Finding the Ribbono shel Olam Within the Torah
Me’or Einayim: Illuminating Our Eyes
There is an incredible teaching in the Me’or Einayim1 that—as the title of the sefer suggests—truly illuminates our eyes to the greatness of the kabbolas haTorah that every one of us is set to experience. This teaching is a remarkable yesod that we must constantly internalize and live with. The piece can be found in Parashas Yisrael on the pasuk תא לקיםא וידבר האלה הדברים כל; we will elaborate upon this Me’or Einayim together:
All the Dibros at Once
We know that at first, HaKadosh Baruch Hu told all the Aseres HaDibros to Klal Yisrael at one time, in such a manner that it was impossible for the Yidden to hear and understand them. It was then necessary for Moshe Rabbeinu to repeat the Dibros as Klal Yisrael had requested—and HaKadosh Baruch Hu then spoke from within the voice of Moshe (Berachos 45a).
Asks the Me’or Einayim, didn’t HaKadosh Baruch Hu know from the start that the Yidden would be able to accept the Torah in such a manner?! What was the purpose of this entire exercise?
1. Authored by the holy Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl (1730-1797), a talmid of the Ba’al Shem Tov and one of the great Chassidic masters.
Why to the Beis Medrash?
To answer this, the Me’or Einayim cites the well-known Chazal, “If you have encountered the contemptible one (the yetzer hara), drag him to the Beis Medrash... even if he is as hard as stone, he will melt away” (Kiddushin 30b). We drag him there because the power of Torah will nullify the yetzer hara. The question arises: Why are we exhorted to “drag him to the Beis Medrash?” Does it really matter where one learns? Chazal should have told us to learn Torah—as this is the primary means to nullify the power of the yetzer hara! Why are we told to drag him to the Beis Medrash?
How Can We Make Torah Feel New?
A third question asked by the Me’or Einayim—as a way of answering the initial question—is: Chazal tell us, “Every day, when a person learns Torah, it must feel new to him, as though it had just been given to him (Midrash Tanchumah Yisro 7). This begs the question: How can we make something that is thousands of years old feel new? What is the depth of Chazal in this?
As we examine these yesodos, we will gain a better understanding of the events that took place during התורה קבלת, and how those incidents continue to affect us today.
The Letters of the Torah Are the Royal Chambers
In the holy sefarim, we are told that the letters of the Torah—aleph, beis, gimmel, etc.—are referred to as the דמלכא היכלין, chambers of the King. The twenty-two letters of the aleph-beis are the “rooms” in which the Ribbono shel Olam can be found!
What’s Inside Is Most Important
When we stand outside a magnificent shul—as glamorous and beautiful as it may be—we understand that the building is just the façade, while the ikkar is what takes place inside.
It has lately become a trend to build magnificent aron kodesh chests inside our shuls. People invest inordinate sums of money and incredible talent to build these masterpieces—and this is a justifiable expenditure for our heilige Sifrei Torah that we deposit inside.
But everyone understands that the true magnificence is what lies inside the aron kodesh: It is merely the chamber into which we place the Sefer Torah. We cannot remain mesmerized by what is outside; we must focus on what is inside.
The Cover Is Not the Ikkar
Somone who places the primary emphasis on the outside is likened to the person who has a new library and wishes to purchase sefarim to line its shelves. “What kind of Shas and Shulchan Aruch would you like to purchase?” asks the proprietor. “I don’t know,” he answers, “but I need so many shelves of black covers, and this many shelves of red covers.... The owner looks at him with understandable pity; the man has exchanged the pnimiyus for the chitzoniyus, the inside for the outer trappings—because he remains focused on the outside picture.
The Letters of the Torah Are the Cover for Hashem’s Light
We must internalize the fact that it is the same with the osiyos haTorah: The cover of a sefer is indeed a cover for the great light that lies within it, but we must also know that even the letters within the sefer are only a chamber for the great light of Hashem that it houses.
It is not so difficult to feel this. One must only approach Torah learning with the right attitude’ that is, to wish to find Hashem within the holy letters of the Torah.
Letting the Light Penetrate
If we approach our learning with an emes because we are seeking out the Ribbono shel Olam within the words, and if we understand that every letter is another heichal, a chamber that houses the Heavenly light, then the light will indeed penetrate our neshamah! It will truly bring a tremendous kirvas Elokim, a true closeness to HaKadosh Baruch Hu—and all the good that this brings along with it. But we must know what we are seeking!
