טיפע רעיונות פון הגאון רבי אביגדור מיללער זצ"ל

[מונאוויטש]

What's your opinion about going to Mekubalim?

Look, I had a man here in this congregation who had some kind of problem. So he went to a mekubal and gave him five hundred dollars, and the mekubal gave him a few little stones to carry around with him. So I told him that if he had put the five hundred dollars into a pushka to support a yeshiva then maybe it would have helped him. But here, all he did was help the mekubal pay his bills. He's not a mekubal. He's a mekabal!

Now, if you go to a mekubal who is not taking any money from you, then we can begin to think about it. But if you have a mekubal who is doing this for the purpose of making a living, we really have to beware of such people. You have to realize that it's so easy for people to be deceived. Don't be fools! Here comes a man who wants to read your palm. Chochmas ha'yad! Do you know what chochmas ha'yad is? [The Rav stretched out his hand with his palm open and made the motion of taking money] "Put something into my yad." That's chochmas ha'yad! Where do you find chochmas ha'yad in the Gemara?! It's not found even once. So you have to be very careful about being mislead.

And what about Dybuks?

I see that I have a lot of questions about dybuks tonight. [The Rav was skimming through the pieces of paper with written questions on them that people had passed forward in order to ask anonymously] People are wasting a lot of their time with dybuks. Life is too short for that. You have to make use of your time by accomplishing something in life.

-- TAPE # E-185 (April 1999)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

Must one undergo a special spiritual preparation in order to go to Eretz Yisroel?

And the answer is, absolutely! Yermiyahu Hanavi said, vatavou vatatamu es artzi - "You came and you defiled My land" (Yermiyahu 2:7). And therefore, it is of the utmost importance that someone should be ready to behave if he wants to go to Eretz Yisroel. He should learn how to conduct himself perfectly al pi haTorah before he goes to Eretz Yisroel. And even if he is good here, he must make a resolve to be even better there. There are no two ways about that. It's Eretz Hakodesh, and it's only for Jews who live b'kedusha.

Now you'll ask me, what about the Arabs? First of all, the Arabs don't ask us any questions. They're not asking me for my opinion. And the second is that an Arab, we consider him just like a bird. The birds who fly into Eretz Yisroel don't have to have any kedusha. An Arab or a gentile doesn't have any tumah. It's like nothing to us. It's like the grass that grows there.

But the Am Yisroel is a different story. They are poigem. When they do a sin they cause great harm in the world. And therefore it's of the utmost importance that a Jew, before he goes to Eretz Yisroel, must make up his mind to be there b'kedusha. Even if it's just for a visit. Nobody should go unless he'll go b'kedusha. If he takes along his wife, he must make sure that she's dressed completely properly, because this is a land that will vomit out the people who live there if they don't suit its taste.

The land of Eretz Yisroel has to have something made to its taste. It's a land of vataki ha’aretz es yoshveoh - "And the land will vomit out its inhabitants" (Vayikra 18:25). Eretz Yisroel is finicky. It's a delicate land, and only those people who behave properly can please the land.

-- TAPE # 200 (January 1977)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

Do you approve of a husband or wife going away for Shabbos without their spouse?

I do not approve of a husband going off someplace for Shabbos by himself or a wife going away on her own for Shabbos. On Shabbos they should be together always. Never should they make such a breach - even for a moment. A husband and a wife are one. And they have no right to break up the family for Shabbos. Now sometimes that may be difficult, but it can't be helped. There may be some exceptions to this rule, but in general it should never happen.

Now I want to add one more thing that I know most people won't agree with me about, but I must say it. I don't approve of children going away from their homes for Shabbos to visit other people. The best place for a child to be on Shabbos is at home with his family. Agav urcha, I personally know of two cases where children went away from their homes for Shabbos into unfamiliar neighborhoods and the children were, nisht inz gedacht, killed by automobiles. And it wouldn't have happened if they had stayed at home. They were in a neighborhood where they didn't realize how dangerous a certain street or a certain intersection was and two children lost their lives. Had they remained at home it wouldn't have happened.

