Yeshiva Highschool - What Are We Doing Here? {Ohr Hatorah, Aventura}

okay good morning guys thank you very much graduar for the uh generous introduction and uh a long awaited uh meeting and uh want to wish you a lot of here in the most important job in the universe raising generations of loyal Jews okay so I just want to share with you a few be brief thoughts we spend our day in Yeshiva and we really have to ask ourselves you know what in the world are we doing here you know why are we dedicating so much time to the study of Torah you know this's a big world out there there's a lot to do the Jewish people right now are in a very dangerous situation the likes of which we haven't faced probably in 70 years and yet young men preparing themselves for life you would think there would be something more important to do than then pouring and studying a t studying a text that was written 1500 years ago and giving the best years of their life just to sit and study the Torah what exactly we doing so I would like to share with you this morning um a very important perspective regarding what does Torah do for me what does it do for us what what do I get out of it what do I get out of learning Torah you know there's an amazing gar tells us there was a man by the name ofes and every 30 days he would climb up to the top of a ship and he would talk to himself he would say rejoice my soul Rejoice my soul he would say you know I learn I learn it from me you know why I learn I learn it from me I do it it's selfish it's for me and the gar asks what he learned selfishly he he learns for himself aren't you supposed to learn Torah to uphold the whole world don't we believe that the learning of Torah literally upholds the whole world and the gar says a very interesting statement the gamar says may literally in the beginning you learn for yourself so let's try to understand that a little bit what do I get out of learning Torah what do I get out of it does it do something for me I want to tell you a very important idea that it's it's not so well known you know if I were to ask you how many categories of mitzvos are there what would you say General categories most people say there're two there's between you and God and there's between you and your friend so for instance uh when you dve in what what would you [Music] call and when uh you visit the sick what do you call that you invite a guest when you sh most people would say they're only two categories of mitzvas the vun in his commentary on Mish reveals that there's a third category of Mitzvah which is almost virtually unknown and he gives an example he says ding is between you and God acts of kindness It's between you and your friend sayson there's a third category there's something called T learning learning if you would have stopped a hundred people on the street and asked them what's learning is it between you and God or is it between you and man I would say a 100 out of 100 would say it's between you and God says it's wrong it's not true learning T says is it's between you and yourself what does that mean what do you mean between you and yourself and the villon flips it on its head there three categories of sin he says let's say idolatry a guy bows down to an idol what's that you know that's between you and God you're not believing in God properly what about you know so you murder someone that's it's very hard to get along with somebody if you kill them you know scientists have found they did studies on this it's very hard to have a good relationship with somebody that you kill I don't know if you knew that yeah what about G let's let's say LD behavior let's say immorality what would you call that is that the says that's between you and yourself you're corrupting yourself you're lowering your own identity V says the same thing with t Tor learning tah is between you and yourself let's explain what he means what are we we have uh we have a body so that we share in common with an animal but we have something very special we have a Nish what's a a somehow it's it's divinely instilled God gave us this all we believe so to speak it's a piece of the Divine which means what is what could a person accomplish in this world what could a person be in this world who could a person become it's infinite it's endless you know how much ability you have it's infinite God gave you a soul that Soul has infinite capacity so here's the problem you know we get up in the morning and we say that's great I have infinite capacity I could I could reach the Moon how do I access that how do I tap into how do I bring out the infinite capacity that I have you ever wonder about most people they get up in the morning they got to put yank themselves out of bed figure out how they're going to get to school do their learning do their studying but you ever stop and think you know I could be something very great how am I going to access that infinite ability what tool is there in this world that could tap into my Nish and bring out infinite ability the answer is God gave us a tool it's called the Tyra learning Tyra it's not between you and God it's not between you and your fellow man it's between you and yourself in other words if you want to be this or be this or be this the tool is the key is how do you unlock your latent ability that's the mitzah of T Torah when you study Torah you're literally unlocking the infinite capacity that you have so don't think you know I'm rolling out of bed in the morning and I'm coming what's the name of the school what or or so I'm going to be here for four years and I got to get through four years no no no these are the years that you're figuring you're getting the tools to be able B to learn Torah and the Torah is the tool that our creator gave us to be able to open up the greatness that is with inside inside you and access it otherwise it lays dormant otherwise we're just we're just bam so these are very important years the ability to gain skills and learning Torah are the skills necessary to be successful in this