I hope everyone is well. Okay, we're gonna take a look at two two short letters this morning. The first one, Kuf Beis. הנני כותב הפעם לא מפני שיש בידי לכתוב אלא שאין בידי למנוע את עצמי מלכתוב.
Chovares... they edited out what what the Chovares is. הגיע לידי והנני מוצא את עצמי נאלץ מדחיפה פנימית להביא לכל ביטוי את תודתי העמוקה.
I feel this inner this inner push to to express my deep-felt thanks. מעיד אני על עצמי כי עם קריאת החוברת שטפוני אורות טהרה של אהבת התורה וחרדת קודש לפי תפארת קיומה.
With the reading this Chovares of Divrei Torah, so I was lights of of of purity swept over me. Lights of purity of Ahavas HaTorah. אכן יש בה בחוברת קטנה זו ארבעים סאה של מימי הדעת שהוא שיעור טהרה לכל גופו של אדם.
Here look he's eluding to the Rambam at the end of Hilchos Mikvaos where the Rambam explains taamei mitzvah of Mikvah that just as when a person is tovel his body in the Mem Se'ah that's the shier mayim of Mikvah, just as when a person is tovel his body in מ' סאה של מקוה he's metahar, so too when a person is טובל עצמו במימי הדעת the waters of of knowledge it's metahar him as well. יהא כוחו וחילו של מארי בריך הוא לחבר עולם האצילות עם עולם העשייה.
He should be blessed to be able to connect Olam Ha'atzilus with Olam Ha'asiyah. I assume right I think we find that they say that in sefarim so in kabbalah they talk about four four worlds or four series of worlds. There's the world of Atzilus which is the highest, after that is Briyah, after that is Yetzirah, after that is Asiyah. And I assume what he's referring to is Olam Ha'atzilus means Torah, what Olam Ha'asiyah is is our world, and that he's giving him a bracha that he should be able to forge that connection between Torah which emanates from Olam Ha'atzilus with our world which is the Olam Ha'asiyah. That combination of of learning with practical application implementation, we'll see why he's giving that particular bracha to this correspondent. פה אמצא קומי לי להעיר אזנו של הדרת גאונו על פרט זעיר בחוג עבודתו.
I have occasion over here to to share a comment about one small detail about about this other person's endeavors. Hinei bechovares hanal in this Chovares, this Torah journal that you sent me, מודגש הוא בבליטה יתירה, it's emphasized very much, it's very prominent, כי לפני שהגיעו בני הישיבה לפרקם that before the Bnei Yeshiva reach a certain age of spiritual and intellectual maturation, אין כאן עניין של יישוב כלל. I don't know whether this you know whether the play on words is of the footnoter's or whether it was already present in this Chovares that he's responding to and commenting on, but Yeshiva in the sense of the learning and Yishuv in the sense of working, and I don't know if it means in particular setting settling Eretz Yisrael or whether it just means whether it just means working that. וכל חובתם אין כאן עניין של ישוב כלל that before the bnei yeshiva reach a certain age and stage of growth and development, so there's no inyan of yishuv of of of going out into the world. Vechol chovosom be'olomom, again we had that before already, Rav Hutner likes that phrase from Ramchal. Vechol chovosom be'olomom, einom ela hayeshiva. And their entire and exclusive obligation is is is the learning. Ein hayishuv, the going out into the world and taking a job, מתחיל אלא לאחר תקופה ארוכה במצב של תורתם אומנותם. So that's the substance of of Rav Hutner is is addressing himself to his correspondent, that's the substance of of what you teach and and clearly he he endorses that. However, here's the here's his ha'arah. Ule'umas zos, but but sort of running contrary to this, מתנהלת היא התעמולה למען המוסד, the publicity for the for the organization, for the institution, is carried out besismat with a slogan of Torah u'Melacha. That that that's your slogan. אין מן הצורך לבאר להדרת גאונו כי סיסמא זאת של תורה ומלאכה,
this slogan of Torah u'Melacha is misleading because מעמידה היא לפני הקהל, because it presents to the tzibur, it presents to to people es hatziyur, the the image of fifty-fifty, שהוא ציור מתקבל מאוד על דעתם של אנשי מדינה זו,
which is something that people are only too receptive to to accepting and and to believing. כפי שנוכחתי מן החוברת הנ"ל, as as as it became clear to me from that choiveres that you sent me. Ve'etzlom tziyur zeh, this notion, this depiction, and and is a more accurate translation, this depiction עומד הוא ממש ביחס מהופך לכוונתו של הדרת גאונו. This is something which which is the opposite of what you really intend. ואם כן יש לפנינו, so then what we have here is an instance of תעמולה של סמיות עיניים, where the publicity, the publicity campaign is something which is really clouding people's eyes, benigud lertzon mecholela. מצאתי לנכון להזכיר כאן נקודה זו והדרת גאונו הטוב בעיניו יעשה.
