Part II

In the first part, HaRav Diskin developed several important yesodos. The Torah is the blueprint of the world and what it determines, is what happens and how things work. If the Torah says that the color of techeiles brings one to think of Hashem, then the similar color of kolo ilan will not do, and anyone who tries to substitute the latter is denying the full Divine aspect of the Torah. Similarly, when Hashem said that the makkas bechoros would force Pharaoh to release Bnei Yisroel, it acquired the power to do so, and only it. Thus it was Hashem's ability to determine exactly who was a bechor that ensured that the makkas bechoros actually was what it was supposed to be and therefore that ability forced Pharaoh to release Bnei Yisroel. Also a ben soreir umoreh only becomes hopeless when he completely loses his connection to Torah. A ben Torah is someone who follows these principles and is completely formed by the Torah. "Anyone for whom the Torah is his only guide in all he does is a ben Torah."

I once heard the following from Maran the Ponevezher Rav, HaRav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman zt'l, in a shmuess to the yeshiva students: "`Hashem was well pleased for His righteousness' sake, to magnify Torah and make it glorious' (Yeshaya 42:21). The way to do the righteousness that Hashem wants is for us to magnify Torah and make it glorious, to increase the study of Torah and toil over Torah study."

This refers not only to talmidim who study Torah the whole day, but also to those forced to leave the Torah's tent and find work for their livelihood. Such a person must feel he is working only because he is compelled to do so, and it is the lesser of two evils. He has no special heter to engage in as much efforts for livelihood as he wants. He is exactly like the talmid who has remained day and night in the Torah's tent, with the exception that he must work because of his particular situation. Only what is needed for his livelihood is permitted him, and no more.

Unfortunately we see talmidim who have started working because of a genuine need, or sometimes even an imagined need, and are now content with set times for studying Torah while considering the rest of their time leisure time to be used as they wish. It is as if they deserve a reward for engaging the whole day in worldly affairs, and the night belongs exclusively to them. They do not imagine that, on the contrary, they must make up for what they have lost out and engage in Torah to the maximum they are able.

Besides the aveiro of bitul Torah they are missing the main weapons to fight the yetzer. Where is the radiance of the Torah to illuminate their way during the whole day? Where are the zechuyos to protect them from the punishment of the aveiros they, chas vesholom, have committed during the day? Someone who feels he can run his life according to halocho without studying Torah will surely, chas vesholom, languish in his attempts.

Some defense for this behavior can be found in the fact that the way they studied in the yeshiva does not fit into their new way of life. They have difficulty in involving themselves in analyzing a sugya after their studies were cut off because of their work. This, however, does not free them from their obligation to study Torah. They must plan their study program so that the way they study and what they study can fill all the time they have left after work and during the breaks they have in the middle.

Some think that there are two avenues how to live. One way is to study the whole day. A person who falls into that category must study to the best of his ability without any interruptions.

More insights and thoughts on various aspects of chinuch from a veteran Torah educator.

HaRav Einfeld explained the tremendous obligation that an educator has toward his students. He is like a paid shomer who is constantly on duty, like Noach who had to feed the animals in the teivah night and day. R' Yeruchom compared it to the poles of the Oron Hakodesh in the Mishkan: they had to constantly be in their supportive role of the Oron, they must never be removed.

No Excuses

Apparently we are asking for the impossible, something that only an absolute tzaddik such as Noach could accomplish: sleeping neither by day nor by night and furnishing the fitting "food" for each individual so he can follow the Creator's ways. Would Noach have been so blameworthy if, out of all the multitude of animals, the thousands of species, he had unintentionally overlooked just one species, no more? Furthermore, would he have been so culpable if he had forgotten to feed an animal for only one day and no more?

But Noach, the absolute tzaddik, not only did not neglect any type of animal, no animal was forced to remain without food for even one day. Only one time -- one time in an entire year -- "Noach fed the lion later than usual" and therefore the "lion bit him and made him lame." If that had been merely a physical punishment it would have been sufficient, but it involved a non- assessable spiritual punishment. "Noach was [thus] not fitting to offer a korbon and his son offered the korbon instead of him" (Tanchuma, Noach). This was the korbon eternally mentioned in the Torah, about which is written, "Then shall the offering of Yehuda and Yerushalayim be pleasant to Hashem as in the days of old and as in former years" (Malachi 3:4) "that is the korbon of Noach" (Vayikra Rabbah 7:8). Noach was not zoche to offer that korbon.

Since there are no yissurim without cheit (Shabbos 5a), what was Noach's cheit? He was negligent about his duty just once in an entire year, when he fed the lion late. Moreover, no animal can dominate a man unless the man appears to it as an animal (Shabbos 151b). With this negligence, which was a shogeig and nearly an ones, Noah not only lost his entire level of being an absolute tzaddik, he even lost the level of being a human being. An animal was allowed to wound him and he became posul to be a Cohen Godol!

This principle is explicitly mentioned in the Torah. Yaakov Ovinu said to Lovon, "These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your she-goats have never miscarried, and the rams of your flock I have not eaten. That which was treifah I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it; of my hand did you require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was: in the day the scorching heat consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes" (Bereishis 31:38-20). Although Yaakov guarded Lovon's sheep meticulously he never excused himself from his duty by claiming ones.

But is an educator required to be so devoted?