We're going to begin with Sha’ar Dalet. Sha’ar Dalet as you all know in Nefesh HaChaim it discusses what Torah L'shma means, what it means to learn Torah L'shma. And I thought that before we began with that, that we would just talk in general about the Gemara in Pesachim about לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
Then we'll begin trying to understand that ma'amar, not necessarily limited to the Nefesh HaChaim's understanding. We'll try to understand that ma'amar and then from there we'll proceed more directly אם ירצה השם בלי נדר to the topic of Torah L'shma. So basically, I think tonight for the most part, as the ma'amar indicates, we're going to be busy with Shelo L'shma and hopefully im yirtzeh Hashem mitoch Shelo L'shma ultimately we'll come to L'shma as well. So again, the Gemara in Pesachim, it appears in a few places. We're all familiar with it. The Gemara says that לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות אפילו שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
If you happen to have a Nefesh HaChaim with you, so if you take a look in between Sha’ar Gimmel and Sha’ar Dalet, there are a number of prakim which are not assigned a number of a Sha’ar, just the prakim. So if you take a look in the prakim in Perek Bet, so the Nefesh HaChaim quotes one of the places in which this Gemara appears. If you take a look, if you have this edition, it's on page kuf-tzaddi-aleph, the second line. On page kuf-tzaddi-aleph, the second line: דאמר רב יהודה אמר רב לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות אפילו שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
Okay, so let's try to understand that ma'amar Chazal. So first of all, it's interesting, the Rambam quotes this ma'amar Chazal in two places. He quotes it in Perek Gimmel of Hilchos Talmud Torah. He also quotes it in Perek Yud of Hilchos Teshuva. He quotes it in Perush HaMishnayos also. And the Rambam apparently the girsa the Rambam had in the Gemara doesn't have the word u'mitzvos. The Rambam's girsa in the Gemara is only לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה אפילו שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
That's interesting what the significance of that girsa is. Now the key to understanding this ma'amar Chazal, the question l'chora is as follows. So we'll come later im yirtzeh Hashem to try to define what Shelo L'shma means in this context, but let's now just translate generically as some kind of ulterior motive. That a person is learning for some kind of ulterior motive, he's doing mitzvos for some kind of ulterior motive. That's what Shelo L'shma means. So now the question is that so if we were asked, let's say a person is aware that he's going to be learning or he's going to be doing mitzvos and his kavana is not going to be l'shem shamayim, but he's going to have some ulterior motive. That when I take the lulav or when I learn Daf Yomi, so I'm doing it, I don't know, I enjoy being part of that chabura. I'm doing it for social reasons or whatever's motivating me, some kind of ulterior motive. So should I do it anyway? So I would say without benefit of this Gemara, certainly yes. It would be better, it would be optimal if one's kavana were l'shem shamayim, but there's a chiyuv Talmud Torah and there's the chiyuv of netilas lulav first day Sukkos, seven days Sukkos. So if you can't do it with the most perfect of kavanas, if you can't do it with the most optimal motivation, but do it at least, at least do the basic mitzva. The more pure your kavana, the more you'll enhance the mitzva. And yet רב יהודה אמר רב agrees, he agrees with my psak. I'm not that much of a work in agreement, but the reason is totally different. רב יהודה אמר רב says, you know why you should do it? Because שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. The reason I should go to Daf Yomi even if I'm not doing it l'shem shamayim, even if I'm not doing it l'shma is because, well, שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. The reason I should take the lulav even though I recognize that there's an ulterior motive is שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. What do you need that reason for? So with this question in mind, let's think about again the Rambam's girsa that the Rambam only has Torah in this ma'amar Chazal. So the Rambam in perek gimmel of Hilchos Talmud Torah quotes an example of ma'amar Chazal for instance from Pirkei Avot that עוד ציוו ואמרו אל תעשם עטרה להתגדל בהן ולא קרדום לחפור בהן.
