Everyday Judaism · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Living Jewishly podcast.

00:08 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody. Welcome to the Everyday Judaism podcast. It is so wonderful to be here on this beautiful Sunday morning here in Houston, texas. Thank you all for coming here, those of you online, those of you in the classroom, those of you who are watching on Facebook, youtube, twitter, wherever you may be. Thank you so much for joining us Today.

00:27
We are going to begin Simen Chav Zayin, the 27th Simen in the Kitzah Shulchan Aruch, which is the abridged code of Jewish law. We're skipping chapter 26. We're going to get back to it at a later time. It's just a very long chapter, and chapter 26 deals with the laws of Kaddish. Now I'll tell you the basic idea.

00:49
The basic premise of Kaddish is after someone passes away, we have judgment what did you do in this world? Now, what's if that judgment isn't so great? Well, what's done is done. Once the ship departs the dock, you can't get anything from your car. You left it in your sorry. You lost it. It's gone.

01:13
Except, there is a way, two things those survivors of the people who deceased, who passed away, can recite Kaddish, can lead the services and can do mitzvahs for them in their merit. So the Kaddish is the chapter of 26, and it's talking all about the mourner's Kaddish and who gets priority? Because, you know, we only say Kaddish for 11 months after someone passes away. Because our sages teach us that the longest amount of time a person who is considered to be wicked can be in purgatory is 12 months. Righteous up to 11 months. So we assume everyone is righteous. Therefore we say Kaddish to 11 months. So we assume everyone is righteous. Therefore we say kaddish for 11 months. But the kaddish has special significance in that the midrash tells us that it has special power to remove the deceased from their punishment and to right, because kaddish says let's bring hashem into this world and if we do that in memory of somebody who passed, it can bring them a special light in their heavenly tribunal, the heavenly punishments if that was what they were poised to receive. Okay, so we're going to skip that for now and we're going to move on to that. Hopefully in a few weeks we'll get to that, maybe next week.

02:51
Chapter 27 deals much shorter chapter and chapter 27 deals with the laws of study of Torah. Because what do you do after you pray? After you pray every morning, we went through the whole order of how prayer works. What do we do now. We have to study Torah. You finish praying. What do you got to do? You got to study Torah, so let's begin chapter 27.

03:16
The number one obligation of every Jew is to study Torah. This is a command that we have in our Shema that we recite daily. You should learn Torah. This is a command that we have in our Shema that we recite daily ולימדתם עושם. You should learn Torah as b'neichem your children. בשבתך בבייסך. When you sit at home, ובלכתך בדרך. When you travel along your way, ובשכבך בקומך. When you're about to retire at night and go to sleep, and when you arise in the morning. What is our responsibility? To learn Torah, learn Torah and learn Torah. This is a command that we have both day and night. When we're coming and we're going, we're traveling. Wherever we may be, we're obligated to the study of Torah. So, halacha number one.

04:02
After the conclusion of prayer, a person should set time to study Torah. Lacha number one, achar atfila, after the conclusion of prayer. Yikva eis l'limud ha-Torah. A person should set time to study Torah. Set aside time every single day. V'tsokh sh'oso eis yekavua. It should be a set time to study Torah. Sh'lo yavirenu af im sober l'harvi acharbe. Don't give up on that time, even if you have a big business deal that's going to come through oh sorry, I got to run to close my business deal. No learning today, no, no, no.

04:38
Even then, make sure you keep your steady schedule of study Torah, if someone has something very urgent to take care of, so learn before you do it. Keep your schedule of study of Torah, because it is sages teach us a very, very special omen, a very special protector, a very positive power that helps a person if they study, not only study Torah regularly, but in a set time 9 to 9.15 is my Torah study, or 9 to 10, whatever, not to take too much time, because you don't want it to be something which is an overly burdensome task. So what do you do? You make sure it's a set time, but at the very minimum, make sure you get in one verse, one halacha, something to keep it steady. Just by the way, in this class that we have, there have been times where it was either raining and people weren't able to make it, or freezing cold, and I said no problem, I'm here, we're going to at least learn one halacha, one law. Let's do one thing you can't come, we'll be law. Let's do one thing you can't come, we'll be online, we'll do one. Let's keep the study. You got to keep it steady, the study of Torah.