In general however, even without that, the best place for a child to be on Shabbos is at home. Even to send your daughter to England, to Manchester or to Gateshead, I don't think that it's necessary at all. We have very good schools here in Brooklyn. There are very good schools for girls in Brooklyn. So why waste all that money? And who knows what could happen over there?! A girl all by herself in a foreign country?! I don't approve of that.

So just stay at home with your spouse and your children so that you both can supervise their chinuch. I think that that is the very best way.

-- TAPE # E-181 (March 1999)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

What are some of the good things that Hashem does through the yetzer hora?

Now this question has a number of details, because the yetzer hora is detailed in a number of points. We will take up only one that I spoke about years ago.

One of the big forms of the yetzer hora is the desire for kovod, for glory. Now how can Hakadosh Baruch Hu make use of this to do great things? So the gemara says, v'ahavta es Hashem Elokecha b'chol l'vovecha, it says two times a beis, not one beis. So two beis'es means with shnei yitzrecho, the yetzer tov and the yetzer hora. How do you serve Him with the yetzer hora? With the yetzer hora means, I am going to do things for Hashem because I want glory! It's a good thing to do.

L'olam yasok adam torah umitzvos shelo lishma, you should do mitzvos, you should collect money for tzedaka, for yeshivos, just because you want the yeshiva to make a banquet in your honor, and don't be ashamed to say so. Collect money for a yeshiva or give money, in order that the yeshiva should make you a guest of honor, yes. Of course if you could do it and send in the $25,000 anonymously, with a postal money order - you can't send an unsigned private check, an anonymous check - but a postal money order; do so. But you won't? So therefore use the yetzer hora of kavod to do great things.

To sit and learn and know a perek of gemara, or a whole mesechta needs work, and therefore some people are not motivated to do it! But when you feel that for the sake of glory you want to do it, then go ahead. So that's one of the ways of utilizing the yetzer hora to do good things.

And never be ashamed to do good things even though you have ulterior motives. Don't say I won't do it because ulterior motives. Because if you won't do it, then it's a failure!.

Hashem wants you to do it.


A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #423
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210

[SPUSMN]

What Comes Between a Jew and Hashem?

We must turn our backs to the nations, as our people have always done. The darkness created by them, and by the misguided of Israel who imitate them, prevents the seeker from beginning his ascent.

They are a wall between us and Hashem; they and the Jewish secularists prevent the Jewish masses from approaching the Truth -- Sing, You Righteous

[SPUSMN]

The inequality in the distribution of wealth is one of the great benefits that Hashem provided to mankind. If everyone was equally wealthy, nobody would work and human affairs would be in the doldrums.

It is only because people need money that is in the possession of others that they are willing to do things. Money is thus the incentive for doing all the things that men need to do for each other.

-- Ohr Avigdor Shaar Habechina

[SPUSMN]

Why Does Hashem Want Us To Ask For Things?

"Yaancha Hashem b'yom tzara (Hashem will answer you on the day of distress)."

Yaancha — He's going to answer you. Which means that despite all the merits and mitzvos you gained previously, which make you deserving that Hashem should listen to your outcry, you still must cry out to Him. It's not sufficient merely to mumble a little prayer. It's important to make a big outcry to Hashem.

-- Wine of Prayer (#555)

[מונאוויטש]

Should a man serve in the Israeli army?

And the answer is no. By no means should one serve in the army. Because it doesn't pay to get killed for nothing! When you go out in a milchama, a battle, that the chachmei HaTorah command you to go out and fight, so then you're sacrificing your life for k'vod shamayim. But if you're going out in a war because of what others tell you, ba'al habatim - even Orthodox ba'al habatim, but they're ba'al habatim - so it means you're giving the greatest donation that you have, for something that might be nothing at all. It's too much to donate. Your life is too precious.