A person is not supposed to use or abuse Torah to make it into a crown to glorify himself nor to advance himself nor should he use it as some kind of spade, some kind of gardening tool to dig. It shouldn't be to advance himself. So this is an issur, right? This is an issur. The context in the Rambam is that אסור ליהנות מדברי תורה בעולם הזה, that a person is not supposed to derive benefit from Torah in olam hazeh. And then in that context the Rambam says that אמרו חכמים כל הנהנה מדברי תורה נטל חייו מן העולם,
that a person is destroying himself by deriving benefit from benefit meaning personal material etc. from דברי תורה בעולם הזה. ועוד ציוו ואמרו אל תעשם עטרה להתגדל בהן ולא קרדום לחפור בהן.
Oh. So basically by Talmud Torah, what emerges from these ma'amarei Chazal that basically by Talmud Torah shelo lishma is really assur. That to learn Torah with some kind of ulterior motive basically violates the אסור ליהנות מדברי תורה בעולם הזה. So basically what רב יהודה אמר רב is telling us is that I would have thought that if a person looks in the mirror and sees that his learning is going to be shelo lishma, so רב יהודה אמר רב says that our initial reaction is to tell him that's assur because אסור ליהנות מדברי תורה בעולם הזה, עוד ציוו ואמרו אל תעשם עטרה להתגדל בהן ולא קרדום לחפור בהן.
Oh. Comes רב יהודה אמר רב and says מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. So what's the heter? What's the justification of learning even though one recognizes that the learning is shelo lishma? The justification is that מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, that's the heter. Interestingly the Rambam in Perush Hamishnayos in perek Chelek, it's the same Perush Hamishnayos where the Rambam later presents the yud gimmel ikkarim, so he talks about learning lishma. The Rambam talks about how gradually we induce a person that he can learn lishma. And the Rambam says: זהו אצל חכמים שלא לשמה כלומר שהוא מקיים את המצוות ועושה אותם ולומד ומשתדל לא למען אותו הדבר עצמו אלא למען דבר אחר.
Shelo lishma means an ulterior motive. והזהירונו חכמים עליהם השלום מזה. And we're admonished not to do that, that's assur to do. ואמרו לא תעשם עטרה להתגדל בהם ולא קרדום לחפור בהם.
Basically it's assur to learn shelo lishma. The only thing is, skipping, the only thing is that lachen hitiru lahamon, the Rambam says. They were matir, they gave us license to do. And lichora that's the pshat in רב יהודה אמר רב, that's the pshat in מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. Now in light of that, lichora the pshat in the Rambam's girsa is that this issur of shelo lishma, the fact that shelo lishma is not simply less than ideal but conceptually shelo lishma really is assur, so the ma'amarim we quoted are about Talmud Torah, about atarah lehisgadel bahen, about kardom lachpor bahem. Those ma'amarim are about divrei Torah. So that's the pshat lichora in the Rambam's girsa of לעולם יעסוק אדם אף במצוה שלא לשמה. But by mitzvos you don't have to justify it with מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. By mitzvos do it because you're mechuyav in the mitzvah, better to do the mitzvah without optimal kavannah, but do the mitzvah. But by talmud torah you need the heter. By talmud torah you need the reasoning of מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. So you say what was the lashon in the perush hamishnayos mitzvos? Didn't he mix the two? We're gonna come in one minute. We're gonna come in a minute. You're absolutely right. We're gonna come in a minute. Now so let's continue and let's rethink our girsa, right? The girsa that we have with this whenever this maimar is quoted is לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ובמצוות שלא לשמה. So following up on this understanding, the implication of our girsa is even more far-reaching that not only conceptually, theoretically, should it have been assur to learn shelo lishma, not only is that a sacrilege, but really to be osek in any mitzvos hatorah shelo lishma should have been such a sacrilege that it would have been assur if not, if not for the heter, mitoch shelo lishma is a mattir. So what's the source for that? What's the source for that? The truth is that as you noted, the Rambam in perush hamishnayos, even though here too he has the girsa consistently of batorah, is mashma that he extends the concept to mitzvos as well. And he seems so what's the makor for that? Where do we find a source that even by mitzvos it's such a sacrilege for a person to take the Ribbono Shel Olam's tzivuy and do it shelo lishma is such a sacrilege that it should have been assur? So the Rambam seems to hang his hat on the mishna in Avos of Antigonus ish Socho. וכבר הזהירו חכמים גם על זה. Again, hizhiru, כלומר שלא ישים האדם תכלית עבודתו וקיומו למצווה איזה דבר מן הדברים
that again there shouldn't be any person shouldn't be aiming for any benefit from doing mitzvos. הוא מאמר החסיד השלם משיג האמת אנטיגנוס איש סוכו and this is what Antigonus ish Socho said אל תהיו כעבדים המשמשים את הרב על מנת לקבל פרס אלא היו כעבדים המשמשים את הרב על מנת שלא לקבל פרס.
