Shavuot - 7 Steps for Success in Torah - Rabbi Daniel Glatstein

Okay, first let me begin by saying you know, please have rahamim on the Rav. He's so busy running around to elevate this Beit Midrash. He only needs now $150,000 and then he could just sit and relax. So if anybody before the start of the shiur wants to give the the Rav nachas ruach, now's your chance. But it's a great zechut to be here to see how the kehilla has grown and flourished under the leadership of the Rav. And we're mevarech that b'ezrat Hashem then it should be titzrabeh hasafsalim. There should be even more benches and more talmidim and more shiurim. And this Beit Midrash should continue to be a great source of Torah for your community and for the entire world. So even though we have a lot in common, let me tell you something different about us. You see, for me, it's already tomorrow. And for you, it's today. Cuz I just landed from New York. So now for me, it's already What uh what day is it already? For me, it's Tuesday. For you, it's still Monday. But uh even so, we're going to try to bridge the gap. You know, Torah is lamalam hazman. I want to tell you something about the Torah. What the Torah is so delicious. The Torah is so sweet. You know, one of the favorite customs on Shavuot is we have dairy on Shavuot. We have chalav. And there are many reasons given why we have dairy products on Shavuot. However, do you know what the earliest reason mentioned why we have dairy on Shavuot? It's mentioned in the Kol Bo. Kol Bo writes, the Torah is so delicious. It's so sweet. It's so delectable. It says in Shir Hashirim, "Devash v'chalav tach l'shonech." Honey and milk under the under your tongue. I once heard from Harav Avigdor Miller, zich tzadik l'vracha, there are two very sweet ta- tastes. There's a taste of honey, there's a taste of milk, and the combination of the two tastes is the most delicious taste. "Devash v'chalav tach l'shonech." Amazingly, the Chasam Sofer writes, you take the first letter of the Torah. What's the first letter of the Torah? Bet. What's the last letter of the Torah? Lamed. What are the middle letters of the Torah? So, the Gemara in Kiddushin says, the vav of gachon and the ches, vav and ches, and also darosh darash, shin dalet. So, the first and last and middle letters are bet, vav, ches, shin, dalet, lamed. "Devash v'chalav." Says Chasam Sofer, "The Torah is through and through milk and honey. It is so delicious. It is so sweet." In fact, Chafetz Chaim writes, "Don't try this at home." Chafetz Chaim writes, you know, Torah is compared to honey. Did you know that honey is the most powerful food that we have in this world? It's so powerful that if you put a piece of bread in the honey, the bread will dissolve and turn into honey. You could try it. Not right now. Stay at the shiur. After the shiur. After the campaign. First, you got to hit your goal. After you hit your goal, uh you take bread and you put it in the honey, it will dissolve and become honey. Says the Chafetz Chaim even further, "If you take a piece of meat and you put it in the honey, it will dissolve and turn into honey." Even further, says Chafetz Chaim, "If you take a piece of treif meat, a piece of pig, and you put it in the honey, the honey will dissolve the meat, it will turn into honey, and you're allowed to eat it, Halacha L'Maaseh, Chofetz Chaim writes. That's the power of the Torah. You could have a guy, he's a rotten guy, he's a bad guy, he's angry, he's jealous, he's arrogant, and he immerses himself in the Torah, in the sweetness of the Torah, the honey of the Torah, and the Torah will transform him. It will turn him into honey. I want to share with you a very interesting Gemara. There's a man by the name of Rav Sheishes. You know, Rav Sheishes reviewed his learning every 30 days. He reviewed Kol HaTorah Kulah. At the end of the 30 days, he climbed up to the top of a boat, and he cried out, Chadai Nafshai, Chadai Nafshai. Rejoice, my soul. Rejoice, my soul. L'chah Karai, I learned Torah for you. L'chah Tanai, I learned Mishnah for you. Meaning, be proud of yourself. You made a big accomplishment. You have a great achievement. You learned Torah. You did it for yourself. The Gemara asks, you're supposed to learn Torah for yourself? Is that the right way to learn Torah, to learn for yourself? Don't Chazal teach us that the Torah upholds the whole world? That literally when somebody learns Torah, they hold up the whole world? You know, we make a big mistake. We think that what protects the world is security, defense force, surveillance cameras. It's not true. We don't believe that. What upholds the world is limo Torah. Wherever the Torah is learned, there's safety and security. When the Torah is in danger, then the Jewish people and the world is in danger. The Torah is the security of the world. The Gamara even says, "El maleh Torah lo nit kaymu shamayim va'aretz." Rav Chaim Volozhin are taught, the reason why God created time zones is because this way 24 hours a day there's always somebody learning. So, when we're learning now, in Israel they get to rest a little bit. And then when we go to sleep, in Israel they wake up to learn. The reason why God created time zones is so that there's Torah being learned 