05:50
One of the most important function of study of Torah is not only that you're studying, but that it be steady nonstop. You got to have a consistency. Then, after you do your daily study, even if it's microscopic relative to what you're able to do, you have this urgent matter that came up. Deal with it. Deal with your urgent matter, but again, make sure you have your Torah study there, even if it's a small amount. And then after, when you have time, after this urgent matter has passed, then if you can get back to your Torah study in its regular schedule.

06:34
In many holy, holy communities they have a set schedule to study Torah after the prayers and it's very appropriate to do that. It's very appropriate. In my synagogue we have that. There's a whole group of people After they're finished davening. Some people are rushing to work, some people there's a whole group of people they sit down and they learn how long 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, as long as you can but they sit down and learn every single day after prayer. But they sit down and learn every single day after prayer. It's very, very appropriate. Anybody who's God-fearing should connect with those people and join that club of Torah study learners every single day.

07:17
Torah study years. Okay, halacha, beis Kol, yish, yisrael, chayit, l'mot Torah. Every single Jew is obligated to the study of Torah, whether they're wealthy, whether they're poor. It doesn't make a difference whether he is a person who is healthy or he has physical ailments and afflictions. It doesn't make a difference whether he's young, whether he's old. Every person is obligated, whether he's young, whether he's old, every person is obligated. Someone who's poor and he has to go and collect tzedakah, knocking on doors even a person like that has to study Torah, as we see in the first chapter in Joshua, that every person should study Torah every single day. You should contemplate it day and night, referring to the Torah.

08:20
Someone who can't not intelligent, not intellectual, not capable, not trained, not skilled, not capable, not trained, not skilled, whatever it may be, whatever excuse a person may have, if you absolutely cannot, at least help other people study Torah and that will suffice and God will count it as if they learned themselves. So, for example, someone who says I've had people tell me this listen for me, torah is not for me, but I have some money. Maybe I can support and help so that other people can study Torah. That's very, very beneficial to their own obligation of Torah study. Why? Because Hashem counts it as if they studied. You helped other people study, so it counts as if you did as our sages in the Midrash teach us. As it says, rejoice O Zevulan in your excursions and Yisachar in your tents.

09:26
And the question that's always asked Zevullen and Yisachar, the two brothers Zevullen and Yisachar. Zevullen was a tradesman. They would do a lot of import export. They lived next to the sea and they would ship items and they would get items delivered and they were, you know, import exporters. They did business. The brother Yisachar were Torah scholars. They sat and learned Torah. They made a partnership 50% of my Torah goes to you, 50% of your income comes to me, and it's a real partnership. You have no claim to your 50%, to the other 50%. It belongs to them, both the financial side and both the merit of the Torah study side. So the obvious question is Zvulon Asakba, torah? Zvulon worked in business and he supplied livelihood for his brother, yisachar, who was studying Torah. So that Yisachar doesn't have to be busy working in crafts, in business, in trade, in industry. He can just sit and learn Torah.

10:47
Lefikach, listen to this. Hikdim ha'posuk zvulun yisachar. You see that verse that we mentioned earlier. Who was mentioned first? Which one? The one who was studying Torah or the one who was supporting him? The one who was supporting him, zvulun was mentioned before Yisachar. Why? Mipnei shetor? Yisroel was the one sitting and learning. Zebulun was the one supporting him. Can he learn if he didn't support him? No, so therefore, he was mentioned first because he supported those who learned Torah. That's the great benefit, the great reward for those who support those who study Torah.

11:31
This is what the Mishnah teaches us. He says Shimon, the brother of Azariah, says, in which Shimon is identified by the name of his brother, azariah, why this is so? Because Azariah engaged in commerce and provided the needs of Shimon, his brother who engaged in Torah study. They agreed between themselves that Azariah should receive a shear and provided the needs of Shimon, his brother who engaged in Torah study. They agreed between themselves that Azari should receive a shir in Shimon's reward in his Torah study.