So the Rambam seems to say that Antigonus ish Socho is not just identifying for his talmidim what the ideal is, but he's also saying that basically again, it's such a sacrilege to do things shelo lishma that really it's assur. And therefore you need the heter of מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. Then I saw just this evening for the first time, I saw here that in the edition of Nefesh HaChaim with the notes of U'vacharta BaChaim, so he also has this mahalach in the maimar of מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה and he quotes a fascinating Baal HaTurim. Baal HaTurim on the Aseres HaDibros says, the second dibur of לא יהיה לך אלוהים אחרים על פני, says ועושה חסד לאלפים לאוהבי ולשומרי מצותי, that's the end of the dibur. And then the next dibur is לא תשא את שם ה' אלוהיך לשוא. So the Baal HaTurim says what's the smichus between u'lshomrei mitzvosai and לא תשא את שם ה' אלוהיך לשוא? So the Baal HaTurim says that a person who does mitzvos shelo lishma is נושא שם שמים לשוא. That's what the Baal HaTurim says. Again, you take a mitzvah, you take the Ribbono Shel Olam's tzivuy, you take a mitzvas Hashem, and a person lowers it so, he debases it so, that I'm doing it because that way the Ribbono Shel Olam will give me such and such a benefit. So that's נושא שם שמים לשוא says the Baal HaTurim. Okay. So that's the idea. Okay. So that's מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, the importance of that basically it's a sacrilege, certainly by talmud torah and apparently by mitzvos as well shelo lishma. Now what exactly do chazal have in mind when they say shelo lishma? Even mitzvos that the Torah delineates a certain reward for that mitzvah? I mean what do we do with mitzvos in the Torah kibbud av v'eim that says, tzedakah and other things that the Torah says l'maan ya'arichun yomecha? So it's matan schar. Right, so I think I guess we should really then we'd have to talk about the Gemara in Pesachim and Rosh Hashanah and elsewhere about האומר סלע זו לצדקה על מנת שיחיה בני הרי זה צדיק גמור.
A person gives money to tzedakah and he's pledging the money that his son should have a refuah shleimah, so the Gemara says הרי זה צדיק גמור. So everyone asks how does that how can you be a tzaddik gamur when there's when there's that kavanah shelo lishmah? So partially we'll we'll touch on it, but for the moment I think the answer to your question is that even where the Torah tells us, even if the Torah doesn't write the sechar right next to the mitzvos, so אם בחקתי תלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם. Okay, venasatti gishmeichem be'ittam, I mean the Torah is is replete with with descriptions of sechar. So I think the Rambam's answer to that would be is that the Rambam says that a person never begins on a level of lishmah. It's not that we expect that that a five-year-old that a bar mitzvah bochur is going to begin on a level lishmah. That it's מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, so the Torah provides the shelo lishmah incentive and the same way that's true about description of of of sechar in general, so then it would also be true of of those particular mitzvos which the Torah singles out and has מתן שכר כתוב בצדה also. Okay. What exactly does shelo lishmah mean in in in this context? Of לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
So again you'll you'll recall that the Tosafos asks in in a few places that elsewhere the Gemara says that כל הלומד תורה שלא לשמה נוח לו שנהפכה שלייתו על פניו.
