The decisive drashah of Hagaon Harav Aryeh Leib Shapira, shlita, Mashgiach of the Ponevezh Yeshiva, addressing one hundred talmidei chachamim, Shas Yiden, and their relatives who participated in the joyous annual Siyum HaShas, after they were tested by Hagaon Harav Chaim Peretz Berman, shlita, and Hagaon Harav Bunim Schreiber, shlita

A fundamental lesson for every parent and mechanech.

 *

 With the permission of the Torah luminary, a man whose vision has created many great things, the Pozna Rov, Hagaon Harav Avrohom HaLevi Eisen, shlita.

At the outset, I would like to extend a special blessing to the esteemed Rebbetzin, who stands behind the Pozna Rov, and helps and supports his endeavors to proliferating true talmidei chachamim.

I want to share a story that I heard from the Rov of Yerushalayim, Hagaon Harav Betzalel Zolty, zt”l. From it, you’ll understand how much gratitude and honor are due to the esteemed Rebbetzin.

After the Rogatchover Gaon was niftar, a dispute arose between the community members of Dvinsk, where he served as the Rov of the Chassidic community, and the Rebbetzin, the widow of the Rov, zt”l. The size of Dvinsk was approximately like the size of Gan Varsha in Bnei Brak… and the Rogatchover wasn’t even the Rav of the entire city, only of the Chassidic community.

Nevertheless, he was considered Rabban Shel Kol Bnei Hagolah, and his fame spread far and wide across the Jewish world. Accordingly, the community members gave him a suitable salary fitting for the Rabban Shel Kol Bnei Hagolah, a generous salary in proportion to what was customarily given to a Rov of such a small community.

But after his petirah, the members of the community argued that indeed, the Rogatchover was the Rabban Shel Kol Bnei Hagolah, and therefore they needed to give him a salary accordingly. However, they claimed, the Rebbetzin is not the Gaon of the generation. Therefore, they claimed, we should only need to give her what we would give to any other Rov’s widow, not as the widow of a leading Gaon.

This question was brought before the Gedolim of that generation and it even reached the doorstep of Hagaon Harav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, zt”l. Reb Chaim Ozer didn’t need much deliberation to give a psak; he responded immediately and said unequivocally: ‘A wife of a talmid chacham is like her husband. Being that he was the Gadol Hador, therefore, she is also the great like the Gadol Hador. He was the Rabban Shel Kol Bnei Hagolah, and she, the Rebbetzin, is also the Rebbetzin Shel Kol Bnei Hagolah, and therefore, she deserves the expanded allowance, as what her husband received!’

From here, we must draw the necessary conclusion regarding the esteemed Rebbetzin, tlita, the wife of the honored Rov, who took a part in Torah that nobody has been able to claim since the times of Rabi Akiva and his talmidim. Blessed are you that you have merited to have a part in such outstanding talmidei chachamim. You have a hundred talmidei chachamim, a hundred children, and each one of them knows the entire Shas.”

**

 Morai v’Rabbosai,

It is hard for me to speak before you. I will own up, without any shame. During last Chol Hamoed Sukkos, my family members entered the sukkah and found me sitting there and crying.

They asked me, “Why are you crying?” And I replied to them that I had just seen documentation from your previous tests, of Shas Yiden. I witnessed how you are fluent with the entire Shas as if it’s in the palm of your hands, and I cried deeply.

Now I sit here, hearing you being tested again on the entire Shas, feeling ashamed and embarrassed, witnessing your tremendous knowledge, your broad and clear erudition of Shas. It reminded me of an incident I heard about 35 years ago from the Sar HaTorah, Hagaon Harav Michel Zilber, shlita.

I used to deliver sichos in the Itri Yeshiva. I would arrive at the yeshiva for the second Seder, from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m.

I saw Harav Michel Zilber enter his room at four o’clock, with a small tape recorder and three cassettes, sixty minutes each. At 7 p.m., he left his room with three tapes containing three shiurim on three dapim, on the second part of Maseches Yevamos.

