Let’s begin Sha’ar Daled tonight. It’s on page Resh Zayin. So we’ll read a couple of paragraphs and then try to comment and get a little context there. עוד זאת שמעתי לאבא בנגלת ספר כתוב בגודל החיוב של עסק התורה.
So Rav Chaim Volozhiner says that he wants also to write about just how great and important the obligation is of Talmud Torah על כל איש ישראל יום ולילה u-le-harchiv me'at ha-dibbur and to expand, to elaborate בלשון מדברת גדולות יקר תפארתו ומעלתו של התורה והאדם הישר העוסק והוגה בה בסורת חסד על לשונו לעשות נחת רוח ליוצרו
and in so doing, bringing a nachas ruach to HaKadosh Baruch Hu ליוצרו ובוראו יתברך שמו ואיש דעת המאמץ כח לסומכה ולסעדה ולהחזיק בדרכיה.
Interesting, right? That not only is he lauding and explaining the importance of being osek ba-Torah, but also hachzakas ha-Torah, also supporting Torah. Why does he feel such a pressing need to do so? אחרי שזה ימים רבים לישראל שהושפל עסק התורה הקדושה בכל דור ודור.
For a long time now, Talmud Torah has been lowered from its elevated status which it really deserves. והן עתה בדורות הללו ba-avonoseinu ha-rabim nafla me'od me'od. And now it has really reached crisis proportions נתונה בסיפא המדרגה התחתונה רחמנא לצלן. It's just totally neglected. It's had a real mapala. כאשר עינינו הרואות עתה ברבות בני עמנו מגודל סבל משא עול הפרנסה
Hashem Yerachem. So one of the causes for the fall of mitzvas Talmud Torah, he says, is just because the yoke, the burden of earning parnasa. Okay. וגם כמה מאותן אשר קרבת אלוקים יחפוצו. But also from amongst those who desire to come close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and who are investing time in that quest המה בחרו לעצמם לקבוע כל עיקר לימודם בספרי יראה ומוסר כל הימים.
We’ll in a minute try to clarify who he refers to here. בלא קביעת עיקר העסק בתורה הקדושה במקראות והלכות מרובות. Even those who desire kirvas Elokim, so their primary focus of their learning is in sifrei yira u-mussar at the expense of gufei Torah, pesukim in Chumash, halachos. And as a result, says Rav Chaim Volozhiner, עדיין לא ראו מאורות מימיהם ולא נגה עליהם אור התורה.
As a result, they haven’t seen the light of Torah and the light of Torah hasn't shined on them. השם יסלח להם כי כוונתם לשמים. Their kavana is good. אבל לא זו הדרך ישכון בם אור התורה. So let’s try to clarify two things. What type of sifrei yira is he referring to? And to whom is he referring to here with the kirvas Elokim yachpotzu? Let's begin with what type of sifrei yira. Now lich'ora, what you have to say is that Rav Chaim Volozhiner here when he’s talking about sifrei yira is talking about sefarim where the main thrust, and for that matter, the primary content is just to be motivational and inspirational as opposed to, well, we'll take a look, both in maybe... When was the Sefer written, when was the Nefesh Hachaim? It is written sometime in the first quarter of the 19th century. 1824? 1820? I mean, it's published posthumously and I think Rav Chaim Volozhiner was niftar sometime in the early 1820s. So that's actually a good point. What he's certainly not referring to is the Musar movement, right? Because he predates that. So he's certainly not referring to that. Rav Yisrael Salanter is later than Rav Chaim Volozhiner. So that's certainly not it. What about Chassidus? When was Chassidus... so this is 1700s, late... the Baal Shem Tov was 17... Chassidus is well established. The Baal Shem Tov died in the 1760s. Right. He was contemporary to the Gra, so obviously it's before. Well, the Gra actually outlived the Baal Shem Tov by a few decades. I think the Baal Shem Tov died sometime around the 1760s and the Gra dies at the end of the century, 1797, something like that. Okay. So let's take a look here in the Chovos Halevavos. This is from the introduction to the Chovos Halevavos just to give a little context of where we're jumping into the Chovos Halevavos. So Rabbeinu Bachya sketches the background of what led him to author the Sefer Chovos Halevavos. So he said that he noticed that within Torah there are two types of mitzvos. There are mitzvos which are chovos