world to be be successful spiritually to be successful emotionally and to be successful in anything we do this is the mitzah of T Tor that's why raes would climb up to the top of the ship and he would say I learn for you I learn for myself would say I learn mishna for myself this is a very important idea I want to share with you another idea um RAB grar mentioned that we're cousins I have a grandfather who uh was a holocaust Survivor and uh after the Holocaust he came to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania he was a rabbi for many many decades in Pittsburgh after the war after Liberation he was in the DP camps you know about the DP camps that's where old the survivors were placed after the war he worked for the American Army after the war so he was given an army uniform and a Jeep he met many great personalities one of the great personalities he met after the war was Rabbi Isaac halvi Herzog the first Chief Rabbi of Palestine Rabbi Isaac you probably heard about uh the president of the United States is Mr Herzog was a grandson of the first Chief Rabbi Rabbi Isaac halak he was a very Noble personality he was an aristocratic personality he wore a shiny Top Hat he had a cane and he visited to the DP camps in 1945 and he met my grandfather my grandfather met him he told my grandfather that he had just met with the Pope because you know after the war you know during the war many many uh parents gave their children to monasteries to churches to Christian families because there was no other way to save their children and after the war was over the parents wanted their children back basically Rabbi herzo had with him a list of 10,000 Jewish boys and girls who are being kept by Christian parents either in monasteries or in other locations and the RAB Herzog met with the Pope and he asked the pope to give the children back and the pope flatly refused that's that's the story that I heard I always like to say over the story Rabbi barl wine who's also a notable Rabbi he is a very interesting personality he's a historian he tells over the story that in 1951 Rabbi Herzog came to Chicago and the News came that by Rabbi Herzog was coming to Chicago you see nowadays you know the chief Rabbi gets around so it's not such a big deal okay the chief Rabbi is coming but 1951 for the chief Rabbi of uh then Israel to come to America was a big deal and all the Yeshiva students in Chicago there was one basic Yeshiva the ski Yesa they all came out to greet Rabbi Herzog and he spoke in the SK Yesa and you're sitting he's sitting there 200 boys you know that's the whole uh Midwest uh Yeshiva students about 200 boys and Rabbi herach spoke for 45 minutes he gave a PP share you know a pill share is like a very complex discussion on the gamarra and all the uh parents came and everybody came out to greet him and at the end of this she rather Herzog said he wants to have a word with the Yeshiva students and he uh he tells the Yeshiva students I have here a list of 10,000 boys and girls Jewish children who are being held in monasteries in churches with Christian parents and I asked the pope can it give us back our children you're kidnapping our children and the pope flatly refused he says our religion says that once one of you convert we can never give them back and they slammed the door on RAB herz's face and he left dejected and he tells the young man he says there's nothing I could do for these 10,000 boys and girls they're lost forever and by the way it's not just them what about their children their grandchildren it could have been hundreds of thousands of Jews if not more lost forever gone forever nothing I could do for them and he breaks down on the Lector and he cries he he wept bitterly and Rabbi wine said he was a young boy he was 11 years old Rabbi Herzog lifts up his his head and he Roars like a lion he says there's nothing I could do for these children but what are you going to do for the future of the Jewish people you could do something about it what do you what kind of contribution are you going to make to the to the Jewish people and Rabbi wine says these were from among the most moving moments in his life so guys I tell you you know you come to a Jewish high school and we we take it for granted do you know what the likelihood that there is that a young man could learn Tyra today after 2,000 years of Galos you know how unlikely that that is it's not St statistically unlikely it's not highly improbable it's a miracle of outrageous proportions that there are still Jews around learning Tyra and if you were given that awesome opportunity you have to ask yourself okay I understand I'm doing it for myself if I want to be what I can be if I want to become what I could become if I want to grow to be who I could grow to be I need to figure out how to access these documents I need to understand how to understand this information I need to do it for myself and I need to do it for the Jewish people every young man has to ask himself whatever I'm going to do in life what am I going to do for CLA Isel how am I going to help the Jewish people what kind of contribution am I going to make to CLA is there very few Torah observant left in the world after 2,000 years of Galos if you're one of them if you've been given this privilege that's a question we all have to ask ourselves what are we going to do for the future of the Jewish people so literally you are given the greatest opportunity in the entire universe Hashem gave you the T he gave you the opportunity to study the Tyra it's for you it's for your benefit it's not for your rabbi's benefit it's not for your parents' benefit it's for them too but it's primarily for you and it's for the Jewish people as well and these are all things we have to stop sometimes and ask ourselves am I taking advantage of the opportunity so I thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today to see uh the wonderful Tam and the rim and the man and I wish you all have a wonderful day and uh Shem should shower youf thank you