And so you'll ask me, "Well, what about helping out our fellow Jews?" Let me explain something to you. Suppose a fellow says "I'm going to go pick a fight with some people in Brownsville." And so he gets on his bike, and he wears, let's say, a black hat and a beard and he cycles into Bedford Stuyvesant, and he starts calling people names. And so, you know what's going to happen to him. Now, you happen to be passing by on bus - there's a bus that goes through Bedford Stuyvesant - and you're looking through the window and you see this hero surrounded by all of these menacing people. So you'll ask me, maybe you should get off the bus and help this fellow in his fight?

Look, if he wants to get himself into a fix, you'd better just keep on riding until you get to Williamsburg. Because what are you going to do already? Is it your fault? Who told people to put themselves in such a situation? Did the Gedolei Yisroel say it?

Now, there's a lot to talk about on this subject, but I can't speak anymore now because the time is brief. But if you're asking me my opinion, then I'll tell you: By no means should you serve in the Israeli army. And I say, stay away! And if you have to go there, make sure not to renounce your American citizenship. And don't allow yourself to be drafted.

-- TAPE #191 (November 1977)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

Is it OK for me to give up on some of my Torah learning in the evening, in order to work a little extra so that I can save up money for a trip to Eretz Yisroel?

And the answer is no. Absolutely not. The purpose of Eretz Yisroel is only for you to make something out of yourself. To give up learning to go to the Kosel Ma'aravi, the Western Wall?! If you want to go to the Kosel Ma'aravi, then you should know that the Shas Bavli is your Kosel Ma'aravi. Make the seforim shrank with the Shas Bavli in it your Kosel Ma'aravi. That's your success.

To go to Eretz Yisroel and to stand at a wall that means nothing to you?! It's just a zeicher of y'mei kedem. It's a remembrance of our glorious past. It's something, but it's a failure. The success of life is the transferring the contents of the Shas into your mind. So stand in front of that Shas on the shelf in your living room and make that your Kosel Ma'aravi. Stand there and put kvitlach, prayer notes, in between the Gemoras and pray to Hashem. The Shas is our everything! There's nothing in the world more kadosh, more special, to Hakodosh Boruch Hu than the daled amos shel halacha. Since the churban beis hamikdash He has nothing in the world that is more important than the Shas and our Torah seforim. So what are you thinking? To forego learning Torah for a cheap substitute?! And therefore, you don't forego learning for anything in the world.

-- TAPE # 829 (May 1991)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

איז דער מלאך געפלויגן ווייטער מיט זארג,
און איז געקומען קיין ניו יארק,
די אמעריקאנער די תורה ווייזט ער,
און פרעגט צו א בעלן איז ווער.
זאגן זיי, טענק יו פיין,
וואס פאר א ביזנעס וואס פאר א ליין?
זאגט זיי דער מלאך הערט מיט קאפ,
כבוד טאטע מאמע גיט אפ!

זאגן זיי ניין, האלט עס אליין,
מיר גיבן אפ כבוד נאר דער יוגנט אליין,
פאר די עלטערע גענוג איז פאר זיי,
דער יום טוב מאדערס דעי!
(רבי יום טוב ערליך)

How should a frum Jew view Father's Day and Mother's Day?

He should view them like they don't exist. However, if he has a father and a mother who insist on some sort of observance of those occasions - they attach some significance to the day - then he should pay some kind of superficial service to them, in order to be yotzei, to fulfill his duty. If you have a foolish parent who feels hurt by not being noticed on that day, then what can you do?! After all, it's not a gentile holiday so you'll have to do something. But really it's nothing to us. It's nothing at all.

Every day on the Jewish calendar is Father's Day and Mother's Day. And that's not just words. Hashem tells us how to treat a mother and father. Anyone who learns, anyone with a Torah mind, understands that the Torah attitude towards Kibud Av V'Em is far away from the hollow concept of a Father's Day and a Mother's Day.