It would have been better if if if he had been stillborn. Better than better than that a person should learn torah shelo lishmah, it would have been better. It's Yerushalmi Brachos, the Mesillas Yesharim and others quote, the Ba'alei Tosafos quote it as well, that זהו שאמרו בו נוח לו שנהפכה שלייתו על פניו. It were better had he been smothered in his placenta. So Tosafos in in a few places asks how do we reconcile these these two Gemaras? In one Gemara, לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות אפילו שלא לשמה. A person is encouraged to do it shelo lishmah because it will it will result in lishmah, and here shelo lishmah is is so unthinkable, better better not to be alive than than than to be than to be learning shelo lishmah. So Tosafos, right, Tosafos in Brachos and in a couple of places answers that if the shelo lishmah is al menas sheyichabduni, if the shelo lishmah is that a person is going thinks he's gonna earn a lot of money, al menas she'e'asher, so that's the shelo lishmah of מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. That's not the proper motivation, but that's also encouraged because ultimately it will lead to and ultimately it will result in in learning lishmah. מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. If the shelo lishmah is al menas lekanteir, if the shelo lishmah is that a person wants the he wants to show up the rabbi, he wants to he has a he has an agenda shelo leshem shamayim that he wants to try to marshal support for and that's why that's why he's learning, so then that's the Yerushalmi of נוח לו שנהפכה שלייתו על פניו where he has where he has not just ulterior motives but but he has negative motives where he has sinister motivation. So that's what the Yerushalmi says is is so outrageous that that certainly we don't countenance that kind of of תלמוד תורה שמירת המצוות. Where it's this again you know this you know the type of ulterior motive with which we're all too familiar, so there that's מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. And I think that's the distinction which most of us are familiar with from Tosafos in Brachos and elsewhere. But Ramchal here in Mesillas Yesharim has I'll read the lines has an amazing suggested a different distinction. Here it's perek tes zayin where Ramchal is talking about the middah of taharah. So the Maharal the Ramchal says that taharah... refers to purity of the heart, vetaher libeinu, לב טהור ברא לי אלהים, that taharah is a description not of one's actions but it's a description of one's motivation. So he's talking about what it means to have pure motives, what it means to have a lev tahor. And he says here in that context that אולם כבר נתבארו דברי החכמים ז"ל שיש מינים שונים שלא לשמה.
There are different types of shelo lishma. Hara mikulam, this is, I don't know, this is sobering. Hara mikulam, the worst of the lot of shelo lishma, Ramchal says, הוא שאיננו עובד לשם עבודה כלל. He's not doing it for the purpose of avoda, of serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu, אלא לרמות בני האדם, to trick people, ולהרויח כבוד או ממון, and to acquire for himself either honor, glory, or money. וזהו שאמרו בו נוח לו שנהפכה שלייתו על פניו, right? So Tosafos says you do it for kavod. Tosafos says a person learns Torah for kavod. So Tosafos says okay, it's not ideal, but מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. Comes Ramchal and says no, a person's learning for kavod? A person's learning for money? He says that's נוח לו שנהפכה שלייתו על פניו. What's the shelo lishma of מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה? ויש מין אחר של שלא לשמה.