haeivarim, mitzvos which a person is supposed to do, a person is supposed to sit in a sukkah, a person is supposed to shake a lulav, a person is supposed to put on tefillin, he's not supposed to eat ma'achalos asuros, etc. And he classifies those as chovos haeivarim. And then Rabbeinu Bachya says there is a second part of Torah: chovos halevavos. Mitzvos such as yedias Hashem, yiras Hashem, ahavas Hashem, emunah, bitachon, and the like. And Rabbeinu Bachya says that when he looked at rabbinic literature, so he found that all sefarim which had been authored all dealt with chovos haeivarim. And that chovos halevavos had been neglected. Chovos halevavos had been neglected. And then he begins to discuss and says why is that? And says, is it because all these mitzvos are sufficiently straightforward and don't require any iyun, any elaboration? And that's the argument which he's now debunking. So he describes again how when people amongst his contemporaries learned Torah, so they were busy with chovos haeivarim. And not only that, but in chovos haeivarim they would be preoccupied with all kinds of obscure, far-fetched, remote possibilities, and they were neglecting chovos halevavos. So that's what he's decrying here. So let's just read a little bit: ואשר ידבנו לבו מהם לעיין בחכמת התורה. And even amongst those who are moved, who are aroused to learn Torah: הוא מתכוין לדבר שיקרא בו חכם אצל עמי הארץ. He's more interested in establishing a reputation: ויעשה לו שם אצל הגדולים ויט מדרך התורה על מה שלא יקנהו מעלה יתירה ולא ינקהו ממכשול בנפשו.
And within Torah, so he strays from the path and doesn't focus on what's important in Torah and what will help him in his growth: ובשביל שלא היה יודע לא היה נענש עליו. Looking for all kinds of obscure, far-fetched possibilities. והניח לעיין בשרשי דתו ויסודי תורתו אשר לא היה לו להעלם מהם ולהניחם ושלא יוכל לקיים מצות אם לא ידעם ויעשם כמו.
Now here Rabbeinu Bachya is making the argument that mitzvos again, such as the mitzvah of yedias Hashem, of ahavas Hashem, of yiras Hashem require the same iyun. even that Hilchos Shabbos does, that Hilchos Sukkah does. Kmo emunas hayichud. Okay, so we know, right, the Rambam lists it as the second of of the mitzvos asei in his in his listing. שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד. There's a mitzvah to to to believe that that Hashem is one. Rabbeinu Bachya says there are many things that a person has to be me'ayein to understand just what this mitzvah entails. First of all, אם אנחנו חייבים לעיין בו מצד שכלינו או אם יספיק לנו אם נדעהו מצד הקבלה.
Is this something that we're supposed to be able to understand and deduce logically, the Hashem's Hashem's unity, Hashem's oneness, or is it enough that we simply accept it as as as tradition? Another another question. שנאמר שאלוקינו אחד כאשר יאמרו הפתאים בלי אות ומופת. Excuse me, then sorry, that that goes with that that continues the previous. שנאמר שאלוקינו אחד כאשר יאמרו הפתאים בלי אות ומופת. Or is it enough for us just to to accept the tradition and just to repeat, basically he's he's sort of tipping his hand as to which which he thinks is correct, or or just sort of mindlessly repeat without any demonstration and without any understanding that Hashem is echad. Another question which which requires iyun in this mitzvah of Chovos HaLevavos. או אם אנחנו חייבים לחקור על עניין האחד האמת והאחד העובר להבדיל העניין הזה אצלנו משאר ענייני האחדים הנמצאים אם לא.
Does the mitzvah of Hashem echad require that we understand the difference between what we mean when we predicate echad of Hashem as opposed to when we we predicate echad of other things? I can say that there's one one can of soda here, so it's also the same word of echad. So does the mitzvah require that we understand what exactly we we mean by describing Hashem as echad in in contradistinction to when we use echad in all other contexts? Or no? V'ha'inyan hazeh, all these issues and the like, Rabbeinu Bachya says, אין המאמין רשאי שלא ידענו שהתורה הזהירה עליו דכתיב וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך כי השם הוא האלקים.
