A few years ago, an organization filmed a live video message from Rav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l. It was filmed in Rav Chaim’s study where he learned regularly. Of course, the setup was extensive, with a whole crew working for hours to connect all the wires and video equipment. It wasn’t easy—not with Rav Chaim learning in the same room!
One of the crew was a non-religious man who ended up embracing Torah and mitzvos shortly after this production. Why? He said that during the entire time of the setup, Rav Chaim kept learning, never looking up even for a moment. He didn’t lose focus. When they were ready to start broadcasting, Rav Chaim picked up his head, spoke his message for about a minute and then immediately went back to his Gemara, while the crew spent the next hour dismantling everything. If someone could be so focused on the Gemara, thought the crew member, there must be something very special about it.
These past few weeks have been very challenging for me with the recent passing of Rabbi Singer zt”l. Shiurim to give, the yeshiva to lead, our dinner campaign… I’ve been working on overload, albeit for the best possible cause! Every day, I’m meeting with people to share with them the deep spiritual impact PTI is having on hundreds of people, with our quantity and quality of learning programs: night seder with five different levels of Gemara, morning seder, morning kollel, our young-professional initiative, weekly women’s shiurim, and learning on Shabbos afternoon and Sunday morning. Our campaign to raise funds to maintain and expand our learning opportunities for the Jewish community is indeed a UNITED campaign.
In Parshas Vayechi, Yaakov gives brachos to the 12 shevatim. One of the brachos stands out to me: “Yissachar is compared to a donkey… He saw that menucha, rest, is good… and bent his shoulders down to pick up a load…” This blessing seems contradictory. What type of rest is there in picking up a heavy load?
The workaholic might say that hard work is always good—being lazy and accomplishing nothing doesn’t give one satisfaction. True, but does hard work make you feel rested? Rav Yerucham Levovitz says that we have a warped view of menucha, especially in the culture in which we live. We believe that the more we relax, the more content we feel. But that type of rest must be exactly right! Imagine sitting on the beach, basking in a wonderfully temperate 72 degrees with a steady breeze blowing and a cloud blocking the direct sun. But if the temperature increases a few degrees, that may feel too hot, and if it decreases a few degrees, that may seem too cold. If the cloud moves, it becomes too sunny. One little thing can make us feel out of whack. A little distraction, and we’re out of focus.
In Pirkei Avos it says that in order to effectively learn Torah, a person should eat bread with salt, drink water, and sleep on the floor. I have had, and currently have, many rebbeim—but I don’t know any who do that! Rav Yerucham Levovitz explains that we are being taught to learn Torah like a soldier. Soldiers wear the same clothes for a week, they sleep under adverse conditions, and decent food is often a luxury. During battle, you can’t have a soldier refuse to fight because his poached eggs were runny that day. A soldier is trained to focus on the mission and to operate under any and all conditions. The key is to have focus.
The same is true for learning Torah. Yissachar understood that the definition of menucha is not relaxation based on what’s going on outside, but rather it’s focused on one’s inside. The goal is finding the inner peace necessary to facilitate our learning Torah, which in turn increases our inner peace even further! If our peace of mind is determined by outside factors, it will never work. Menucha derives from our own focus.
Some people may be trained to spin in a circle and not get dizzy. They are trained to focus on one point, so even if everything is spinning, they remain balanced. Torah is our anchor in life. It gives us stability and inner peace. I invite you to come to our yeshiva and join a chavrusa or chabura. I invite you to partner with me to continue and expand the mission of Rabbi Singer, zt”l to teach quality, in-depth Torah, regardless of one’s background.
It’s worth making the effort to have quality focus! Go to ptireception.com.
Become UNITED!
Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the Rosh yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch. Rabbi Bodenheim can be reached at [email protected]. For more info about PTI and its Torah classes, visit www.pti.shulcloud.com
