norfolk_stories (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} norfolk_stories) wrote,@ 2007-11-02 16:07:00 |
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What does it really mean to learn?
Editor's note: This happened this morning! (11-2-07)
For many years, Bnai Israel has sustained a Daf Yomi class. The class meets weekday mornings an hour before Shacharis and it's lead by the heart and soul of Norfolk's Kollel, Rabbi Rubanowitz. Every day, a core group of six to eight people learn together under Rabbi Rubanowitz's guidance.
One morning, the group was learning a daf in the tractate Kesuvos that contained several stories. One of the stories spoke a Rav who, with his wife's permission, spent many years away from her studying Torah. When he returned, he didn't want to shock her by showing up at her doorstep, so he stopped at the local Bais Medrash (study hall) and sat down to learn. A young man sat down to learn with him and asked him several educated questions. The Rav looked up and cried, that if only he had been home, he would have been able to teach his son and his son would be able to ask him such intelligent questions! What he did not know was that the young man actually WAS his son.
As he read this passage to us, Rabbi Rubanowitz began crying. He was effected to the point where he had to pause in order to compose himself. I passed him the box of tissues and briefly looked up at some of the other people in the class. Some sat there, not sure how to react. Some grinned a little, admiring how deeply Rabbi Rubanowitz was internalizing the story. I was puzzled. I spent a good deal of the day thinking about it.
Then it hit me. How often have you or anyone you know cried because of something you saw on TV? Maybe it was a sad documentary, or a TV show where a sympathetic character dies, or any reason. I would have to guess that most people who watch TV have cried over something they saw on it at some point. This begs an important question.
If we can cry for fictional characters on a TV show, or for people halfway across the world that we don't even know, why can't we cry when we learn from the pages of a Gemorra that sits right before us? Why can't we get more engrossed in our Torah study than we get in our TV shows? It was a jarring realization that put things into a stark perspective for me. Have I cried more over Forrest Gump than the Sages?
It's easy to point out the problem, but it's a hard adjustment to make. It's been said that the Norfolk community rests on Rabbi Rubanowitz's shoulders. He's always learning. It IS his life. Even when everyone else is on vacation, he's in the Bais Medrash, learning. We can't change our attitudes over night, but with a role model like Rabbi Rubanowitz to show us how to internalize Torah learning, we can take the right steps.
We should all merit the ability to feel the emotion that learning Torah offers to us, and with that emotion bring Moshiach, speedily in our days.
Editor's note: This happened this morning! (11-2-07)
For many years, Bnai Israel has sustained a Daf Yomi class. The class meets weekday mornings an hour before Shacharis and it's lead by the heart and soul of Norfolk's Kollel, Rabbi Rubanowitz. Every day, a core group of six to eight people learn together under Rabbi Rubanowitz's guidance.
One morning, the group was learning a daf in the tractate Kesuvos that contained several stories. One of the stories spoke a Rav who, with his wife's permission, spent many years away from her studying Torah. When he returned, he didn't want to shock her by showing up at her doorstep, so he stopped at the local Bais Medrash (study hall) and sat down to learn. A young man sat down to learn with him and asked him several educated questions. The Rav looked up and cried, that if only he had been home, he would have been able to teach his son and his son would be able to ask him such intelligent questions! What he did not know was that the young man actually WAS his son.
As he read this passage to us, Rabbi Rubanowitz began crying. He was effected to the point where he had to pause in order to compose himself. I passed him the box of tissues and briefly looked up at some of the other people in the class. Some sat there, not sure how to react. Some grinned a little, admiring how deeply Rabbi Rubanowitz was internalizing the story. I was puzzled. I spent a good deal of the day thinking about it.
Then it hit me. How often have you or anyone you know cried because of something you saw on TV? Maybe it was a sad documentary, or a TV show where a sympathetic character dies, or any reason. I would have to guess that most people who watch TV have cried over something they saw on it at some point. This begs an important question.
If we can cry for fictional characters on a TV show, or for people halfway across the world that we don't even know, why can't we cry when we learn from the pages of a Gemorra that sits right before us? Why can't we get more engrossed in our Torah study than we get in our TV shows? It was a jarring realization that put things into a stark perspective for me. Have I cried more over Forrest Gump than the Sages?
It's easy to point out the problem, but it's a hard adjustment to make. It's been said that the Norfolk community rests on Rabbi Rubanowitz's shoulders. He's always learning. It IS his life. Even when everyone else is on vacation, he's in the Bais Medrash, learning. We can't change our attitudes over night, but with a role model like Rabbi Rubanowitz to show us how to internalize Torah learning, we can take the right steps.
We should all merit the ability to feel the emotion that learning Torah offers to us, and with that emotion bring Moshiach, speedily in our days.
