PART I – Shavuos: Support for the Torah, Sitting and Learning Torah, and the Abundance of Bnei Yeshiva

The following is "The Greatest Gift" (Shavuos, The Most Happy Day, from Toras Avigdor, *compilations of Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt"l) 

Part I. The Greatest Gift

A Day of Happiness

I remember when I was learning in Slabodka that it was the minhag of the yeshivas in Europe that Shavuos was the happiest day of the year; there was a wild excitement, even more than Simchas Torah. And I use the word “minhag” deliberately because we were trained for that; we were prepared for the day by our rebbeim. And so it wasn’t a wildness of hefkeirus — in some places you see that on Simchas Torah; frivolity, even drunkenness. No, that’s nothing. In Slabodka on Shavuos we became wild with excitement, with gratitude and ahavas Hashem. I remember it well; it was something unique, more than any other day of the year.

Now, it doesn’t mean that there weren’t other days that had their own special outpouring of emotions. Rosh Hashana was tziternesh, a trembling at Yom Hadin. And Neilah? Ooh ah! It was tremendous in the Slabodka Yeshiva. Everybody was weeping and shouting; you would think they would raise the ceiling from the noise. It was something indescribable; they went arois fun de keilim.

And so there were other special days, special emotions, yes, but Shavuos was the happiest — a great simcha of love of Hashem. And that’s something we should study because it wasn’t just something that happened that way.

TYH: For What?

And we begin with a question: What is the most fundamental chiyuv that a person is obliged to do in this world? It’s a good question. If you never thought about that, you have a right to be concerned. Fundamentally, what are you here to do?

And the answer is in the Chovos Halevavos, in Shaar Habechina. He says that gratitude to Hashem, that’s the most fundamental of all chiyuvim. That’s what it says, טוֹב לְהוֹדוֹת לַה׳ – It’s good to say thank You to Hashem (Tehillim 92:2). Because the rule is that when a word is placed at the beginning of a possuk, it’s put there to emphasize that word. And so we’re expected to read this possuk like this: טוֹב – Do you know what the true good is, what true success and happiness is? לְהוֹדוֹת לַה׳ – Undertaking a career of thanking Hashem. That’s the main function of our lives! Unfortunately, it’s ignored by many in the frum world, but the most important method of achieving shleimus is through expression of our gratitude to Hashem.

But just to say “Thank You, Hashem” without thinking, without knowing what you’re thanking for — that’s not the Chovos Halevavos. And so he enumerates there very many of the chasdei Hashem that we have to keep in mind for which we have to be grateful — a long list. It’s not complete, of course, but it’s a list that whets the mind’s appetite, so you should at least understand how big of a chiyuv it actually is.

And when he finishes enumerating all the things, he finally says, “Hagedolah – But the greatest of all the benefits that Hashem bestowed upon us, which means the one that requires the greatest amount of gratitude, is the Torah and the nissim.”

Number One on the List

Now, the nissim, how that comes in here, is a question that has been explained before and I won’t take the time now to repeat it. But the Torah is the number one of the two. That is the greatest of all the chasdei Hashem, the one that requires from us the greatest attitude of gratitude. The greatest outpouring of emotion, of appreciation, is reserved for the Torah.

Now, everyone here is of course loyal to the Torah; we try to practice, to keep everything. But we’re learning now a different subject. We’re not talking now about doing the mitzvos, or even learning the Torah; we’re talking about the great joy of possessing the Torah. It’s the greatest duty of every man and woman, boy and girl, to feel as keenly as possible the happiness of having the Torah!

Why We Went Into Exile

How much? So the Gemara in Nedarim (81a) discusses a possuk about the Churban Bayis Rishon. In Yirmiyahu (9:11) it states, עַל מָה אָבְדָה הָאָרֶץ – Why did the land go lost? Why did we lose Eretz Yisroel? And the Gemara says that it was a big puzzle. It was something they couldn’t figure out. דָּבָר זֶה נִשְׁאַל לַנְּבִיאִים – They asked the Nevi’im, וְלֹא פֵּרְשׁוּהוּ – but even they couldn’t explain it.

