"R' Chama bar R' Chanina said: From the days of our forefathers, a yeshiva never departed from them... Avraham our father was an elder and sat in a yeshiva, as it is stated, 'And Avraham was old...' etc." (Yoma 28a).
"And Yaacov rent his clothes, etc., and mourned for his son many days." (Genesis 37:34)
Rashi: "Twenty-two years that he was separated from him until Yaacov went down to Egypt, etc., corresponding to the twenty-two years that Yaacov did not fulfill [the mitzvah of] honoring his father and mother."
The Yeshiva
But didn't Yaacov separate for 36 years? Rather, the 14 years he served in the house of Ever, he was not punished for them. To teach you that the greatness of Torah study is greater than honoring a father and mother (see Megillah 16b).
That is to say, the duress of Esav's pursuit does not exempt him from the punishment for neglecting the honor of his father and mother. But the Torah study that he studied in the house of Shem and Ever, the greatness of it honors father and mother [i.e., outweighs it].
The duress of Esav's pursuit does not remove him from the category of being "separated" [from his parents], but the years of Torah study in the house of Shem and Ever are not included in being "separated"...
And why? — What Torah study is there in the house of Shem and Ever that was not in the house of Yitzchak and Rivka..? Why couldn't he stay in the house of Yitzchak and fulfill both; honor his father and mother and study Torah?
Yeshiva...
This comes to teach you that a "Yeshiva" is different. What can be acquired in a yeshiva cannot be acquired anywhere else, not even by Yitzchak and Rivka...
Because the yeshiva is a unique "creation" of its kind, which contains that which has absolutely no substitute.
The yeshiva is not a school. The yeshiva is not a place to learn laws, or to acquire a profession.
The yeshiva is not a "place" to acquire knowledge, not even to acquire a "path" [way of life].
The yeshiva is a "house of education" (Beis Chinuch), a "house of study" (Beis Ulpana).
You don't just learn or know... you are educated.
And what is education?
Education comes to instill everything that is learned, so that it becomes part of the very essence of the learner's being.
So it is with Halacha, so with Aggadah, so with Mussar, so with fear of Heaven, and so with Middos.
It is possible to learn all of these. It is also possible to know them perfectly. But it is also possible not to be educated in them. And to be educated, meaning, to be them...
To "be" a lamdan, to "be" a God-fearing person, to "be" a master of Mussar, to "be" a person of good character.
And the exclusive place that prepares one for this, is the Yeshiva.
Therefore, a yeshiva never ceased from our forefathers.
And why so much?
Because wherever they were and went, their core focus and inner wellsprings were devoted, first and foremost, to their very existence.
"Shteiging".
What is "Shteiging"?
Something that has no proper explanation in any other language.
"Shteiging" is called "elevation" (hisalus).
To be elevated is not possible without being educated. To be educated is not possible without a yeshiva.
When someone comes to the yeshiva, he comes not merely to acquire all these things, but to be "educated" in them.
And this is the greatness of the "Yeshiva."
Therefore, even when Avraham is old, it is impossible that he would live without a yeshiva.
Because Avraham does not live without "Shteiging," and "Shteiging" is impossible without continuing to be educated, endlessly, boundlessly.
Yeshiva...
...transform within him and transform "him" - all this is impossible without a yeshiva. And therefore "Avraham our father was an elder and sat in a yeshiva."
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The mission of a Jewish person in this world, and especially a Ben Torah, is a mission of "Shteiging".
The world is mistaken. They believe that it is possible to fulfill the mission through [merely] observing the "negative commandments" and the "positive commandments."
Certainly, without meticulous obedience to all of these, it is impossible. This is the barest minimum - to keep the Shulchan Aruch, not to transgress any prohibition, not to profane, and to be diligent in positive commandments. This is simple and clear. Whoever does not stand by this is called a transgressor!
But the command, the destiny, the mission, are far above and beyond this.
In the name of the Vilna Gaon they say, that the entire Torah is likened to a revi'is of blood.
But woe unto a life with so little blood... The entire Torah, with all its 613 commandments, with everything included in the Shulchan Aruch, is merely a revi'is of blood... so says the Gaon.
Well then, what exactly is included in everything that is more than a revi'it of blood?
The "Shteiging".
The "Chinuch".
The self-building, the new structure of the person that is Torah-true... ethical... Torah'dig... Mussar'dig...
I once heard a moshol:
Someone was sent to transport a load in a heavy truck to a very distant place. Days later, the messenger returns to the sender, joyous and elated... "I carried out your mission successfully!"
"And what fills you with such great satisfaction?" the sender asked him, "please tell..."
And he begins to detail, bending his fingers so as not to get confused due to the multitude of details...
"First, I crossed the entire route without receiving even one police ticket...
"Second, along the whole way, I didn't kill anyone... and didn't even injure anyone...
"Third, no malfunction happened to me, the engine is as if it just came out of the factory, the tires are almost new, and I didn't get a single flat tire..."
"Fourth, I did not turn away anyone who asked to hitch a ride with me, empty-handed...
"And fifth, and sixth, and seventh..."
"Beautiful, very beautiful. But what about the delivery, how did it reach its destination?"
"Oh, the delivery... by chance, I forgot to load it..."
"You worthless person," the sender thundered at him with his voice, "was this the mission? That you shouldn't get tickets, that you shouldn't kill people... that you shouldn't injure them, or that you should return the truck without flat tires...?"
Is the mission not expressed in the contents of the cargo that you had to transport in the truck... and not in the avoidance of causing death or injuries...?
Exactly like this, a person will come before the Throne of Glory, and claim: "...I did not transgress regarding forbidden foods, regarding sins, regarding commandments..."
"You worthless person," they will say to him, "and what about the burden placed upon your shoulders... were you brought down to this world for this, just so that you wouldn't get 'tickets'?"
What about your "Shteiging"? For that is the mission! Yet you come glad and happy over the fact that you guarded yourself from committing sins...
Certainly, this is tremendous, but this is not the mission.
The mission is your elevation. The very building of your essence...
And all this is done only in a yeshiva. This is the exclusive place. There is no other. And within it, within the yeshiva, is everything.
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Wonder of wonders. Why didn't Sarah reply and say [when Avraham sent Yitzchak away to study], "Who is greater than you, Avraham? Is there anything to add to the education that our son Yitzchak received and was educated in, in your house, our house? Why, then, must he be sent from here?" Especially when parting from her son Isaac was so difficult for her.
To teach you, that even if there is no comparison to the "house" of Avraham, even if there is no equal to the education of Avraham and Sarah —
They did not reach the category of a "Yeshiva."
Because the "Yeshiva" is the "place" where youths are educated, and against this realization, Sarah had nothing to say...
This is the Yeshiva. [הגרבמ"א זצ"ל]
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