24 hours a day. If there would be a moment in time that the Torah was not learned, the world could not exist. Chasam Sofer says that's why we have two different days of Purim. You ever wonder why are there two Why do some Jews keep Purim on the 14th and some on the 15th? He says because since if there would be a moment of time that nobody was learning Torah, the world couldn't exist. So, on Purim most people, you know, they're busy doing whatever. They're giving the shalach manot. They're wearing the costumes. They're drinking. They're not learning Torah. If all of Israel would would observe Purim on the same day, the world couldn't exist. So, we have to stagger the Purim. The Chasam Sofer says. So, the Gamara asks, "Why did Rav Shashe say that he's learning Torah for himself? He's learning Torah to uphold the whole world." So, the Gamara gives a very unusual answer. The Gamara says, "Mei ikara." Anybody know the translation of the word mei ikara? Mei ikara. Mei ikara. Usually the word mei ikara means at first. Usually the word me'ikara means at first. Ki avid inish, when a person does it and he learns, adat denafshai avid, he learns for himself. So, the Gemara is giving a very difficult answer. That in the beginning when you start to learn Torah, you should start to learn for yourself. What, Rav Sheishet was a beginner? Rav Sheishet was gadol hador. Why would Rav Sheishet be learning for himself? What does the Gemara mean in the beginning when you learn, you should learn for yourself? I understand maybe if for a beginner, Rav Sheishet wasn't a beginner. So, this gentleman is saying something very important. There's an amazing Vilna Gaon. The Vilna Gaon reveals a bombshell. We're used to understanding, you know, when we talk about the Torah, we talk about the Luchot, we have mitzvot bein adam lamakom and mitzvot bein adam lachaveiro. Mitzvahs between you and God, let's say tefillah, and mitzvahs between you and another man, bein adam lachaveiro, let's say gemilut chassadim. Likewise, we have aveirot bein adam lamakom, let's say avodah zarah, idolatry. We have mitzvot bein adam We have aveirot bein adam lachaveiro, retzicha, murder. Comes Vilna Gaon and the Gra says, there's a third category of mitzvot. There's something called bein adam laatzmo, between man and himself. And there are aveirot bein adam laatzmo. For example, what? Says the Vilna Gaon, giluy arayot, lewd behavior, promiscuous behavior, illicit behavior. You're destroying your own soul. You're destroying yourself, like it says in Mishlei, noef ish chasar lev. You're corrupting your soul. You're You're your soul. It's not interpersonal. It's not between you and God. You're destroying yourself, says Vilna Gaon, Talmud Torah. It's not you and God. It's not you and man. It's you and yourself. What does that mean? What does it mean that Talmud Torah is ben Adam atsmo? What does it mean Talmud Torah is ben Adam atsmo? The meaning is like this. God created you, my friend. With how much ability? This much? Your ability is infinite. It's endless. You're created in the image of God. You have a chelek eloka mimal in you. You have a piece of the divine in you. You could be anything. You could accomplish anything. Your ability is infinite. Okay, so then why am I a nobody still? You know why? Cuz you got to bring out the greatness that lays dormant within you. How do I access the potential that lay dormant in my soul? Talmud Torah. By learning Torah, it's between you and yourself. In order to be, in order to maximize, in order to access, in order to tap into the endless greatness that lies within you, you need a key. Learning Torah accesses the infinite greatness that's within you. Limud Torah, it's not between you and God. It's between you and yourself. It's about where you're going to be in this world. How high are you going to climb? How great are you going to become? That's what it means Talmud Torah is Ben Adam l'atzmo. I come from a planet called New York. And you think he's coming from New York, he has big hidushim. I have no hidushim for you. Tonight, we're going to learn simple, basic things that you all know and that will revolutionize the way you approach Talmud Torah, but I'm not going to tell you anything new. You're going to walk away, I knew everything this guy said. But you're going to say, I never realized that before. Today, we're going to talk about the keys to be successful in Talmud Torah. Now, we start off with a very big misconception. We think Torah is like a subject. So, if we're going to be successful, then we figure however you'd be successful in geometry, mathematics, geography, biology, that's how we'll be successful in Talmud Torah. Probably, it's the same ingredients. So, if you're smart and you're dedicated, you'll be successful. And if you don't have the intellectual capacity, then forget it. And what we're going to learn tonight is that the ingredients needed to be successful in Talmud Torah are fundamentally and dramatically different than being successful in any other subject. See, when it comes to any other subject, math, you need to study the material, you need to have the intellectual ability, you need to focus, and if you're smart, you'll get it, and if you're not, you won't get