Rabbanim have a unique perspective and often, as a result of their exposure to Yidden from all walks of life both in their kehillos and beyond, are able to notice changing trends in the community before many others.
Two prominent rabbanim, HaRav Yitzchok Zalman Gips, shlita, Rav of Beis Medrash Birchas Avrohom of Boro Park and rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Nahardaah and HaRav Shlomo Cynamon, shlita, Rav of Kehal Bnei Torah and rosh Kollel Dirshu of Flatbush, commented on the recent tremendous increase in both in-depth limud haTorah with accountability as well as limud halacha.
“Yes, over the past few years, there has been a tremendous increase in limud haTorah in our communities,” Rav Gips comments, “but it is also important to note that we have always been the am haTorah. It is insufficient to dress like a Yid or to eat Jewish foods. Without limud haTorah a person cannot be a Yid! The Yidden and Torah are one.
“Historically, what has transpired is that after a war, the survivors were so focused on rebuilding Yiddishkeit and their own personal lives that they often worked three jobs just to make ends meet! Unfortunately, many of them were left with little time for learning. Today, baruch Hashem, we have more discretionary time—Yidden have Friday, Shabbos, Sunday and other times during the week to learn. Additionally, virtually all of today’s baalei batim are yeshiva graduates with very solid backgrounds in learning, while nearly everyone has children and grandchildren learning full-time in kollel. They are so surrounded by Torah, they are supporting Torah and they are now saying, “Why shouldn’t I learn Torah as well?” They therefore join learning programs and become talmidei chachamim in their own right.”
Rav Shlomo Cynamon, rav of Kehal Bnei Torah and Kollel Dirshu of Flatbush, points out that “in our generation, we have an erudite, yeshiva-educated public. Even those who are not zoche to spend their days ensconced in the koslei beis hamedrash understand the concept of limud haTorah. As time goes on, mature individuals do not suffice with perfunctory sedarim just to ‘be yotzei.’ They want to maximize their time spent learning and have found new ways to learn with lomdus and accountability. This is contributing to the Torah revolution of sorts that we are witnessing.”
Rav Cynamon clarifies with something that he observes every day. “I am zoche to lead the Dirshu Kollel in Flatbush. We get together every morning and learn from 6:30 until 7:30. We learn with a schedule and offer tests. For many of the lomdim, however, that one hour of learning just whet their appetite for more. They recognized how broad Torah is, how vast and how geshmak, and they wanted more. A large group therefore asked me to create another seder after davening, that evolved into a two-hour seder from 8:30 until 10:30 a.m. where we learn the same limud as before davening but with more depth and greater breadth. I can’t tell you what this learning has done for them. They have experienced the essence of geshmak in learning.”
Rav Gips adds, “Another very significant factor, at least in the Chasidic community, is the fact that virtually every kehillah now has their own Gemara learning program, wherein the entire kehillah picks a masechta and learns it with a schedule, offering tests and a stipend for excellent results. In this case, Dirshu blazed the trail and all of the varied communities saw it as the ultimate successful model to emulate.”
Another pivotal development highlighted by the rabboanim is the marked increase in both learning halacha and practical halachic knowledge. Rav Gips comments, “We currently live in a society where people want to know, ‘What is the bottom line?’ People are ehrlich, they take their mitzvah observance seriously and have therefore become very focused on learning halacha and knowing halacha.
Rav Shlomo Cynamon explains that “dikduk in halacha is not born in a vacuum. The fact that the entire generation has become more connected to bnei Torah, to learning Torah with iyun, creates a keener perspective when it comes to halacha and yiras Shamayim as well. Today, people don’t want to learn halacha by rote. They want to understand its depth. It is amazing to see how the members of the shiur respond to an introduction to a difficult se’if presented by the Mishnah Berurah. When the Mishnah Berurah brilliantly explains the reason behind the halacha, the halacha comes alive!”
Rav Cynamon concludes his remarks with a telling anecdote that perhaps encompasses the depth of the Torah and halacha revolution that we have witnessed over the past two decades. He related, “Rav Yisrael Salanter once overheard a person quickly reviewing one Tosafos after another. The person was saying, ‘V’im tomar’ and then immediately ‘v’yesh lomar,’ indicating that he was quickly reviewing the questions and answers posed by Tosafos. Rav Yisrael commented, “If you don’t stop to think between the ‘im tomar’ and the ‘yesh lomar,’ where will you get your yiras shomayim?” What Rav Yisrael was saying is that yes, you may be able to rattle off a question and perfunctory answer, but if you don’t stop to think, how will you realize the importance of what you are learning? How will you truly respect what you are learning and therefore have the requisite yiras Shamayim?”
Our generation is one that is stopping between the “im tomar” and the “yesh lomar”!
By Yosef Sosnow