12:21
But regardless, says the halacha here, at the end of halacha number two, that in any situation, every individual should make an effort to study Torah, even if it's a small bit of Torah every day and every night. I only know one verse. I only know Aleph Bez. You only know Aleph Bez. Say Aleph Bez, you only know one verse. No problem, say one verse. You know one Mishnah, one Mishnah. It shouldn't be something that a person doesn't properly appreciate the value of even one word of Torah. One word of Torah is so powerful. Halacha, gimel Mishenu, yachol lasos, torah sokeva.

13:08
Someone who cannot set a set schedule for Torah study Ela shuhu koveh, itim ha-Torah. Set schedule for Torah study. One who was unable to engage in constant Torah study. He can't learn all day, but rather sets aside, you know, small times of Torah study. What should he study during those times? He should study common law, the laws that are necessary for every Jew to know. He should also study the Agadah portions of the Talmud and Midrash and the books of ethics. What should he study? Agadah, midrash and Sifrei Musar Asher Yisuda, sam Beharerei, kodesh Midrashim. Sifrei musar asher yisuda, sam beharerei, kodesh mimidrashir abayusenu zaharon levrocho shehem mo'ilim lahachlish, koach yetzahara.

14:04
The person who has a little bit of time to study. What do you study? What's my priorities? Well, you have to know how to conduct your life as a Jew, so you learn basic Jewish law. But now, if you have more time, learn some Midrash, learn some Mussar, learn some Agadah. Agadah tells you, like what we do in our Talmud class on Friday, it tells you the background influence of the Torah.

14:32
Now let's understand what that means, because there was once a student who said influence of the Torah. Now let's understand what that means, because there was once a student who said I only have 30 minutes to learn. He went to his rabbi. What should I learn? Should I learn Talmud or should I learn Mussar? What's Mussar?

14:47
Mussar is character development. You learn about yourself. He says study Mussar. If you only have a half hour, study Mussar. He says why. He says you Musa, if you only have a half hour, study Musa. He says why. He says you, study Musa for a half hour, you'll see that you have more than a half hour to study Torah. It'll teach you about yourself enough that you'll learn that you have more than a half hour.

15:05
So a person, these are the things that awaken a person's soul and influence them in a way to see that there's greatness in Torah. There's greatness in Torah, there's greatness in themselves, and hopefully it'll weaken the power of the evil inclination that tells them. They only have a limited amount of time. Praiseworthy is he who has a regular session. V'lo yavar never skips that regular session. Lil mod b'sefer. Chok li'sorol.

15:32
There's a book, chok li'sorol d'var, yom b'yomo, which follows a daily schedule. In it you have a little piece of the weekly Torah portion, so you have a verse. Can you pass me that red book up at the top? Perfect, thank you so much. Excellent, and whoever increases his Torah learning and learns a little bit more will merit increased Excellent. Okay, v'chola ma'osif, ma'osif en lo tova min ha'shamayim. And whoever increases his Torah learning and learns a little bit more will merit increased bounty of heaven. So let me tell you an amazing book that I highly recommend. I actually did this whole series twice.

16:08
Okay, it's called A Daily Dose of Torah. It's published by Arts Girl. It's an incredible, incredible work. What is it? I'll show you. So, those of you who are online, go on artscrollcom, find a copy of this and cherish it.

16:28
Okay, it's a whole series and basically it has, for every single day of the week, every single day of the year, every single Torah portion. It will have as follows. So, let's say, tuesday okay, it'll have a thought on the Parsha. So the Torah thought of the day. It'll have a Mishnah and everything's elucidated, explained, so you don't have to be a scholar, you don't have to know what you're talking about. Okay, it has a gem from the Gemara which explains that Mishnah. It'll have a Mussar thought of the day, it'll have a Halacha of the day, it'll have a closer look at the Siddur every day and it'll have a little taste of a deeper idea. Twice a week they do that. They have a little deeper thought into the.

17:13
Now this goes it has the entire Torah, the entire Torah, so you can go through the entire Torah every single day and each week. Each day of the week is only 18 minutes. This is the modern day. Chok Li Yisrael. That the Halacha here says is a very good idea. It's an entire set. It comes in a slip case. That the halacha here says it's a very good idea. It's an entire set. It comes in a slip case. I highly recommend that you consider adding this to your Jewish library. Okay, and now we're up to halacha four.

