Rav Moshe Twersky Hy"d
"ואם לא תשמעו לי" (כו:יד) להיות עמלים בתורה...ומה תלמוד לומר לי אין לי אלא זה המכיר את רבונו ומתכוין למרוד בו (רש"י)
Rashi is mashma that if someone is not ameil ba’Torah he is considered makir es Ribono u’miskavein limrod bo. The fact that a person always finds room for improvement in ameilus ba’Torah, both in eichus and kamus, doesn’t chas v’shalom mean that he was a makir es ribono u’miskavein limrod bo. The essential point is where is the lack of ameilus coming from.
There is something called being nichshal in the yeitzer hara of bitul Torah. That is what we are all always doing our best to work on, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute – and we need strategies to do this - and we hope that each year we are doing better than last year. But being nichshal in the yeitzer hara of bitul Torah is not called makir es Ribono u’miskavein limrod bo.
However, someone who excuses himself from ameilus ba’Torah and thinks “shalom alai nafshi” because he views learning Torah as just another mitzvah bein ha’mitzvos and he therefore doesn’t need to exert himself in it, and kol sheh’kein if he totally dismisses learning Torah, that is what Rashi is referring to that is a makir es Ribono u’miskavein limrod bo.
Every year we need to refresh our shmias ha’ozen of this nekudah that ameilus ba’Torah is not a middas chasidus. It is the alef, the very first and most important thing. It’s the alef of the brachos and the alef of the klalos.
The most basic awareness has to be that when one has time – meaning there is no petur taking him away from learning - one has to learn. Of course, it’s easier said than done, and it’s something that of course needs constant chizuk and that we struggle with. But that is the point, even when it happens that one is nichshal and is perhaps not doing at the particular moment what he could and should be doing, he must at least be aware of what the mitzvah of Talmud Torah b’etzem is about, to be ameil ba’Torah.
The Eirav-rav-niks within Klal Yisrael – and that does not mean biological descent, but a mixing in of the neshamos of the Eirev rav – have for many years been calling the lomdei Torah parasites. It is a mefurasheh pasuk that the world is kept up by Torah. So, if anyone is a “parasite” it is those that do not learn Torah. But we have nothing against them. There are many fine baalei batim that recognize that the kiyum of the world is because of the lomdei Torah.
It is crucial to understand that it is the lomdei Torah that are the truly productive members of society, and those that are oskin b’yishuvo shel olam are not of a productivity level anywhere near the lomdei Torah. But we have nothing against them. We don’t mind carrying them on our shoulders. But those that are mehapech the yotzros and hofech kearah al paneha, and consider themselves to be the productive ones and are rodef the lomdei Torah, that is miskavnin limrod.
There is a mixture of Amaleik in the Eirev Rav. Amaleik only comes when it’s refidim – rafu yedeihem min ha’Torah. Otherwise he is a sleeping dog. That rifyon amongst the lomdei Torah in the Beis Ha’Medrash occurred between Pesach and Shavuos. The current events of the Eirev-rav-niks pashut waging war on the lomdei Torah needs to serve for us as a wake-up call. It’s a world of Hashgacha. Amaleik only, only comes when there’s a rifyon in Torah.
It appears that the Hashgacha is also setting up the camps as we approach yemos ha’Moshiach. The Chafetz Chaim said already in his time that it’s ikvesa d’Meshicha. We are already in the end of the ikvesa d’Meshicha. The war against the lomdei Torah is being waged primarily by yechidim. But the lines are drawn by how people feel about it. Those that feel pained by the attempt to cut off support from the Olam Ha’Torah, they are mitztareif to the camp of the lomdei Torah, and those that are sameiach b’leiv and think “yeah I always felt they were taking too much,” that is where the lines are drawn.
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For several years, I had the privilege of meeting Rabbi Twersky as he was leaving yeshiva and walking to his car. Many times I saw him just stop walking and stand there for five to six minutes, apparently doing nothing. One day, I gathered the courage to ask him why he was stopping, or perhaps if he was tired I could take his bag. He replied that as he was walking he was thinking in learning and sometimes the thought got too complicated that he could not walk and think at the same time, so he stopped walking.
(Reb Yossi Koff, Kuntreis Divrei Zikaron, page 33)
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I asked Rebbi how to prepare for Yevamos over the summer. He said to learn the Mishnayos well. He looked down for a minute. Then he said “By ‘well’, I mean at least forty times.”
If anyone else had told me that I would have thought it was a joke. But after the Rebbi told me that I began to push myself much harder in my learning.
(Reb Yehuda Esral, Kuntreis Divrei Zikaron, page 33)