Now, we find that a little bit strange because it seems to us any one of us could explain that. Ask a little boy in cheder, he knows right away. He’ll tell you. His morah in kindergarten, with her great wisdom, told him that it was because they worshipped idols and because they shed innocent blood; other terrible sins too. And how can we blame the Beis Yaakov teacher? Even scholarly people have been bamboozled into believing that the generations in the times of the first Sanctuary, the Bayis Rishon, were sinful and wicked people.

A Generation of Tzaddikim

No. We must know that we are under a delusion if we think that the people were so rebellious that they deserved to lose Eretz Yisroel. Rabi Yochanan, you have to know, was an authority. He was the Rabban shel Kol Yisroel in his time, and if he says something, you can rely on him. And he says like this: טוֹבָה צִפּוֹרְנָן שֶׁל רִאשׁוֹנִים – The fingernail of the generation at the time of the first Churban is better, מִכְּרֵיסוֹ שֶׁל אַחֲרוֹנִים – than the belly of the following generation (Yoma 9b).

You know, a belly is full of organs. The fingernail has no organs. The fingernail of that generation at the end of Bayis Rishon, the lowest element, was better than the belly — it means better than the best generations — in the second Beis Hamikdash. And so in Yirmiyah’s time you can be certain that the people were more loyal to the Torah than they are in Lakewood today; even more than in Me’ah Shearim or in Bnei Brak or anywhere else.

The Unanswered Question

And therefore the question is a legitimate question.  עַל מָה אָבְדָה הָאָרֶץ – Why did the land go lost? And Nevi’im didn’t know what to say. The Nevi’im?! The Nevi’im who were busy criticizing the people all the time? The Nevi’im who looked with a magnifying glass? They didn’t see with their own eyes; they saw things that were רַע בְּעֵינֵי ה׳. But if it was in our eyes, einei bnei adam, it wouldn’t be ra at all. Only that they looked with a magnifying glass, and the smallest things they found to be serious. And even they, with their magnifying glass, לֹא פֵּרְשׁוּהוּ – they couldn’t explain it.

So they asked the Chachomim. Sometimes a chacham is adif m’Navi (Bava Basra 12a). He’s better; he can see things that even a prophet can’t. But לֹא פֵּרְשׁוּהוּ – they couldn’t explain it either. They didn’t know why the land was destroyed. They looked, they investigated, they studied the words of the tochacha, they researched, but they couldn’t find in the behavior of the people something that justified the Churban.

And so everyone was at a loss until a nevuah came. עַד שֶׁפֵּרְשׁוּ הקב”ה בְּעַצְמוֹ – The only One Who could answer the question was Hakadosh Baruch Hu alone. And what did He answer? עַל עָזְבָם אֶת תּוֹרָתִי – Because they forsook My Torah.

Now, that’s a queer answer. If that’s what they did, if they forsook the Torah, then why wasn’t this said by the Nevi’im and the Chachomim? Something so straightforward, so blatant, you don’t need a nevuah for.

Forgetting the Blessing

So the Gemara says, you know what it means ‘they forsook My Torah’? שֶׁלֹּא בֵּרְכוּ בַּתּוֹרָה תְּחִלָּה – It means they didn’t make a bracha when they began learning Torah every day.

But even that is not a sufficient answer it seems. Because the bracha on the Torah most poskim say is d’Oraisa and so it certainly is a big sin to forget birchas haTorah. If you eat bread without making a bracha first, it’s less of a sin than learning Torah without a bracha. הַמּוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הָאָרֶץ is very important but it’s d’Rabanan; it’s a smaller sin than not making a bracha on the Torah. Let’s say you want to learn in the morning before you come to the beis hakenesses, so you have to make a birchas haTorah. And it’s d’Oraisa; it’s very chomur.

So the question is if they weren’t saying the bracha why didn’t the Chachomim and Nevi’im say that? They weren’t making a bracha on the Torah?! That’s a very serious accusation! The Nevi’im and the Chachomim would have known that.