Sometimes, a person learns in order to be able to repeat a vort at the Shabbos table—and this is laudable. Often, a person learns for the sake of truly acquiring and mastering Torah—and this is a great madreigah as well. But we must go beyond that: Torah must be learned with an even higher objective.
Making the Extra Effort
A Yid must learn, not only to enable him to feel like a normal person who is לתורה עתים קובע. Precisely because you’re already sacrificing so much to set aside time to learn, take the next step.... You’re already so close! Have in mind: I am learning the heilige Torah because I want to find the Ribbono shel Olam within it.
Whether we’re learning areas of Torah that have a direct lesson for us, or if we are learning sugyos that aren’t as relevant in our daily life—the constant theme is: The Ribbono shel Olam “wrote Himself” into the Torah (י’הבית כ’תבית נ’פשאי א’נא) and we want to find Him!
He Wrote Himself into the Letters
According to this, the Me’or Einayim explains, when HaKadosh Baruch Hu transmitted the Dibros the first time—in that moment, He wrote Himself into the letters of the Torah. The incredible revelation that in every letter of the Torah lies the Ohr, light, of Hashem took place in that moment of התורה קבלת.
Ever since that moment, whenever a Yid sits down to learn, even for a short time, and he learns Chumash with Rashi for the sake of finding the Ribbono shel Olam within the holy words—as Rebbe Mordechai of Nadvorna said, “You want to find Hashem? Learn Chumash with Rashi!—then he will indeed find Hashem.
This was the first step of Mattan Torah—and the most important one. HaKadosh Baruch Hu placed Himself into the letters of the Torah—letters that have a physical existence and can be touched... so that the Torah would be accessible to us by learning the words. Only afterward did Moshe Rabbeinu elaborate and clarify it in a way that everyone could understand.
The Giver of the Torah Reveals Himself to One Who Learns Torah
Seeing G-dliness Before Our Eyes
There are many questions in Yiddishkeit that have relatively simple answers, but we don’t have enough clarity in them. Sometimes, a person will ask, “How can I see that there is a Ribbono shel Olam?” And he brings proofs from the Creation....
The Bnei Yisasschar (Ma’ayan Ganim, Perek 2) elaborates at length that proof to Hashem’s existence is necessary only for someone standing on the outside—for example, if a non-Jew asks for proof of a Creator. Such a person has never experienced G-dliness. Such a person needs proof. But a Yid has the Torah. He doesn’t require any proof—for he can access the Ribbono shel Olam within the words of the Torah! Such a question would be baseless for someone who can learn Torah and can access Hashem within it.
Having a “Magnetic Key”
This yesod is better understood with words of the aforementioned Me’or Einayim, who teaches us that Hashem placed Himself into the words of the Torah, waiting to be found within them. If you are a part of Am Yisrael, if you have a neshamah, then you were granted the power to find Hashem in Torah—not only the outer trappings of the Torah, but the most exalted light that lies hidden with it.
Today, it is common to find doors that are opened with a magnetic key card. If we place the card in the right position, the door will open.
The Ribbono shel Olam placed a “code” into each and every one of us: If we position ourselves next to the Torah in the proper way, the door to the greatest light will open before us, and we will be able to “see” with clarity that that there is a Ribbono shel Olam.
No Need for Proof: I Saw Him with My Own Eyes
Suppose that a person has a wealthy great-uncle that he has only heard about many times but had never seen. People often speak about his wealth, but the nephew can never really be sure that such a person really exists or that he is actually as wealthy as he is portrayed. But once he meets his uncle even once, he will never need proof of his existence again—because he has seen him with his own eyes.
Similarly, the Ribbono shel Olam gave every Yid the ability to find Him with great clarity, and he will not need to rely on any proof—because he has “seen” Him. But in order to attain that clarity, one must learn Torah with the proper approach.
Torah must be learned with bittul to the words of the Torah. The way to attain clarity is to learn on even the basic level of Torah lishmah, for its own sake, as we will elaborate. This means that the person learns Torah for the sake of changing himself through the Torah. For example, he has a debate with his friend about a certain halachah—whether something is muttar or assur—and he now learns seriously to ascertain the truth: This a madreigah in learning Torah lishmah. The Shelah HaKadosh teaches that the definition of “lishmah” is to “learn in order to do [mitzvos].” One has now been mevatel himself to the Torah, and thus Hashem will be revealed to him.