it, and there's nothing you can do about it. Talmud Torah, the ingredients needed for Talmud Torah are completely different than any other subject. Look, I went to Yeshiva for many years. I remember many, many students who are brilliant and they weren't so successful in Torah. I know people who they weren't that intellectually sophisticated and they became very great in Torah. So, what we're going to learn is the ingredients needed to be successful in Torah are supernatural. Here's the first one. The possuk says Also, you should pray. For this, you should pray. Now, that's interesting. What do you mean for this you should pray? Did you know you have to pray for everything? There's nothing in this world that you don't pray for. I remember when I was a kid, I asked Harav Avigdor Miller why in the Birkat Hamazon we say Harachaman hu yishakeinu lemoed Hamashiach ulechei haolam haba. God, please grant us the world to come. What do Why do we pray for that? Do mitzvot, you'll get the world to come. If you don't do mitzvot, you won't get the world to come. Why would we pray for the world to come? And he looked me in the eye and he said, "If you want it you got to pray for it. You can't have anything unless you pray." Even when you get in the car in the morning, you have to pray the car should turn on when you All right, they don't have keys anymore. When I Now, when you press the button, the car should turn on. I'll tell you a story about my car, you know. We were We were packing up the car for Pesach. And we turned it on. Okay, we turn on we turn on the car. And then I went out to get more stuff to bring into the car and I left my keys in the bedroom. But you know, once you start the car, even if the keys are not in the car, it will drive. We then drove 2 hours later, 2 hours later, we got to where we were going. Where the keys? Now, if we turn off the car, we're going to have to figure out how to get 2 hours back. So, you want to hear a miracle that happened? 2 weeks before, my son was cleaning the car for Pesach. I say, "Yudi, where are the car keys?" He said, "I don't know what happened. I think they like fell into a hole in the car." And we couldn't find them. But when we got to the destination, when I turned off the car, the car started again. So, that means the car the keys that were lost 2 weeks before, we knew they were in the car. So, we searched and we searched and we searched and we found them. We found some chametz also, but we found the keys. Why am I telling you that? I have no idea. I don't know, but you got to pray for everything. But yet, in Tehillim it says, "Al zo yispalel kol chasid." Pray for this more than anything else in this world, pray for this. Friends, I want to ask you a question. What do you pray for more than anything else? Any volunteers? Zivug. Hashem should send a zivug bekarov mamash. Parnassah, that's the right answer. I know that's what everyone else is thinking. Most people they pray for a parnassah. Kessef, money, livelihood, bracha, parnassah, mamon, Cash? Bitcoins? Bracha and parnassa. Followed by mamon, kesef, and parnassa. After that, they pray for Torah. If they even remember to. Says the Gemara, more than anything else in this world, you need to pray for Torah to be successful in Torah. Did you know that? That more than anything else in this world, you need to pray to be successful in Torah. Say, what do I have to pray for? That I Hashem, I pray to you, I should want to learn Torah. I should enjoy to learn Torah. I should find the right shiur, the right chavruta. I should be able to focus. I should remember it. I should enjoy it more than anything else. That is the most important thing to pray for. In fact, the hour is late. But you know, the Gemara legislates that the Gemara tells us about Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakana, when he would enter the Beit Haknesset, he would offer a special prayer. He would say, Sh'lo yera davar takala al yadi. When he would leave, he would say, a special tfila, Modeh ani lifanecha Hashem Elokai shesamta chelki im yoshevei Beit Hamedrash. Do you say that tfila? Uh many people don't say this tfila. It's unclear why people are not saying this tfila. If you open up any a random Gemara, you have Gemaras here? Where are the Gemaras? In the ArtScroll Gemara, let's see. Look, the Aitz Yosef Bahir Gemara, you open it up right here. Y'hi ratzon, you ever see this? You're familiar with this? There's a tfila. The Rambam says, when the Rambam codifies this Mishna, the Rambam writes, "K'she yikaneis l'Beit Hamedrash, machayev lomar." You have to say it. The Shulchan Aruch says, when you enter the Beis Hamidrash, you must say this t'filah. Many people don't say the t'filah. And there might be justification for not saying it. The Aruch Hashulchan says, "Nowadays, most people don't say the t'filah." And he justifies it. He says because nowadays, this t'filah is if you're going to be paskening halacha in the Beis Hamidrash. So, the people learning in the Beis Hamidrash are not paskening the halacha. And the rabbis who are paskening the halacha, they're doing it from their house. So, everybody is patur. The rabbi is not in the Beis Hamidrash, and those in the Beis Hamidrash, they can't paskin. That's