009 Letter 112

I hope you're well. סימן קוף יוד בית. שמחתני יקירי במכתבך המפורט, your detailed letter that you succeeded in that letter to convey a clear picture of everything that's transpired since you since you left. All right, so maybe means I assume since you left the yeshiva. וכשם ששמחתני בגוף מכתבך, just as the letter itself was a source of simcha to me, you were mesameach me, כמו כן גרמת לקורת רוח בתוכן מכתבך, not only the fact that I received a report but the content of the report also gave me great satisfaction. Amadeta eisan, you've stood firm בכל החתחתים והמכשולים שסובבו אותך מעברים. You stood firm amidst all the all the challenges, all the potential stumbling blocks that that surrounded you from different sides. כשרואים חפץ מונח בידו של אדם, if you see an object in a person's hand,

עדיין אי אפשר להחליט אם החפץ מונח בידו סתם או שהוא מחזיק בו בכוח.

You see something in a person's hand, you can't really discern whether it's just sort of sitting there or whether he's holding onto it firmly. ורק שאתה מנסה להוציא את החפץ מידו, only when you try to take it away from him, az efshar lehivachach, then you can then you can ascertain בכמות הכוח המהדקת את החפץ אל היד, how much force is there that that's keeping the object in in the hand. אפשר להיות בישיבה ללמוד בשקידה. A person can be in yeshiva and he can be learning assiduously.

ואף על פי כן אין להביא ראיה מזה על דביקותו של הלומד אל תורתו.

But this still isn't clear proof or indication about the connection which the the person has to his Torah.

ורק בשעה שמיסתערים עליו כוחות להוציא את הגמרא מתחת ידו,

only when different forces are raging and and attempting to take the Gemara away from him, אז מתגלה מידת ההידוק והקשר, then the degree of of connection is revealed אשר בין הלומד ותורתו. Hanhagatcha hametueret bemichtavcha, your behavior which is described in your letter, mochiacha ba'alil, it it it proves clearly על נימי נפשך המקשרים אותך אל תורתך on on the the heartstrings, the soul strings that that that tie you, that bind you to your Torah. Zos veod acheres, and and another point.

ספרי העבודה מלאים דברים על אודות עמידה בניסיונות. כמובן הניסיונות הם מסוגים רבים משונים,

there are many different types of nisyonos,

ניסיון של ממון של כבוד של צער הגוף של דעות כוזבות,

being exposed to false misleading beliefs, vegomer vegomer etcetera. Uvechol zos, despite this wide range and despite the the variety of nisyonos,

ובכל זאת תמצא כי הסעיף הראשון בשולחן ערוך אורח חיים מוצא לנכון להזהיר על ניסיון מסוים.

And nevertheless And nevertheless, the very first seif in Shulchan Aruch sees that it's appropriate to caution about one particular nisayon. אל יתבייש מפני המלעיגים עליו. And a person shouldn't feel ashamed, he shouldn't feel inhibited on account of those who scorn him, who mock him. ובודאי שכל כהאי גוונא טעמא בעי. And clearly we have to understand why of all the nisyonos the Rama singles out this nisayon to be mezarez us, to be omed bifnei nisayon.

דהלא סוף סוף הספר הראשון שבשלחן ערוך נאמדו דבריו על כל יסוד עבודת השם.

The opening sefer of Shulchan Aruch is giving us a general principle, a far-reaching and wide-ranging klal in avodas Hashem.

ולמה יצאו מכלל הנסיונות דוקא נסיון פרטי זה של מלעיגים להזכר במפורש בספר כללי זה?

So why is this nisayon singled out? Ela she-inyan hu

שהרמ"א היה הפוסק האחרון שכל ישראל נשענו עליו בכל ארבע חלקי שלחן ערוך המקיפים את חיי התורה בזמן הזה.

The Rama is the posek ha-achron that we all rely on in all areas of contemporary Torah life. These two words, posek ha-achron, that description of the Rama, מעידים כמאה עדים על התחלה של תקופת עקבתא דמשיחא. I'm not sure that I'm reading this sentence correctly, could be there's a simpler and better way to read it, but apparently what Rav Hutner is saying is that every tkufah has its posek. You talk about the posek hador. Every tkufah has its posek. In designating the Rama the posek ha-achron, so implicit in that is that we're in the final tkufah before the culmination of history with bias ha-Mashiach, with the yemos ha-Mashiach. כל זמן שיתכן עוד, just one second, the Rama is not at the very beginning of the elef hashishi but it's certainly towards the, relatively speaking, it's towards the beginning of the elef hashishi which is the, you know, obviously the millennium in which Mashiach comes.

כל זמן שיתכן עוד שכל ישראל ישענו על מקור הוראה אחד, עדיין יש מקצת נחמה לצרת השיעבוד של עקבתא דמשיחא.

As long as it is still feasible for all of Beis Yisrael to rely on one source of hora’ah, there's still a miktzas nechama, there's still a little bit of comfort for the tzara, for the adversity, for the suffering associated with the shibud in ikveta d'meshicha. Im... כלות כוחו של מקור הרע הכללי. When when that source of general hara, when when its force expires, ועצמת הצרות של עקבתא דמשיחא מתחלות. Then the real intensity of the tzaros of Ikvesa d'Meshicha begin.