So that's what Rabbeinu Bachya is arguing and saying that that there's iyun, again, not only in Hilchos Shabbos and then not only in ya'ush shelo mada'as, but there's iyun in mitzvos haemunah as well. The same the same argument, similar argument is made very very forcefully by the Mesillas Yesharim as well in his hakdama. Mesillas Yesharim also describes the the current state of talmud Torah in his day. And he lived before them. Before the before the... Rabbeinu Bachya was when? Rabbeinu Bachya is very early, maybe the 11th century even. Rabbeinu Bachya is is even ante dates the Rambam. He's he's way early. Now, if if you take a look at the line that begins mitalem mimeno, I don't know, around 13 lines down, 15 lines down, the line that begins mitalem mimeno, he says vesira, right? Vesira you'll see אם תתבונן בהווה ברוב העולם. Again, you look around at the contemporary situation. כי רוב אנשי השכל המהיר והפיקחים החריפים, most people, again, who who are capable, right, with who are blessed with with with a good head, who are very sharp, ישימו רוב התבוננותם והסתכלותם בדקות החוכמות ועומק העיונים איש איש כפי נטיית שכלו וחשקו הטבעי.
Meaning everyone, people people basically, he says, study everything other than what I'm going to talk about here in the Sefer Mesillas Yesharim. They have different different interests and different inclinations. Some are attracted to science. Acherim yitnu more and more more theoretical or abstract science. אחרים יתנו כל עיונם לתכונה ולהנדסה. Others, it seems to be somewhat more applied science. I mean in modern Hebrew, we translate handasa as what is engineering or something? I am not sure if he meant the exactly same thing by it, but but also probably some kind of field of applied science. Acherim limlachos, to craftsmanship, and acherim, others again who also with an intellectual bent, with abilities, יכנסו יותר אל הקודש דהיינו לימוד התורה הקדושה. They apply their and they channel their abilities to Torah. In what areas? מהם בפלפולי ההלכות מהם במדרשים מהם בפסקי הדינים. Again, some I guess we would call learn Gemara be'iyun, pilpulei hahalachos. And some learn Midrash, some are ba'alei Midrash, and others I guess we would say learn Mishnah Berurah, mehem bepiskei hadinim. Ach meatim, but there are very few, יהיו מן המין הזה אשר יקבעו עיון ולימוד על ענייני שלמות העבודה.
Very few me'ayen, very few delve in learn in depth about inyanim such as ahava, yira, dveikus, ועל כל שאר חלקי החסידות. Now, why is that? What accounts for this neglect of these gufei Torah? Says Ramchal, ולא מפני שאין דברים אלה עיקרים אצלם. Not because they don't say that yiras shamayim and ahavas shamayim and dveikus are ultimate goals and paramount values, no one questions that. כי אם תשאל להם כל אחד יאמר שזהו העיקר הגדול.
Everyone will tell you no, this is this is so basic and so fundamental and this is an overarching principle. No one will question it. Veshelo yidameh chacham and everyone will agree that you can't have someone sheyiyeh chacham be'emes who is a genuine chacham שלא יתבארו אצלו כל הדברים האלה who doesn't have clarity on these inyanim of ahavas shamayim, yiras shamayim and the like. So why don't they spend time learning these inyanim? Why don't they devote their energies to these inyanim? אך מה שלא ירבו לעיין עליו הוא מפני רוב פרסום הדברים ופשיטותם אצלם
because it's so well-known and so obvious, so straightforward, שלא יהיה ראוי להם צורך להוציא בעיונם זמן רב that there isn't a need to spend time on it. And as a result, he says that לא יישאר לימוד הדברים האלה וקריאת הספרים מזה המין כי אם אצל אותם שאין שכלם כל כך דק וקרוב להיות גס.
As a result, because because these areas of Torah dealing with ahavas shamayim and yiras shamayim and dveikus and clarifying what these concepts are, how they're developed, how they're attained, because they're considered so conceptually easy, conceptually easy, the result is that the people who are blessed with keen minds, they don't study. And who does study? The people who are not so blessed and not blessed with such keen minds. He says, I think I skipped a line or two, line six or seven here, עד שלפי המנהג הנוהג בעולם until things have reached the point where under the prevailing circumstances, כשתראה אחד מתחסד לא תוכל להימנע מלחשוב אותו לגס השכל.