This was when Kol HaDaf was being set up. They started with the recorded shiurim of Maseches Yevamos, and Harav Michel Zilber recorded them in the yeshiva during the afternoon Seder.

I stood there, astonished, and I asked him, “Reb Michel, you don’t know me, but this is the second time I’ve seen you enter your room, for three hours, and you leave with three shiurim on three daf of Maseches Yevamos! Without any hesitation or pause, you deliver shiurim on three daf so smoothly. How do you do that? What is your secret?”

Rav Michel told me his secret, and now I will share it with you.

“It was many years ago,” he said, “I was a maggid shiur at Itri. I was a maggid shiur in the mechina class ahead of the yeshiva, during the afternoon Seder. Not a position requiring extensive Torah knowledge.

“There was once a wedding in Tel Aviv, and all the staff members traveled to attend the wedding. We traveled in a taxi with seven seats, and I had the privilege of traveling with all the gaonim of Itri: Hagaon Harav Simcha Schiff, Hagaon Harav Chaim Brand, Hagaon Harav Mordechai Elefant, Hagaon Harav Shmuel Auerbach, and others.

“I was the youngest, so I sat in the back…

“For two hours, we drove to Tel Aviv, and all the way, they discussed a topic I had never known existed in Torah…

“During those two hours, I felt crushed,” Rav Michel told me, “when we arrived in Tel Aviv, everyone got out of the taxi, and I, sitting in the back, came out last. I slammed the door of the taxi and shouted to myself: ‘Michel! Shame on you! Go back and learn!’

“And since then, I have not appeared in public!”

My dear and esteemed friends,

Tonight, as I sat before you, the gaonim of Shas Yiddn, I understood and felt what Rav Michel felt back then when they spoke in learning. I understood what built Rav Michel!

This embarrassment… woe to that embarrassment, woe to that disgrace!

But I say to your wives, who are sitting in the nearby hall and listening to these words: you, wives of the gaonim, you merit to have living sifrei Torah in your homes! Not every wife merits to being an aron for a living sefer Torah!

But you must know this: your husbands will never be mentioned in the newspaper in fifty years. They will never be seen in public.

They have the real thing.

Kol haTorah kulo! Fortunate are you, and fortunate is your portion!

**

 There is nothing more appropriate than holding this remarkable Siyum HaShas, especially after the dreadful Simchas Torah we experienced in Eretz Yisrael, on the day when Hashem turns to us with a call of affection, “I and you will rejoice together,” the day of which the Ben Ish Chai writes that if a person would know of the kirvas Elokim on Simchas Torah – the day of “I and you alone” – they would never leave the beis medrash and not abandon the siddur and the tefillos!

And it was on the day of Shabbos Kodesh as well, a day marked by a call of affection of “I and you alone,” that this terrible decree has befallen us from Heaven, of such magnitude that we have not experienced since the Holocaust. This hit hard within us, striking hundreds of families. It has driven hundreds of thousands into a state where they suffer anxiety and fear. Our brethren in the Negev, in Ofakim, Tifrach, Yerucham, and Dimona, are now wanderers and homeless in their own land, may Hashem have mercy on them. Many children are now without structured educational institutions.

But this grand Siyum is the true rectification for the Heavenly demand of us that we are unaware of. But if Hakadosh Baruch Hu struck us on Simchas Torah, then now, with this Siyum, we are doing the requisite tikkun.

I will explain:

Rabi Shimon bar Yochai says [in the introduction to Eicha Rabasi]: “If you see cities uprooted from their place in Eretz Yisrael, what is the reason for this? Chazal say: Go and check whether they pay the melamdim? Do they tend to the students? Check the state of limmud haTorah, as the passuk says: ‘Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of Hashem has spoken?’ Until Hashem Himself explained: ‘Because they have forsaken My Torah.’

Chazal recount a story following this, that the grandson of Rabbeinu Hakadosh, who once wanted to examine the state of limmud haTorah in Eretz Yisrael. He sent Rav Ami and Rav Asi, instructing them to examine the state of the “guards.”

“Guards?!” He meant lomdei Torah!

