I heard the following story about a soldier under his command, from a non-observant ranking IDF officer:

The young man lives in a small Moshav in Israel. His family finished the Seder around 4AM, and he sat down to learn Gemara for a few minutes before going to sleep. The phone rang just before he climbed into bed; he was summoned back to base for an IDF action in response to a bombing in Netanya.

He hurriedly dressed and began his trek. A car full of Israelis saw a soldier walking, hear where he was headed, and drove him to his base. He and his Chavrusot (Study Partners) climbed into their tank and drove straight into Nablus. They were on high alert for the next twelve hours.

His commander radioed in permission for the tank crew to sleep for four hours. They had to sleep inside the tank because it was far too dangerous outside. Everyone knew that the Hesder students had not slept in more than 24 hours, but a four hour break was the maximum the IDF could offer in such a tense situation.

They were exhausted. They were desperate for sleep, but there was something they had to first do; the entire crew took out their Gemaras and studied for 15 minutes before closing their tired eyes.

“He shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are coming near to the battle against your enemies; let your heart be not faint; do not be afraid, do not panic, and do not be broken before them. For God, your Lord, is the One Who goes with you, to fight for you with your enemies, to save you.’” (Deuteronomy 20:3-4) We are prohibited from panicking and retreating during battle. (Rambam, Hilchot Melachim – The Laws of Kings and Their Wars)

Ever since reading the “The Red Badge of Courage” I have understood the difference between courage and the absence of fear. The Torah seems to demand that we go beyond the courage to face our fears and attain a level of no fear!

The young soldier of our story was frightened inside his tank, except, when he took out his Gemara to learn. He had no fear when he was studying. At that moment, he and his friends brought us back to the battles described in our verses: He used his Gemara to rise above his fears and experienced “God, the One Who Goes with you.”

I fear less for the soldiers who will study Gemara for 15 minutes before going to sleep than I do for the soldier who does not. I fear less for a nation with such people defending her than I do for a nation with Gemara-less soldiers.

There are times I experience life as a constant battle. (See Ready For Fight) Elul forces me to think ahead to the coming year and I wonder, and, admittedly fear, what lies ahead. The first blasts of the Elul Shofar this morning was a call to battle: I remembered the story of the young soldier and took our my Gemara. It works! The fear disappeared.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

In honor of Akiva S.: “One stormy night when my nephew Roger was about twenty months old I wrapped him in a blanket and carried him down to the beach in the rainy darkness. Out there, just at the edge of where -we-couldn’t-see, big waves were thundering in, dimly seen white shapes that boomed and shouted and threw great handfuls of froth at us. Together we laughed with pure joy, he a baby meeting for the first time the wild tumult of the oceans, I with the salt of half a lifetime of sea love in me. But I think we felt the same spine-tingling response to the vast roaring ocean and the wild night all around us.” (Rachel Carson – The Sense of Wonder)

I study bible once a week with a twelve-year-old, spectacular young man. Together, he, who has not studied much bible, and I, who has spent all my life studying, exult in the magic of the text. There is no age difference, no gap in knowledge, as we listen in to the joyous thundering of the words, showered with a fresh spray of insights and questions.

It is at such moments that I experience my greatest joy in Torah. I revel in its ability to speak to all, the young and old, the student and the rabbi, with the same power and intensity.

Perhaps that sharing was the role of the Levites in the Mishkan. The Cohanim stood above us, directing us in our offerings and service. The Levites connected us and allowed us to share the experience of standing in God’s Home.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

It is 1AM and I am too excited to sleep. I just finished teaching a Talmud class on the complex laws of interest and profit. I readily acknowledge that I may be a strange person, but not because I am excited about a complicated Talmudic discussion.

I have one goal when studying or teaching Talmud: Engagement. The Mishna and the Talmud were written in a manner that invites the reader to step into the Batei Midrash – study halls – in Israel and in Babylon of 1600 to 2,000 years ago and participate in the passionate debates that shaped the direction of the Mishna, Talmud, and Halacha.

We can study the text with the superb commentary of the Artscroll and learn how the text has been explained over the ages. I don’t know how many thousands of people are studying Talmud because it has been opened up for them by the Artscroll Talmud.

I have taught Talmud to groups of highly accomplished people using the Steinsaltz Talmud and they too were guided by Rabbi Steinsaltz into the complex conversations of the generations. I was only satisfied when the debate became heated and passionate.

The Talmud is not a study of information, but of process. It trains us in the application of Halachic principles to new situations and challenges. It is insufficient to study the thinking process of the Sages of the Talmud, the Geonim, Rishonim and Acharonim. We will only learn how to apply their thinking if we are engaged in the debates.

Talmud study is an intense training process in logical thought. When we are engaged in the conversation we learn to distill the concepts, not just the laws. That is why when we study a Responsum of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, for example, we will find him applying the concepts of laws that, at first glance, seem distant from the immediate topic. Rav Moshe didn’t think in a checklist of laws, he thought conceptually, and, in his mastery of Torah, which flowed through his veins, he could apply the ideas of diverse Halachot to a single topic. Rav Moshe is part of the same conversation that began in the Mishna.

Even we, who do not begin to approach Rav Moshe’s mind or knowledge, can join in the same debate. The Talmud invites us to participate in the discussion and not remain on the sidelines as observers.