17:47
Halacha Dalet Kishu lomad v'tzoruch latz yislachut al yanech, hasasefer pasoch. This is a very important Jewish law, very important Jewish law, very important Jewish law. Thank you so much. Oh, what a prince, a very special Jewish law, and that is when you finish learning never leave your book open.

18:07
Our sages tell us Kabbalistically that the letters disappear if you leave it open. Close the book. Never leave a book open. If you leave it open, close the book right. Never leave a book open if you're not there, right, cover it. You know what. You're coming back right away, no problem. Take a piece of paper and cover it right. Chumash, yes. Never leave a Torah book open if you're not with it, right? If you're leaving, even if it's for a minute, don't leave the book open. K're not with it, right? If you're leaving, even if it's for a minute, don't leave the book open. You have to run out for a minute. Do not leave the book that you are studying open.

18:50
You forget your Torah, like the letters disappear. You forget your Torah. Study Halacha number. Hey tsaruch li'zareh b'chol ma'ashuhu l'omed. You have to be very cautious With everything that you're learning. Lehotziyo b'sfasa v'la'ashmiya le'oznaf. Everything that you study, you study Torah. Don't read it like you read a New York Times magazine, just with your eyes.

19:16
Speak out the words, pronounce the words, what you're reading, read it out loud, why it has a special influence on you when you speak out the words, whatever it may be. Even if you're reading it out in English, it's fine. Speak it out so that your ears can hear it that the Torah should not be. The Torah says we see in that same verse in Joshua the book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth, meaning you should always speak it out. You should always speak out the words. Rather, you should contemplate it all the days of your life.

20:00
And anybody who speaks out the words of the Torah, even if he doesn't understand what he's saying, gets a reward for the study of Torah. It's an amazing thing. Imagine you're sitting there with a book. I have no idea what he's talking about, but you speak it out. You talk out the words that you're learning. It has an impact and an effect as if you studied it and understood it, and learned it and grew from it.

20:29
Even and I'll tell you something really remarkable right after L'chein Kol am ha'aretz b'varech ber chasator b's, right after L'chein Kol am ha'aretz m'varech birchas ha'torah b'shachar L'fnei ha'psukim L'chein k'she'oleh l'sefer ha'torah. Therefore, for this reason, even an unlearned person, someone who doesn't understand Torah, still recites the blessing on the Torah before he says the scriptural verses. And, same thing someone who gets an aliyah at the Torah, someone who's called up to the Torah, v'chein ha'osek b'torah, and anybody who engages in Torah study. We recite a blessing first, v'eino yacholahav, and even if someone doesn't understand, doesn't comprehend what it is, he's studying machmas kor tzedat because he's limited in his mind, or he's limited in his mind or he's busy. يَسْكَ اللَّهَ وَيِنَ بَعُولَ مَا بَعْ. Even if he can't comprehend it in this world, that blessing that he recites will help him understand it in the world to come. But at least you have a part of it.

21:26
Let me explain to you something. We say a special prayer before we study, and that prayer is that we shouldn't have flaws in our Torah study, that we shouldn't say on what is permitted prohibited, and we shouldn't say on what's prohibited permitted. We shouldn't make mistakes. And then we also say something incredible we toil and they toil. We toil and receive reward. They toil and don't receive reward. What does that mean? We study Torah and get reward. They study the plumber. Okay, the plumber doesn't get reward. He toils and doesn't get reward. What are you talking about? I paid my plumber a lot of money. He gets rewarded. No, he doesn't.

22:06
Let me explain to you. Imagine you have a leaky sink and you call your plumber and you say hey, abc Plumbing, can you please come to my house and fix my leaky sink? The guy comes and he's like under the sink and he's working and working, and working. He says you know, I got to run to Home Depot and figure out how to you know I'm missing a part. He goes to Home Depot, buys the part. He's working, working 12 hours. He's under your sink and it's still leaking. You're going to pay him? I don't think so. I didn't ask you to work, I asked you to fix the sink. You don't finish the job, you're not going to get paid, right? That's the way it works, right, gary, you're a tough negotiator. This is the way it works right. If you don't fix it, I pay on a finished product.

22:52
But let me ask you a question, someone who comes to sit and learn Torah. They open up a book, the Chavetz Chaim. They open up the laws of Shabbos. They open up the Rabi Ariya, kaplan, any amazing books, the Midrash Open it up and you start learning it and you're like I don't understand the word. It just doesn't. I don't comprehend. I don't understand. Don't comprehend, I don't understand. I read out the words. I try to understand nothing.