והלא הסימן המובהק של עקבתא דמשיחא הוא החוצפא הצועדת בראש.

In Ikvesa d'Meshicha, right, Chazal say chutzpa yasga. In the as as Moshiach approaches, again we don't know whether approaches means ten minutes, ten years, ten decades, we don't know, but as Moshiach approaches, chutzpa proliferates. ועל כן דברי הרמ"א בסעיפו הראשון and accordingly what the Rama writes in the opening seif of Shulchan Aruch, matimim hem, they correspond דווקא לאותו הניסיון האופייני לתקופת עקבתא דמשיחא. That's Rav Hutner's vort. Rav Hutner's vort is the Rama is the posek acharon for Ikvesa d'Meshicha. The defining nisayon of Ikvesa d'Meshicha is the encounter with the widespread proliferating chutzpa in the world. והניסיון האופייני ביותר לעקבתא דמשיחא הוא ניסיון המלעיגים. The most characteristic nisayon in the age of Ikvesa d'Meshicha is the nisayon, is the test of being subjected to maligim, people who ridicule, people who scorn. הכלי זיין המובהק של החוצפא the weapon, the arms which chutzpa employs hu hala'ag, is scorn, is ridicule. ואם כן אמנם נאה הוא it's fitting the posek acharon העומד בשער תקופת עקבתא דמשיחא it begins with the Rama, לחרות על מזוזת השער to inscribe on the entryway אל יתבייש מפני המלעיגים. Ashrecha

שקיימת בנפשך את האזהרה זו של הספר הראשון מהפוסק האחרון ולא התביישת מפני המלעיגים. כל הדיבורים והטענות שאתה מוסר במכתבך בשמם של אנשי השטנה הקמים על תכנית לימוד התורה שלך.

All the chatter and all the complaints that you relate in your letter in the name of those people of who are people of of maligning, of hatred, who are standing against your plan for Talmud Torah, אינם אלא לעג של חוצפא האופיינית לעקבתא דמשיחא. All all what you reported, what you've encountered, they are just expressions of scorn, of ridicule, of the prototypical chutzpa of the Ikvesa d'Meshicha. ואתה לא רק שלא התביישת מפניהם אלא שעמדת בפניהם. Not only weren't you inhibited but you stood up against them. יקר היית לי מיום שהכרתיך. You were precious to me from the day that I first got to know you. ועכשיו יקרת בעיני שבעתיים. And now, however, you should know that you've become seven times more precious again as a metaphor. לך בכוחך זה והושעת את עצמך וסביבותיך again from the phrase from Navi, לך בכוחך זה והושעת and save yourself and your surroundings ואת כל אשר תמצא יד השפעתך להשיגם and all those whom the hand of your influence can reach. ועצת השם תופיע על דרכך לטוב לך כל הימים. Rav Hutner describes that the nisayon of ikvesa d'meshicha is that of la'ag. Again, if you look at the beginning of the letter, the date, so it's תשי"ז, 1957. So what is that? Almost 63 years ago, what? Yeah, I think so, 63 years ago. Ke-midoimeh, and again, not by way of a kasha, more by way of updating the insight of this letter that we've seen the chutzpah of ikvesa d'meshicha move to another stage. What happens when someone ridicules or scorns? When a person ridicules or scorns, he says that what you're doing is nonsensical, what you're doing is a waste of time, what you're doing is meaningless, and you're missing out on what's really important in life, i.e., what's fun and pleasurable in life in the context of these generations. That's what la'ag is. Again, scorn, scorn, ridicule. The world today, again, I don't think the world, I don't know that the world was there in תשי"ז, but in Taf Shin Pei, the world is in a different place, a worse place. Now, the nisayon that we encounter is not only la'ag, but the nisayon we encounter is cheiruf u-giduf. We get vilified, not scorned for being moral. We get vilified for being moral. Once upon a time, the revolution was, what are you depriving yourself and trying to deprive others by your old-fashioned, antiquated canons of morality? And now, the chutzpah is so great that the morality is accused of being bigotry, and immorality is crowned and labeled as being morality. If a person says that he's opposed to gay marriage, אף על פי כן, so he's a bigot. He's intolerant, he's a bigot. That's not just la'ag. That's not just scorn and ridicule. No, that's vilification. The chutzpah has gotten exponentially greater. And with that, the nisayon is greater. It's one thing to be scorned and ridiculed, it's another thing to be accused and vilified for being immoral when the reality is that a person is being moral by following the dictates of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the dictates of the Torah. But the same yisod of the Rema remains al yeivosh. Al yeivosh means not only should a person not be deterred, when the advice given is al yeivosh, it means not only should a person not be deterred from his way of life, but a person shouldn't even do it with a sense of shame. A person should continue to do it with a sense of conviction, a sense of אשרינו מה טוב חלקנו, a sense of confidence in amittah shel Torah and therefore. Every isur shebo. That's our ezuz. Okay rabosai, hopefully be'ezras Hashem we'll resume bli neder at one o'clock bli neder.