If you see someone who's learning about yiras shamayim, ahavas shamayim, avodas shamayim, you'll think nebech, he's slow. He's slow, so he can't handle a Ketzos, he can't handle a Rav Akiva Eiger, so nebech, he learns inyanim of yiras shamayim. Now says Ramchal. Says Ramchal. Okay now maybe we'll go from perhaps in the left-hand column which is Pai Hay. He says in line four. Let's read a little bit from there. וכיון שכבר הוסכם אצל כל חכם צורך תמימות העבודה וחובת טהרתה וניקיונה
and and given that that every every chacham understands right the need for for purity and and of one's avodas Hashem שזולת אלה אינה נרצית ודאי כלל אלא נמאסת ומתועבת כי כל לבבות דורש ה' וכל יצר מחשבות מבין
says Ramchal מה נענה ביום תוכחה what will we answer when Hashem rebukes us אם התרשלנו מן העיון הזה if if we were lax from this study from this examination והנחנו דבר שהוא כל כך מוטל עלינו שהוא עיקר מה ה' אלקינו שואל מעמנו ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלקיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה
and that's the one thing that we that we neglect the one thing that we don't learn be'iyun. הייתכן שיגע ויעמול שכלנו בחקירות אשר לא נתחייבנו בהם בפלפולים אשר לא יצא לנו שום פרי מהם ודינים אשר אינם שייכים לנו
Again all kinds of obscure points so there there we tax ourselves we exert ourselves ומה שחייבים אנו לברר חובה רבה נעזבהו להרגל ונניחהו למצוות אנשים מלומדה אם לא נסתכלנו ולא עיינו
right if we don't examine and we don't learn be'iyun מה היא היראה האמיתית what genuine yira is u-mah anapeha and what its corollaries are eich nikneh osah so how can we acquire it if we don't have a proper understanding of of what genuine yira is ואיך נמלט מן ההבל העולמי המשכח אותה מלבנו and certainly how will we escape the again the futility of of this world which causes to forget yira. And then finally he concludes just take a look at a few lines on the next page. Just we're going to go the last line on this page and then on to the next page. The last line on this page is הוא מה שאמר שלמה Shlomo HaMelech says in Mishlei אם תבקשנה ככסף וכמטמונים תחפשנה if you'll you'll seek if you'll seek it like silver u-chematmonim techapsena and you'll search for it like a treasure אז תבין יראת ה' then you'll understand yiras Hashem. Eino omer says Ramchal az tavin philosophy az tavin techunah az tavin refuah az tavin dinim az tavin halachos אלא אז תבין יראת ה' meaning two things first of all yiras Hashem is something which has to be understood and second of all that in order to understand it a person has to be searching and a person has to think and he has to learn and he has to understand הרי לך שלהבין היראה it's not something which is so self-evident and obvious and straightforward תבקש אותה ככסף ותחפש אותה כמטמונים we have to search for it like you go like you go digging for silver for gold and and for treasure הרי איפו במה שמלומד לנו מאבותינו ובמה שמפורסם אצל כל בן דעת דרך כלל
and and he goes he goes on and on okay and just just the final proof if you see where it says Iyov in parentheses הנה הכתוב אומר הן יראת ה' היא חכמה again right so yiras Hashem is not just yiras Hashem is chochmah there's a chochmah to understanding what yiras Hashem entails what yiras Hashem really is. ואמרו רבותינו ז"ל הן אחת that hein doesn't—isn't short for hinei here, isn't short for behold, but rather it means one, sheken bilshon Yevanit in Greek, the word for one is echas, hein. Hein is the word for one in Greek, meaning this is the wisdom, this is the most basic fundamental wisdom, but it's wisdom. הרי שהיראה היא חכמה והיא לבדה חכמה ולודאי says Ramchal שאין נקרא חכמה מה שאין בו עיון. Something which is just can be understood completely just on the surface, that wouldn't be referred to as chochmah. אך האמת היא כי עיון גדול צריך על כל הדברים האלה לדעת אותם באמת.