Not Appreciating the Blessing

So Rabbeinu Yonah says they did make a bracha on the Torah. Of course they did. They said the words of the bracha, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ, אֲשֶׁר בָּחַר בָּנוּ, but they didn’t understand the greatness of the gift of the Torah that they should really be happy with it. It’s like people today; when you make a bracha on a piece of bread, you don’t think about what the bread is. Bread is life. Bread turns into every good thing that we need. Bread becomes our hair and our eyes. And it’s transformed in miraculous ways, miraculous processes. But what do we do? We make a bracha without thinking; we say the words but we don’t appreciate the bread. It’s a sin. It’s ingratitude.

But a bracha on the Torah without appreciating is much worse, because the greater the gift, the greater the gratitude required. If someone gives you a million dollars, would you merely say “thank you” and be finished? So if you’re a shoteh, or if you’re two years old and you don’t understand the value of money, maybe yes. But if you’re a sane person — let’s say someone came in now and called you out of here; he says he has a message for you. So you walk outside and he tells you that the Governor sent him to find you; he wants to tell you that you won the million dollar sweepstakes. He would have to bring along some smelling salts because you would stagger. No question. You might fall down from great happiness. And as soon as you recovered, I suspect you’d do a jig, a dance right outside on Ocean Parkway.

But nobody will do a jig if he doesn’t appreciate money. If he thinks a million dollars means a million toothpicks, what’s there to jig about? And that, Rabbeinu Yonah says, was the big sin of that generation. They made a bracha, yes. And they appreciated the Torah, yes; but not as much as they should have. And so when they said birchas haTorah it wasn’t said with the gratitude befitting such a gift.

That’s how Rabbeinu Yonah explains the words of the Gemara, שֶׁלֹּא בֵּרְכוּ בַּתּוֹרָה תְּחִלָּה. It means that when they said the words they had kavanah, the peirush hamilos they understood, but they didn’t appreciate enough the gift of the Torah. Their hearts didn’t swell with pride, their minds didn’t overflow with gratitude, in proportion to the great gift they were thanking for. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu wasn’t satisfied: “It means you don’t understand how vast is this treasure that I’m giving you.”

The Final Answer

Now, Rabbeinu Nissim, that’s the Ran, when he quotes this explanation of Rabbeinu Yonah he says that “these words are רָאוּי לְמִי שֶׁאֲמָרָם – they’re befitting coming from such a great man as he was.” He approves of Rabbeinu Yonah’s answer.

And so now we know; we can quite confidently say — it’s a good lineup after all; Rabbeinu Yonah, Rabbeinu Nissim — why the land went lost. Why were we sent into Golus? Because we didn’t spend time thinking about and appreciating this great gift of the Torah. Because it’s not only the outward expressions that Hashem looks for; He looks also at what’s inside your head, your emotions. That’s what Yeshaya Hanavi said. בְּפִיו וּבִשְׂפָתָיו כִּבְּדוּנִי – They honored Me with their words, וְלִבּוֹ רִחַק מִמֶּנִּי – but their minds are far away (Yeshayahu 29:13).

The Avodah of Shavuos

Hashem is not satisfied with the minimum. Just like at Har Sinai, when you accepted the Torah with a fiery enthusiasm, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, “מִי יִתֵּן וְהָיָה לְבָבָם זֶה לְיִרְאָה אוֹתִי… כָּל הַיָּמִים – the same heart you had at Har Sinai, that’s what I want always (Devarim 5:26). I want the same enthusiasm. I don’t want cold Jews who keep the Torah. I want fiery na’aseh v’nishma Jews, and it should be forever. And any reduction in the heat of that Kabolas haTorah, I’m not satisfied. It’s too big of a gift for that.”

Now, Shavuos is a time to think about that more than other days. Although every day you should make the bracha with some idea of what it implies, Shavuos is a special occasion to study the most important of all subjects — the subject of appreciating that great gift that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave to us. That’s how it becomes the most happy day on the Jewish calendar.

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