A shmuess about aspirations in Torah, as we
approach the Siyum HaShas of Daf Yomi.
Part II
In the first part HaRav Margolis noted that Dovid Hamelech
was punished because he called Torah a "song." The Maharsha
explains that "a song is in man's mouth for only a short
time, but divrei Torah are forever. They should not
depart from his mouth, so that they will not be forgotten by
him." Torah is also contrasted with tefilloh: Torah is
constant; Tefilloh is intermittent. Torah is all the
time; Tefilloh is only at set times. He also noted
that the second time that Moshe Rabbenu went up to Har Sinai,
he spent the same forty days that he spent the first time
around, even though it was review. This indicates the
importance of review.
Forgetting is Negligence
Many times we use the baffling expression, "I do not know" to
answer a question about some Torah topic. This "I do not
know" sometimes means, "I have never studied this subject,"
and sometimes it means, "I studied it but have forgotten
it."
What is the halachic status of "not knowing"? Is it an
unintentional sin — shogeig — an unwilling
sin — oness, or perhaps an intentional sin
— peshi'ah bemeizid?
There is an explicit statement in the Gemora in
connection with the claim of "I do not know." The
Gemora rules (Bovo Metzia 35a), "Saying, `I do
not know,' is an act of negligence (peshi'ah)." The
context is about a person who agreed to watch an article and
now does not remember where he put it. He is considered to
have been thoroughly negligent. Even a shomeir chinom
(someone who watches without being paid to do so and is
exempt from paying if the object was lost or stolen) is in
this case obligated to pay the one who gave him the object
for safekeeping.
The commentators ask why Chazal consider not remembering to
be a peshi'ah in the case of a shomeir, since
in other places in Shas forgetting is considered an
oness or a shogeig. For example, if a person
forgot to pray Shacharis he can pray a second
Shemoneh Esrei after Minchah instead of the
forgotten Shacharis. If forgetting were considered
peshi'ah bemeizid he would not be allowed to do so.
Some attempt to resolve this difficulty by making a
distinction. The Torah was more stringent, they say, with a
shomeir and it considered his forgetting to be a
peshi'ah because the Torah requires a person who
agrees to be a shomeir to watch the object most
carefully. A person's forgetting where he put the object
shows that he has been negligent and has not been scrupulous
to fulfill Hashem's will in watching the object.
The Maharshal (in the Yam Shel Shlomoh, Beitzah 2:6)
also remarks that in general forgetting shows a person's
indifference about doing the thing he has forgotten. In
connection to a person who forgot to make an eruv
tavshilin on erev yom tov, he writes: "A person
who at any time forgets [to make an eruv tavshilin] is
a poshei'a, and peshi'ah is close to
meizid. If someone who forgets is considered a
poshei'a in the case of a promissory note, then
undoubtedly he is a poshei'a [regarding] the religion
of our Elokim, since he should have been concerned
about fulfilling Hashem's command [in making an eruv
tavshilin]."
It is still difficult to understand why there is such a great
difference between forgetting to pray Shemoneh Esrei
which is considered shogeig, and a shomeir who
is considered a poshei'a. Why is someone who forgot to
pray not included in the rule of, "he should have been
concerned about fulfilling Hashem's command," even though he
was careless about praying, the avodoh shebaleiv?
Perhaps we can differentiate between a shomeir and
someone who forgot to pray. A shomeir, who has agreed
to watch an article, has already started performing the
mitzvah. Only afterwards did he neglect guarding his charge
carefully.
Someone who forgets to pray altogether, though he should have
done the mitzvah, nevertheless has not yet started performing
it. Forgetting to do something while in the middle of it is a
much greater negligence than forgetting to begin it.
We can conclude from the above that forgetting what one has
studied is worse than not studying at all. Someone who was
not able to study Torah is be'oness and cannot be
blamed. However, someone who studied and knew Torah but later
forgot it, is a poshei'a. Such a person had possession
of divrei Elokim chaim but neglected to preserve
them!
It is for good reason that Chazal label someone who forgets
his study as, "he has despised the word of Hashem"
(Bamidbar 15:31). About such a person it is true that,
"Saying, `I do not know,' is an act of negligence."
Reviewing Torah study shows how meaningful it is to the
reviewer. It is a person's nature to guard carefully
something that is precious to him so that he will not lose
it. On the other hand, he does not exert himself to watch
over something he considers insignificant.
The Chasam Sofer said that actually we ought to be obligated
to review our Torah studies all day long. We can add that,
although it is fatiguing to review the entire Shas to
the extent that it truly needs to be reviewed, at least we
should show that we do not want to lose what we have already
studied. By studying one maseches and continually
reviewing it we demonstrate our truly wanting to review all
of our studies properly. Only lack of time prevents us from
doing what is necessary in the best possible way.
After the petiroh of HaRav Shlomoh Zalman Auerbach
zt'l many articles and anecdotes of how he lived were
published. One point in particular caught my eye. When he was
still a young man he had already managed to study Bovo
Kammo some sixty times. From things like this a person is
capable of building himself.
After Its Kind
A ben Torah's firm will to know everything, sometimes
causes terrible confusion. The end result is that he does not
know clearly even what he has already studied. Everything
becomes one great, blurred collection of knowledge whose
degree of fogginess continually increases.
Studying in an orderly fashion is an important security
measure for developing and protecting a person's polished
knowledge. This is true even for great Torah scholars, and
much more so for those whose Torah scholarship is more
limited.
