(ב) שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק הָיָה מִשְּׁיָרֵי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עַל שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד, עַל הַתּוֹרָה וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה וְעַל גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים:
(2) Shimon the Righteous was of the last of the Great Assembly. He would say: On three things the world stands–on the Torah, on the service, and on acts of kindness.
(א) ...דבר אחר: אמון – אומן. התורה אומרת: אני הייתי כלי אומנותו של הקב"ה. בנוהג שבעולם, מלך בשר ודם בונה פלטין, אינו בונה אותה מדעת עצמו אלא מדעת אומן, והאומן אינו בונה אותה מדעת עצמו, אלא דיפתראות, ופינקסאות יש לו, לדעת היאך הוא עושה חדרים, היאך הוא עושה פשפשין, כך היה הקב"ה מביט בתורה, ובורא את העולם, והתורה אמרה בראשית ברא אלהים, ואין ראשית אלא תורה, היאך מה דאת אמר (משלי ח, כב): "ה' קָנָנִי רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ".
(1) ...Another interpretation: faithful meaning artisan. The Torah says: 'I was the artisan's tool of the Holy One, blessed be He'. Similarly, a king of flesh and blood who builds a castle, does not build it from his own knowledge, rather from the knowledge of an architect, and the architect does not build it from his own knowledge, rather he has plans and descriptions so that he knows how he will make rooms or marbled halls. Thus did the Holy One, blessed be He, consult the Torah and create the world. And the Torah said "In the beginning God created" and there is no beginning (reishit) except for Torah, as it is written: "God made me the beginning of His way" (Proverbs 8:22).
(טו) שַׁמַּאי אוֹמֵר, עֲשֵׂה תוֹרָתְךָ קְבַע. אֱמֹר מְעַט וַעֲשֵׂה הַרְבֵּה, וֶהֱוֵי מְקַבֵּל אֶת כָּל הָאָדָם בְּסֵבֶר פָּנִים יָפוֹת:
Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights. But we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the rst time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of:
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• Equality before the law, both divine and human
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• The sanctity of life and the dignity of a human person
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• The individual conscience, and so a personal redemption
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• Collective conscience, and so of social responsibility
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• Peace as an abstract ideal, and
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• Love as the foundation of justice
and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind. Without Jews it might have been a much emptier place.
I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation ... Fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. And through what? Through the Torah
3. Houston Smith, The Religions Of Man, p. 258 – The Jews introduced God into the world, a Divine and moral God Who cares for His creations.
TORAH CONTAINS ALL Of THE WORLD’S WISDOM
Torah study does not negate other areas of knowledge; on the contrary, many other areas of wisdom are found in the Torah. It contains knowledge of everything in the universe; consequently, one who has mastered the whole Torah has insight into many other areas of knowledge.
1. Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the fathers) 5:22 – All wisdom is contained in the Torah.
world’s wisdom is concentrated in the Torah because God created the world by looking into the Torah.
() אַהֲבָה רַבָּה אֲהַבְתָּנוּ ה' אֱלהֵינוּ. חֶמְלָה גְּדולָה וִיתֵרָה חָמַלְתָּ עָלֵינוּ: אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ. בַּעֲבוּר אֲבותֵינוּ שֶׁבָּטְחוּ בְךָ. וַתְּלַמְּדֵם חֻקֵּי חַיִּים כֵּן תְּחָנֵּנוּ וּתְלַמְּדֵנוּ: תַלְמוּד תּורָתֶךָ בְּאַהֲבָה: וְהָאֵר עֵינֵינוּ בְּתורָתֶךָ. וְדַבֵּק לִבֵּנוּ בְּמִצְותֶיךָ. וְיַחֵד לְבָבֵנוּ לְאַהֲבָה וּלְיִרְאָה אֶת שְׁמֶךָ. וְלא נֵבושׁ לְעולָם וָעֶד: כִּי בְשֵׁם קָדְשְׁךָ הַגָּדול וְהַנּורָא בָּטָחְנוּ. נָגִילָה וְנִשמְחָה בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ: וַהֲבִיאֵנוּ לְשָׁלום מֵאַרְבַּע כַּנְפות הָאָרֶץ. וְתולִיכֵנוּ קומְמִיּוּת לְאַרְצֵנוּ: כִּי אֵל פּועֵל יְשׁוּעות אָתָּה. וּבָנוּ בָחַרְתָּ מִכָּל עַם וְלָשׁון.וְקֵרַבְתָּנוּ לְשִׁמְךָ הַגָּדול סֶלָה בֶּאֱמֶת: לְהודות לְךָ וּלְיַחֶדְךָ בְּאַהֲבָה: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה'. הַבּוחֵר בְּעַמּו יִשרָאֵל בְּאַהֲבָה:
(ח) לֹֽא־יָמ֡וּשׁ סֵפֶר֩ הַתּוֹרָ֨ה הַזֶּ֜ה מִפִּ֗יךָ וְהָגִ֤יתָ בּוֹ֙ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔יְלָה לְמַ֙עַן֙ תִּשְׁמֹ֣ר לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת כְּכָל־הַכָּת֖וּב בּ֑וֹ כִּי־אָ֛ז תַּצְלִ֥יחַ אֶת־דְּרָכֶ֖ךָ וְאָ֥ז תַּשְׂכִּֽיל׃
(8) This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt contemplate it therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy ways prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
-How do we fulfill "vhagita bo yomam vlayla?" by contemplating everything through the lens of torah