what Aruch Hashulchan says. Others say that the t- the t'filah of Ahavah Rabbah takes the place of the t'filah of Rav Nechunya ben Hakana. So, there are various reasons why perhaps we're not obligated to say this t'filah. The Chazon Ish still writes that if you want to be successful in your learning, you should be careful to say the t'filah. I am not here this evening to tell you you should say this t'filah, you shouldn't say that the t'filah. You'll learn the topic, you'll learn the sugia, you'll ask your rabbi whether you need to say the t'filah, but I'm bringing one thing to your attention. A critical ingredient in being successful in Torah is prayer. If we're praying to God for health and nachas from our children and parnassah, and we forget, you know, we forget to daven that Hashem should help us be matzliach in Torah, we're omitting the most important thing to daven for. You could go to a shul, you could spend an hour of shacharis, and you missed the boat. You blew it. The main thing you need to pray for, sometimes we could totally forget to pray for. Can you imagine in mathematics you have two guys and one guy is more successful. Why? Cuz he prayed. What does prayer have to do with mathematics? Either you understand it or you don't understand it. But Torah is different than math. Torah is the knowledge of Hashem. And if you want your physical brain to have an understanding and appreciation and enjoyment for Hashem's Torah and Hashem's wisdom, you must pray. It's a key ingredient. It's a critical ingredient. Number two. If you're a father, you give your kids money? Of course. What are fathers for? So you give your kids money. Which kid do you give the most money to? The oldest? Which kid gets the most money? The one that behaves. The one that behaves None of them behave. Which kid are you going to give the most money to? The one that thanks you the most? You're going to give the kid who's the most responsible the most money. The kid that's going to lose the money, he'll get 50 cents. The kid that you know won't lose the money will get more money, right? I I would say that's the first uh determining factor The first determinant of how much you give your children is how responsible are they. Now, what does it mean to be responsible for money? Do they have a wallet? A kid who doesn't have a wallet, what are you going to give them? A kid that has a wallet, you'll give them more. A kid who has a wallet with like a strap with a a snap on it, you'll give even more. You know he's not losing it. God's our father. He is ready to shower on us as much wisdom as possible. He wants to shower on us endless wisdom. The thing is, we need a safe place to put it. Does anybody know? Where's the storehouse that we put Torah? Where's the wallet? What do we put Torah in? The Gamara teaches us there are six orders of the Mishnah. But Yirat Hashem, he otsara. The fear of God is the storehouse. The fear of Hashem is the storehouse. Says Rav Chaim Volozhiner. If the fear of God is the storehouse, the more Yirat Shamayim you have, the more you'll understand and enjoy and appreciate the Torah. The more careful you are what you eat, what you say, what you look at, the more Yirat Shamayim you have, the more secure your wallet is, the more Torah God will give you. If you know your kid is walking around with his ATM card, you know, flipping it up in the air, juggling it, you're not putting anything in the account. If you know the kid you could be trusted with the ATM card, you'll give him you'll put some more money in the account. How secure is our account? Imagine if you told a physicist, "You know why you don't understand the theory of relativity? Cuz you don't have Yirat Shamayim." Say you're out of your mind, you're insane. What does fear of God have to do with understanding physics? Physics is a mathematical formula. If I learn it and I study it, I'll understand it. Fear of God would be irrelevant to any other subject. Why is fear of God a critical ingredient when it comes to the Torah? Because Torah is not a subject. It's the wisdom of Hakadosh Baruchu. And he's going to give it if he knows that it's secure with you. So, if we have we develop Yirat Shamayim, then we're going we're securing our bank account. God's going to He's waiting there. Our father is waiting there to send down big big donations. When God's going to give Torah, he's not giving $500. He's not giving $10,000. He's ready to to write you six-digit checks. Maybe seven digits. He wants to give you big donations. God said, "I would give you a million dollars, but I'm afraid you're going to lose it." Therefore, Rav Chaim Volozhin says, "Before you start to learn Torah, so I want to tell you a little secret. When you open up the Gemara, close it for a second. Actually, keep it open cuz if you close it, you might not never open it again. Before you start to learn the first thing is, "Hashem, please help me understand your Torah." The next says Rav Chaim Volozhin, "Spend a moment, one moment, think about Yirat Shamayim, the fear of Hashem. Do teshuvah. Think about there's accountability in this world. Think about that Hashem is watching you. He knows what you say. He knows what you think. He knows what you do. A little bit of