Page 148 - Chayei Adam LAYOUT sivan 5782

Chayei Adam - K’lal 143 - Laws of Aseres Yemei Teshuva & Erev Yom Kippur

actual yomim noraim] he should pay extra attention to every action. The main
thing during these days is to go to shul and the beis medrash to hear words of
rebuke and musar, as Chazal say (Avos 6:6) “love rebuke”. A person who hates
hearing musar is far from teshuva, as the posuk (Mishlei 10:17) says “he who
abandons rebuke, will be misled” and (Mishlei 12:1) “He who loves musar loves
knowledge, he who hates rebuke, is a fool”. It also says (Mishlei 15:10) “Harsh
discipline will come to him who forsakes the way; he who hates reproof shall die”,
and (Mishlei 15:31) “The ear that listens to reproof of life shall dwell among the
wise”, and it says (Mishlei 15:12) “A scorner does not like being reproved; he does
not go to the wise.”

All year long, a person should be accustomed to constantly repeating the tefilah
of Dovid HaMelech, “Hashem, teach me Your way, guide me with Your truth, unify
my heart to fear Your name, purify my mind and heart in Your service” (Tehilim
86:11) or similar pesukim which speak of fear of Hashem. Then he will be assured
to be saved from sin. Clearly, it is an absolute obligation for everyone to learn
works of musar and yirah every day. Be it a little or a lot, it is a greater obligation
than any other area of Torah. Even if it means that he won’t be able to learn a
perek of mishnayos etc, for “what does Hashem ask of you, more than to fear
Him?” (Devarim 10:12) As the mishna (Avos 3:17) says, if there is no fear of Heaven,

there is no Torah, since what is his Torah worth if he doesn’t intend to observe it?
It is certainly better to have yiras shomayim even if one is an am ha’aretz, more
that a learned person who has no fear of Heaven, as the posuk says (Mishlei 19:1)
“Better a poor man who walks innocently than one with perverse lips,” meaning
that it is better to be poor in Torah and innocent than to learn Torah without
yirah which isn’t called his Torah, but rather perverse speech”. The rule is that
whatever a person can do whenever he is free to learn Torah during the day or
night, he should, but his intent should be to fulfill what he learns, and he
shouldn’t just learn to fulfill his obligation to do so, but rather to learn and to do.
Then his Torah is favorable.

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