Exploration of the mitzvah of yiras Shamayim that we began last week. Just wanted to share one thought, one reflection me'inyana deyoma. Sometimes historical judgments require a certain amount of distance to be made. And when we're too close to an event, to a person, sometimes just when you're so close, you don't really have the vantage point or an accurate perspective to assess. Sometimes things are just so glaring and so obvious even without that benefit of time and distance, one is able to at least partially understand and make historical judgments. I think everyone recognizes that the Chacham Ovadia was not only one of the gedolei haposkim of this generation, the past two generations, but certainly one of the gedolei haposkim of the doros. And I don't think we need the lapse of 20 years or 40 years to see that his sefarim will remain alongside those of the gedolei haposkim throughout the doros. And in that context, just to share the following reflection. We've all heard and bezras Hashem will continue to hear incredible and extraordinary stories about his incomparable memory and the vast bekiyus which that photographic memory helped facilitate. The question is what the relevance and the significance of those stories is. Clearly he was endowed with a gift that I think not only none of us have, but none of us really understand how it's possible for one person to have within him such an extraordinary extraordinary range and mastery of basically all acharonim and literally both a. It's not something we can relate to, we don't understand the ability, we're not blessed with the ability, so what do the stories do for us? So they do or should do at least two things, perhaps more. First of all, when one juxtaposes the abilities that Chacham Ovadia had, the extraordinary extraordinary abilities that he had, one could easily have imagined that he didn't need to work so hard. He would have been an incomparable baki if he had worked a little bit less hard. He didn't have to be ממית עצמו באהלה של תורה in order to make something of himself. His abilities were such that he he would have risen to the top even without without the incredible hasmada, amala, and yegia that throughout his entire life he demonstrated. The same is true for again each one obviously in his own and different and unique way the התמדה עמלה יגיעה של תורה of the Rav, of Reb Chaim. They were so gifted and so beyond just so beyond in in terms of their creative brilliance. Again they they would have they would have respectively in their generations been the Gadol Hador without being ממית עצמו באהלה של תורה. So lesson number one from the stories is no matter what one's abilities, one's abilities are are a challenge and a mechayiv whatever they are on whatever level we have them. So whatever abilities Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us is a mechayiv to make the most of them. But the second level on on which the the stories of his again just extraordinary, extraordinary memory and all the feats associated with it is very important. It reminds us of who the chachmei hamesorah throughout the doros have been and continue to be. The Rav used to tell a story about someone he he knew who had both learned with Reb Chaim and then later was an assistant to Einstein and and liked to reflect upon the two of them. And he would say in terms of intellect, so unquestionably Reb Chaim was greater. But but you could but Einstein was also a very great intellect but unquestionably Reb Chaim was greater he'd say. And then he would add that when it came to morality, he said Einstein wasn't worthy to shine Reb Chaim's shoes. We don't have the the gifts of Reb Chaim, we don't have the gifts of Chacham Ovadia. But it's important that we should hear stories about those gifts because they they should help remind us of of who the chachmei hamesorah throughout the generations have been and continue to be, and it should inspire confidence on our part in the mesorah, it should command the respect and the reverence and the awe that the mesorah deserves. By far, by far the greatest minds in history have been chachmei hamesorah. Some historian, someone mentioned this to me once, wrote a book and he was writing about John Stuart Mill. John Stuart Mill was an illui shelo kegonoh, big, big illui, and that's what he was doing, Greek and calculus and nursery or something. He was. So some historian, I don't even know that he was Jewish, I'm not sure whether he was Jewish, was writing and saying that he was clearly the greatest mind of his time except for some old Jewish rabbi in Vilna who apparently, who apparently surpassed even him. So that's who, that's who the Chachmei HaMesorah are. And the stories are important, the type of story that the Rav Chaim told in terms of opening a sefer with no clue, reading two lines and right away knowing who the mechaber is. Those are awesome stories and it speaks to the awesomeness, יצא מן הכלל ללמד על הכלל כולו. It speaks to the awesomeness of our Chachmei HaMesorah and our Mesorah. You know, the gadlus of chess masters is that they can play out in their minds what's going to happen 30, 40 moves later. Right? That's why it's, you know, it's such a devastating thing when they lose a pawn and they resign or something because they can see that they're not going to be able to recover from that loss. So they have a mind that they can see, he'll do this, I'll do that, he'll do this, I'll do that, and... So