your shamayim makes it. Oh, Hashem says, "You got a wallet. This guy has a wallet. Let me write him a big check." Yirat shamayim is the next big ingredient in being successful in limud Torah. Next. Ready for this? Moshe kibel Torah What's the next word? Misinai. Misinai. What time is it for you? For you, it's late. So, you're tired. For me, I'm ready in I'm ready early in the next morning. Moshe kibel Torah Misinai. Moses received the Torah from Sinai. What? Sinai grew arms? The mountain grew arms and handed Moshe the Torah? What does it mean literally? Moshe kibel Torah Misinai. It should say Moshe kibel Torah Behar Sinai. Behar Sinai. Who said that? You're You're good. You had Wheaties this morning for breakfast. Moshe kibel Torah Behar Sinai, it should say. Says Tosafot. The word The letter mem can mean because of. Moshe kibel Torah because of Sinai, because of the lesson he learned from Sinai. We know Sinai was the lowest of all the mountains. Was the most humble of all the mountains. And God chose Sinai because of its humility, because it had a low It didn't want the limelight. It wasn't looking for honor. So, God selected Sinai to be the location of the giving of the Torah because of its humility. Moshe received the Torah because of the lesson that he learned from Har Sinai. But, let's explain. Remember we said, "God is looking to shower Torah on us in great proportions. But we need a wallet. Here's the problem. You know you have a container? Imagine if we're like a cup. The problem is God wants to pour into us. Our cup if the walls of the cup are really thick and the interior is very narrow, there's not a lot of place to pour the water in. The thinner the walls, the bigger the container. Says Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerona, the more humble someone is, the thinner the walls of the container, the more room there is to fill up with Torah. The more ego we have, the more we hold of ourself, the more we stand up for our own kavod, the more we can overlook insult, the more angry we get because people don't do what we want, the thicker the walls of our cup, the less room there is for Torah. I want to share with you the amazing words of Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerona. Look at number 22, the second paragraph. Here's the topic. Through humility, a person merits everything. Just like Moshe, he was the master prophet. He was praised only with his humility. It's because of his humility. If we had someone today who was humble like Moshe, he would have also been able to merit the Torah like Moshe Rabbeinu. Says the It's like a clay. It's like a vessel. The thinner the walls, the more room there is to fill up. The more humble someone is, the more he could fill up with Torah. Imagine if we said to a physicist, "You know why you're not understanding the law of relativity? Cuz you're too arrogant." So, what are you talking? You're out of your mind. What does humility have to do with understanding physics? And the answer is, you would be out of your mind because it doesn't have anything to do with understanding physics. But Torah is not physics. The ingredients needed to be successful in Torah are supernatural. They're not regular ingredients. Next, you ready for this? In this generation, there's so much Torah. We have ArtScroll. We have Mesifta Gemarot. Any topic you want, you could get a translation in English, Spanish, French, um Farsi. You name You name the subject, we could translate it for you. You could listen to Shiurim. So, why isn't anybody Why isn't everybody like big talmidei chachamim? Where are the Where are all the big talmidei chachamim? Where'd they go? Torah is more accessible today than it ever was. In Pirkei Avot, it says, "Asei lecha rav." Make for yourself a rabbi. Rabbeinu Yonah asks, "What do you mean make for yourself a rabbi? The board already made him a rabbi. They already voted him in. What do I have to do? What do you mean make him a rabbi?" Says Rabbi Yona a very important thing. People learn People are not robots. We're not computers. If we were computers, then we would just sit in front of a book and just read and read and read and it would go into our mind. We're not robots. We're not computers. We're people and people are influenced by relationships. Because it's not enough for the Torah to go into our brain. The Torah has to go into our heart. And for the Torah to go into your heart, you have to have a connection with a Talmud Chacham. Connection means you have to in your mind say, "This rabbi, I make him my rabbi. Maybe I'm just as smart as he is. Maybe I know just as much as as he he knows. But I am making him my rabbi. So when I hear words of Torah, I'm hearing it from my rabbi. And I have a relationship with my rabbi. Do you walk your rabbi home Shabbat? Or you walk home and he walks home? No, you make it your business. You walk him home. You talk to him. You sit next to him. You have a relationship with him. Every Jew has to have a relationship with Talmidei Chachamim. Because if you just learn from books, then it becomes intellectual. So it just stays in your head, but it doesn't affect you. It's not enough for the Torah to be in your mind. It has to be in your heart. And to get it into your