There's another type of shelo lishma, שהוא העבודה על מנת לקבל פרס. It means that I'm doing it because it's a mitzvah. I'm doing it because the Ribono Shel Olam said to learn Torah. Why? Because I love the Ribono Shel Olam, because I want to know Torah? No, because I know that the Ribono Shel Olam gives schar to people who do his mitzvos. But at least that shelo lishma, you're doing it because it's a mitzvah. You're learning Torah because it's a mitzvah, because Ribono Shel Olam said והגית בו יומם ולילה. That's why I'm learning. I'm learning out of love for Ribono Shel Olam? I'm learning to know Torah? No, that would be lishma. I'm learning because I want the schar of Talmud Torah. תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם. I want the schar of Talmud Torah. I'm taking the lulav, I'm taking it because it's a mitzvah. Not for kavod, not for money. I'm taking because a mitzvah because I know that the Ribono Shel Olam is גומל טוב לשומרי מצותיו. That, where at least there's a baseline of being motivated by the fact that it's a mitzvah, that's what motivates me. That's the shelo lishma, that's the minimal shelo lishma which according to Ramchal is acceptable. And then we say מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. But the shelo lishma of al menas sheyichabduni? So then that means that it's not I'm not even engaging in Torah or mitzvah as such. It's just an instrument. Okay, if there were a different instrument for kavod, if I thought I could be elected governor or senator or president, so that would also be an instrument for kavod. I don't think that's accessible. So I'm looking for this path to kavod. The Vilna Gaon says it also. The Gaon says it, there's a little likut of different divrei mussar of the Gaon in Even Shleima. So if you take a look there in פרק ח' סעיף ב', so the Gaon says that מה שאמרו לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות אף על פי שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
The Gaon says היינו שאינו מכוון לשום דבר רק מנהג אבותיו בידיו. It's sort of like why do you do it? Why do I davven every day? My father used to davven every day, he taught me to davven, so I davven also, I davven also, and I davven also. That's what my father taught me when I was a little boy, so I davven. אבל לא במי שעיקר לימודו לשם כבוד. If his ikar limud is leshem kavod, that's not what Chazal were talking about לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות. That doesn't meet the minimum threshold of being involved with Torah mitzvos. On the bottom here, the editor cross-references the Ramchal in Mesilas Yesharim. Okay, the Ba'alei Hatosafos are not like that. Not to eclipse the Ba'alei Hatosafos here. Ba'alei Hatosafos say no, they say that as long as it's not some kind of negative motive, they say al menas sheyichabduni, על מנת שאהיה עשיר. So that is a that is a legitimate shelo lishma לעולם יעסוק אדם תורה מצווה שלא לשמה but the Ramchal and the Gaon differ. Okay. Then there is just in terms of pshat. Well maybe let's just before we come to that let's follow up a little bit. There's an amazing amazing the Reishis Chochma has in his Sha'ar HaKedusha has a discussion of the Gemara in Sota about the dalet kitin who don't who don't receive the Shechina. And one of them of course is kat hachanefim people who engage in in in chanifa. So we generally translate chanifa as flattery someone who's a flatterer he's a sycophant that's how we generally translate chanufa. So he quotes an amazing thing here from the I believe he's quoting from the Rabbeinu Bachya in Chovos HaLevavos. He says as follows: Nimtza based on what Rabbeinu Bachya says in Chovos HaLevavos. Listen to this rabbosai it's an amazing thing. נמצא כי מכלל כת החנפים. Again so we think of chanufa yeah you butter people up you flatter them chanf right the way we use the word to chanf. So that's also that's also kat hachanefim but he says here נמצא כי מכלל כת החנפים הוא העושה מעשה מצווה לקל יתברך וכוונתו בשביל שיכבדוהו בני אדם.