That is why I am so excited at 1AM. We engaged in a furious battle of ideas. We argued with, questioned, challenged, and carefully listened to, the voices of the Mishna, Talmud, Rashi, the Pnei Yehoshua and the Maharam. We were there in the room with all of them. We were exhausted when the debate ended, but thrilled to have participated, and changed by the experience.

Even better: At the conclusion of the class, someone commented, “We should use the same approach when we study any Biblical scene. We have to picture ourselves as active participants in the story.”

And that, my friends, is exactly why the Talmud nurtures engagement. It invites us to become active participants in every aspect of Torah. There are few things, if any, that are more exciting.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

We have posted the essays for this week:

Haftarah – Nasso: Identity

Table Talk – Nasso: Impressions

The Music of Halcha – Shabbat 26: Fire

The Voice of The Torah: Rabbi Chaim Goldberger

The Torah Connection: Rabbi Yaakov Shlomo Weinberg

Words Can Heal: Rabbi Irwin Katsof: Your Kids May Be Armed and Dangerous

Stories of the Baal Shem Tov: Bentzion of Medziboz: Nasso

Keter Shem Tov: Bentzion of Medziboz: Chapter 140

For Our Members in Israel we have posted:

Haftarah: Beha’alotecha: Walkers

They can also review the Haftarah for Shabbat Chanukah:

Table Talk: Beha’alotecha: The Challenge of Change & The Vocabulary of Evil

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Torah Study:

If you are not participating in a program: Divide the night into two main parts:

1: A Celebration of your learning of the past year.

2: What you hope to learn between now and next Shavuot.

1: Make a list of the favorite things you learned this year. Spend the first half of the night reviewing and applying the practical lessons of your studies.

2. Are there books or areas of learning you would like to study? Bible, Prophets, Proverbs, Psalms, Midrash, Philosophy, Talmud or law? Choose two of the areas that most intrest you and study them for the rest of the night.

Relationships:

Preparations for Sinai included the purification of relationships between husbands and wives.

First Day: Have an honest and open evaluation of your relationship and what each can do to improve the marriage.

Second Day: Together, study the story of the Covenant of Sinai that appears at the end of Mishpatim: Exodus, Chapter 24.

Conversion:

All the laws of conversion are derived from the preparations for Sinai.

Day One: Consider and/or discuss whether, if offered the choice, you would choose to be part of the Covenant of Sinai.

Day Two: Consider and/or discuss which aspect of Torah would compel you to convert.

Teshuva

“Just as they left Rephidim in Teshuva, so they arrived at Sinai in Teshuva.” (Rashi, Exodus 19:2)

Day One: Ask two people you respect and trust to pinpoint two of your positive qualities and to suggest two areas you can improve.

Day Two: Review and discuss the Six Constant Mitzvot and how you can improve your incorporation of those commandments.

Prayer

Shavuot is more about relationship than laws.

Day One: Spend extra time reciting the blessings before Torah study.

Day Two: Spend extra time reciting “Ahavah Rabbah” the blessing immediately before the morning Shema.

Perform a Post Shavuot Evaluation, preferably with a partner, of what you gained from the Chag.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

I heard a story when I was a student in Yeshiva that was considered by all, except me, to be a favorite: A group of modern thinkers had met for months making a list of questions about God and Torah that they were certain would shake the foundations of the Yeshiva world. They chose the brightest of the group to go to the great yeshiva in Volozhin to see if anyone in the greatest yeshiva in the world could answer their powerful questions. Their representative spent six months studying in Volozhin in order to determine if there was anyone who could answer their earth-shattering questions. When their friend returned to them after his stay in Yeshiva, they asked him if he had any answers to the questions. “What questions? There are no questions!”

The idea was that once someone experiences true Torah study, all his questions disappear. Perhaps I had not experienced true or pure Torah study. I certainly still had questions. Despite those questions, every single time I study Torah I experience a sense of clarity that is overwhelming. When people ask me why I believe in God and Sinai, I answer because of what I experience when I study Torah! I may have questions that are unanswered, but they are insignificant compared to the joy and truth I experience when learning Torah.

I wonder whether either of these approaches, those who believe that there are no questions and those who experience the truth of Torah through its study, would satisfy Nachmanides. He has a list at the end of The Book of Commandments of Mitzvot that Maimonides forgot to include in his list of the 613 Biblical Commandments. Nachmanides lists the following as the second of the negative commandments “forgotten” by Maimonides: “Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld and lest you remove them from your heart all the days of your life, and make them known to your children and your children’s children – the day that you stood before God, your Lord, at Horeb, when God said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me and I shall let them hear My words.” (Deuteronomy 4:9-10) We are commanded to not forget the experience of standing at Sinai. We may never remove the experience from our consciousness. It is only when we remember our experience of learning directly from God that we will be able to stand up against any question or doubt.

It is not that clear that Maimonides “forgot” this negative commandment. He includes it in his letter to the Yemenite Jewish Community. He includes this as an essential part of the Mitzvah of Torah study. There is no Torah study without a clear awareness of the Sinai experience.

We do not fulfill this commandment when we declare with simple purity that there are no questions. We are enjoined, whether as a separate negative commandment, or as part of Torah study, to keep the Sinai experience alive in our minds as we study Torah. We must remember as we are studying that we experienced God directly at Sinai. We believe in Torah not because we do not have any questions or because they do not bother us, or because of the thrill of learning Torah. Our Torah study must reflect the Revelation at Sinai as a direct communication with the Giver of the Torah.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.