heart, you have to have a relationship with a Talmud Chacham. And you have to seek it out. Don't say no, the Rabbi will call me, he knows my number. And if he doesn't call me, No, it's your responsibility. You make sure walk him to the shul, walk him home from the shul, call him up, bother him. If he tells you to bug off, then find a different Rabbi. Asilah Charav, it's so important to have a connection with a Talmid Chacham. It will take the Torah that you learn, it will bring it from the heart into your from your head into your heart. Next, you know Rabbi Meir, we have a very nice safe on Rabbi Meir. Last time we were here we had it in Lashon Kodesh, now we have it in English. Rabbi Meir's wife was Bruriah, very interesting lady. Tough cookie. She came into the Beit Midrash and she sees a guy learning, but he wasn't saying the words, he was just thinking it. She kicked him. I don't know, maybe she was wearing high heels. She kicked him. Said, "What are you doing? You're not saying the words." She says to him, "Arucha B'chol Evarim If the Torah is arranged with all 248 limbs, it will be preserved, otherwise it won't be preserved." Like the Gemara says Rabbi Elazar, he learned quietly for 3 years, he forgot his learning. In order to remember your learning, you need to say the words. You have to say the words. Not like this. No. Me Eimahtai Konesh Maba Arvei Me Shasha Kohanim Nichnasim Did you know Shulchan Aruch Harav paskins? If you just learn the Torah and you don't say the words, you don't get a mitzvah. Reb Zalman disagrees. He says that's a big chiddush. You can't say you don't get a mitzvah. Because the Shulchan Aruch Harav says, "Well, if you don't get a mitzvah, so then at a shiur, only I'm getting the mitzvah. And what are you doing?" So, the Shulchan Aruch Harav said, "No, you're also because just like by kriat megillah, shomea koneh. If you listen, it's like you said it." So, when you learn with a chavruta, the Shulchan Aruch Harav says, he says it, you listen, and it's like you said it. Reb Zalman disagrees with that. He says that's not how it works. The way Torah is learnt, sometimes he says it, sometimes the next guy says it. He disagrees with this chiddush that if you don't say it, you don't get the mitzvah. But one thing is for sure, if you want to be successful in learning, you want to remember your learning, you need to say the words. You know, the Shulchan Aruch writes, and as a halacha, look at number 26, kol hamashmia kolo bishat talmudo mitkayem beyado. You want to hear something interesting? Maharsha explains, why does the Gemara say that when you say the words, it's like your whole body is learning? He says something very interesting. When you say the words, it creates vibrations. So, when you're saying the words, technically, your hands are vibrating, your arms are vibrating, your your legs are vib- All 248 limbs are learning. They're vibra- The whole body is shaking. You'll you won't forget it. Otherwise, you just sit there uh and you're like half in a comatose state. It's not going to not. Doesn't do anything. It does something. But if you want to be successful, you need to say the words. The Gemara even says there are 48 ways to acquire Torah. One of them is Ari Khat Sifatai'im. You enunciate the words. Imagine you told Einstein, you know, if when you're learning relativity, you would say out loud, "E = mc²", you'll understand it better. See, you need a therapist. There's no subject that you have to say the words. The capital of New York is Albany. The capital of California is Where? Really? And what's LA? Yeah, exactly. Okay. Does it matter any other subject if you say the words? By Torah, it matters. The ingredients are supernatural. It's different than any other discipline. Number six. Friends, if I came here right now and I told you I have the winning lottery numbers. And there were 50 numbers. Would you just say there, "Okay, tell me. Tell me what they are." No. What would you do? You'd write it down. I'm pretty sure And what if you didn't have a pen on you? Would you be embarrassed to ask the guy next to you for a pen? No, I don't think so. And if the guy next to you, would you be lazy and you there's a store downstairs, would you go buy a pen for for 30 cents? Yeah. So, what's more valuable? The winning lottery numbers or or Torah? Says the Gemara, "Shamati Shehayu Omrim Ashrei Me Sheba Lakhan VeTalmudoh Beyado." Fortunate is someone who comes upstairs and his learning is in his hand. Says the Marsha, learning in his hand. I want to read to you these words. Look at number 34. Says the Marsha, The main learning that will make an impression on you who is the learning that comes from writing. You want your learning to have an effect on you? Write it down. If you just want to like sit at a share and whatever and then go home. So then just listen. You want the learning to get into your heart? You want it to make an impression on you? You want it to change you? You want it to elevate you? You want it to transform you? You write it down. Next. Okay, the most and now I'm going to tell you a personal thing. The most important thing you could do to elevate your learning is not to bring a phone into Bayit Knesset. Period. Not off. Don't keep it