Why? Because that's because really what's chanufa? Flattery. So what is it conceptually? Conceptually is you don't really mean it you don't really think too highly of this person right when you're in the privacy of of your own home so you have you have something very different a very different opinion of this person. But ella mai for whatever whatever whatever gain you think there is so you chanf him you flatter him. So basically what it means is to posture to be אחד בפה אחד בלב to say things with total insincerity and to posture. Now that's what chanifa is. So says the Reishis Chochma based on Rabbeinu Bachya העושה מעשה מצווה לקל יתברך. Okay so I put my tallis over my head and I shuckle. So what am I posturing? I'm posturing that that I'm talking to the Ribbono Shel Olam with great kavana with great hislahavus. What am I doing really? So really I'm looking over my shoulder to make sure that people see me and people see what what vasfar a tzaddik I am. That's what I'm really doing. So says Rabbeinu Bachya אין לך חנופה גדולה מזו. To take a mitzvah why is it why is it if a person learns why is it people are going to respect him? They're going to respect him look such a big talmid chacham and he's so devoted to Torah and he works so hard because nafsho chashka baTorah. And in reality what is it? If a person's learning that people should should be mechabeid him so in reality it's nafsho chashka bekavod and in reality he's devoted not to Torah he's devoted to to pursuit of kavod. So says Rabbeinu Bachya again says the Reishis Chochma based on Rabbeinu Bachya נמצא כי מכלל כת החנפים הוא העושה מעשה מצווה לקל יתברך וכוונתו בשביל שיכבדוהו בני אדם
vechasav bechovos halevavos Rabbeinu Bachya has very sharp and penetrating formulations כי העושה מעשה בשביל כבוד בני אדם או מיראתם. If a person does mitzvos either because he's looking to gain respect from people or out of fear of people אינו עובד לבורא אלא לבני אדם. He's not it's not avodas Hashem it's not avodas Hashem it's avodas bnei adam. So that's basically the same idea as what the Ramchal and the Gaon are saying in terms of learning Torah for kavod for osher that that's not the minimum threshold even for le'olam ya'asok adam. Okay but again Tosfos. all of this. Again, Rabbeinu Bechaye is also a Rishon that Tosfos does say differently. Just one final topic within this one maamar of לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצות אפילו שלא לשמה, the word l'olam is very troubling, right? The whole point of the maamar seems to be that shelo lishmah will culminate in lishmah. So it should be בתחילה יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
So the Nefesh HaChaim talks about this. Let me just get the bottom... לעולם רוצה לומר בקביעות, is that it? Yeah, yeah. Where are you? Kuf-tzadi-aleph, the last line. Yeah, thank you. So in perek gimmel of the perakim, maybe we'll even begin from the beginning of the perek here. וגם כי באמת כמעט בלתי אפשר לבוא תיכף בתחילת קביעת לימודו למדרגת לשמה כראוי.
It's virtually impossible that a person should begin learning totally lishmah. כי העוסק בתורה שלא לשמה הוא למדרגה שמתוך כך יוכל לבוא למדרגת לשמה.
It's a stepping stone. Learning shelo lishmah is a stepping stone that a person will learn lishmah. ולכן גם הוא אהוב לפניו יתברך. And that's why even a person who's learning shelo lishmah is also beloved to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. כמו שבלתי אפשר לעלות מהארץ לעליה אם לא דרך מדרגות הסולם.
You can't get to the loft unless you climb the rungs of the ladder. ולזה אמרו לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות אפילו שלא לשמה.
Amram l'olam, when Chazal say l'olam, rotze lomar b'kviyus. Meaning it shouldn't be something fleeting. It shouldn't be something sporadic. It means that when you're learning, if it's shelo lishmah, it shouldn't just be a fleeting, you open a sefer for two minutes and close it. It shouldn't be something, again, so so fleeting and so sporadic, but it should be b'kviyus. V'af im lif'amim, v'af im lif'amim, I just skip to the top of page kuf-tzadi-beis, the third line. וודאי יפול במחשבתו איזה פניה לגרמיה. Some, again, some kind of ulterior motive l'garmei for himself, לשם גאות וכבוד וכיוצא בה. He follows Tosfos here. For, again, for honor. עם כל זה אל ישים לבו לפרוש או להתרפות ממנו בעבור זה חס ושלום.
Ella adaraba, יתחזק מאוד בעסק התורה ויהא נכון לבו בטוח שודאי יבוא מתוך כך למדרגת לשמה. וכך הוא גם בעניין המצוות על דרך זה.
And then he goes on to say that what it means is like this. When a person learns shelo lishmah, again, but not not sporadically, not for two minutes, a person sits down, learns a two-hour seder, learns a three-hour seder, so Rav Chaim Volozhin says it's impossible that at one moment during these two, three hours, so maybe maybe l'chatchilah, take a look at the end of perek gimmel here in page kuf-tzadi-daled. K'mo she'hivtichu Chazal, in the paragraph v'gam im nireh, line four, כמו שהבטיחו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה. They guaranteed it, right? Interesting, right? It's a haftachah. This is a haftachah. Chazal give us this as a guarantee. שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. כי אין הפירוש דוקא שיבוא מזה לשמה עד שאחר כך יעסוק בה תמיד כל ימיו רק לשמה.