They arrived at a city in Eretz Yisrael, and they asked the residents: “Where can we find the guardians of the city? Where are the guards?” They immediately took them to the soldiers and military personnel.

Rav Ami and Rav Asi said to them: “Are these the guardians of the city?! These are the neturei karta, the guardians of the city? These are the destroyers of the city!”

The Radal asks a strong question: How can you say about that soldier who guards the city, that he is ‘destroying the city,’ what evil has he done that caused the city to be ruined?

The Radal says that their intention was that the ‘destroyers of the city’ were the residents city themselves, if your spontaneous response when asked to see the guardians is the soldiers with weapons and uniforms, then you will, unfortunately, deserve the passuk, “Cursed is the man who places his trust in man.” You will end up with “my might and the strength of my hand have made all this!” And that is considered destruction! The residents are the destroyers of the city because their view of these guards is as the guardians of the city.

Chazal tell us the continuation of the story: The residents of the city said to Rav Ami and Rav Asi, “Then who are the real guardians of the city?” They replied: “The lomdei Torah!”

Even the wicked Haman understood that what saved the Am Yisrael from his decree was limmud haTorah. After scheming a plan that was set to destroy, kill, and annihilate all of Am Yisrael, and then Achashverosh suddenly sends him to Mordechai to parade him on the king’s horse through the city streets, Haman understood precisely what happened. He entered the beis medrash, and the first thing he inquired about was what they were learning, what sugya had they successfully defeated him with! They told him they were learning Masheches Menachos. Immediately, the wicked Haman said to them, “Your small fistful (of the Mincha) came and overcame my ten thousand talents of silver.”

Rabbosai, there are people among us, even some who wear hats and jackets, who don’t fully believe in this. They have less emunah than Haman had. And apparently, this is a difficult question: How did the wicked Haman truly understand this, while sometimes Torah-observant Jews do not comprehend it to its fullest?

The Rosh Yeshiva, Hagaon Harav Aharon Leib Shteinman, zt”l, said: The truth is, everyone understands this. It’s the simple truth. But there is one thing that can interfere with this understanding: when one goes with his nose in the air, when a person is filled with thoughts of ‘my might and the strength of my hand,’ he forgets Who really gives him the strength to act.

The moment Haman received a blow to his nose, to his ego, and went around ‘with his nose downwards,’ this reality was already clear to him, and he had no doubt about what caused Am Yisrael to be able to defeat him.

We received a serious ‘blow on the nose’ on Simchas Torah, and we now understand that it was not even a situation of ‘false confidence in the guards,’ but rather there were no guards at all! For 75 years we have been here in Eretz Yisrael, and there is no guard. Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself guards us and protects us from those who seek our harm.

 **

 I would to go a little deeper. There’s a wonderful vort from the Arvei Nachal: The passuk says that Yaakov Avinu laid down to sleep on Har HaMoria, and Hashem folded all of Eretz Yisrael under him. This was a greater miracle than the splitting of the Yam Suf, as the passuk says: “The land on which you lie, to you I will give it and to your offspring.”

Rashi quotes what Chazal say, “To you I will give it,” what does it mean? That it should be easy for you to conquer.

What do we see here? It’s indeed a great wonder. Hashem performed a miracle greater than the splitting of the Yam Suf, and it’s not clear at all for what purpose this miracle was done.

Rather, Harav Shach says, Hashem wanted to show and teach us one thing: wherever Yaakov Avinu lies, Yaakov is the pillar of Torah, that is Eretz Yisrael! Where there is Torah, there is Eretz Yisrael; without Torah, we have no right to Eretz Yisrael!

And let’s return to the words of the Arvei Nachal: It’s written in Tanach that the Bnei Yisrael failed to conquer the city of Kiryat Sefer, no matter how many times they tried, they did not succeed. They had already conquered all the other territories, but they did not succeed with Kiryat Sefer.

Kalev ben Yefuneh rose and said: “Whoever comes and conquers the city of Kiryat Sefer, I will give him my daughter for a wife.”

