Thank you very much. Bishus ha-rabonim, rabonim v'rabonim, morai v'rabosai. כל המלמד את בן חברו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ילדו.
One who teaches his friend, his colleague, his fellow Jew's son, child, Torah, the Torah considers it as though he had fathered that child. I think WINS asked for 22 minutes and they'll give you the world, I ask for 5 minutes and I'll give you bli neder, be-ezras Hashem, three understandings of that ma'amar chazal. But I need five minutes of undivided attention. Understanding number one. The mitzvah of peru u-revu, of procreation, is not simply to populate the earth, but is to forge a link in the masorah. The mitzvah is to bring children into the world who will forge a link in the masorah, who will provide continuity. And hence, כל המלמד את בן חברו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ילדו.
Havana number two. Birth means that one enters the world. רבו מביאו לחיי עולם הבא. In teaching Torah, one brings the student, the talmid, not simply to olam ha-zeh, but to olam ha-ba. It's a birth in a more profound sense. Havana number three. But here we need a little bit of a mashal. Think of a work of literature. Think of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. So anyone who's read it, so you feel as though you know him. You have a sense for that amalgam of boyful mischievousness with an underlying nobility of character. One has a sense for the inhumane cruelty of Injun Joe. You know them. If you read Sherlock Holmes, so you certainly have a sense for Baker Street, for Holmes, for Watson, and of course for the infamous Professor Moriarty. You know these characters. An author can create a world of thought and usher his readers into that world of thought. But in the mashal, the world of thought is an imaginary world. When a person learns an idea in Torah, when a person teaches, when a person imparts an idea in Torah, a person enters a world of thought. But unlike the mashal, the world of thought is a real world. כל המלמד את בן חברו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ילדו.
One's parents bring one into this world. In learning Torah, one enters, one is ushered into a higher realm, a higher order. כל המלמד את בן חברו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ילדו.
Every idea in Torah, even if it has its application and implementation in this world, but every idea in Torah belongs to a world of thought, a real world of thought. Olam ha-zeh is a beautiful world. It affords much. It affords opportunities for recreation, relaxation, all of which, as needed, we’re supposed to partake of, the operative words being as needed. But achrei kechol hakol, this beautiful world that the Ribbono Shel Olam created is an olam cholef. It’s transient and temporary. But when a person uses his time in this world and uses the world as a launching pad to be nolad, to enter the world of thought of Torah, a person enters an olam nitzchi. A person enters a world of pure kedushah, a world of eternity. The amol b’Torah, the accomplishment being celebrated tonight, is unique, is singular. It represents having entered, having gained citizenship not only in this olam cholef v’over, in this beautiful but transient and temporary existence and world, but having gained citizenship in an olam kulo Torah, kulo shel kedushah, kulo l’netzach. I think we all have the same tefillah and berachah, that the talmidim, and not only the talmidim, but we too, the biological and spiritual parents and friends, should be blessed with a siyata d’shmaya to continue to use this wonderful beautiful world as a launching pad to gain entry and to be born into an even higher world, a world of Torah, a world of kedushah, a world of nitzchiyus.