Kallim & Pratim: A Full Understanding of Torah

Torah is intended to be understood and therefore learned on multiple levels. Presently we're not referring to Pardes, although of course it's true in that sense as well. But rather what we're talking about is a multiplicity of levels within the nigla aspect of Torah, within halacha. Halacha consists of pratim and also of klalim. Within klalim themselves, there are different grades of klalim. Some are klalim within a specific area of halacha, some are more encompassing, some are klalei klalim, and some klalim characterize large swaths or even all of Torah. So here's an illustration drawing upon what's familiar to all of us. A detail, a prat, a detail in Hilchos Shabbos is that when it comes to melachos borer that ochel mitoch psolet is mutar and psolet mitoch ochel is not only assur but even chayav; one would be chayav chatas. It's assur min haTorah. Now that's a prat. The klal underlying that prat according to most is that the klal in melachas borer is that derech achila is mutar. On a deeper level, one can discern within Hilchos Shabbos a more encompassing klal that actions which are not done derech melacha but which contextually are considered not derech melacha but derech hashtamshus, such as koreya or me'al hachavis, that that's a broader klal of which derech achila is itself a subset, a prat. So a klal and a super klal, as it were, that even the klal of derech achila is a prat of a bigger klal in Hilchos Shabbos, which has yet more ramifications and more applications. And even more encompassing klal within Hilchos Shabbos with all of its varied applications and ramifications is מלאכת מחשבת אסרה תורה. And the Ramban reveals a metaklal which hovers above and encompasses all of Hilchos Shabbos: שיהא זכרוננו בו להיות קדוש בעינינו. Skipping a line,

שתהא השביתה בעינינו בו שהוא יום קדוש להיפנות בו מעסקי המחשבות והבלי הזמנים ולעשות בו עונג לנפשנו בדרכי השם וללכת אל החכמים ואל הנביאים לשמוע.

That all of hilchos shabbos is designed and intended that a person should mentally be disengaged from all his mundane preoccupations so that the day can be consecrated to spiritual pursuits.

לעשות בעונג לנפשנו בדרכי השם וללכת אצל החכמים ואל הנביאים לשמוע דברי השם.