"And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after
its kind" (Bereishis 1:12). Rashi cites from Chazal,
"Although `after its kind' is not written when grass was
commanded to grow, the grass heard that the trees were
commanded to do so and made a kal vochomer for
itself." The Gemora (Chulin 60a) explains the kal
vochomer: "If it is the will of HaKodosh Boruch Hu
for everything to be mixed, why did He say `after its kind'
about the trees?" Another kal vochomer was, "For
trees, that do not usually emerge mixed together, HaKodosh
Boruch Hu commanded `after its kind' — that each
tree should emerge far from the other and that is should be
noticeable that each is a separate tree. As for us, who grow
in much greater amounts and usually emerge mixed together, if
each sort of grass is not careful to emerge separately we can
certainly not be differentiated one from the other."
Just as the material world needs to be organized, each sort
separate from the others, so also in one's studies each type
of knowledge must be separated. Only when someone studies in
an orderly fashion does he gain the mastery of his acquired
knowledge and do his studies remain written in his head.
An important condition for a person to remember is the
sorting of information, each sort after its kind. Every bit
of knowledge should be polished by itself and kept separate
from the others.
The need to organize information and set up divisions is not
only necessary for people who are already proficient in a
huge amount of Torah. On the contrary, young people who are
making their first steps in the Torah World must be prudent
and make sure to study in an organized way.
When a person studies a certain sugya,. he must focus
and isolate its main points, summarize them separately and
store them in his head. Young students must also make a
kal vochomer, just as the lowly grass did when it
elected to learn from the higher trees.
Another concept that we learn from the trees is that,
although their trunks are far from each other, as they grow
taller it is possible — even likely — that at
their crest they will merge with the other trees. The message
we infer from this is that when a person studies the
principles of Torah in a polished fashion, eventually all his
knowledge will combine and one thing will fertilize the
other. Those who shelter in the shadow of people who behave
this way will benefit from their Torah.
HaKodosh Boruch Hu's Will
"R' Chananya ben Akashyah said: HaKodosh Boruch Hu
wanted to give Yisroel merit; therefore He gave them abundant
Torah and mitzvos, as is written (Yeshayohu 42:21):
`Hashem desired, for His righteousness' sake, to make the
Torah great and glorious' (Makkos 23b)."
There are numerous commentaries who deal with this apparently
amazing remark of R' Chananya ben Akashya. On the contrary,
they ask, if HaKodosh Boruch Hu had obligated us with
fewer mitzvos it would probably be easier for us to reach
self-perfection. As it is now, with the ladder placed on the
ground and its head reaching the Heavens through six hundred
and thirteen steps, the way to ascend these steps is lengthy
and many times exhausting. A person must exert himself to no
end until he arrives at his desired destination.
Imagine: If the ladder had only twelve steps or fifty steps
we would reach the top quicker, and perhaps more people would
be able to carry out the mission.
The Rambam (in his Commentary on the Mishnayos)
explains, "It is one of the Torah's principles of
emunah that if a person fulfills one mitzvah of the
613 mitzvos properly, and is careful not to adjoin to it any
mundane intent, but does it with love, for its own sake, as I
explained to you, he will merit [entry into] Olom
Habo. About this R' Chananya said that since the mitzvos
are so many, it is impossible for a person not to do at least
one of them properly and completely, and when he does so he
will give life to his soul through that act."
I saw the booklet He'aros VeTziyunim by HaRav Yitzchok
Yeruchom Borodiansky, the mashgiach of Yeshivas Kol
Torah, in which he analyzes this passage of the Rambam's
commentary. We can understand, he asks, why Hashem gave us
many mitzvos: in order for each person to have the
opportunity to fulfill one mitzvah perfectly. What is not
understood is why did HaKodosh Boruch Hu, as the
Mishnah writes, also give us so much Torah to
study?
I believe we can reconcile that difficulty according to what
we have just written. The principle that the Rambam lays down
refers also to Torah study. The gigantic range of Torah
— "The measure thereof is longer than the earth and
broader than the sea" (Iyov 11:9) — with the
endless subjects and areas dealt with in the Torah, gives
each one of us the possibility and opportunity to gain a
genuine understanding of at least one branch of Torah
knowledge.
Each person, according to the way his heart is inclined,
should become competent in at least one branch of Torah
knowledge. One person is attracted to monetary matters,
another to hilchos Shabbos, while a third is drawn to
study the laws of the korbonos. Each person can find
what he cherishes in the Torah, since the Torah is, as "Ben
Bag Bag says: `Delve into the Torah and continue to delve
into it, for everything is in it'" (Ovos 5:26). This
great scope gives each person a chance to find what his soul
years for, the maseches that will "correctly pour into
his soul . . . and he will be careful not to adjoin to it any
mundane intents, but do it with love, for its own sake," as
the Rambam wrote about mitzvos.
Just as perfectly fulfilling one mitzvah does not detract
from any other mitzvah, so adopting one particular
maseches to concentrate on will not do any harm to
one's study of the other parts of Shas. By adopting a
maseches he acquires the complete knowledge in that
maseches which every Jew should have. Being proficient
in one maseches lays down the path for man, so that he
will succeed when he continues walking along the way to gain
Torah knowledge.
HaRav Avrohom Tzvi Margolis is the rov of Karmiel and the
founder of Mifal HaMesechtos. This shmuess was
presented to the members of the Mifal HaMasechtos on Shabbos
Parshas Vayeitzei, 5757.