off. Cuz you're going to turn it on. It's a joke. You say it's on vibrate? Vibrate? You And during the shear was on vibrate, you already felt it 75 times in the last 2 minutes. Why is it important not to bring it in? And it's very simple. It's going to save your life by the way. It's going to make your life much happier. The Gemara tells us about Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva was a ignoramus. Rabbi Akiva was an ignoramus and he went to learn Torah for 12 years. And he came back, he had 12,000 students. And he overhears somebody telling his wife, "Yeah, your husband abandoned you for 12 years. He doesn't even know what's going on in the house. And Rabbi Akiva's wife said, "Really? If he would listen to me, he would go back and study another 12 years." Rabbi Akiva made an about-face. He didn't even say hello to his wife. He didn't go inside. He didn't say shalom aleichem. He didn't say mazel tov on our kids' bar mitzvah that I missed. He didn't say thank you for doing carpool for last 12 years. He turned around and he went back to the shul to the beit midrash for 12 years without saying a word to his wife. Asks Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, "Why didn't Rabbi Akiva come and say thank you. Thank you. Thanks for manning the fort for 12 years. Why didn't he stop and say, 'I really appreciate Here's a bouquet of flowers. Here's a box of chocolate. I'll see you in 12 years.' Say something." Says Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, "If Rabbi Akiva would have gone inside the house and spoke to his wife, then he would have learned for 12 years with an interruption? And another 12 years. But now that he didn't go inside, he learned for 24 consecutive years. And when it comes to Torah, one of the critical ingredients is that it should be uninterrupted. I I call it it's like charging your phone. You ever You ever have your phone on like zero? And you have like one of these lousy chargers? And you charge it for 10 minutes and you come back, it's on 1%. And you charge it for an hour, it's on 13%. But if you keep it in for 2 hours and it's like it gets heated up, you know, it gets going, it gets going, you come back, it's 78%. You could use the phone again. Same thing with the Torah. If you're going to learn and you're going to check your phone and you're going to learn and you're going to check your phone and you're going to learn and you're going to check your phone. You learn for 10 seconds, and 20 seconds, and 30 seconds. And every time the neshama gets warmed up, it cools down again. You need to learn uninterrupted. If you only have 5 minutes, make it 5 uninterrupted minutes. You can learn for 10 minutes, make it 10 uninterrupted minutes. You can learn for an hour, make it an hour. Don't let the stupid phone destroy your avodat Hashem. For tefillah and for Torah. Simple. If you want the Torah to have an impact on your soul, it has to be the real thing. People wonder, you know, I'm learning so much Torah, why isn't it changing me? You need to immerse yourself. You got to be focused at it. Do yourself the biggest favor in the world. In our Beit Knesset, you can't bring in the phone. Period. It can't come in. We have a We have a a locker outside. There's a stipulation. Nobody can enter the Beit Knesset with a phone. Period. Under any condition. Otherwise, what are you doing in here? You know, it's like, you know, the the false prophets. The Elijah says to the false prophets, "Whose team are you on? You're on my team? So, you're with me. You're against God? You come in with the phone Who's Pal, whose team are you on? You're with the program, you're not with the program. In the Beit Knesset, you're loyal to God. It's God's house. Otherwise, what are you doing? You want to sit on the phone? Stay in bed and go like that for an hour. Liberate yourself. Free yourself. You're eved Kenaani, not even eved Ivri. The best thing you'll ever do. Best decision you ever made. Torah has to be uninterrupted. Whether it's 1 minute, 5 minutes, or an hour. Whatever time you got, make it real. I'm going to tell you one more. One more ingredient. You know, the Gemara talks about reviewing your learning. Remember this Gemara? Aino domeh mi sheshona pirko me'ah pa'amim l'mi sheshona pirko me'ah v'achas. There's no comparison between a guy who reviews a hundred times and a hundred and one times. You ever wonder about that? What do you mean there's no comparison? I would say they're pretty similar. I think they're very similar. Imagine, you know, you have two guys, they're learning uh geography. You say there's no comparison between one guy who reviewed it a hundred times and one guy reviewed a hundred and one times. You know, the Vilna Gaon has an amazing chiddush. You ready for this? He says, okay, when you learn something, you learned it once. When I review it, okay? The second time, how many more times did I just learn it? So, what do you mean? Once. No. Twice. How? I reviewed it, and when I review it, I remember the first time I learned it. Do you understand what I'm saying? When you review something, you're learning it now, and you're remembering the first time you learned it. So, you just did it two more times. When you review it the third