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doesn’t my Torah learning help me?” I tell them, “Know that even proper work they could have attained very high levels, And woe
if a person learns Torah 40 years on the highest level, if he does for the shame that they will feel!
not take hold of one element that he wants to change, devoting
at least half an hour a day to the work of the will, he is unable to This is a first principle in life: that with the passage of years a
make choices. He will not change, he will not fulfill his mission, and person must progress. A child learns in school, moves ahead every
he will not reach his rectification. And should he be tested, he is year and increases his knowledge; a university student receives a
in terrible danger of falling to the lowest level of Sheol, and even new degree every few years; a soldier rises in the ranks; a person
lower, God have mercy!” progresses in every field of endeavor. A normal human being does
not remain in one place, but progresses, increasing his knowledge,
Do you think that this is exaggerated? This is no exaggeration experience, and seniority.
whatsoever. I know of tens of thousands of such scholars, from the
most outstanding kollels in the entire world, who learned from the It is true that the Torah is not like other systems, because it has
greatest masters of the generation, and yet who did not change. no end. There is no conclusion to a person’s years of learning.
I am not exaggerating. Are you surprised? Know that you know Torah learning does not conclude with a pension or retirement.
them as well…. But precisely for that reason we would expect to see much more
progress among those who learn Torah—primarily, in their level
A Perfect Situation of Torah knowledge. As Tosafot state, “In the course of things,
when a person goes to learn, he becomes a great person” (Ketubot
63a). A person who goes to learn has an obligation to change and
For 40 years, the generation of the desert learned Torah in
perfect circumstances. If only every scholar in our days could enjoy grow. That is the normal course of events. That is what a person’s
situation should be.
such conditions! They were taught by the best teacher in history,
Moses, who was the mentor of all the prophets. They were free of
every burden and every distraction. They did not have the onus of There Is No Difference
earning a living, nor the burden of this-worldly concerns. They did
not need to pay rent, mortgage and property taxes. They did not But that does not yet address the central transformation that must
go to work or shopping, and they had no obligations to fulfill. They take place in a person. Our sages state that a person who learns
did not need to travel to visit relatives or to take their children to Torah “rises” (Avot 6:1) and “goes from strength to strength”
school. Similarly, they weren’t exposed to the rushing river of the (end of Berachot), that he receives the presence of the Shechinah,
desires of our generation. There were no malls, no bakeries, no increases peace in the world, and more. Someone who learns Torah
restaurants and no theatres; there were no stock exchanges and no must change inwardly. He must be transformed into a different
banks, no clothing stores and no shoe stores, no furniture stores, person. And this must occur not only once; he must change and
no electric appliance stores, and no pharmacies. There were no rise from day to day. It is possible for every person to say, “I
newspapers, no radios, no cellular phones and no smart phones. am different today than I was yesterday.” That is called “going
600,000 scholars were entirely freed from every yoke. Never from strength to strength.” As Rabbi Nachman states, “We must
before were there and never again will there be scholars as free to increase in holiness and knowledge with every day.” That means
learn Torah, with an entirely clear head. that every day a person must be holier, must believe more deeply
in Hashem, and must be more profoundly connected to Hashem.
And in these perfect conditions they learned in the finest and
most prestigious kollel in the world: the Kollel of Those Who Eat But sadly, very sadly, every day we see instances of successful