When I started taking college physics classes, I would sometime get a different answer than was in the back of the book. Of course, my first thought was, "Good grief! Another typo in the answer key!" I would very often go running to my grandfather (I lived with me grandparents for the first year of college... one of the most idyllic times of my life), who was a professor of electrical engineering to prove to him that I was right. While how I was right and the book couldn't possibly be correct, I would often stop short and realize... ohhh... yeah... perhaps I did make mistake there. The other times, though, my grandfather (who was very smart and very, very patient) would point out my error.
I give that introduction (besides the fact that I love talking about grandpa) to stop you from making the same mistake I did. Chazal tell us there are 600,000 letter in the Torah. I know if you go page by page through your ArtScroll or Koren chumash that you will get something like 304,805 letters. While that is true, it does not contradict this Chazal. (Though an explanation is beyond the scope of this TftD. See Emes L'Yaakov for a summary and exlanation; page תקמו in my print.) Nor does the Chazal that there are 600,000 Jewish neshamos contradict the Torah. (There are many who talk about that, including the Mishna Brura in Hilchos Eruvin. Look around.)
In any case, one of the things that Chazal means is that the Torah is intrinsically bound together with Klal Yisrael. Each and every Jew has a neshama that is rooted, ultimately, in a letter of the Torah. That is one reason that missing even a single letter renders a sefer Torah unfit for use; every Jew is crucially important to the mission and being-ness of Klal Yisrael. Amazing and inspiring; no?
I'm sorry... you... in the back... waving your arm frantically... yes; I see you. You are that Allen kid, right? Sure, sure.. what's the problem? Hmm... yes; but let me repeat your question for the rest of the class. You notice that there since I said that each Jewish neshama is intrinsically bound with a single letter in the Torah -- one, not two; that all the letters and souls are completely accounted for by the native born Jews. There doesn't seem to be any place in the Torah for גרים to connect. Good question, but let me rephrase it a bit: there are no letters left over for the גרים; how are they attached to the Torah/Klal Yisrael (which, as noted, is one and the same thing)? The גרים, my dear Michael, are the crowns on the letters. (I heard that from R' Dovid Siegel, shlita, many years ago.)
The crowns, as explained in Shulchan Aruch, O. Ch., 36:3 are a non-essential beautification of the writing in the sefer Torah, t'fillin, and mezuzos. The Mishna Brura (sk 15), however, notes that many others are stringent; so you really, really, really want those crowns. The Mishna Brura concludes with a quite kabbalistic reason to be so careful from ספר אגרת הטיול. The crowns go on the letters שעטנ''ז ג''ץ; and these are the letters of the names of three insidious demons who are out to get Klal Yisrael: שטן, עז, גץ. The crowns, says the ספר אגרת הטיול are like swords and spears to make us victorious over them.
Why should גרים be associated with this job of protection? It seems to me there there are two complementary reasons. First, no one knows better than a גר the absolute spiritual desolation in the outside world. There is simply nothing to offer; and the offer of that nothing is devastating. Second, if a Jew were thinking about leaving (that is, going off the derech), the very existence of גרים -- people who took on -- actually fought for the right to take on -- all the of obligations of the Torah by their own choice must give pause. No matter how far they go, they will always have this gnawing doubt... what did I miss that they saw? That doubt, that gnawing feeling that have given up some great combined with dissolution after dissolution of the world "out there", will surely bring a revisiting of the Truth they knew and return to the community that awaits them with open arms.
I give that introduction (besides the fact that I love talking about grandpa) to stop you from making the same mistake I did. Chazal tell us there are 600,000 letter in the Torah. I know if you go page by page through your ArtScroll or Koren chumash that you will get something like 304,805 letters. While that is true, it does not contradict this Chazal. (Though an explanation is beyond the scope of this TftD. See Emes L'Yaakov for a summary and exlanation; page תקמו in my print.) Nor does the Chazal that there are 600,000 Jewish neshamos contradict the Torah. (There are many who talk about that, including the Mishna Brura in Hilchos Eruvin. Look around.)
In any case, one of the things that Chazal means is that the Torah is intrinsically bound together with Klal Yisrael. Each and every Jew has a neshama that is rooted, ultimately, in a letter of the Torah. That is one reason that missing even a single letter renders a sefer Torah unfit for use; every Jew is crucially important to the mission and being-ness of Klal Yisrael. Amazing and inspiring; no?
I'm sorry... you... in the back... waving your arm frantically... yes; I see you. You are that Allen kid, right? Sure, sure.. what's the problem? Hmm... yes; but let me repeat your question for the rest of the class. You notice that there since I said that each Jewish neshama is intrinsically bound with a single letter in the Torah -- one, not two; that all the letters and souls are completely accounted for by the native born Jews. There doesn't seem to be any place in the Torah for גרים to connect. Good question, but let me rephrase it a bit: there are no letters left over for the גרים; how are they attached to the Torah/Klal Yisrael (which, as noted, is one and the same thing)? The גרים, my dear Michael, are the crowns on the letters. (I heard that from R' Dovid Siegel, shlita, many years ago.)
The crowns, as explained in Shulchan Aruch, O. Ch., 36:3 are a non-essential beautification of the writing in the sefer Torah, t'fillin, and mezuzos. The Mishna Brura (sk 15), however, notes that many others are stringent; so you really, really, really want those crowns. The Mishna Brura concludes with a quite kabbalistic reason to be so careful from ספר אגרת הטיול. The crowns go on the letters שעטנ''ז ג''ץ; and these are the letters of the names of three insidious demons who are out to get Klal Yisrael: שטן, עז, גץ. The crowns, says the ספר אגרת הטיול are like swords and spears to make us victorious over them.
Why should גרים be associated with this job of protection? It seems to me there there are two complementary reasons. First, no one knows better than a גר the absolute spiritual desolation in the outside world. There is simply nothing to offer; and the offer of that nothing is devastating. Second, if a Jew were thinking about leaving (that is, going off the derech), the very existence of גרים -- people who took on -- actually fought for the right to take on -- all the of obligations of the Torah by their own choice must give pause. No matter how far they go, they will always have this gnawing doubt... what did I miss that they saw? That doubt, that gnawing feeling that have given up some great combined with dissolution after dissolution of the world "out there", will surely bring a revisiting of the Truth they knew and return to the community that awaits them with open arms.
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