Torah Fortifies Us Against the Power of the Yetzer Hara
The זוהמא from the הדעת עץ
One may ask: What is this talk about the Ribbono shel Olam revealing Himself to us in the Torah? For more clarity, we return to the holy words of the Me’or Einyaim:
Everyone knows that the guf, body, of a person is an entity to be reckoned with: It is very emphatic about its needs. Everyone knows the various aspects of his yetzer hara, the things he is drawn to, the taivos that every person has... the difficulties with shemiras einayim, negative middos such as anger, the need for nekamah, and so on.... There’s no question that the body knows what it wants, and it demands to be satisfied. Just as this applies to the physical needs of the body, so too it applies to the person’s emotional and psychological needs: The body of a person demands much.
But it wasn’t always this way: The world was created in such a way that the human body was weaker and less “opinionated” — and it was at the cheit of the הדעת עץ that everything changed. The snake placed a זוהמא (lit., filth) into Chavah, from whom we are all descended, and since that time, the guf has been able to drag a person toward its demands with herculean strength. Even when the neshamah lands a blow, the guf isn’t scared off, and it returns with force....
Torah Removes זוהמא
Indeed, the Gemara tell us that when the Yidden stood at Har Sinai, the זוהמא left them entirely (Shabbos 146a), but when Klal Yisrael committed the העגל חטא, it returned again. Says the Me’or Einayim, answering his initial question:
This is the peshat in the words כחדשים בעניך יהיו יום בכל, every day the Torah should be new to you, as though it was just given, because just as at Mattan Torah the זוהמא was removed from the Yidden—through their connection to סוף אין אור that is revealed inside the letters— so too, it is removed, bit by bit, every time a Yid learns Torah! He becomes a new person, because he has connected with the words of the Torah, and thus his זוהמא is removed.
Little by Little
The Ribbono shel Olam expects of us כחדשים בעניך יהיו יום בכל: We should learn Torah remembering that through our learning, the very same thing is accomplished as at Mattan Torah: Our material being is cleansed and elevated through the giving of the Torah anew.
The only difference between now and Mattan Torah is that then it occurred all at once, while today it takes place little by little: Every time a person learns Torah, the strength of the guf is minimized and weakened, the power of the yetzer hara is diminished, and the זוהמא is cleansed, little by little, until the coming of Mashiach.
The Greatest Proof of Hashem’s Existence
With this teaching of the Me’or Einayim, we can well understand what it means that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is “revealed” in the letters of the Torah.
If one learns with the proper approach—he davens before he learns, he recites Birchas HaTorah from the depths of his heart, he davens with fervor that Hashem should strengthen and fortify his neshamah, he asks that his guf should not pull him in the wrong direction and that the Torah should serve as the “spice” against his yetzer hara—then he will discover that that there is a Ribbono shel Olam, because he will see that his approach worked!
This is the greatest proof of the existence of Hashem: That in such a lowly world, with the incredible pull of the yetzer hara that exists in our time—there should be Yidden whose yetzer hara has been weakened through their connection to Ein Sof! This doesn’t mean that they no longer have a yetzer hara, they didn’t become malachim... but they have the ability to be strong in the face of the yetzer hara! The התורה קדושת has transformed them!
The Greatest Proof Is When It Works...
People go to various courses and workshops in a variety of areas. When asked whether the thousands of dollars spent were worth the expense, some will say, “I was given certain tools, but I don’t really know how to utilize them.” Another person will say, “I tried it and it worked.” When asked how he knows that it worked, he responds, “Because I tried it and it worked for me; can there be any better proof?!”
The greatest proof of the existence of a Borei Olam is that Yidden are able to restrain their yetzer hara. In This World, it doesn’t exist.
When a person sees that following his learning, his yetzer hara has become just a bit weaker...the pulls have subsided... he is “seeing” HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But, as noted, one must learn with the proper desire, with the aim that he should indeed be transformed through Torah.
Drag the Yetzer Hara into The King’s Chambers
Earlier we brought the question of the Me’or Einayim: Why, when encountering the yetzer hara, does it say to “drag him into the Beis Medrash”? It should say to learn Torah!