Rav Velvel used to say about Rav Chaim, used to say that Rav Chaim didn't just see what was in front of him. Rav Chaim could see what again, in people, in events, from what was in front of him, what was going to be 20, 40, 50 years later. That's who the Gedolei HaDor are. And it's something that should be a source of pride in the Mesorah. It's something which should be humbling for us in terms of thinking about the Mesorah and the reverence that it, the Mesorah, and they, the Chachmei HaMesorah, deserve. And in every case, it's measured, you know, the intellectual greatness is surpassed by a greatness of spirit with all the Gedolim. I was told, I think, I think if I understood correctly, I was told that this story was mentioned in one of the hespeidim, if I understood correctly, that when Chacham Ovadia had a heart attack, so he was taken to the emergency room and I guess they must have found blockages or something and they told him that they needed to do emergency bypass surgery and they wanted to operate immediately. So he said, "In three hours." Says he has to go home first, but he'll come back in three hours and then. So the doctor said, "It needs to be done right away." So he said, "In three hours." So why... So one of his sons, and this is the way the story was repeated, asked him, well what's up with the three hours? So he said that he's in the middle of writing a teshuva to matir an aguna. He says he doesn't think anyone else is going to matir this aguna, and if something should happen to him during the surgery before he finishes writing the teshuva, so she'll remain an aguna for the rest of her life. And he thinks it will take him three hours to finish the teshuva. So he's going home, he's going to finish the teshuva, and then he'll come back to and then he'll come back to have the surgery. And apparently kach havah. So it's very relevant to know and very important to know again about the greatness of intellect, about the incredible, extraordinary greatness of intellect. It is very important to know. But it's also important to know that it was surpassed by both by hasmada, amala, and yegia on the one hand and by a greatness of spirit on the other hand. But maybe just one, just to continue a little bit on the topic of Yirat Hashem, just to add one he'arah. The Rama, as you know, begins Shulchan Aruch by quoting from the Rambam at the end of Moreh Nevuchim. For the Rambam, this is the conclusion. This is how the Rambam caps Moreh Nevuchim and it's how the Rama begins Shulchan Aruch. So this is the Rama quoting from the Rambam: שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד הוא כלל גדול בתורה ובמעלות הצדיקים אשר הולכים לפני האלוקים כי אין ישיבת האדם ותנועתו ועסקו והוא לבדו בביתו כישיבתו ותנועתו ועסקו והוא לפני מלך גדול ולא דבורו והרחבת פיו כרצונו והוא עם אנשי ביתו וקרוביו כדבורו במושב המלך כל שכן כשישים האדם אל לבו שהמלך הגדול הקדוש ברוך הוא אשר מלא כל הארץ כבודו עומד עליו ורואה במעשיו כמו שנאמר אם יסתר איש במסתרים ואני לא אראנו נאם ה' מיד יגיע אליו היראה וההכנעה בפחד השם יתברך ובושתו ממנו תמיד.
The way a person conducts himself, the way a person his movements, his speech, his whole demeanor, one can't compare if a person is in the privacy of his home with his family or closest friends or if he's been granted a royal audience. Obviously there's a sense of koved rosh, a sense of reserve, a sense of measuring every word, every action, every movement when one is standing beheichal hamelech in the palace of the king. Kol shekein, says the Rama quoting the Rambam, כשישים האדם אל לבו, when a person internalizes שהמלך הגדול הקדוש ברוך הוא אשר מלא כל הארץ כבודו עומד עליו ורואה במעשיו.
If a person, if only we could internalize that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is always watching, is always present and is always watching. So then here comes the crucial word in the Rama. The crucial word is מיד יגיע אליו היראה. Miyad, immediately, instantaneously. The most natural feeling, the most natural experience is that of Yirat Shamayim. Miyad. And the Rama... The challenge is not to try to engender a sense of yira, but the challenge is not to be masiach daas, not to be distracted, not to be so caught up in all the, not to allow that the challenges, the nisyonos endemic to life to distract us from the ultimate reality of life. And if only we're not masiach daas, so then the reaction just comes naturally, spontaneously, מיד יגיע אליו היראה. So the avoda is not to develop yiras Hashem. The avoda is not to be distracted, not to forget, not to allow there to be a disparity between what we know and believe unequivocally and wholeheartedly and between what we feel and what we're aware of. And that's what the Rema says, שישים אדם אל לבו. Not sheyeida. We know it. That's not the avoda. The avoda is to not allow, again, the nisyonos of all our preoccupations and everything which, which does compete for our attention and does preoccupy our time, not to allow it to distract us from the simple reality, from the simple reality that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is מלא כל הארץ כבודו, and wherever we are, whatever we do, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is omeid alav, Hakadosh Baruch Hu we're in his presence, Hakadosh Baruch Hu watches what we're doing. And to the degree that we embed that in our awareness, in our consciousness, so to that degree yiras Hashem, again, is just the most natural and spontaneous reaction.