning pages, and some of us 50 years later are still holding in the same place. So how does one try to overcome it? L'chora, number one, we need to study the siddur, we need to understand what we're saying. So depending upon what's most helpful to the individual, whether it's the linear translation or I think that Artscroll has what's called words on top of the line, the English is on top of the Hebrew, whether it's that, whether it's the, if you like a Hebrew commentary done the same way. So there's a Rav here in Eretz Yisrael who has something called HaSiddur HaMeforash and he has the same thing with the machzorim, where also he has interspersed so that your eye sees it as you say the words, you see the explanation. So first of all we need to understand what we're saying. Tefillah can't be meaningful if we don't understand the words of Ashrei, then there's no way that tefillah can be meaningful. That's A. B, the other challenge, the other thing that we can do, and again, easier said than done, but doable. I think we've all had the experience of at least once in our lives having davened with kavanah. Maybe that one time was rachmana litzlan one heard about a family member or someone in one's inner circle who was sick or something or maybe rachmana litzlan there had been a pigua here in Eretz Yisrael and there was a Tehillim gathering. Everyone in their life has davened with kavanah, which means that we have that capacity. It's not, sometimes we think maybe we don't have that capacity. We do have the capacity because we've... So how does one tap that all the time? Because when we do daven with kavanah, what makes it possible is that we feel the need. And when we get up every day to daven, we don't feel the need. But realistically, objectively, a person is always very needy. A person is always totally vulnerable and totally dependent upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu, not just everyone in this room, everyone, everything, the entire briyah. A person doesn't know what's going to be in one second from now. A person doesn't know who he's going to be, what he's going to be the next second. Every person, everyone is totally vulnerable, totally dependent, totally needy. The only thing is, Baruch Hashem, Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us health and he gives us parnassah and he gives us everything we need, so we don't feel it. We don't feel that neediness. If a person would recognize just how dependent we are upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so then that experience that we've had at one or two moments in our lives of davening properly, could be something, it could become a daily occurrence. Does the Rosh Yeshiva feel that it ever makes sense for a student to go to a non-yeshiva university and in what scenario would that be? Almost never say never, every rule has its exceptions. But l'maiseh a person has to be aware of two realities, two realities that are just so staggering that they sort of challenge the imagination. It's hard to be master. First of all the culture of just promiscuity and znus and drinking on secular campuses. I don't know, I think it makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like a holy place. And a person enters such an environment, especially if a person's going to be living there on campus, so Chazal have a lashon מה יעשה הבן ולא יחטא. Chazal say that sometimes the way a person exercises his bechirah is not at the time... Not when I'm in the place. Sometimes the way I exercise my bechirah is whether I go to that place, because once I go to that place, so the deck is so stacked against me, so מה יעשה הבן שלא יחטא. It's mind-boggling what goes on there. And that's it's premeditated, that's part that defines the college experience. It's not that it happens. No, that's it's a l'chatchila-dike shita. That defines the college experience. The other thing is that when a person goes to a secular campus, the other thing that he encounters that he doesn't realize when he goes there, he thinks he's just going because of the prestige of the college or the university. There's all different forms of kefira. Now whenever you have a debate, so the side that wins the debate is not the side that's right, necessarily. The side that wins the debate is the side that's more polished, the side that's more sophisticated, the side that can do a better job presenting its arguments in favor of the false position rather than the side who represents truth, but doesn't have the sophistication, doesn't know how to make the arguments. The average day school graduate, even after a year, two, three years, however many years in Eretz Yisrael, does not have the sophistication to counter the different forms of kefira that he will encounter on secular campuses. There are courses in religion, there are courses in Bible, there are courses in archaeology. The kefira is m’arba ruchos. And the person, all of it is sheker v'kazav and all of it can be answered very, very compellingly. But the average person doesn't, the average rov d’rov d’rov of Yeshiva graduates don't have the reservoir of Torah knowledge and don't have the sophistication to deal with it. משל למה הדבר דומה, if a person is not such an accomplished swimmer, he can't go far from the shore and swim where there are strong currents and strong tides. Rachmana l'tzlan, it's a formula for disaster.