Osniel ben Kenaz came, as according to the simple interpretation of the pessukim in the Navi, and he conquered the city, and Kalev ben Yefuneh gave him his daughter.

At first glance, it seems from this that Oshniel ben Kenaz was a war hero, a valiant soldier who could strike the enemy with a victorious blow and bring down many casualties.

But as you, Shas Yiden, know, the Gemara in Temurah gives us a slightly different account of the story: Many halachos were forgotten on the day of Moshe Rabbeinu’s petirah, (there are several girsa’os in the Gemara regarding the exact number) until Osniel ben Kenaz came and restored them. And when he restored them, Kalev ben Yefuneh gave him his daughter for a wife.

Meaning, Osniel ben Kenaz was not at all a military officer, not even a senior officer or a valiant soldier, he was a Rosh Yeshiva! A Shas Yid!!! Through the power of his pilpul, he restored 3,000 halachos and earned the right to marry Kalev ben Yefuneh’s daughter.

The truth is that there is no contradiction between being a war hero and being a gaon in Torah. In our times, indeed, it is a complete contradiction, but in those times, there were generals who were talmidei chachamim. Benayahu ben Yehoyada was the army chief of Shlomo Hamelech. So, it’s no wonder that Osniel ben Kenaz could both restore 3,000 forgotten halachos and also conquer Kiryat Sefer.

But it’s not clear why Kalev ben Yefuneh gave him his daughter as a wife, was it because he conquered Kiryat Sefer or because he restored 3,000 halachos through his pilpulim?

 **

 The Arvei Nachal in Parashas Vayishlach writes in the second piece: I heard from a certain chacham that the entire creation is subjugated to the Torah. The Torah is the mold that influences and shapes the entire form of the world. If this mold – the Torah – does not exist, the world has no existence. But even more so, Eretz Yisrael is connected and enveloped in the Torah.

Know this, says the Arvei Nachal, every piece of land in Eretz Yisrael is connected to another section in the Torah. The reason why Hakadosh Baruch Hu safeguards and watches over Eretz Yisrael is because all sections of the Torah are studied in the batei medrash; every part of the Torah influences another place in Eretz Yisrael!

There were three thousand halachos that were forgotten, and these three thousand halachos were the Torah that corresponded to Kiryat Sefer! And since these halachos were not learned and were missing, there was no possibility of conquering Kiryat Sefer! Until Osniel ben Kenaz came and restored these 3,000 halachos, and thus, the victory in war was achieved.

So what actually was Osniel ben Kenaz? A general in Shas Yiden! So it turns out that the simple understanding of the pessukim and the interpretation of Chazal in Maseches Temurah are in total agreement, there is no contradiction between them.

In this same vein, the Arvei Nachal explains about what happened with Yehoshua in Ai. They succeeded in conquering everything, and he then said, “Now I have come,” referring to the missing passage of Torah of that last night, therefore it was impossible to win the war. And what happened after “Yehoshua spent that night in the valley”? He delved into the depths of halachah, and suddenly the succeeded in the war.

The words of the Arvei Nachal are truly Ruach Hakodesh! He further explains why the division of Eretz Yisrael was based on lottery, because there are six hundred thousand Neshamos corresponding to the six hundred thousand letters in the Torah, and each letter in the Torah has a connection to another section in Eretz Yisrael, so therefore each one of Bnei Yisrael needed to receive the part of the land belonging to the root of his Neshamah and his part in the Torah. And who can know this? Only through Ruach Hakodesh can Eretz Yisrael be divided, hence the division was by lots through Ruach Hakodesh.

According to the Arvei Nachal, Rashi’s words are also well understood. Hashem folded the entirety of Eretz Yisrael beneath Yaakov because Yaakov Avinu is the pillar of Torah, and when Eretz Yisrael is nourished by the holiness of limmud haTorah, it becomes easier to be conquered!

Therefore, the true and most effective answer against acts of terror and attacks on the cities of Eretz Yisrael is through learning all sections of the Torah, just as you Shas Yiden do. The more you engage in all parts of the Torah, Eretz Yisrael will be easier to be conquered, and Am Yisrael will be able to dwell in it, safe and secure. For the true guardians of the Land, those who guard it faithfully, do their part and learn all parts of the Torah, kol haTorah kulo.

