There are three main reasons for allowing a period of
bein hazmanim for yeshivas:
1) A person requires rest and a break from his daily
toil, whether the toil of work and ol parnossoh which
is a result of the decree "bezei'as apecho tochal
lechem" which was the response to the cheit of
Odom Horishon, or whether it is from the amal haTorah
which, even though it is the foundation of the world and is
the purpose of creation, it also has its source in the
cheit of Odom Horishon. If not for this cheit,
the crown of Torah would be more easily reached and without
so much toil, similar to what we see by animals which do not
have to toil for their food and therefore do not have a need
for any vacation.
2) The gemora says that Rovo asked his
talmidim not to come to learn from him during the
days of Nisan and Tishrei, which are days of harvest and
manufacturing, so that they should take care of their
parnossoh in those periods. By doing so they could
sit and learn with peace of mind, free from the worries of
parnossoh which one is burdened with. This is also
one of the reasons for bein hazmanim: in order to
give us time to take care of all those things which we do
not get around to during the zman, including personal
affairs or repairs in the home, and the many other things
that come up.
I would like to point out that besides the material aspects
of the home, bein hazmanim is a golden opportunity to
build and strengthen family unity on solid foundations; both
between ourselves and between us and our children. When the
parents and children are together on vacation, each one from
his learning or work, one can use this opportunity to sit
with the children with peace of mind and soul and to give
them more personal attention, which they unfortunately may
not receive during the year due to responsibilities and
distractions. At the same time we can strengthen and enhance
the sholom bayis which is something we do not always
get around to in our daily routine.
3) The Torah wants us to learn Torah in such a way
that it is always kechodosh. On the posuk in
Chumash: "Asher Onochi metzavecho hayom," Chazal tell
us the following: "Bechol yom yehiyu be'einecho
kechadoshim -- every day it should seem to us as if new
and fresh."
However, when a person learns for a long period in the same
framework and with the same chavrusah, he finds it
hard to keep up the feeling of hischadshus, because
the force of routine weakens the feeling of
hischadshus. Therefore our gedolim zt"l
instituted this break of bein hazmanim in which, by
resting a while and changing surroundings, one can start
again with fresh kochos and achieve a madreiga
of new simcha in avodas Hashem.
We see however that, sadly, in this generation there are
some that have missed the point. The term vacation means to
them having fun and indulging in all types of worldly
pleasures. These people go to places which are full of
crowds and noisy attractions. In this way they are
definitely defeating the Torah purpose of vacation.
In such public places it is impossible to have peace of mind
and rest. One is active all day and late into the night with
all types of "time killers." In such a lifestyle, of noise
and disorder, it is impossible to strengthen any bonds with
one's spouse and children. More likely, the opposite will
happen, because in new strange places one usually feels
unsettled and very not at ease, especially the children. And
when the "sweet" vacation comes to an end, one returns home
tired and exhausted, with barely energy to unpack. Where are
the fresh kochos? What is the benefit derived from
this vacation?
Let us therefore examine carefully how we use these vacation
days, deriving from them the best we can in ruchniyus
and gashmiyus.
We must realize the terrible dangers that lie behind such
indulging in worldly pleasures.
One can forget one's learning (and even completely stray off
the path, Rachmono litzlan). Chazal tell us about the
holy Tanna, Rebbe Elozor Ben Aroch. Once he indulged
himself by drinking some special wine and bathing in some
attractive springs. Due to this he forgot his learning to
the extent that, instead of reading "hachodesh hazeh
lochem" he read "hacheresh hoyoh libom."
His intention in indulging in these pleasures was purely to
renew his strength for serving Hashem. However, due to his
exceptional lev tov (as it says in Pirkei
Avos) he made a slight pegam in the purity of his
heart.
Hearing this, what can we say about small people like
ourselves? How careful we must be not to go over the
border!
Should one already have decided on going to a holiday
resort, take care, and even more so, guard your children,
guard their pure neshomos! Take care who they
associate with and consider what effect these people will
have on them.
In Eichoh, Yirmiyohu Hanovi laments:
"Eichoh yu'am zohov, yishge hakesem hatov, tishtapeichno
avnei kodesh, berosh kol chutzos. How has the gold
dimmed, the fine gold become dull. The holy stones are
poured out into the prominent places throughout the
streets."
Rashi explains that the avnei kodesh are the sons who
shine like diamonds and gold. How their appearances have
changed -- they are roaming the streets. And further on it
says, "Bnei Tzion hayekorim, hamesulo'im bapoz, eichoh
nechshevu lenivlei cheres, the dear children of Zion,
lined with gold, how have they now become considered like
worthless pieces of pottery shards." Rashi explains in a
similar vein to the first quotation, that the Bnei
Tzion who were so dear, "hamesulo'im bapoz," who
are compared to poz and gold since they have such
pure faces, have now left all this and turned into
"cheres hanishbar."
Chazal say that a talmid chochom is normally compared
to a golden pitcher. But after chatting with an am
ho'oretz, he becomes like an earthenware pitcher which
has no takonoh but smashing it.
Who is this am ho'oretz which connection with him is
so mesukon? The gemora says, "Who is
considered an am ho'oretz? R' Yonoson ben Yosef says:
One who has sons and does not educate them to learn Torah."
From here we see that to be mischaber to a person who
does not send his sons to learn Torah in yeshiva is
dangerous, to the extent that from a kli zohov one
turns into cheres hanishbar, which has no
takonoh.
This is something that is seen just too often. When
returning from vacation, many people, especially
bochurim and children, are on a much lower
madreiga in Yiddishkeit and hardly manage to
return to their original madreiga even after a long
time.
Therefore we must be chachomim. We must choose
locations that are quiet and modest so that we should rest
properly menuchas haguf vehanefesh, and spend more
time with our families, being mechazek them in Torah
and yiras Shomayim. This can be done by going for a
short and simple, but enjoyable, stroll. Even close by one
can show the family the wonders of Hashem which lie behind
every plant and bird. It is well known that gedolei
Yisroel, among them HaRav Itzele, the brother of the
Chazon Ish, would set aside time to contemplate the
niflo'os haBorei and through that they would remember
pesukim and divrei Chazal which linked to
whatever they were contemplating.
Above all, one must remember that even in times of vacation
we do not chas vesholom skip over being shomrei
Torah umitzvos. We must be aware that we should always
consider mitzvah kalah kechamurah and not abandon any
halocho or minhag. Extra care must be taken to
be kovei'a itim for Torah learning. One of the great
roshei yeshivos suggested that it would be correct to
set aside more time for mussar and cheshbon
hanefesh during this period.
The One Above should help us to utilize the bein
hazmanim for menuchas hanefesh and to reach even
higher levels of ruchniyus and to educate our
children in the derech haTorah. By doing so we should
be zocheh to what it says: "Ein peretz ve'ein
yotzeis ve'ein tzevocho birchovoseinu (Tehillim
144)."
HaRav Meir Kessler is the rov of Kiryat Sefer.