Says Rav Chaim Volozhin, it doesn't mean that, that at age eight start learning shelo lishmah and that way by the time you're age thirty you'll always be learning lishmah. That's not what it means. אלא היינו שבכל פעם שהוא לומד בקביעות. Again, that's what l'olam means, right? L'olam means it shouldn't be fleeting, it shouldn't be something sporadic. שבכל פעם שהוא לומד בקביעות זמן כמה שעות רצופים. Sit down and learn a long seder, אף שדרך כלל היתה כוונתו שלא לשמה, even though generally speaking his intention was shelo lishmah. Generally this learning seder, this learning session was shelo lishma, im kol ze nevertheless says Rav Chaim Volozhiner bilti efshar klal. It's impossible שלא יכנס בלבו באמצע הלימוד על כל פנים זמן מועט כוונה רצויה לשמה.
It's impossible that at some point Torah just is so engaging and the Torah is so captivating and so mekadesh a person that it's impossible, it's guaranteed, it's impossible that at some point during that seder a person won't get so caught up in the learning that he's doing it lishma. At first maybe when I sit down initially it's shelo lishma, and maybe twenty minutes into the seder it's still shelo lishma. But שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה means every time. It doesn't mean stages of life. It means every time. It means I sit down now, I learn two, three, however many hours it is. So it's not just well eventually yavo yom that I'll sit down and I'll learn lishma. No, it means in this seder שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. Because again the Torah is so, it captivates a person, it's mekadesh a person that that involvement, it doesn't happen in thirty seconds. le'olam, לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה, but then the שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה in this seder, every single time it will happen, provided it's le'olam. That's the Nefesh HaChaim's understanding of le'olam. Just to conclude with one other, one other understanding of le'olam from the other side of the aisle. The Me'or Einayim, the Chernobyler Maggid also has a very totally different but very very beautiful, very very beautiful pshat of what it means le'olam. Again same problem, it should have said batchila. It should have said batchila. So he says now what it means is like this. He says right now on the madrega on which a person is, so if a person is honest with himself, so he recognizes all the shelo lishma elements of his learning, of his has'asakus bemitzvah. I recognize the shelo lishma. And based on my madrega, I have a certain conception of what it would be to learn lishma. I imagine how the Rav must have felt when he sat down to learn a blatt Gemara. How Rav Shlomo Zalman must have, I can imagine based on my madrega, I know what I'm missing, I know what I'm lacking, so I imagine what they had. Okay. All right, but אף על פי כן, so I learn shelo lishma, שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. So I learn, I learn, I learn, I get to a higher madrega, right? I get to the madrega which I had thought before is lishma. Now when I'm on this higher madrega, I have a greater sensitivity to what lishma means. And I'm now sensitive to things which before I didn't even understand. Before I couldn't even imagine. I didn't even recognize these nuances. So again I recognize that I'm learning shelo lishma. What yesterday I thought would be the lishma, so today, having gotten higher up, one rung higher on the ladder, now I can see even higher. Now I have a different conception of what was happening in Rav Shlomo Zalman's mind when he sat down to learn the blatt Gemara. So says the Me'or Einayim, it's le'olam. It's le'olam. A person never becomes, a person's never perfect. It's taka le'olam. לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
ein hachi nami, it does, it's behas'chala. I get to the, I got to lishma. Tomorrow I got to today's lishma. Tomorrow I'll get to today's lishma. When I get there, then I'll realize there's a higher rung. Now I can't even see it. I'm so low down on the ladder, I can't see five rungs up. I see one rung up, that seems to be the peak. I get it, I realize I haven't reached the peak. And it's taka le'olam. le'olam ya'asok adam, a person's whole lifetime is ya'asok adam שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.