Monday, January 16, 2012

מה טובו אהליך

Every morning when we begin davening we are supposed to begin we מה טובו אהליך יעקב משכנותיך ישראל - How goodly are your tents Yaakov, your dwelling places Yisrael. The gemara explains that this is referring to the shuls and batei midrash.

This is a pasuk said by Bilaam [called by his wife "Billy" and by his friends "Bill"]. His intention was to curse the Jews but everything came out as a blessing. The gemara says that ALL of his blessings ultimately turned into curses except this one.

First thing in the morning we must know - there can be no curse on shuls and batei midrash. As long as we are connected to davening and learning in places that separate us from the rest of the world, we are safe. We see historically that communities with active batei midrash last, otherwise the Jewish community dies out. There can be no curse over shuls and batei midrash. These are places of blessing.

The more time we spend in these places of blessing the better off we are. I have never heard anyone express regret that he learned too much. Many, many have regrets that they didn't learn enough.