 **

Chazal tell us in the Pesicha of Shir HaShirim (1:52): Ben Azzai was sitting and expounding and a fire came down from Heaven and encircled him. They came and told this to Rabi Akiva, and he asked Ben Azzai: “Did you delve into the secrets of the Maaseh Merkava? Did you learn the hidden aspects of the Torah?” Ben Azzai replied, “On what was I giving a shiur? From the Torah to Nevi’im and from Nevi’im to Kesuvim — the entire Torah, and the words of Torah were joyful like when they were given, and were they not given through fire?!”

Chazal continue: Rav Avahu was sitting and expounding when fire descended from Heaven; he was disturbed and said: “There are those who are ‘tied up in bundles,’ they interweave Torah with vast knowledge, from the Torah to Nevi’im and from Nevi’im to Kesuvim. If I were only tied up in bundles in the Torah alone, perhaps this fire came from Heaven to punish me, as it seems that I have not learned correctly.

“There are also those who are ‘diggers of pits,’ they dig into the depth of a subject without broad knowledge — they delve deeply into the matter, deeper and deeper. If I were only a digger alone, maybe this fire came from Heaven to punish me because perhaps I am not learning properly.

“But I,” Rav Avahu said, “am both a ‘tied-up bundle’ and a ‘digger of pits.’ The words of Torah were joyful like at their giving, and were they not given through fire?! Therefore, fire descended from Heaven.”

Chazal reveal to us here the way to achieve true greatness in Torah. It’s not just one thing; it’s two things, being a ‘tied-up bundle’ and a ‘digger of pits.’ When a person combines these two things, as Rashi says in Sanhedrin (42), the war of Torah is not futile argumentation! These are discussions that stem from comprehensive knowledge in all areas of Torah, this is the proper wholeness in Torah.

One needs both things together! Both the breadth of knowledge and the depth of iyun. This is what you, the gaonim of Shas Yiden, do.

**

I heard from Hagaon Harav Eliyahu Weissfish, shlita — the author of the first sefer released on the Arba’as Haminim — that Hagaon Harav Isser Zalman Meltzer, zt”l, recounted that in the Volozhin Yeshiva, there were three types of bachurim. There were those who learned iyun all day— among them, no one became a talmid chacham! There were those who learned bekius all day, and from them emerged a few who became Gedolei Torah, one of them being Hagaon Harav Reuven Bengis, zt”l.

But the majority of the talmidei chachamim who emerged from the Volozhin Yeshiva were bachurim who were both ‘tied-up bundles’ and ‘diggers of pits.’ This is the combination that you Shas Yiden make, to be fully absorbed in learning.

And thus, you, are the real ‘neturei karta,‘ the guardians of the city, because the entire Eretz Yisrael is subjugated to the Torah, and only by learning the entire Torah can we protect and safeguard all parts of Eretz Yisrael.

For this reason, all of Am Yisrael owe tremendous gratitude to the Nasi and founder of Shas Yiden, Hagaon Harav Avrohom Halevi Eisen, shlita, the Pozna Rov.

 **

I would like to conclude with words of praise and gratitude to the nashim tzidkaniyos, the righteous women, who pay no simple price to enable you to sit and learn during irregular times, and they sacrifice completely your assistance and partnership in managing the household.

True, it’s very hard to manage alone with the children and engage in the numerous tasks involved in raising a family. It could have helped if the husband had contributed more in this field, but this is the greatest gift a person can achieve in this world! A husband who is a Shas Yid.

Praiseworthy are you who have merited this, praiseworthy are the dear women who accompany the gaonim of Shas Yiden on their journey, praiseworthy are their fathers who taught them Torah, praiseworthy are their mothers who bore them, praiseworthy is the nation that has this.

Please continue to learn more and more, to protect all parts of Eretz Yisrael from any pain and anguish.

Yasher koach to you for all that you are doing on behalf of all of Klal Yisrael!