So I I thought it appropriate to to raise this point and and and you'll do what as you see best. The ha'arah in in terms of how slogans, even if they're not intended to convey a certain message, sometimes will will take on a life of their own which is misleading, right? The same ha'arah about Torah u'Melacha one can make about Torah v'Avodah, Torah u'Madda, and and any such slogan. It it's not so much important what the original intent is in coining that phrase and and even even given that the original intent in in coining such a phrase, Torah u'Melacha, Torah u'Madda, Torah v'Avodah, whatever whatever the phrase is, even assuming and and knowing that the original intent is not to equate and not to to intimate a fifty-fifty division of of time, but the ha'arah that that the phrase sort of takes on a life of its own and then can easily mislead people is correct. Especially as Rav Hutner comments given the fact that people if anything are very much primed towards such an error. In fact, the relationship between the amount of time that a person allocates to learning as opposed to melacha or at whatever stage a person's life is, so it's a sliding scale. It's not something that can be translated into absolute rigid numbers, but what is crucial is that the Torah should always be axiologically in terms of value, in terms of commitment, should be axiologically supreme. And it's only because the melacha, the mada or whatever it is that a person also needs to spend time on, it should only be because the Torah itself endorses that, the Torah itself validates that, the Torah itself says that's part of the balance that a person is supposed to be striking in life, that's one of the balls that a person has to juggle in terms of attending to different responsibilities. Lema'aseh, the mitzvah of talmud torah is that a person should learn as much as he can. Sometimes we get this mistaken notion that a person will, I don't know, maybe learn for an hour in the morning before shacharis, after shacharis, okay, so now I learned for today, I was yotzei. It's true that the lashon of HaRambam in perek alef of hilchos talmud torah is כל איש מישראל חייב לקבוע זמן לתלמוד תורה ביום ובלילה.
It's true that the Rambam speaks of kvi'as ittim. But when you see that Rambam in its correct broader context, the Rambam is not implying that kvi'as ittim me'ikar hadin as long as I learned that half hour, hour in the morning or night, so me'ikar hadin I'm entirely yotzei my chiyuv. What the Rambam means is that that isn't the Rambam's intent. So there are various indications when you continue in perek alef, so the Rambam when he's illustrating the halacha of חייב לשלש את זמנו לימודיו, that a person has to divide his time between Torah Shebiksav, between halacha, and between iyun, Torah Shebiksav, Torah Sheba'al Peh, and Gemara, so the Rambam says כיצד היה עוסק במלאכה שלוש שעות ביום ולומד תורה תשע שעות ביום.