The Ramban's peirush al hatorah kemiduma that one of the reasons maybe a maybe a or the primary reason that throughout the doros gedolim have highlighted how fundamental and foundational the פירוש הרמב"ן על התורה is because one of the features of the פירוש הרמב"ן על התורה is that he's osek be'klalim. Ramban's not only that that he has new and important and insightful and profound pshatim in individual psukim. He obviously has all that as well. But Ramban is osek be'klal whether it's here in hilchos shabbos this klal of again tishbos and the זכור יום השבת לקדשו. Whether it's the more famous ones of kedoshim tihyu and ve'asisa hayashar vehatov. So yedias hatorah consists of pratim consists of klalim. Another example of of a klal that that we discussed I think several weeks ago in in this slot is and again a klal which characterizes all of Torah a sweeping sweeping klal which the Ramban in various contexts in his peirush al hatorah highlights כי התורה לא תסמוך על הנס. That halacha and therefore our obligations al pi halacha operates on a natural level on a natural plane. The reality of nissim nistarim and hashgacha notwithstanding our belief in that reality of hashgacha pratis and nissim nistarim notwithstanding. But halacha operates and demands that we act on a natural plane. And and that's what's axiomatic to hilchos milchama the Ramban's peirush in parshas shoftim. That's what's axiomatic to dinei pikuach nefesh vechulu. Another example again of of the Ramban identifying for us a klal and this again one which the Ramban says it characterizes all of Torah. This is not just within one area of halacha but but it's a a defining essential axiomatic feature of of of halacha כי התורה לא תסמוך על הנס. Now this these same examples of pratim and different levels of klalim also illustrate the interrelatedness of pratim and klalos in terms of yedias hatorah. On the one hand every every detail in Torah if a person knows any particular halacha any detail in Torah so that represents a degree of yedias hatorah. Again as our case in point. A person knows the halacha of ochel mitoch psoles. And what's more, the dimension of גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה is also true of such a yedia pratis. Knowing ochel mitoch psoles will allow a person in many situations to comply with hilchos borer, to be nizaher in borer. But on the other hand, when a person has a yedia pratis but without the klallim, it also engenders distortion. So for instance, if a person knows the din of ochel mitoch psoles is mutar and psoles mitoch ochel is chayav, but doesn't know the klal of derech achila, so he'll conclude that peeling an orange on Shabbos is chayav. If a person would peel an orange on Shabbos is chayav. You peel an orange, you think psoles mitoch ochel. It's only if he understands the underlying klal of derech achila, so then he realizes that there are exceptional cases where the derech achila is the psoles mitoch ochel, such as when the orange is enclosed in a peel. So yedias hapratim without yedias haklallim is not only incomplete but inevitably is also a distorted yedia. So we mentioned earlier that there are different strata of klallim. There are klallim, klallei klallim, v'chulu. And not surprisingly, the more overarching the klal, so then the more axiomatic the klal, so then the greater the ensuing distortion is if a person knows the pratim without an understanding, without a basic fundamental nuanced understanding of the klal. I think Rav Schechter records in Nefesh HaRav a comment from the Rav, zichrono livracha. At first, when one hears it initially it seems jarring, that a person can know kol HaShas and be an am ha'aretz. But what the Rav meant was this: if a person knows but his knowledge is just exclusively or almost exclusively or too restricted to yedias hapratim and not sufficiently balanced by and complemented and supplemented by yedias haklallim, so then a person can on one level, obviously it's not real, right? But on one level, a person can know Shas and on another level he's an am ha'aretz. And so when you look at the Ramban's klallim, the Ramban's klallim point in that direction as well. Let's take the example of Kedoshim Tihyu. It's clear though that the Ramban means, the Ramban famously says that absent Kedoshim Tihyu, so one would be a naval birshus HaTorah. So the Ramban means not only that what the Torah says explicitly. is only X percent of what the Torah wants from us and the rest of it is encapsulated in kedosha in such klallim as kedoshim tihyu. No, the Ramban means more than that. What the Ramban means is that absent the kedoshim tihyu, so one makes a caricature of everything that's explicit in Torah even without kedoshim tihyu. A person can be in full compliance with Parshas Arayos, with the parsha ma'achalos asuros, but if he's שטוף בזימת אשתו או נשיו, if he's להוט אחר תאוות אכילה, so it's not only that there's something which is supposed to be present alongside the dinei arayos and ma'achalos asuros that's missing, but he distorts that. Because those mitzvos are intended, are designed to induce, to create kedusha, to elevate a person to kedusha, and to comply with them in a way and simultaneously while technically complying with them to act in a way that's antithetical to kedusha, so it distorts those mitzvos also. So the klallim don't just provide a deeper level of understanding, but they're vital, they're indispensable. The full yedias HaTorah for which we strive, the level of yedias HaTorah that rare breed of gedolei Torah possess is one which encompasses not only an encyclopedic knowledge of the pratim, it certainly does that as well, but even more fundamentally consists of this understanding of the klallim, the klallei klallim, the klallei klallei klallim v'chulu, because it's only then that a person has a correct, ultimately correct and full understanding of Torah. Many klallim the chachmei hamesorah throughout the generations have already articulated for us, but even those klallim, you know, we can learn the various Rambans, but to really know the Ramban means to understand, to recognize the situations in which it's applicable. A person can know the Ramban ba'al peh, can know the Ramban verbatim, but to really know the Ramban in the sense that we're discussing, it means that a person recognizes those situations when each of the Ramban's klallim are applicable. That's the level of yedias HaTorah. To which we strive. And again, that's the level of yedias hatorah to which Gedolei Yisroel possess.