A Warning Fulfilled
In this week’s sedrah Hakadosh Baruch Hu warns the Bnei Yisroel about the terrible punishments that will befall them at the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, when the land would go lost from us. And He tells us why it will happen:
ִּ מְ אָ סוֹּ תַ י תְּ חֻ קּוְ אִ ם ב – And if you will loathe My chukosai, My Torah..., ֶ ם לִ פְ נֵי אֹיְבֵ יכֶ םַּ פְ תּוְ נִ ג – you will be struck down before your enemies (Vayikra 26:14-17).
And so to us it seems understandable. ‘If you will loathe My Torah’ so there are repercussions. After all, Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn’t bring us to Eretz Yisroel to speak Hebrew and to have a Tzahal; He brought us into the land to be a Torah nation. And if we don’t fulfill our part then it makes sense that וַהֲשִׁ מּ ֹתִ י אֲ נִי אֶת הָאָרֶ ץ ... וְאֶתְ כֶםָהּ חָרְ בּוֹיִם ... וְהָיְתָה אַרְ צְכֶם שְׁמָמָה וְעָרֵ יכֶם יִהְיוַּגָּרֶ ה בְּאֶז – And I, Hashem, will make the land desolate ... and I will scatter you among the nations ... your land will be desolate and your cities will be a ruin (ibid. 32-33). And so it’s understandable what happened. He kept His word, that’s all.
But we have to know, we’ll see soon, that it’s not as simple as people imagine; actually the truth is very very far from our imaginations. And therefore it would be a good idea tonight to spend some time studying the subject of what it was that caused the Churban.
Searching For Answers
We must know that in the days of Yirmiyah Hanavi when he began to foretell the approach of the destruction the people were displeased with him because of his bitter castigations of them, his tirades against them. And they said, “What do you want from us?ּנוּוְתוֹרַ ת ה’ אִתָ – Don’t we hold loyally to the Torah of Hashem?” (8:8)
And they said it because it was so. The people followed no other constitution, no other code of laws except the Torah. They judged only by the laws of the Torah in the way that our traditions explained it should be applied. They learned Torah and kept it – they lived their lives al pi Torah – and therefore, “What else could you expect of us?” was the question asked to Yirmiyah HaNavi.
Now could be that had we been consulted, we would have immediately given the answer. This answer, that answer. We like to think we know all about our ancestors’ sins. But apparently it was not such a simple question for the people to answer.
Wise Men and Prophets Too
But not only the people, the amei haaretz; מִ י הָאִישׁ הֶחָכָם וְיָבֵן אוֹתוֹ – even the wise men couldn’t understand it (ibid.)ָ בָר זֶה נִשְׁ אַל לַחֲ כָמִיםּד – They asked of the Chachomim, the Sages,ּה וּא פּ ֵ רְ שׁ וֹוְ ל – and they couldn’t explain it either (Nedarim 81a).
It doesn’t mean they had nothing to say. There’s no question they pointed out this fault, this misbehavior, this area in which you can improve yourself. Was there ever a nation where you couldn’t find something wrong, unless they’re malachim? It’s certain that the Chachomim gave various opinions, but it seemed unsatisfactory to explain such a catastrophe.
So לַ נ ּ ְ בִ י אִ י םּשׁ ָ אֲ ל ו – the Neviim were asked, אֹ וְ לּה וּפּ ֵ רְ שׁ ו – but they couldn’t explain it either. They knew that what Yirmiyah said was going to happen but why it should happen, that they couldn’t say. The Neviim who criticized, who rebuked, who sought faults in order to point them out to the people, even they were not able to explain in a matter that was satisfactory.
Until finally Hakadosh Baruch Hu sent a message by one of the prophets as follows: ֹ אמֶ רּ וַ יה’ – and Hashem said, וֹ רָ תִ יּאֶ ת ת עַ ל עָ זְ בָ ם – because they forsook My Torah (Yirmiyah 9:12).
Now that seems puzzling. If they didn’t keep the Torah couldn’t the Chachomim see that? If they forsook the Torah why were the Neviim not able to explain it? What was the big puzzle, עַ ל מָ האָ בְ דָ ה הָ אָ רֶ ץ?
Destruction for a Blessing?!
And so the Gemara explains, ein hachi nami, they kept everything. They kept the Torah, absolutely. And they learned Torah too – much more than we learn. So in what way did they forsake the Torah? ָהְּחִלּוֹרָה תַּתּ בֵּרְכוּא בֹּּשֶׁל – They didn’t make a bracha when they were sitting down to learn Torah. They kept everything only when they sat down to study the Torah, they didn’t make a bracha beforehand; that’s the conclusion of the Gemara.
Now, that’s a remarkable explanation, to say that’s why they went into Golus. It certainly is a sin; when you learn in the morning – before you come to the beis haknesses and you want to learn something at home – you have to make a birchas HaTorah. According to some it’s d’Oraysa; it’s more important than making a brachah, hamotzi, on bread before you eat. But does that justify destroying Yerushalayim and slaughtering the inhabitants and sending the people out into exile far away from their homeland for many years with all the attendant tribulations that exile means? It’s a remarkable explanation! But the Gemara says that and so we have to understand it.
