I have done two things this week that were entirely new experiences for me. One, I just completed the topic of הוצאה/moving an object from one domain to another in masechta Shabbos. This time was different, because it is the first time I have learned a gemara by topic instead of by daf. That is, instead of just moving through the gemara page by page, I skipped from the end of 9a to the 11th chapter, הזורק. Now that I have finished the topic, I am going back to 9b. Doesn't sound like a big thing to you? It was very strange for me to leave all those unturned/unlearned pages to jump up to Chap 11. In fact, once I started, it became clear how beneficial this was, as the topics from the first 7.5 daf, which are largely untouched in the intervening pages, are all over the place in the 11th chapter. Why did R' Yehuda do that? No clue. But I do see why that's the way it is learned in kollels. Live and learn.
Here's my other new thing: I made a siyum on 8th Av with a chavrusa who davens at Mishna Gemara. He wanted to make the siyum there in order to inspire the congregation. (That's not it; wait for it.) It was his first siyum and he wanted them to be inspired to make their own. That congregation has a lot of Spanish speakers. The pages are announced in English and Spanish. So here was my other first thing doing: I gave a vort in Spanish. To make it a bit more fun and endearing, I said the vort in Spanish, while my chavrusa -- who is fluent in Spanish -- translated in real time for the English speakers. Here is the essence of what I said (full text at end; again, for fun).
The gemara (Bava Basra 34a and Succah 28b) recounts the elevated qualities of 80 of Hillel HaZaken's greatest disciples. The greatest was Yonasan ben Uziel, about whom it is said that when he was learning, any bird that flew over him would go up in flames. One person learns this gemara and thinks, "Wow! What קדושה/holiness!" The other thinks, "Hmm... I wonder if he has to pay damages?" I don't have to tell you who is my chavrusa and who is me.
While we did not have exactly that conversation, we did have the following exchange when my chavrusa found a morning kollel to augment his learning. We were just finishing Ta'anis. My chavrusa, excitedly: "My first week and someone made a siyum. You won't believe it, but he made the siyum on Ta'anis! I mean, what are the odds?!" Me: "One in 24... probably even a little better than that given that it is a smaller masechta."
Who would make a shidduch like that? Our chavrusa got made in the most random way. He was a recent ba'al t'shuva, very attached to the teaching of Breslov and looking for someone to teach him about the Brisker way of learning. He called Brisk, I was the only one who was open, as I was just retiring. I don't know anything about the Brisker way of learning, I am not enchanted by Breslov. What did HaShem have in mind putting two people as different as can be together
And yet here we are, making one siyum and have already started another masechta. My chavrusa has hired a paralegal so he can learn with me on Friday afternoons for an hour and a half. As it turns out, we have one thing in common; that thing is key and is everything: We want to know what HaShem wants from us and for us and we are both striving to do our best to grow in our connection to HaShem. (I met the paralegal at the siyum and I thanked her for enabling us to learn on Fridays for that block of time. She was touched and said, "Torah is everything!" He surrounds himself with people like that, even when hiring a paralegal.)
Ta'anis, the gemara we learned, ends by analyzing the events leading up to Tisha B'Av, but then informs us: There are two great days of the year for Klal Yisrael that have no equal: the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur. We understand Yom Kippur. The 15th of Av? The gemara then explains the greatness of the 15th of Av with events that signified increasing Klal Yisrael's connection both to one another and to HaShem.
If you really, really want to get to the Truth, you need a chavrusa who is as different from you as can be, but with the same direction. Regarding the friendship and connection built on Torah, my chavrusa and I both exclaim: Wow! What קדושה/holiness!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Con el permiso del Rav y de todos los aquí reunidos, quisiera decir una breve oración. Disculpen mi pobre español. Mordecai traducirá, cuando sea necesario, tanto para los angloparlantes como para los hispanohablantes.
La Guemará (Bava Basra 134a and Succah 28b) enseña las elevadas cualidades y méritos de los ochenta discípulos más cercanos del sabio Hillel el Viejo. Treinta de ellos fueron lo suficientemente exaltados como para que la Shejiná (la Divina Presencia de Dios) los rodeara, y otros treinta fueron lo suficientemente ilustres como para que el sol se detuviera por ellos, como sucedió con Yehoshua. El más grande de estos discípulos fue Yonasan ben Uziel, de quien se dijo: «Cuando se dedicaba al estudio de la Torá, todo pájaro que volaba sobre él era quemado».
Dos personas aprenden esta Guemará. Una piensa: "¡Guau! ¡Qué santidad!". La otra piensa: "Mmm... Me pregunto si está obligado a pagar por el pájaro". No necesito decirles quién es mi chavrusa y quién soy yo. ¿Es así como se hace un shiduj? ¿En qué estaba pensando HaShem?
Y, sin embargo, aquí estamos. Dos personas tan opuestas como podrían ser, pero con el mismo deseo en la vida: acercarse cada vez más a HaShem. Ta'anis, la Guemará que aprendimos termina analizando los eventos que condujeron a Tishá B’Av, pero luego nos informa: Hay dos días maravillosos para Klal Israel: el 15 de Av y Yom Kipur. Entendemos Yom Kipur. ¿El 15 de Av? La Guemará luego explica la grandeza del 15 de Av con eventos que significaron aumentando la conexión de Klal Israel entre sí y con HaShem.
Sobre la amistad y la conexión construida sobre la Torá, mi chavrusa y yo ambos exclamamos: ¡Guau! ¡Qué santidad!
Comments