And by the way, Father's Day is only a joke anyways. You know that. After all it's Mother's Day that count! Did you ever see a picture of what Mother's Day means? The mother looks so beautiful, with flowers. She looks like an angel. And look at the picture of Fathers Day - a silly fellow with a grin on his face. He looks like a fool. That's the American picture of a father. The old man in America doesn't get a break.

And so whatever you can do to ignore non-Jewish festivals, it's a mitzvah to do it. And if you can't get away with it, so buy your father a pair of cufflinks, and forget about it.


-- TAPE # 599 (May 1986)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

Is it okay to drink coffee all the time?

You have touched here on a very important subject, and that is the slavery to habit. Many people have habits. So let's say you're a slave to smoking. Now, if you're a slave to smoking you have to know that you have lost your free will. I was once in Boro Park and across the street I saw a man who I knew, who was standing with a Yerushalmi yid. So I went across the street and this Yerushalmi tells me that he's very ill. He came to America for treatment because his lungs are diseased. He's telling me this and he's puffing on a cigarette. So I said to him, "Why don't you stop smoking?" So he tells me in Yiddish, "Don't tell me that. No, don't tell me that." He's an eved. An eved Ca'nani. He sold himself out to this habit. He's not a free man anymore. He's a slave.

Some people are slaves to drinking alcohol. I know a man who drinks and becomes inebriated. A shikur. Many people are like that. They drink too much. They're slaves to a good bottle of schnapps. They're slaves to nothing. And eating as well. People can even be slaves to eating. People overeat. Overeating is not good for your health. And it's a shi'bud. Every type of shi'bud - of being mortgaged, enslaved - to wrong habits is a person giving up his freedom. The freedom to make something out of yourself.

I never drank coffee. As long as I can remember I never drank any coffee. Why should I drink coffee?! It's unnecessary. To become mi'shubad, enslaved, to a habit?! Some people are coffee addicts. They must have coffee all the time. They're slaves. And any habit that enslaves you, means that you can't serve Hashem bi'shleimus.

-- TAPE # E-182

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[SPUSMN]

Is It Wrong To Ask Hashem For Material Things?

Do not be ashamed to ask Hashem for things of a material nature. Cry out to Hashem to heal a toothache. Cry out to Hashem if you want that customer to give you that good order. Never be ashamed to ask Hashem. And ask Him for anything you want.

-- Rav Avigdor Miller on Emunah and Bitachon

[מונאוויטש]

The Rav mentioned earlier that drinking too much coffee could be considered a form of slavery - of losing one's free will. Can the Rav expand on some other habits that would fall in to this category?

Look, there are worse habits than drinking coffee. Like reading! Yes, reading! Now, reading is one of the best things to do if done properly. But when people have a habit of reading, they read anything. So they pick up and read magazines. They read periodicals. Like I mentioned before, the habit of reading is very widespread. The majority of the American public is enslaved to reading. And therefore they are slaves. Their minds are sold out to somebody else.

Now suppose somebody gets into the habit of reading good things. Not only Gemara. Gemara is wonderful! But he learns Agaddata. He reads Mesillas Yesharim. He reads Chovas Ha'levavos and Sha'arei Teshuva and they become his mindset. He thinks only according to their ways. That's wonderful. That's a wonderful reading habit. Is that person narrow-minded? Absolutely! The broad-minded people have all kinds of wickedness in their heads. The narrow-minded people are the ones who walk on the straight path and are a success in life.

That's why it is such an important lesson to know that, sh’ein lecho ben chorin elo me sh’osek b'talmud Torah. The only one who can be a free man, is one who lives a Torah life - the one who has a Torah mind. This is such an important lesson, because that is true freedom. There's no freedom to choose as you wish. In America they think that freedom is an ideal. Freedom without any purpose. Just to be free! A meshugas! "Give me liberty or give me death." A meshugas. What do you need it for?

