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Friday

י"ט אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

Friday
י"ט אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

חיפוש בארכיון

475. Torah (4)

One who keeps the Mitzva of Torah study in depth, doing things for the sake of Heaven, will find teaching his own son Torah almost equal to teaching his friends son Torah for both of them bring pleasure to his Creator.  However, happy is the man who can manage to do both of these for perhaps the students will succeed more than his children and he will rejoice in them.  It is well-known how much the Sages have praised the one who teaches his friends son Torah – that it is as though he gave birth to him.  Through this he will merit to sit in the heavenly Yeshiva and even if the Holy One blessed be He, decrees a decree, he can nullify it.

Those who do not want to teach their children or young students because it is a waste of time taken from studying Torah are not doing a good thing. This is because when one studies for himself, he can manage to learn a number of pages of Gemara or halachic authorities in one day, and to write many of their teachings.  However, through studying them with students, he needs to expend a lot of time reviewing with them until they have learnt everything.  This requires investment, toil and great labor.  However, one whose deeds are for the sake of Heaven, in order to bring pleasure to his Creator, will not feel this way, for he brings far more pleasure to his Creator through teaching his friends son or his own son the alphabet. For even the plain talk of the young children is free of sin.  Thus, he brings more pleasure through teaching them than he would bring by studying serious topics.  Also, if there are no kids there will be no goats, and there is a time for everything and the reward is in proportion to the difficulty.

In the same way that if he had not been a Sage and thus could not study with his children he would want others to have pity on him and teach his children Torah, so too he must have pity on others and teach their sons Torah.  Especially if they do not have a father and are orphans, He should have mercy on them and on the soul of their ancestors, there is not greater level of true kindness than this that he does with the living and with the dead.  His reward will be doubled and trebled from Heaven.

“My brothers and my nation, take this sefer Torah, and with this, and like this learn well, so that you should have it good; listen and enliven your soul, and achieve gladness and joy in this world and the world to come” (From the author’s intro.)