The Ultimate Emuna

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

“Be careful and guard yourself very much, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and children’s children. The day that you stood before Hashem, Your G-d, at Chorev…” (Devarim 4:9-10).

The Ramban (ibid.) states that this verse imparts to us one of the most fundamental principles of Judaism, that every Jew saw Hashem face to face as He gave the Torah at Mt. Sinai. The verse goes on to warn that we must never forget this awesome revelation, and we must pass it on to our children.

The Rambam (Yesodei HaTorah 8:1) writes that the ultimate proof that Moshe was a true prophet was at Mt. Sinai, where every Jew saw that Hashem gave Moshe the Torah. Even after all the miracles Moshe had done during the Exodus and at the Red Sea, there was still room for skepticism. After Mt. Sinai, their faith was free of any doubts.

Moshe Rabbeinu told the nation that from the revelation at Sinai, they could reach a level where “the fear of Hashem will be on your faces and you will never sin” (Shmos 20:17).

Harav Aharon Kotler asks that if Matan Torah is so important, why are there no mitzvos to remind us of it? For example, we have a mitzvah to speak about the Exodus from Egypt every day. In addition, many mitzvos remind us of the Exodus. We have Pesach, and the Pesach seder in particular. The parshiyos inside our tefillin speak about the Exodus. The mitzvah to redeem the first born reminds us that Hashem redeemed our first-borns on the night that the Egyptian first-borns died. But why isn’t there a command to speak about Matan Torah every day? Even if it is one of the Six Remembrances (that appear in most siddurim at the end of Shacharis), there is no command to actually say these words. And why aren’t there mitzvos to serve as a reminder of Matan Torah? There is the Shavuos festival, but in commanding this festival, the Torah makes no mention of Matan Torah.

Harav Kotler answers that the Giving of the Torah requires no special reminders because Hashem put this power of reminding into the Torah itself. Toiling in Torah gives us all the light and revelation that we received at Sinai. Torah study imparts to us crystal clear faith.

The Ibn Ezra (Tehilim 19:8) explains that this is the intent of Dovid Hamelech’s words: “The Torah of Hashem is perfect, it restores the soul.” What does Torah restore to the soul? It restores emuna. Toiling in Torah over time will remove any doubts one may have in emuna. Such a person needs no other demonstrations of the truth of the Torah.

Rav Moshe Sternbuch notes, however, that this power of the Torah to affect a person applies only when he learns Torah with the understanding that these are the words of Hashem. As the sages state (Brachos 22), just as the Torah was given amid awe and fear, so too it should be learned in this way. If we learn Torah with the recognition that these are Hashem’s words and they possess intrinsic holiness, this should arouse in us a sense of seriousness toward our learning. To the extent that we do this, we merit the awesome effect that the Torah had at its Giving on Mt. Sinai.

Learning Torah with this awareness is a tikun for one of the sins that led to the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. The sages say that people were not careful then about the brachos said before learning Torah (Nedarim 81a). Their neglect of these brachos was because they did not sufficiently realize that they were learning the words of Hashem (see Ran, ibid.). In these days, this should be our tikun.

Rav Sternbuch adds that when the noted Rav David Freedman of Karlin would learn Torah, he would place a sign before his eyes with the words, “Sh’visi Hashem knegdi tamid (I have placed Hashem before me at all times).” Rav Freedman would say that it is forbidden for one studying Torah to forget for even a moment that he is studying the very words of Hashem.

Harav Moshe Shapira was known as a giant in all sections of Torah, and an indefatigable speaker who gave shiurim before diverse audiences, teaching subjects that ranged from the revealed to the hidden secrets of the Torah. In addition, he taught groups of Jews from the former Soviet Union who had little or no background in Torah study.

He was often asked why he devoted so much time to teaching these Jews, who were only at the beginning of their development in Torah. It seemed as though he was vastly overqualified for teaching such basic subject matter. Wouldn’t his time be better spent teaching subjects that very few had mastered as well as he?

“In most of the shiurim I give,” he would answer, “I’m not sure if people understand me, and there are probably others who don’t need me at all. When it comes to Jews who lack the most elementary background in Yiddishkeit, I know that my teaching can make the proper effect. When I face my final judgment, I know that this will be appreciated.”

When these Jews would come to him with questions about emuna, he would always reply: “First, let’s learn Gemara. These are the words of Hashem and we’ll get connected to Him. Afterwards, if there will be any questions in emuna, we can deal with them.”

May our Torah study bring us to crystal clear faith!