Treasure the Treasure
And so we come now to our subject. The Ran on the Gemara there quotes with approval the following peirush of Rabbeinu Yonah. Rabbeinu Yonah says they made birchas haTorah. Of course they did. There’s no such thing as not saying birchas haTorah before learning Torah. So what does it mean they didn’t say the brachos? אֹּ שׁ ֶ לבָה לָהֶםָּ נָה חֲ שׁ וּוֹרָ ה מַתּהָיְתָ ה הַת – The Torah wasn’t considered to them as an important gift.
They said the words of the brachah like we say הַמּ וֹצִיא לֶחֶ ם מִ ן הָ אָ רֶ ץ when we eat bread. When you make a brachah on a piece of bread, do you think about what the bread is? Do you appreciate that bread is life, that bread becomes transformed in miraculous ways into every good thing that we need? Do you appreciate that bread becomes your hair and your eyes and your blood and your brain? A nechtigeh tug. It’s just a formality; there’s a din you have to make a brachah so we’re loyal enough to say the words. But to actually appreciate the bread?
The Greatest Gift
But a brachah on the Torah without appreciating is much much worse because the gift of the Torah is much much greater than bread. The Torah is everything to us and according to the greatness of a gift that’s how much you have to appreciate it. And so absolutely they learned Torah before the Churban. More than we do! They made brachos! And absolutely they appreciated the Torah. More than we do! But the appreciation didn’t rise up to what it should have been, to what such a gift requires. And that, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, is the reason that the land got lost.
You hear that? That’s already a valid reason for destroying the land! To our ears it sounds too extreme but the Ran says these words are י לְ מִ י שׁ ֶ אֲ מָ רָ םּרָ א ו. He approved of Rabbeinu Yonah's answer. The conclusion of the Gemara – it means the truth of the matter – is that they didn’t appreciate the Torah enough.
Hashem says, “At Har Sinai I gave you the biggest gift that ever was given and that will ever be given to mankind. And you’re not meshuga with happiness, with pride, with joy about it? That’s calledִּ מְ אָ ס וּוֹ תַ י תְּ חֻ קּב; for such a gift, that’s called loathing the Torah. And that’s why the land went lost.”
Of course we have to make allowances for human nature. When the Torah was given at Har Sinai, there was tremendous excitement. We loved Hakadosh Baruch Hu for this gift more than if He would have given us ingots of gold and silver and precious jewels. יְ קָ רָ ה הִ יא מִ פְּ נִינִים – The Torah to us is more precious than diamonds, מִ נּ ֹ פֶ תפִ יםּצו – more sweet than honey. That’s how it was in the beginning. They were so much in love with Hashem’s Torah:ִָ י תוֹרָ תֶ ךּמָ ה אָ הַ בְת – How I love Your Torah!
Life in Both Worlds
But it’s a weakness of man that over time the genuine appreciation required of him for a gift diminishes; especially when a person doesn’t think about it much so it tapers off until it becomes much much less than it deserves. And when it comes to such a gift like the Torah it’s a terrible sin. A Torah Jew means a Jew who for him the Torah is chashuvah b’einav. That’s the foundation of being a Torah Jew.
The Chovos Halevavos, in his Shaar Habechinah where he lists all of the gifts that a person must be grateful for, says that Torah is not just one of the chasdei Hashem. It’s the one! Of all the myriad kindlinesses that Hashem bestowed upon us, hagedolah, the greatest one, is the Torah.
And that means that among the many subjects that a Jew must take time to think about in terms of gratitude and appreciation the most important one is: קִים עָלָיוְֹגֹדֶ ל טוֹבוֹת הָאֱלּב – how great is the benefit of Hashem upon us, וֵֹּשׁ בְּהֶעָרָ תוֹ אֶל מָה שֶׁיּ בִּ שְׁ נֵי הָ עוֹ לָ מִ יםּתוֹ בּוּחַ י – by giving us life in this world and in the World to Come, ֶדֶתְּתוֹרָה נִכְבּב – by means of the glorious Torah (Shaar Cheshbon Hanefesh: 4).
Inheritance Jigs
Suppose a telegram came tonight when you come home – it’s waiting for you on your doorstep, a telegram from a lawyer’s office in Manhattan: “We have to inform you that you inherited a million dollars.”
You’d just read it like this and put it down? No! You’d do a jig. You’d dance! I would. Maybe you don’t care for money but I would absolutely do a jig.
But nobody is going to do a jig if he doesn’t appreciate the inheritance. If he thinks a million dollars means a million thumbtacks or a million toothpicks so what’s there to jig about?
It means we have to spend time in order to understand what we have.ּוֹב חֶלְקֵנוּ מַה טּאַשְׁרֵ ינו – How lucky we are and how good is our lot, מָ ה יָ פָ הּ וּׁ ָ תֵ נוּיְ רֻ ש – and how beautiful is our inheritance! How fortunate are we that we have a Torah! אֲ שׁ ֶ רָל הָעַמִּיםּ מִכָּנוָּחַר בּב – You chose us from all the nations. Those words are an expression of glory, of joy, because we inherited a million dollars, ten million dollars. He gave us His Torah, a gift that has no equal among all the prizes and all the treasures of this world, a gift that gives us lifeִשְׁ נֵי עוֹלָמִיםּב, in both worlds.