I start shiur. I don’t know what the conclusion will be. When- ever I start the shi’ur the door opens another old man walks in and sits down. He is older than I am. He is the grandfather of the Rav; his name is Rav Hayyim Brisker, without whom you cannot learn nowadays. The door opens quietly again and another old man walks in. He is older than Rav Hayyim. He lived in the 17th century. What’s his name? Shabbesai Cohen, the famous Shakh who must be present when dinei mamonot are discussed... More visitors show up, some from 11th, 12th , 13th centuries, some from antiquity: Rabbi Akiva, Rashi, Rabbenu Tam, the Ra’avad, the Rashba, more and more come in. What do I do? I introduce them to my pupils and the dialogue com- mences. The Rambam says something and the Ra’avad dis- agrees: sometimes it’s very nasty; the Ra’avad uses very sharp language. A boy jumps up to defend the Rambam against the Ra’avad and the boy is fresh. You know how young boys are. He uses improper language so I correct him. Another boy jumps up with a new idea, the Rashba smiles gently. I try to analyze what the young boy meant... another boy intervenes... we call upon Rabbenu Tam to express his opinion and suddenly a sympo- sium of generations comes into existence. Generations, young boys twenty two or twenty three, and my generation, the gen- eration of Rav Hayyim Brisker, of the Shakh... of Rabbenu Tam, Rav Hai Ga’on, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Elazar, and Rabbi
Yohanan Ben Zakai... We all speak one language... We all chat. We all laugh. We all enjoy the company. We all pursue one goal. We all are committed to a common vision and we all operate with the same categories. There is Mesorah collegiality, friend- ship, comity between old and young between antiquity and Middle Ages and modern times... This unity of generations, this march of centuries, this conversation of generations this dialogue between antiquity and present will finally bring the redemption of the Jew.2
The implications of this are that the teacher must connect the students to the entire Mesorah going back all the way to Mount Sinai. The teacher should remind his students who each of the Sages was and when and where he lived. This gives them a greater appreciation of whom they are speaking about. He should train the students to analyze the opinions of our Sages not as detached observers but as active participants in the chain of the Mesorah.
-Lo Tachmod is last of 10 commandments, how can hashed demand an emotion,same with shema and obligation to love Him.. torah governs not only our actions but our emotions
halacha of only making birchat hatorah once a day because it penetrates all our actions,all day long.. all applied thru lens of torah
-ten chelkenu btorahtecha-we each have portion in torah; just as a torah is incomplete if its missing one letter
-neck connects head and heart; esavs head w
“Wisdom built its house” – God created the world using wisdom.
“חכמות בנתה ביתה” בחכמה בנה הקב”ה את עולמו.
“Wisdom built its house” – this is a reference to Torah, [with] which [He] created the entire universe.
“חכמות בנתה ביתה” זו התורה שבנתה כל העולמות.
When God created the universe, He looked into the Torah and created [based on what is written in it]. It was through the Torah that the world was created.
כד ברא קוב”ה עלמא הוה אסתכל בה באורייתא וברא עלמא ובאורייתא אתברי עלמא.
Therefore, the primary source of life, light, and existence of all the worlds is the involvement of the Jewish people in Torah study.
ולזאת עיקר חיותם ואורם וקיומם של העולמות כולם על נכון הוא רק כשאנחנו עוסקים בה כראוי.
The blessing we say [after reading from the Torah] is “[God] implanted eternal life within us,” like a plant which is planted with the intention
of producing fruit and thereby bringing goodness to the world. So too, if we uphold the holy Torah with all our might as is required, we will bring an abundance of holiness, blessing, and [spiritual] light to all the worlds.
אנו מברכים עליה “וחיי עולם נטע בתוכנו” כענין הנטיעה שנטיעתה כדי לעשות פרי להרבות טובה, כן אם אנו מחזיקים בתורה הקדושה בכל כחנו כראוי... ממשיכים... תוספות קדושה וברכה ואור גדול בכל העולמות.
כל המלמד לבנו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאלו קבלה מהר חורב שנאמר (דברים ד, ט) והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך וכתיב בתריה “יום אשר עמדת לפני ה’ אלקיך בחורב.
(כב) בֶּן בַּג בַּג אוֹמֵר, הֲפָךְ בָּהּ וַהֲפָךְ בָּהּ, דְּכֹלָּא בָהּ.
(ב) אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי, בכל יום ויום בת קול יוצאת מהר חורב ומכרזת ואומרת אוי להם לבריות מעלבונה של תורה. שכל מי שאינו עוסק בתורה נקרא נזוף, שנאמר (משלי יא כב): "נזם זהב באף חזיר, אשה יפה וסרת טעם".ואומר (שמות לב טז): "והלחת מעשה אלהים המה והמכתב מכתב אלהים הוא חרות על הלחת", אל תקרא חרות אלא חֵרות, שאין לך בן חורין אלא מי שעוסק בתלמוד תורה.וכל מי שעוסק בתלמוד תורה הרי זה מתעלה, שנאמר (במדבר כא יט): "וממתנה נחליאל ומנחליאל במות".