The Waiting Game: Why We Needed a "Cool Down" Period
The Or HaChaim HaKadosh asks a bomb kasha: We left Mitzrayim in Nissan. We got the Torah in Sivan. Why the wait? We know Hashem loves us. He’s the Chassan, we are the Kallah. When you’re in love, you don’t say, “Let’s wait three months.” You want the chuppah now! We live in the generation of the microwave and the text message—we want instant gratification. So why did Hashem put the Torah on hold?
The answer is the Or HaChaim’s yesod: Purity.
You can take the Jew out of Mitzrayim, but you can’t take the Mitzrayim out of the Jew overnight. It takes seven weeks. It’s like Niddah. You need seven clean days. We needed seven clean weeks to get the tumah (impurity) out of our system. You can’t be a "Mitzri" Jew and receive the Torah. You have to be pure.
The Library vs. The Stadium
Here is the problem with how we learn today. A guy walks into the Beis Medrash like he’s walking into a grocery store. But the Gemara says receiving the Torah requires eimah v’yirah—fear and trembling!
I was once thrown out of the National Library in Israel. True story. Why? Because I met a friend and was whispering to him. The librarian shushed me. I continued to whisper. She shushed me again. I was then ejected like a tennis player arguing a call.
Here is the problem with how we learn today. A guy walks into the Beis Medrash like he’s walking into a grocery store. But the Gemara says receiving the Torah requires eimah v’yirah—fear and trembling!
I was once thrown out of the National Library in Israel. True story. Why? Because I met a friend and was whispering to him. The librarian shushed me. I continued to whisper. She shushed me again. I was then ejected like a tennis player arguing a call.
Why must people be silent in a library? ? Because in the secular world, knowledge is silent. It’s dead.
But in a Beis Medrash? It’s a stadium! Guys are screaming! You see a guy in Kollel yelling at his friend, you say, “Yo, chill!” But no! He’s screaming because this is life. It’s Ki Heim Chayeinu!
The Vilna Gaon & The Tosafos
The Ramban says a scary thing: There is a mitzvah never to forget Maamad Har Sinai. But the Mishnah in Avos says you aren’t allowed to forget your learning.
The Ramban says a scary thing: There is a mitzvah never to forget Maamad Har Sinai. But the Mishnah in Avos says you aren’t allowed to forget your learning.
So which is it? Don't forget the mountain, or don't forget the daf?
The teretz is simple: Your learning IS the mountain.
The teretz is simple: Your learning IS the mountain.
If you learn Torah and it’s just a subject—like math or history—you’re going to forget it. If you forget your anniversary, your wife is deeply insulted. Why? Because it means she's not your life.
If Torah is your life, you don't forget.
That’s what it takes! Not "I read it once, I don't get it, let's move on." It’s toil.
The 11 Oversized Goyim
And this brings us to the "Big Game."
And this brings us to the "Big Game."
The world goes crazy. They stay up all night. They pay thousands of dollars. For what?
Let’s analyze a football game with a "Torah lens":
You have a ball. It’s not even a circle, it’s a weird oval. Painted brown and white from a chazir's skin. You have 11 oversized men on one side trying to paralyze 11 oversized men on the other side.
It is violence mamash.
A guy runs with this ball, someone else tackles him, and it’s like being hit by a Mack Truck. He’s trying to crack his helmet! And the crowd goes wild!
And then what happens? They finally get down the field... and they miss the field goal. Wide left. And millions of people go into depression!
This is what you want to connect to?
This is not our culture. Our culture is eidel (refined). Our culture is chessed. Our culture is aiming for holiness.Why would a Ben Torah, a prince of Hashem, want to lower himself to watch people give each other concussions for three hours?
The Ramban says: “Our eyes and our hearts should be there [at Sinai] all the days.”
If your heart is at the Super Bowl, it’s not at Sinai.
The Bottom Line
Look, I know people are going to watch. I’m not naive.
Look, I know people are going to watch. I’m not naive.
But ask yourself: Is this who I am?
We are the people of the Book, not the people of the pigskin.
If you spent three hours with the same bren (fire) regarding a Tosafos that you do regarding a touchdown, Mashiach would be here already.
Let’s try to purify ourselves. Let’s try to make the Torah our life, not just our subject. And maybe, just maybe, we can skip the halftime show and get back to the real thing: Torah m’Sinai.
Let’s try to purify ourselves. Let’s try to make the Torah our life, not just our subject. And maybe, just maybe, we can skip the halftime show and get back to the real thing: Torah m’Sinai.
2-3-4 Ivdu es Hashem Bi-simcha.....
