Weakness of mind and the law – advice from the Makhtar
Peace and blessings to the Rabbi Shlita and happy holidays,
A certain time after entering the yeshiva, quite a few young men enter a small ‘crisis’ (I am one of them at this stage, and that is why I came here), and I will explain.
(If the story didn’t dramatically harm learning, I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it, but that’s not the case, and I assume I’m not the only one. And since our rabbi has been busy for years with expanding Torah, and in particular with spreading the sources of Talmud and learning, perhaps the rabbi will see an interest in this and be able to help. If it seems to the rabbi that he has nothing to say about such dilemmas, I have no problem with the question being deleted.)
In short, a person arrives at the yeshiva with great desires and meticulous plans. Within a few years, he will become a stapler, if not a reka…
A few days, or a few months in other cases, are enough to reveal to him the piercing truth: there will never be a reka, and not much less than that (nor will there be a shiur reciter or a reciting in an anonymous yeshiva, for that matter).
There are different schools of thought and frustrations at this intersection for the most part. I will mention one or two of them, and I would be very happy if the rabbi has something to say, both to encourage and to benefit my studies, since the Torah will not leave my mouth after all.
At this stage, what do we do to not give up on studying and succeed in learning and growing and gaining knowledge and skills and everything else we need?
[And it’s not that there is no love of Torah. There is both natural and simple love and love that stems from a value-based observation of the Torah and its study – a letter from God in our empty world (a simple tzimtzum). That is, it is clear to me that there is value in all study, and also a mitzvah of course, but this is not a strong enough motivator to keep someone from studying seriously in a yeshiva, who is not satisfied with a tired attendance at the seders and a reasonable-plus study whose goal is to become familiar with the academic world before ‘going out into life.’]
What’s the point of intensive Torah study over the years in a yeshiva if in the end you won’t be a Torah scholar, if you won’t be one of the greats? Is there a chance you’ll innovate something they haven’t discovered?
And another thought – maybe after all? If you really invest over time, is there a chance that something will come out of you? That you will become a scholar who will bring something to the world? Who will innovate something in the Torah?
And more specifically, if you were born with a reasonable intellect, but absolutely not with a rare speed of perception, and you don’t have extraordinary genius, could something still come out of you? Isn’t this game addictive from the start?
I would be happy if the Rabbi could give a piece of advice or two.
Thank you very much, Rabbi. May the Rabbi and the B’B have a holiday full of joy and God’s blessings.
In the joy of the Torah,
His disciple K.
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I just started class A. I won't run away so fast 🙂
And as I said, I'm connecting, and I came to try to be a teacher.
The rabbi who wrote, “The war to stay in Torah longer and longer is usually harmful and unnecessary, even if there is certainly room for appreciation for it,”
You meant only in the yeshiva, right? But after the yeshiva (say, in the context of studies/work + that Daf Yomi, let’s say) I think that this is not entirely accurate.
D”a his student,
I once heard from a relatively young man (but in a yeshiva half-religious, so he would be thrown out depending on the sector) who knew relatively many generations of young men and he came to the conclusion that those people who tried to force them to stay in the yeshiva did not always have a bright future outside spiritually…
And I think he meant that some people have some kind of ’pick’ in terms of your acceptance from the yeshiva, and your stay comes, that if you pass it and stay longer it will not always be good.
That is why there are improved yeshivahs that try to attach a woman to young men of a certain age, because a woman is a wall.
But I am not lying, I just wanted to add to the rabbi's words things that I felt or heard. (You can also divide pressure from the yeshiva and pressure from the young man to "sacrifice his life"). Admittedly, they are small under the law of small numbers here. And the rabbi, on the other hand, was also a rabbi for many years.
K,
It seems to me that it was not clear enough that this was more a “Chanukah crisis” (which did come early and arrived in Elul) for beginners, and not a hesitation of an Avrech or an Alter in Shiur 13. I started a Seder course, and I don’t see myself leaving before the end of Shiur 6 (and I would like much more).
**Deleted (from"A)***
Student, I was indeed not clear. If this is a local crisis in lesson A, I don't see what the question is. You should try to move forward and continue. A similar crisis at the end of lesson E is something else, and that's what I wrote about. Of course, if you can't get out of the crisis and it becomes more permanent, you should reconsider your plans.
The claim that there will be no req”a is irrelevant in my opinion, as long as you exhaust yourself. Each to his own.
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