Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 30, 2017

It is forbidden to study Torah. This is one of the surprising Halakhot of the fast day of Tisha BAv, which we will be marking during the coming week.

And the reason its forbidden to study Torah, is thatTorah gladdens the heart. Thats what we learn from thePassuk(verse) inTehillim19,Psalm19,Pekudei Hashem Yesharim Mesamchei Lev, the laws of the Lord are upright, they bring gladness to our hearts.

You see, when you study Torah, you haveSimcha(joy),at a number of levels. First of all, the actual engagement of study, the Talmud Torah, the excitement of grappling with aSugyah (topic)inShas (Talmud), of learningPesukim (verses), fromChumash (Pentateuch), either by oneself or in aChavruta (learning partner)or through attending aShuir(lecture) it brings realSimchato one.

And then, at a deeper level, we internalise the values and the information that we receive through our study, it transforms our characters and it brings us a huge amount of meaning and happiness in our lives.

I went to Israel to attend the funeral,Levaya,of my teacher Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, ztl, and in one of theHespeidim(eulogies)given by one of his children, they said how Tisha BAv was the most difficult day for Rav Aharon. That was because he loved to learn and he was denied that opportunity on the fast day. And when it came to the end of Tisha BAv, whereas everybody else just raced to the dining room table to have something to eat or to drink, Rav Aharon raced to the bookshelf and at the end of the fast, he would always take out aGemarahand he would start to study, because he had been thirsting for that Talmud Torah, throughout the fast day.

Thats what Torah really does for us. Rav Aharons father in-law, Rav Soloveitchik, ztl, would commute every week from Boston to New York, but during the last few years of his life, they enabled him to stay in thePenimiah, the dormitory, of Yeshivah University. And it so happened, that one night, some of the boys threw a party and they had friends over they were making a lot of noise. At 2am in the morning, there was a knock on the door. They opened the door and there was the Rav, in his dressing gown and there was hushed silence. And then the Rav said, whats going on here, its 2 oclock in the morning do you not realise that some of us are trying to learn?

Thats the beauty of Torah,Vehagita Bo Yomam Valayla, study in it, transform your lives through it, day and night. The beauty of Torah is just so magnificent for us and as a result we have one day in the year on which it isAssur, it is forbidden, to study Torah, as a reminder of our privilege throughout every other day of the year, to have our lives enhanced and to provide us with an opportunity of genuineSimcha, of wonderful happiness, through studying of the Torah.

Read the original:

A most surprising law for the 9th of Av - Arutz Sheva

Category: Talmud
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