Okay. So there's no reason to think that what Rav Chaim Volozhiner here is criticizing excessive time spent on Sifrei Yirah and Mussar, that he's disagreeing with this tradition which we have from the Chovos HaLevavos, which we have from Ramchal. First of all, again, it's not just gavra agavra karemish, but what they say is just so compelling, right? I mean, so whether kli sheini is mevashel or not mevashel, so that's that's iyūn, that's Torah. But what Yiras Hashem is and to understand what Yiras HaOnesh is and what Yiras HaRomemus is and to understand what teshuvah is, so that's that's inferior to whether kli sheini is mevashel or eino mevashel? So that's why the pshat is that what Rav Chaim Volozhiner has in mind here is sfarim which are basically motivational, inspirational. Meaning that they're looking to motivate and to inspire people to have Yiras Hashem and giving mussar in the sense of trying to instill Yiras Shamayim to people, but not—it's not a limud of yirah. Not the limud of yirah that Ramchal and the Chovos HaLevavos are talking about, but again, more motivational and inspirational. That's what he means. If you jump ahead, well let's read two more paragraphs and I think we'll see further proof that that's what he has in mind. והאמת כי ספרי יראה הנם ככל דרכי השם הישרים. Sifrei Yirah is like everything else. It has its time and its place and if it's used properly, so then it has its place. And but it can be misused as well. Ki doros harishonim, the earlier generation, says Rav Chaim Volozhiner, היו קבועים כל ימיהם בעסק והגיון תורתנו הקדושה. They spent their lives learning Torah. קבועים באהלי המדרשות בכפיפה. They were ensconced in the Batei Midrash learning Gemara, Rashi, Tosafos. ושלהבת אהבת תורתנו הקדושה and the flame of their love of Torah היו בוער בלבם כאש בוערת inside their hearts. באהבה ויראת השם טהורה. There was such a pure sense of ahavah and yirah. וכל חפצם להגדיל כבודו ולהדירו. Everything was to increase kvod haTorah, to make it stronger. והרחיבו גבולם בתלמידים רבים הגונים למען תמלא הארץ דעה. And there were more and more talmidim learning Torah. V'ka'asher archu hayamim, as time went on, הנה כן דרכו של היצר מעולם. This is how the yetzer hara functions. להתקנא בעם השם אלה כאשר הם דופקים בדרך השם כראוי להטיל בהם ארס.
So the yetzer hara always looks to spoil, to poison, to infuse its venom. עד שכמה מהתלמידים שמו כל קביעותם ועסקם רק בפלפולה של תורה לבד ולא זולת כלל,
until what happened is the talmud Torah became too intellectualized. ושנינו במשנתנו אם אין יראה אין חכמה. And obviously that is something which we do decry. That's something which is not acceptable. ושנינו במשנתנו אם אין יראה אין חכמה ועוד הרבה מאמרי חז"ל מזה כמו שיובא להלן פרק ד.
Lazos, because of this problem, התעוררו עצמם כמה מגדוליהם עיני העדה אשר דרכם בקודש לשקוד על תקנת כלל אחינו בני בית ישראל.
