SHOFTIM 5776

In Parshas Shoftim we are commanded to place upon ourselves a king and accept his reign. There are certain commandments that apply only to a Jewish king, such as a limit on the number of wives he can have, or amassing large fortunes.

In addition, the king has a positive commandment that applies only to him: He must have two private sifrei Torah, one that is placed in his personal library, and another one that he must have with him at all times (Sanhedrin 21a). Whether he is indoors or outdoors, in meetings with foreign rulers or even at war, this sefer Torah must never leave him. Only in places of tum’ah may he briefly put it aside. Moreover, the king “must read from it all of the days of his life” (Devarim 17:19).

This is puzzling. Isn’t every Jew commanded to learn Torah whenever he has the time to do so? Why should the king have a special commandment to carry a sefer Torah from which he can read at every available moment? Isn’t this something expected of all of us?

My father-in-law, Harav Elimelech Meller, answers (based on the Rambam, Laws of Kings 3:6), that the Torah was very “particular that the king’s heart not be led astray.” More than anyone else, the Torah sensed that a Jewish king’s “heart” — his yiras Shamayim — was at risk because of his unique position in Klal Yisrael. A king has broad liberties not enjoyed by anyone else. He wields tremendous power over his subjects, he can confiscate their property if he sees fit, and his word must be obeyed under penalty of death.

Of course, a Jewish king is not supposed to be a ruthless dictator. He is Hashem’s shaliach to bring the Jewish People closer to Hashem. If he uses his power wisely, the nation will grow in yiras Shamayim, with him as their prime example.

However, any human being who holds power is at risk of forgetting his true purpose. A Jewish king who begins exploiting his power for selfish reasons will find his own yiras Shamayim dwindling. The Torah’s remedy for this is to command the king to learn Torah constantly, without a break, “all the days of his life.” This protects the king’s yiras Shamayim and ensures that he remain close to Hashem.

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz notes (based on the Mesilas Yesharim 25) that we too need ways to ensure that we remain close to Hashem and grow in yiras Shamayim. In this regard, the Torah’s command to the king applies to us as well: the way to greatness in ruchniyus is to learn Torah without a break. Be consistent, don’t stop; keep at Torah study all of the days of our lives.

The Chazon Ish (in Igeres 1:37) writes that “constant toil in Torah enables a person to understand what his purpose is in the world … and strenuous, continuous study cuts a Jew free from the fetters of the yetzer hara until his soul yearns for a sense of holiness and the sweetness of purity of the heart…The more efforts one puts in, the more he reaches these levels.”

All of this is the result of putting in hours of uninterrupted Torah study!

Conversely, Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz would use the above to answer a question: Why is it that many of the bnei Torah in our generation do not reach the levels of yiras Shamayim that were more prevalent in the past? Rav Yisrael Salanter would say that as a boy, when the shul gabbai announced that the month of Elul was approaching, people’s fear of the upcoming Day of Judgment was so real that some even fainted on the spot. Such descriptions seem to us other-worldly, but they really happened, and in the not so distant past. How did this change come about? Rav Chaim would ask.

In response, he would explain: “It is because we are not immersed in our learning. Instead of putting in continuous sessions of learning, we settle for sedarim riddled with breaks — breaks for chatting, coffee, telephone calls, errands, etc.”

And this is during our actual learning seder. What happens on Friday-Shabbos? Or bein Hazemanim? Sometimes these time periods are not just “breaks,” but rather whole sections of the year when we are cut off from Torah study! This is why we do not reach the levels of yiras Shamayim of yore.

Since Elul is a time when we must come closer to Hashem (in advance of the Yamim Hanora’im), many of the yeshivos today place extra emphasis on keeping learning continuous. “Don’t go home during Elul; stay in yeshiva,” is a familiar policy. “Don’t take Friday afternoon off, either. As much as you can, make the learning seder continuous. Fridays, Shabbos, don’t relent.”

Of course, everyone has to gauge his own level and push himself only as much as he can handle. For one person, a brief walk outside after an hour of learning is necessary to be able to then put in another hour of learning. For another person, a brief walk even inside the beis medrash is a needless interruption of his learning. What the king’s commandment should teach us is that uninterrupted stretches of study is the key to success. How we apply it depends on our individual level.

In addition to serving as Rosh Yeshivas Mir, Rav Aryeh Finkel was a gadol in middos. Together with his hasmada and brilliant shiurim was his exceptional good-heartedness, humility, yiras Shamayim and happiness — even in times of poverty and widowhood. Still, Rav Baruch Dov Povarsky comments that “all of Rav Finkel’s outstanding middos were the result of his Torah study. With him, an hour of learning meant 60 minutes without deviating from the Gemara for a moment, and he learned for hours on end, day-in, day-out, irrespective of his circumstances.”

Rav Finkel would tell bachurim that through learning it is possible to reach a level of deveikus where one actually feels Hashem giving him the Torah. Certain chavrusos of Rav Finkel claim that he said this based on his own personal experience. To others he commented that learning brought him to palpable ahavas Hashem, and the sense that Hashem was right there with him.

May we be zoche to put in hours of uninterrupted Torah study!

Exciting news! Rabbi Krieger will soon be publishing a sefer featuring the “best” of the weekly Parsha sheet. If you would like to share in this celebration, please go to www.bircas.org for further details.