A man said to me, "What?! Should I give up my mind to the Mesillas Yesharim? He should become the thinker for me?" Absolutely. Absolutely! Yes, he'll think much better than you think. If you think with the ideals of liberty - the freedom to do as you please - then who knows what's going to happen to you?!

So let's stop reading periodicals. We should have no business with the newspapers. Let's stop mixing with the wrong company. You belong only in the frum neighborhoods. Move out of West Orange. Move away from those far off places in New Jersey and Connecticut. Move back to the frum Jewish neighborhoods. "Oh, but it's not freedom," you'll say. That's not the freedom you should want. You're a slave to every worthless thing. And to every worthless ideal. Move into the frummest neighborhood you can. And you won't have that freedom anymore. That freedom to waste your life. Because you'll be ashamed what the neighbors will say. Maris ayin and chashad are wonderful takanos. So move to a place where you'll be forced to be a good fellow. A place where you won't become enslaved to all the worthless ideal of American society. You can't be an eved Hashem, if you're an eved to something else. And you're in this world only to perfect yourself and become an ish-shalem. To become a person who is always thinking Torah thoughts and Torah ideals.

-- TAPE # E-182 (April 1999)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[SPUSMN]

Which Is More Important... Thinking or Doing?

If you're always busy, then your mind cannot think about the real functions of life. There is so much to think about because most of the Torah is thinking, not doing. Doing is very important, but thinking is the biggest part of the
Torah.

-- Starting the Climb to Kedushah (#58)

[SPUSMN]

Are Our Accomplishments Important In Hashem's Eyes?

You think that you are very important and that you are doing plenty for Hashem. Therefore, when you praise Him or thank Him, you think that is like doing Him an extra favor, and so you think you deserve to get more in return.

Who says that you're so important? Perhaps you haven't even begun fulfilling your obligations toward Hashem.

-- Ohr Avigdor Shaar Avodas Elokim

[SPUSMN]

What Is Our Main Purpose In Life?

If we wish to live purposefully, it's essential, at all times, to remember the definition of this world. It is not for itself. It is not a goal. It is a place of preparation, and life is a career of preparation.

-- Koheles-All is Vanity (#328)

[מונאוויטש]

If the Rav is always telling us that we have to subjugate ourselves to the Gedolim who have the da’as Torah that comes from learning, why do we ourselves have to bother learning Gemara in depth and become lamdanim?

Listen to me. In order to understand what your doctor is telling you must have some minimal level of education. You don’t have to be a big scholar but you must know English. If your doctor is speaking at least a medium level cultured English, you’re going to have to understand what he’s saying.

And therefore when Gedolim speak to us, we must be able to understand, to appreciate what they’re telling us. And if we are not well-versed in Torah learning it becomes meaningless because we are speaking a different language. The am ha’aretz does not speak the same language as an adom gadol speaks. And that’s a very important yesod.

If you haven’t learned Mesechta Gitin you really have no idea of the necessity of a “get.” So you’ll say that you know, there’s a civil divorce and there’s a Jewish divorce. No, it means nothing. For you, a Jewish divorce is just another thing, another ceremony. If you learn Mesechta Gitin you internalize that a civil divorce is nothing at all and that without a “get” she is an eishes ish. She’s just as married as she was when she stood under the chuppah. Even if she hasn’t seen her husband in forty years she’s still an eishes ish and she’s guilty of a capital crime if she goes with another man.

All this, to the am ha’aretz, is very vague. He can appreciate it to some extent but if he hasn’t learned, it’s very vague. But when you learn Mesechta Gitin it hits you between the eyes.

If you didn’t learn Mesechta Yevamos then chalitzah is just a ceremony. It’s like saying Av Harachamin on Shabbos morning – sometimes you skip it. If you didn’t learn Mesechta Yevamos it’s so vague. There are a lot of people here who did not learn and it’s all a vague thing to them. I remember in my old synagogue, there was a woman whose husband died. This woman was active in the Sisterhood, in the Ladies Auxiliary, and she married her dead husband’s brother. She had children from her first husband and she married her husband’s brother! And – nothing, nothing. Now, in a decent organization they would have taken her and dumped her in the street. You can’t marry your dead husband’s brother. If you have children from your first husband it’s like marrying your own brother. Kares! But go and tell this to the amei ha’aretz – they can hear it vaguely – yes – but she’s still in the Sisterhood.