So some of the gedolim who recognized what was happening and who assumed responsibility for the klal, לישר ההדורים ולגדור פרצותם להרים המכשול מדרך עם השם. Now, here's the line we want: ומלאו את ידם לבא בתוכחות במוסרים ומדות. And they armed themselves. They equipped themselves. with tochacha, with mussar, with midos, meaning again, it's not that they weren't clarifying the concepts of what yiras Hashem entails. They weren't clarifying the concepts of what ahavas Hashem. No, that's a limud. Of course that limud's not inferior to the limud of hilchos Shabbos or hilchos Sukkah. But it was again, it was motivational, inspirational, it was, you know, what we associate with the word mussar. What we associate with the word mussar, you know, put the fear of, right, you know, in that sense, to instill fear into them. וחיבור ספרי היראה להישיר לב העם להיות עוסקים בתורה הקדושה ובעבודה ביראת השם טהורה
that it shouldn't be some kind of the Talmud Torah shouldn't be just an intellectual pursuit, but that it should be pursued in in in the context of yiras Hashem. Okay, I think it's clear that that's what he has in mind by sifrei yira. Now, who are the, who are the ones he's referring to here with kirvas Elokim yechpatzun? So it's, it's been pointed out by those who who ma'ayin a lot Nefesh HaChaim, that he has, he uses this phrase earlier as well. If you go back just actually one page, the previous page, page reish heh in the perakim which are between sha'ar gimel and sha'ar daled. The here in sha'ar gimel, in the perakim between sha'ar gimel and sha'ar daled, so the main theme which Rav Chaim Volozhiner has been talking about is the the very dangerous misunderstanding that absolute pure purity of kavana is indispensable. And that unless a person recognizes that he has again that that totally pure kavana, so that the mitzvah itself is not going to be, is not going to be worth anything. And and he describes how how this has all kinds of all kinds of terrible consequences, such as he sees that that people then tell themselves, well, if I can't davven properly with kavana, so better I shouldn't davven at all. Or if I can't, if I can't muster the right kavana to davven until 11:00 in the morning, so then I'm going to davven at 11:00 in the morning. There's no point of davvening earlier if I can't have again just such just totally pure and pristine kavana earlier. Now, ve'atah hakoreh, says Rav Chaim Volozhiner, right, if you see the paragraph ve'atah hakoreh, he says, lest you think אל תדמה שמלבי הוצאתי הדברים. This situation that I've been describing to you that that people hold out and and will neglect the mitzvah because they don't feel they have again that that perfect kavana, that perfect attitude, that perfect motivation, don't think that that this is my this is my imagination, כי את כל זאת בחנתי וניסיתי. I discerned all this. This is I've seen this empirically. כאשר נשאתי לבי לדרוש ולעסוק. Now, ve'einai ra'u rabim, and my own eyes, right, my my eyes have have beheld rabim many אשר יחפצו קרבת אלקים, right, that same euphemistic reference, אשר יחפצו קרבת אלקים ונכשלים במו אלה הדברים הנל. Specifically, now here it leaves nothing to the imagination right who who he is talking about. אשר מפיהם אלי נאמרו מלבם. They've told me. They've told me that this is the rationale. ube'einai ra'isi I saw, Rav Chaim Volozhiner says, במקום אחד איזה אנשים שהורגלו בזה זמן כביר that that it's become so ingrained in them that they procrastinate and don't davven until they feel that they have the perfect, perfect kavana עד שכמעט נשכח מהם זמן תפילת מנחה שקבעו לנו חזל,
that they've forgotten what the time for Mincha which Chazal assigned. ve'adreba, נקבע בלבם מרוב ההרגל, says Rav Chaim Volozhiner, on the contrary, they are now again it's so ingrained in them from from just it's become habitual, k'din vehalacha that shetefillas mincha... he answers him nira vena'im in place of nira hakochavim beraki'a. Let's go see if it's late enough to daven Mincha, we have to go see if it's tzeis hakochavim yet and then we'll be able to daven. V'hashem yislach lahem, Hakadosh Boruch Hu should forgive them, vayichaper l'shogeig u'fesi and Hashem should atone their cheit. So here it's quite clear that the kirvas Elokim yachpotzu is the way he's referring to his contemporaries amongst Chassidim. There's no ambiguity here. So assuming that the same sympathetic euphemistic reference he's using here in the beginning of sha'ar daled, so it seems that that's who he's critiquing here as well and that's how he alludes to it as kirvas Elokim yachpotzu he says they're kavanos l'sheim shamayim but it's misdirected, misguided. Okay, let's try to go on a little bit more here. Omnam kol ish tevuna back here on page reish cheis אשר שכלו ישר הולך יבין מדעתו. Again, so shifting gears here back to what he's talking about here, the neglect of Talmud Torah in favor of these motivational inspirational sifrei yira. Any person of understanding אשר שכלו ישר הולך יבין מדעתו כי לא כוונו בהם להזניח חס ושלום עסק בגופי התורה.
It wasn't the intention of these authors that we should neglect gufei Torah להיות אך עסוק כל היום בספרי מוסרם. That's not what they intended their sefarim to, that wasn't the function they intended for their sefarim. אלא כוונתם רצויה הייתה שכל עיקר קביעת לימוד עם הקודש יהיה רק בתורה הקדושה שבכתב ובבעל פה.
