A special gathering was held to provide encouragement and guidance for the upcoming bein hazmanim.
The keynote speech was delivered by HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, Rosh Yeshivas Slobodka and member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah.
"Torah study is the greatest of all mitzvos for it actually counts as much as the others put together. Subsequently, wasting time from study is the severest of sins. How enormous will be the prosecution against one who willfully sets time aside not to study Torah during bein hazmanim. The only minor permission one can find is so that he may renew his resources for the upcoming zman. HaRav Yisrael Salanter wrote that one may include in the commandment of "veshinantom" the acts of eating and sleep, which are necessities to be able to learn all the better afterwards. But that is the only justification.
HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch
"What took place during bein hazmanim in Lithuanian yeshivos was rest. We are all familiar with the sweet photos of HaRav Boruch Ber Leibowitz at a dacha with his students.
"But this form of respite has deteriorated to the point that it resembles the proverbial child who runs away from school. But the Torah says, `If you leave me for a day, I will leave you for two.' The Torah flees from an arrogant person because he takes it lightly and abuses it. If he neglects the Torah for even one day, the Torah distances itself from him and he forfeits the Heavenly assistance he would have gained which is reserved for Torah scholars.
"Instead of vacation time being a preparation for Elul, the goal is to enter it reinforced rather than with a new baggage of sins and removed from Hashem. This, of course, all depends on how one conducts himself during the intersession. But how can he come to Elul after he has backslid so much? Therefore, everyone must plan how to make the most of these days and not distance himself.
"There is something else that is even worse and that is acting like the youngster running away from school: entering the bein hazmanim and forgetting altogether how a ben Torah conducts himself - not dressing casually like secular people, not visiting unseemly places or succumbing to non-kosher devices and forfeiting one's identity as a ben Torah. It begins with attire, and snowballs to things much worse, things that twenty years ago did not even require a warning.
"Then there is the prohibition of `You shall not covet.' We are familiar with the Ibn Ezra's famous question: how can one `legislate' not coveting? How can one control one's desires? The answer lies in a comparison to a peasant who wouldn't even dream of coveting a princess since he fully understands that she is totally beyond his station. The same applies to `lo sachmod': one must feel that certain things are totally removed from him.
"And we maintain that by a ben Torah, the example is completely the opposite. He is a prince as compared to peasant women, to which he has no connection whatsoever; it is far below him and incomprehensible. He must feel a sense of dignity and revulsion from lowly things that are common to peasantry. He must realize that he is a prince and removed from earthly, ugly things."