This means that they are beheimahs. They don’t talk the language of Torah. You have to learn – otherwise the language is meaningless to you. You must learn. And you must learn Gemara. Not like one man said to me, “We’re not Gemara buffs.” Gemara buffs?! What?! Like, you don’t collect old coins or you don’t collect stamps you also don’t learn Gemara?! Gemara is not a hobby. Gemara is our life breath. We learn Gemara because that is the air we breathe. If you don’t learn Gemara you know what you are? You’re an ox! You’re mamash a beheima. That’s what you are without Gemara. And don’t tell me about other things you learn, moral teachings, seforim. If you don’t learn Gemara you and your family are called beheimahs. And anyone who marries your daughter it says about him in the Gemara, “Arur shocheiv im beheima.” If you marry the daughter of an Am Ha’aretz you’re living with a beheima. Their wives and daughters are called the wives and daughters of beheimahs. It’s important to know that. Jews always knew this! You must breathe Gemara. That’s our life!

So how can a Gadol talk to you if you’re still in the stable. You’re eating oats and you’re braying. A Gadol will knock on the stable door and say, “Listen to this.” So you bray and he talks. Totally different languages. I have experience in this. I’ve spoken to people and they don’t even begin to understand what you’re talking about. It’s only when you’re a lamdan, at least in Gemara, that you’re able to communicate with the Gedolim and appreciate and understand what they’re telling you.

-- TAPE #95

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

What would you tell a Yeshiva bochur who’s afraid to learn because his friends will make fun of him?

I don’t know what that means. In the Yeshiva, everybody learns, no? If not, you’re in the wrong place or you have the wrong friends. And outside the Yeshiva, you’re still a Yeshiva man; what else should you do besides learn? The fact that they’ll make fun of you, that’s great! You know how great is the reward for doing a mitzvah and having people mock you?!

Let’s say you’re at home and you have a big sister, or a brother-in-law who ridicules you when you are busy learning. Ahh! You’re a lucky fellow! So what should you do? Take out the biggest Gemara you can find – even though all you want to say is a little piece of Chumash – take out the biggest Gemara, hide the Chumash behind the Gemara, and burn her eyes out with the big Gemara. And say it in a loud voice, lehachis! Demonstrate that you’re proud. And you have reason to be proud. You’re studying the words of Hashem. You’re thinking Hashem’s thoughts. Of course, you should be proud. Because your sister is a fool or your brother-in-law is a fool, therefore you’re going to yield?! Not at all! You’re a success!

And the more you are ridiculed, the more you are opposed, the bigger is your reward. The more there are scoffers who belittle you, the greater will be your reward.

-- TAPE #504

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

How does a bochur in yeshiva remedy a problem of daydreaming when he’s sitting in front of a Gemara?

Nobody daydreams when he’s sitting in front of a plate of ice-cream. You know what I always tell you, that nobody yawns while he’s eating. Do you know when you yawn? You walk into Yeshiva in the morning, you open the Gemara, and the first thing is – you yawn.

If a person has some interest in what’s in front of him, he’s not daydreaming. If he’s bored, then he daydreams. So the real question is, what causes a boy to daydream over the Gemara? Usually, it’s because the Gemara is too hard. He’s in a class that’s too advanced for him. Or his Rebbi is not explaining the Gemara well. Sometimes the Rebbi is an ambitious fellow; he wants to say very high-level shiurim, pilpulim, and this poor boy thinks he has a dumb head. He doesn’t! Rather, it’s the Rebbi’s fault. The poor boy is not getting what he needs.