Explains the Me’or Einayim: This is what we mean by המדרש לבית משכהו. Drag the yetzer hara inside the דמלכא היכלין! Every letter of the Torah is a Beis HaMedrash, a home, a chamber of the king! Enter it, and you will be protected there from the yetzer hara!
No matter how frightening the yetzer hara is, the Torah is an antidote and a protection. The Ribbono shel Olam says, “You don’t need to tell Me how difficult it is; I created him! I know precisely how strong the yetzer hara is, and I assure you that the Torah is tavlin, an adequate protection, against his power. If you haven’t seen it work yet, then you haven’t tried it properly.”
The fact is that it works! Looking in every kehillah, we see countless Yidden who have elevated themselves. They weren’t born this way; they had a big yetzer hara. But they learned a little, and then some more, and they begged the Ribbono shel Olam that their learning should transform them. And it worked!
Torah Always Works
We are exhorted to “drag the yetzer hara to the Beis Medrash”—because merely learning is not enough. Torah must be learned with the intention, and with the fervor, that the yetzer hara should be burned out of him! To have the koach to overpower the yetzer hara! Because the fire of Torah indeed burns out the yetzer hara.
This is what the Bnei Yisasschar is teaching us: A Yid doesn’t need any outside proofs to the existence of Hashem; he sees it in the Torah. Often there are people who have questions...the yetzer hara doesn’t leave anyone out. But we must do what the tzaddikim have taught us: If a person will learn in such a way every day—with the intention and the focus to “burn out” the yetzer hara—he will undoubtedly see HaKadosh Baruch Hu. We must learn Torah in such a way that the Torah will purify us!
The Ribbono shel Olam Gave Himself to Us
The Ribbono shel Olam gave us the Torah, and a person can choose any area of Torah to learn: As long as there are “letters” therein, there is an Ohr Hashem enclosed in the letters. If one isn’t presently in the mode of being able to learn deep sugyos, he can learn the letters of Chumash with Rashi—but it must be learned with fervor. Even if a person will learn it for only 15 minutes, it will impact his neshamah!
At Mattan Torah, HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave us the greatest gift: He gave us Himself! This is the entire essence of Mattan Torah: The event where HaKadosh Baruch Hu enclosed Himself in the letters of the Torah and gave it to us. Now, all that is left for us to do is to take a Gemara or a Chumash—and if we learn in the above method, then Hashem will reveal Himself to us. We will find Him within the letters.
The Women Came First
The same applies to saying Tehillim with fervor. David HaMelech beseeched Hashem that Yidden who recite Tehillim should be considered as though they are studying the most intricate halachos! The Degel Machane Ephraim (Parashas Chayei Sarah) states that Tehillim was granted the same Ohr as Chamisha Chumshei Torah—each of the sefarim of Tehillim corresponds to another sefer of Chumash—and when people recite Tehillim, they tap into that tremendous light.
Although the study of Torah wasn’t given to the women, the Torah was given to the women. Furthermore, they were called for Mattan Torah before the men.
The power of Tehillim that is possessed by the nashim tzidkaniyos contains all that light. For their avodas Hashem, for the sake of bringing warmth into their homes, there is so much power in Tehillim to fend off the yetzer hara.
The Worst Thing for the Yetzer Hara
The yetzer hara will do everything in his power that we shouldn’t learn. Here, one needs to make a phone call... then he has to take care of things... And when we understand what transpires when a Yid learns Torah, is it any wonder? Is there any question why the yetzer hara pulls out the stops for a Yid not to get near the Torah?!
The tzaddikim have already warned us that the yetzer hara is even prepared to help us become busy with mitzvos—all so that we shouldn’t learn Torah. He begs us, “Please don’t sit down to learn in such a manner, because this would be the end of me!”
We must strengthen ourselves not to squander this incredible gift. Such an incredible gift! The gift of HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself, and the ability to remake ourselves through Torah: This is truly the joy of Shavuos, when we rejoice with the Torah.
It is not distant from us, and we are not distant from it! Every Yid has the ability to begin learning Torah in such a manner—with warmth and with fervor—and immediately begin feeling close. It is not a long journey... every bit of Torah that we learn will bring us closer and closer to ultimate goal of eradicating the yetzer hara and to truly become close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