No, what they were trying to do is make sure that on the contrary that we would learn Torah והלכות מרובות הן הן גופי תורה. Just that it should be again, not as an intellectual exercise but it should be informed, it should be imbued b'yiras Hashem tehora. And again, his description of the contemporary situation, fascinating descriptions. הן עתה בדורות הללו בעוונותינו הרבים נתהפכו הגבוה הושפל שכמה וכמה שמו כל עיקר קביעת לימודם רוב היום רק בספרי יראה ומוסר.
That they spend most of their time, their main learning is in these again motivational inspirational mussardike sefarim באומרם כי זה כל האדם בעולמו לעסוק בהם תמיד. That this is the most, this is all a person has in life is to be this, to preoccupy himself with these sefarim כי המה מלהיבים הלבבות because they ignite a person's heart אשר אז יכנע לבבו להכניע ולשבר היצר מתאוותיו and it will break the person's taivos ולהתיישב במידות טובות וכתר תורה מונח בקרן זוית and the crown of Torah is gathering dust in the corner. Uveinai ra'isi again Reb Chaim Volozhiner recounts personal experience בפלך אחד שכל כך התפשט אצלם זאת, this became so widespread עד שברוב בתי מדרשם אין בהם רק ספרי מוסר לרוב.
That's all they have. ואפילו ש"ס אחד שלם אין בו. They don't even have a single shas. Now, just skipping to the bottom line here, the last paragraph. Hein lazose because this is the situation which currently prevails אצור במילין מי יוכל. Who can hold back מלהודיע בשבטי ישראל נאמנה ליראי השם וחושבי שמו את הדרך ילכו בה לאורה של תורה
to tell people what the correct derech is. אוי לנו מיום הדין אוי לנו מיום התוכחה על עוון ביטול של תורה כאשר הוא יתברך שמו יתקנא לה לתבוע עלבונה.
Now next paragraph is very interesting. ותחילה אשים דבריי בעניין עסק התורה לשמה מהו עניין לשמה. כי גם זה פרי חטאת לכמה המונים עצמם מעסק התורה הקדושה בחשבם כי עניין לשמה פירושו בדבקות גדול בלי הפסק. וגם רעה חולה יתרה מזו שסוברים בדעתם שעסק התורה בלא דבקות אין כלום ובלא שום תועלת חס ושלום.
Chas veshalom. See the continuity here, this is very interesting, right? This is very interesting. Rav Chaim Volozhin says there is a connection between the phenomenon he says of of neglecting zmanei tfila and the attitude or the understanding of Talmud Torah that that when it comes to zmanei tfila again so so he he critiques Chasidim for for not davening bizman. Here he says that same mindset that what's primary is the kavana and that without that pristine kavana everything is worthless, the same way that causes that causes people not to daven bizman, so that also causes them to feel that they shouldn't be learning Torah unless they're going to learn with such a tremendous dveikus. So there's a common denominator here to these two issues says Rav Chaim Volozhin. It's it's leshitasam he's saying, right? And that's what he says if if you take a look here in the the paragraph ut'chila that we just read, the first paragraph that begins here on page reish tes, the second line, כי זה גם זה פרי חטאת, right? So this is this is the fruit, this is this is a corollary, it's a corollary. Their approach to what Torah lishmah means is a corollary of of their their approach to tfila. The same way by tfila they have this this this terrible misconception that that unless a person has again the the perfect ideal kavana it's worthless, and as a result they neglect they neglect tfila. So the same thing carries over to Talmud Torah that unless they think that unless you have this pure pristine kavana of dveikus and unless a person is going to have a tremendous dveikus throughout the time he's learning that that it's not worth anything. Lazot hachreich, therefore it's necessary the final paragraph of perek aleph he says להביא קצת מאמרי חז"ל בש"ס ומדרשים וזוהר אשר בהם ידובר נפלאות מעלת התורה הקדושה והעוסק בה וגודל שכר ועונש רחמנא לצלן.
Because of that Rav Chaim Volozhin says there's need for me to clarify the importance of Talmud Torah and specifically what what Torah lishmah means. So next time bli neder in two weeks we'll we'll come to to what his definition of Torah lishmah is.