23:18
Do you get rewarded for it or not? Will Hashem pay you for it or not? Yes, because our reward has nothing to do with the final product. Our reward has only to do with the effort you put an effort towards it. It's a 100% rewarded 100%. I didn't understand a word. I walked away from the book. I didn't understand a thing.

23:39
You're rewarded for it. You go and try to fix the guy's sink and you didn't finish the job, not getting paid. I didn't ask you to work on my sink. I asked you to fix my sink, didn't fix it. Sorry, not going to pay, right? That's the way it works. Now, it could be you feel bad for the guy and you'll pay him anyway. Fine, that's out of the goodness of your heart. You're not obligated to pay someone for a job they didn't complete. Not with Torah. With Torah, you get rewarded for your efforts 100%, 100%.

24:21
Okay, now I want to share with you one more small detail which the Halacha, at some point, is going to tell us. I'm sure it's going to tell us this yeah, in the next simen it's going to talk about this, about the priorities of different books. So imagine I have 10 books here in front of me. I have a siddur, I have a chumash. Siddur is the prayer book. I have a chumash, which is the Bible. I have a Chumash, which is the Bible. I have a book of Talmud, I have a book of Mishnah, I have a book of, you know, the Maggit Speaks.

24:52
Whatever your storybook, what's the order? If I'm going to put them in a pile, what's the order of which they should be in? Whatever's on top is the holiest. So always the Torah goes on top, then goes prophets, then goes writings, and then goes the Midrash, and then goes the Mishnah, and then goes the Talmud, and then goes Halacha and then goes the prayer books. You understand, there's a priority. We have to remember that. We're going to get into that a little bit, hopefully in the coming weeks.

25:28
But, my dear friends, as for today, this concludes chapter 26, the laws of the study of Torah. And there's nothing in the world that is sweeter than the study of Torah. There's nothing that's sweeter Because, even if someone doesn't understand anything and I can tell you, you can ask my parents and you can ask my teachers. I was definitely not the favorite student. Okay, I was definitely not the most skilled student. I was definitely not the brightest student, but you know what? I always wanted to be there and sit and learn and try to understand. And I'm telling you one day and I'm still not a great Torah scholar, not by any stretch of the imagination One day I was in Yeshiva.

26:21
I remember this as clear as day. I was about 16 or 17 years old and I started crying. I'll tell you why I cried. I cried because the kid that was sitting right behind me was 12 years old. He wasn't yet bar mitzvah. He was the youngest kid in the yeshiva and he was learning a page of Talmud faster than I can read a blessing. I mean, he was zooming through that and to me it was like it just hit me like a ton of bricks. Look at this kid. He can learn, he can read. He can learn, he can understand, he can. I was like I was so jealous I started crying. I said, hashem, please, like what did I do wrong? Like I want to learn, I want to learn, I want to learn your Torah. Please help me. And Hashem helped me to start to understand. And Hashem is still helping me every day to understand a little bit more and to understand a little bit more.

27:17
We pray for this every single day. We say Hashem, please make the Torah sweet. The Torah is sweet, but it should be sweet for me. If I don't understand it, it's not sweet, because it just is. It could be music to my ears, but I don't understand the music. I want to connect to it and that's a prayer that we pray for our children and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren.

27:48
As soon as a child starts to pray, at what age? Five, six years old. Already they start learning these blessings. They're already praying for their children that they should have the sweetness of Torah and for their grandchildren to have the sweetness of Torah. We shouldn't take it for granted. You're able to recite that blessing every morning. If you don't know the words, it's fine. Open your heart, open your lips and speak to Hashem. Say Hashem, I'm about to come to a torch class, I'm about to study. Help me understand. Help the words of your Holy Torah be sweet in my lips. It should be sweet in my life. It should be sweet in my life so that I should be closer to you. Every single day. Hashem should guide us on a path to understand, to merit, to understand to merit, to come close to Hashem through His Torah Amen. We should learn every single day with tremendous zeal and excitement and energy. Don't let anything stand in your way.

29:00 - Intro (Announcement)
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