You’ll see that there’s a magic change that every yeshiva boy undergoes when he understands the Gemara. If you explain a piece of Gemara to him in a way that he understands, he’s transformed magically, immediately, and he becomes interested.

It’s nothing but frustration that makes him day daydream. So it’s important to get him to someone who’s able to talk to him, and to analyze why he doesn’t have an interest in what he has to do. But everyone is capable of being a yeshiva man, of learning Gemara. You just need to go about it the right way.

-- TAPE # 99 (November 1975)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

Should a yeshiva man take off time from his learning Gemara to learn Nach?

The answer is that it’s not a wrong idea to want to learn Ne’vi’im and Kesuvim. Not at all. Only that Gemara needs a great deal of time. Gemara is our life breath and it is not so easy to learn Gemara properly.

So on Friday afternoon, when regular seder is over, you can spend a half hour learning Nach. And if you do that on a consistent basis, you’ll make tremendous progress. Every week, a half hour of Nach. Every Friday after seder, a half hour. And it’s not enough to just hear me say it. You have to get busy doing it. And there’s no question that you’ll make great progress. You’ll acquire a great deal of ye’dios.

-- TAPE #E-186

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

How can one attain sweetness in learning Torah?

I’ll tell you a little recipe for sweetness in learning.

We say every morning “v’ha’arev na” please make sweet the Torah in our mouths. And Dovid Hamelech said about the Torah – “mesukim mi’dvash vi’nofes tzufim.” It is sweeter than honey and the dripping of the honeycomb. Dovid Hamelech said that. That when he learned, it tasted sweeter than dvash.

Now, I am not able to tell you how Dovid Hamelech came to that madreigah, but I’ll tell you a little hint that will help you.

After you learn a little piece of Gemara – this much, like a third of an amud: Say it aloud b’al peh. Out loud. Not every word like the Gemara says but speak out the whole svarah, the sechel of the sugya. Slowly, talk it out. Bi’kol ram, b’al peh. And then do it again. And then again a third time. The third time it will already become sweet in your mouth.

You know what it is – it’s like when you chew bread. I always tell you the same thing. Bread has starch in it. And in your saliva, you have an enzyme called Ptyalin. Ptyalin causes the starch to turn into sugar. So the longer you chew the bread, the sweeter it becomes.

The more you review the Gemara, with slow chazara of the svaros, it becomes sweeter and sweeter in your mouth. So chazara is the answer. Repeat b’al peh what you’re learning. Again and again.

Every perek you should do again and again. And it will become sweeter and sweeter in your mouth. It’s not important to cover much ground right now. The first thing is to lock it into your mind. Again and again. And you’ll be amazed how it becomes sweeter and sweeter. And after a while you’ll feel a happiness – a delight – in learning Torah.

And then on Tisha B’av you’ll feel very sad that you cannot learn Torah.

-- TAPE # E-246

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

The Rav spoke tonight about the importance of learning to love tzadikim. Should a yeshiva man take time away from his learning in order to read biographies of chachomim in order to learn to love them?

The answer is no. No. He should spend his time with the Gemara. He should learn to love the Gemara. The more you learn Gemara, the more you fall in love with it. Over and over again you should chew over the sugya. Chazara is so important. Get the geshmak. “Vi’ha’arev nah Hashem Elokeinu.” Hashem, make sweet the words of the Torah in our mouths. That’s number one. That’s the first step to learning to love tzadikim. And it’s so important to know that the reason we love tzadikim is because Hashem loves tzadikim. We love tzadikim because we love Hashem.