time, you know how many more times you just did it? I learned it now. Six I'm remembering the second time. I'm remembering the second time's remembering the first time and remembering the first time. You did it four more times. And the fourth time you did it, it might be six or eight more times. By the time you get up to 100 and 101, the difference between them is over a billion times different. I know don't matter me. So, review is key when it comes to uh Torah. If you go to a sheer, you go to Rabbi sheer, right after the sheer, you put yourself in the corner and review the sheer. And then the next morning, before the tfila, before the sheer, you review again. Uh you're a giant. You're Superman. You're a hero. The whole world is standing on you. You review something? You know what that's going to do to you? It's going to change your life. But you say to yourself, you know, I'm going to review something 101 times? How's it possible to review something 101 times? I'll share with you a a an amazing thing. You know, the Gamara tells us the story of Rabbi Chiya. Rabbi Chiya would say, "Don't mess with me. If the Torah was ever forgotten, I would restore the Torah very simply. I would take five kids. I would teach each one Khamish one of the Khamisha Khamishay Torah. I would take six kids. I would teach each one one of the Shishay Sidray Mishna. And then I would say, 'Okay, you Bereishit guy, you teach them Bereishit. Shemot guy, you teach everyone Shemot. Vayikra, you teach uh Itzra'im, you teach everyone Zraim. And this way the Torah would never be forgotten. So the Maharsha asks, why did he have to do it this way? Why didn't he just teach all of these students Bereishit, Shemot, Vayikra, Bamidbar, Devarim. Why did he have to teach each one one and then have them give it over? Says the Maharsha, the highest level of limud Torah is teaching it. The highest level of limud Torah is teaching. In fact, the Steipler Gaon once said that if you prepare something and you organize it and you teach it, it's the equivalent of learning it 50 times. So you say, "I'm not a teacher. I'm not a rabbi." You are. You hear a good dvar Torah? You have a Shabbos table? You prepare it. You're going to write it down and you're going to say it to your family. They are listening, they're not listening, they're they're going like this. No, you're going to teach it. You know what that's going to do to you? You're not just a lomid, you're melamed. You don't have to be a rabbi. You don't have to be a rosh yeshiva. Every Jew, you say in the tefillah, Avinu Av Harachaman, hamerachem, rachaim aleinu, vetain belibenu lehavin ulehaskil, lishmoa, lilmod, ulelamed. Not only the rabbi says ulelamed, every Jew has to be ulelamed. Find somebody, hold him hostage. Say, "You want to hear a good dvar Torah?" He's not going to say no. He He doesn't want to hear it. He's going to think, "No, I I I Yeah, but I have to go No, no, no. You just listen to listen this. Tie him up and tell him the whole of our Torah for an hour. You put him on the chair, you tie him up. He's going like this, you tie his hands. He's asleep, pour water on him. Find somebody. You teach him Torah. You go to a sheer, go get a havuta, and then teach it to him. Find somebody. Your wife, your son, your grandmother, your aunt. Somebody. Make a tape. Record yourself. Send it to somebody. He's not going to listen, it doesn't matter. Find a way to teach Torah. That's the highest level of Torah. These are supernatural ingredients that will give a person success in limud Torah. We're learning a big hidush. More than anything else that you pray for in this world, you need to pray to be successful in limud Torah. We learned very important ingredients. Tefillah. Yirat Shamayim. Anavah. Humility. Ase lecha rav. You have to have a rebbe. You have to have a relationship with talmid chacham. You need to say the words. You need to write down. It has to be consecutive. The phone, you know that thing that people people put on the side of their belt? You see that doorway? Doesn't doesn't cross in. That doorway, there's a shomer over there. The mezuzah mezuzah says, "Leave it out. Leave it out." Ruchniyut has to be consecutive. Retzifut. You want to charge your batteries? Everybody knows a cell phone, if you charge it for a minute and you unplug it, you charge it a minute, nah. You're going to have you're going to be on 10% and then after 5 minutes, your phone's going to die. You want to recharge your batteries? It has to be consecutive. And fi- figure out a way to be not only a little maid, to be a male maid. Teach your children, teach your family, teach your cousin, teach your friend, teach somebody. Nobody wants to listen, talk to yourself. You're walking down the street, talk to yourself. Say over the Torah, say over the Torah. A person learns for themself. Besides the fact that by learning Torah you uphold the whole world, you elevate yourself. It's Adam small. It helps bring out the divine greatness that lays dormant in every single one of us. In the merit of us coming together tonight before we hope, we pray that should shower all of us with Torah, with Shamayim, with all the vote and that's good. We should be okay. Thank you very much. Thank you guys for coming.