HaRav Povarsky shlita speaking at the event
In an uplifting event in honor of Torah and its scholars taking place in Bnei Brak, a special award was granted to fourteen authors of chidushei Torah, among them roshei yeshiva, halachic experts and avreichim for the thirteen works which they produced. These were chosen carefully after screening of many works by a special prize committee headed by the Ponovezh Rosh Yeshiva HaRav Berel Povarsky, who delivered an enthralling address in honor of Torah, with words of appreciation for the venue and the city which hosts such an inspiring occasion.
"I wish to say to you that Bnei Brak is a city of Torah and Chassidus; it excels in chessed in greater measure than any other city. They say that on Purim, the paupers emerge from Bnei Brak with much more "booty" than from any other city. Why? Because HaRav Yitzchok Gershtenkorn, the city founder, used to spend his Pesach abroad, raising funds for the city, to bolster it and make it a prime center of Torah and Chassidus, a city excelling in chessed, in which he surely succeeded, as we see.
"Hashem created the world for chessed. Tomer Devorah explains the 13 Middos to show what we must learn from them in emulating Hashem's attributes. Among them is 'much chessed and truth.' In bircas hamozone we say that He sustains the entire world with appeal, chessed and mercy.
"Let me explain what this means. During the War of Independence, when the Arabs bombed us, the Chazon Ish declared: Bnei Brak will not be bombed. And so it was. Even during the Six Day War, when the Arab Legion dropped many bombs, Bnei Brak remained safe. This is due to the merit of this city of Torah and chessed, and also to the founder, Rav Gershtenkorn.
"When I was a youth of sixteen, there was the fear that Arabs would bomb the city but the Ponovezher Rav transferred the entire yeshiva to the trees of Berman Orchard. We lay on the ground, listened to the shiurim and were even able, intermittently, to pick oranges...
"If we study the design of an orange, as well as that of other citrus fruit, we note that it is divided into small segments. I once heard HaRav Yechezkel Sarna, from Yeshivas Chevron, ask why Hashem created it thus. He explained that Hashem specifically designed this world with appeal, lovingkindness and compassion. Had an orange not been divided into segments, it would be very messy to cut it in order to eat it, but in His kindness, He saved us the bother.
"Now I would like to especially praise the prize winners, most of whom are young men who were privileged to author works but many of whom do not have the money to print them up. We had to examine their works from typed pages.
"The Zohar (quoted in Nefesh HaChaim Shaar 4:2) writes that every single Torah thought originated by a person receives a kiss from Hashem and grants the author a crown. A whole new world is created thereby, as is written: 'Rabbi Shimon said: 'And I will put My words in your mouth.'
"To what extent is a person is obligated to toil day and night because Hashem listens to voices of those who toil in Torah? Each word which is innovated in Torah by the one toiling in study creates a new heaven. Hashem take the spoken thought, kisses it and garnishes it with seventy crowns. And from there it flies high through seventy thousand worlds until it reaches the Ancient-of-All-Time. And He rises and descends with them and enters 18 hidden worlds which no eye has seen. At that time, the Ancient of All Time smells the [fragrance of] innovation and revels in it, takes it and decorates it with three hundred and seventy thousand ornaments... Each such verbal innovation of wisdom creates enduring heavens standing perfectly before Hashem... until that thought is transformed into new heavens and a new earth...
"Whoever innovates a chiddush Torah is referred to in the posuk, 'May he be kissed from the kisses of His mouth,' a kiss from Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Hashem loves these valid Torah innovations. It is your great merit to have created these fine chidushei Torah."