Of course, while you’re eating lunch, there’s no harm if you look into the biography of a tzadik. Sipurei tzadikim are very important. To read about our models so that we can emulate them. But anytime that you’re able to sit in front of the Gemara, you should make sure to learn Gemara. Ki heim chayeinu! You should put all the time you have into learning Gemara. The Shas is our life breath. People don’t realize what a happiness it is to learn. You have to get into the mood, into the habit, of feeling a geshmak, a miseekus, a sweetness. Like Dovid Hamelech said, “Ki masok mi’dvash vi’nofes tzufim” (Tehillim 19-11). Sweeter than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

And therefore, nobody should give up time from the Gemara to do things like reading biographies. If you wish, while you’re on the bus or while you’re eating lunch, you can do that. Otherwise, as much time as possible should be spent in the Gemara. Take a Baba Kama, a Baba Metzia, whatever it is, and learn over and over again. Over and over again. And each time, it becomes more and more delicious. It’s like bread. You know that the more you chew on bread, the sweeter it tastes. There is an enzyme, ptyalin, in your saliva, that has the effect of causing the starch in the bread to turn into sugar. The starch turns into sugar. That’s how it is. The longer you chew bread, the sweeter it becomes. And the longer you chew the Gemara, the sweeter it becomes. Get into the habit. And even if some of you are not lamdanim, try it anyhow. And little by little, you’ll get the miseekus of limud ha’torah.

And that’s a tremendous achievement. To love the Torah. To love the Gemara. To love the Ta’na’im. You should love the sound of Abbaye and Rava. Of Rav Papa and Rav Huna brei di’Rav Yehoshua. All of our great men. Love their names. The taste of their names should be on our tongues, sweeter than honey.

-- TAPE #E-178

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

If being married is a necessity in receiving perfection, why did the Bnei Yisroel separate from their wives before the giving of the Torah?

Everything has a time and a place. The Bnei Yisroel were not told to divorce their wives before Matan Torah, it was only three days of separation. And you have to know that although a man's career with his wife is a career of simcha and it helps him attain perfection, but there are times when for the purpose of greater perfection we yield smaller perfections. For three days they separated - a very small sacrifice - to demonstrate that they were getting ready for this great gift, the greatest gift that will ever be conferred by Hashem on anyone; the Torah.

That's what we find in the case of Rabbi Akiva and his wife, they separated even more, there the question is a bigger question, you can ask some more questions. Don't forget children could have been born during this time! People are willing to sacrifice the pleasures, the benefits, and the achievements of married life, for the sake of greatness in Torah, these are the people who are marked for greatness.

In old generations this took place, there were Perushim in Europe who left home, they were not able to remain home and support a family, so their wives gave them permission or even told them to go. They went to other towns and they were Perushim, they sat and studied Torah. Some used to come home once a year to their families.

The Jewish nation is the nation that appreciates marriage more than anyone else. Marriage is a big mitzvah among Jews, and it's encouraged at an early age, and every effort is made that everyone should be married. In true Jewish communities they marry off all unmarried people; nobody is allowed to remain unmarried in a real Jewish community. But, the true Jewish community understands also that for the sake of achievement in the service of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the greatest sacrifices are worth offering.

And that's why we had great men in the past like Rabbi Akiva and others who were willing, with the assistance of great women who are behind them, to deny themselves the happiness and also the benefits of married life, for the sake of the achievements that they achieved for themselves and for their people. The people benefited by them.


A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #424
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210

[SPUSMN]

What Is Meant By Our Being A "Kingdom of Priests"?

We have been chosen to be a nation of students, or philosophers, or priests; which means that our chief occupation is not in earning a livelihood or in seeking pleasure, but in the study of Hashem's laws and teachings.

The meaning of a kingdom of priests is that we are a nation that, like the Cohanim, are singled out from the nations to be forever blessed with opportunity, honor, and privilege.

Rejoice, -- Rejoice, O Youth

[SPUSMN]

Is Sports a Good Past-time For the People Of Israel?

Because the nations feel the emptiness in their lives, they seek the diversions of war, gladiators, drama, sports, Romance, dancing, involvement with women, fiction books, travel, politics and all other ways of wasting their lives.

The children of Jacob spend their spare time in the study of Torah. Their youth do not engage in promiscuity or drinking or narcotics or criminal mischief, for they enjoy the satisfaction of righteous living.

-- Fortunate Nation