So you see clearly that the Rambam says if a person's hishtadlus for parnassa allows for it, then he's going to learn nine hours a day. So ay, but the chiyuv is only kvi'as ittim. No, what the Rambam meant by kvi'as ittim is that no matter how demanding a person's work schedule may be, no matter how pressing other circumstances in his life, other legitimate circumstances in his life may be, a person has to see to it that minimally, everything else notwithstanding, there's a kvi'as ittim. So it's not that kvi'as ittim heyos that work does, does legitimately and al pi din does occupy, preoccupy some of a person's time. So I may think that if it's a very busy season, so okay, heyos that it's correct to be spending time on work, it can be even be ad k'dei kach that for a couple of weeks I won't be able to learn at all. Says the Rambam, no. It can never ever reach a point where a person doesn't even have a minimal kvi'as ittim. But not that if a person has time, more time available beyond kvi'as ittim, that he's yotzei his chiyuv. The chiyuv is באשר הוא באשר הוא שם, taking all relevant personal circumstances into account and again, personal circumstances are not only work circumstances obviously, there are other circumstances as well, taking all personal circumstances into account a person should learn as much as he has opportunity to learn. Questions of temperament et cetera. All those things factor in, but the point is that it's not sort of that we divide our time, that that's the lechatchila claim that each has on our time. Torah has a claim on our time and melacha has a claim on our time. So the he'ara is an important he'ara. Let's take a look at the short letter of kuf hey. חביבי יקירי שלום וברכה. אמת נצלתי להאמר, כי נשבר לבי בקרבי למראי פניך בשעת שיחתנו האחרונה.
My heart inwardly was broken seeing the look on your face when we last spoke. אמנם הלא אני היודע כי אין כאן מקום לשום צער.
I know that the tza'ar that you clearly felt, that there was no place for it. והרגשותיך בזה אינן אלא פרי דמיון מטעה. Your feelings were just the fruit of misleading imagination. ובלי ספק שאם יעלה בידך, if you'll succeed, להגביר את השכל הישר על הדמיון הלוהט, to strengthen the sechel hayashar, to allow the sechel hayashar to prevail over burning imagination, ותיגש לעבודתך מתוך הכרה ברורה בטבע העניין, and you'll approach your avoda with a clear understanding, אז לא יאריך הזמן עד שתמלא רגשי תודה על החידוש הזה.
It won't take much time until you'll be filled with feelings of thanks for this chidush. I'm not sure exactly what transpired in that oral conversation that's being referenced here. Maybe it could be this, it could be that I'm just misreading it. You sort of have the impression that maybe Rav Hutner had given some sharp mussar. And he's telling the talmid, if instead of reacting emotionally, you would try to process it intellectually, then you'd see that what I was telling you, again, isn't something to be upset about, isn't something to be angry about, but on the contrary, is something to be thankful for. ומכלל הן אתה שומע, meaning, but if you won't do that, so then things will head in the opposite direction. Bepisqa zo, with this, with these few lines, באתי לחזק את לבך עוד הפעם. I want to be mechazek you once more. ואני תקוה כי כח שכלך החזק, I hope, I pray that the strength of your powerful sechel יעמוד לך לראות נכונה למען תהיה עבודתך לברכה לך. Na v'na, please and please, לא להרשות ללבבך להפילך למצב מרירות של מרה שחורה. Don't allow again your emotions, your moods to throw you into a state of bitterness, of mara shechora. ואז תשכיל בדרכך מאוד. The issue that's touched... The issue that's touched upon, albeit very, very briefly, in this letter is the interplay between feeling, emotion on the one hand and sechel on the other hand. Obviously, we have both. The ideal interplay is that the, I don't know that, that the emotion needs to be or is supposed to be suppressed or stifled, but it needs to be guided by the sechel. A person should have a passion, but the sechel should determine what he has a passion for. A person should, should, should love his spouse, but, but the sechel should, should guide him in his decision as to whom he marries. And and when it's the passion, when it's the emotion that gets the upper hand, so then that leads a person astray. Yeah. Okay, Reb Moshe, so we'll stop here for, for our morning kriyas and bli neder, im yirtzeh Hashem, hopefully reconvene at, at 1:30. Have a wonderful day.