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2 Iyar 5765 - May 11, 2005 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Opinion & Comment
In the Tents of the Shepherds

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

"Your Statutes Were Songs for Me"

Someone once approached HaRav Moshe Soloveitchik zt'l and asked: "How could Chazal have stated, `Talmidei chachomim increase peace on earth'? Doesn't reality prove the very opposite? Don't we often see Torah scholars maintaining differences of opinion and even fomenting dissension?"

R' Moshe replied with a parable, "Two people once attended a musical concert. One of them was a connoisseur, while the other was a virtual philistine. During the course of the concert, the connoisseur detected a dissonance by one of the musicians and it disturbed him immensely. He squirmed uneasily and was on the verge of leaving the concert hall, so greatly did it irk him. The other man in the audience could not understand what was bothering his seatmate.

"Our Torah scholars can be compared to the man whose musical appreciation was very sensitive and highly developed to the point that one or two false notes unnerved him. A slight aberration from the true halochoh similarly disturbs Torah scholars to a great degree and causes them to raise a furor.

"They rant against it with words of reproof and rebuke in the hope of rectifying the matter while the simple folk cannot understand why they are raising such a fuss over something that is negligible in their eyes. But this is because they are not sensitive to the broader ramifications of the issue and its far reaching implications. They do not see the danger and damage that can result from what seems to them a small infraction."

(Veho'ish Moshe)

Train the Child

Maran HaRav Chaim Halevi of Brisk once saw a little boy drawing near to the candles on Shabbos and he struck him on the hand. "But the boy hasn't even reached the age of understanding! One is not even obligated yet to educate him," protested those who were present.

Replied R' Chaim, "We will see . . . "

The following Shabbos, R' Chaim took the little child and led him close to the candles. Instinctively, the boy drew his hand back.

"Nu," said R' Chaim knowingly, "now you see?"

(Veho'ish Moshe)

"And We Shall Rejoice in the Words of Your Torah"

Hatzaddik HaRav Hillel Kagan ztvk'l once noticed that a student of Yeshivas Grodno was not attending the shiurim of HaRav Shmuel Rozovksy zt'l and asked him for an explanation. The student replied that he didn't understand the shiurim.

R' Hillel thereupon invited the student to his room and delivered a detailed review of R' Shmuel's shiur klolli. He enthusiastically presented the opening question and the ensuing development of the lecture.

When he was finished, he turned to the student and asked, "Did you understand that?" The student nodded but R' Hillel said, "You could not have understood it because if you had, you would surely have been happy. Come, let me review the question once more."

And he did. "Nu, and now do you understand it?" he asked again.

"Certainly," said the student, preparing to repeat it to prove it. But R' Hillel interrupted him and said, "You don't understand it. Else, why aren't you happy?"

He went back to the beginning and reviewed it repeatedly until the student finally smiled in enjoyment. When he saw this, R' Hillel conceded, "Fine! Now I know that you understand!"

(Zecher Hillel)

The Difference Between a Man and a Great Man

A student once apologized before HaRav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztvk'l, excusing himself for staying so long by the weddings of his friends. He added that he was surprised that in the brief fifteen minutes duration that R' Shlomo Zalman stayed at weddings, he caused such great joy to the chosson while he, a good friend, had to remain a full three hours to bring such jubilation to him.

R' Shlomo Zalman replied, "You should know that this is so only because in my youth, I concentrated upon my studies and did not attend many weddings. Now when I attend a wedding, my brief quarter of an hour stay is enough to bring joy to others."

(R' Yitzchok Yeruchom Borodiansky: Darka Shel Torah)


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