Navigating to Hashem

“And you shall make known to them the way they shall go and the deed[s] they shall do.” (Shemot 18:20)  
 

Sinful Ignorance  

Over the years, I have met thousands of yidden around the world who are unfortunately living lives that are in contradiction to the Torah, Mitzvot, and Halacha, simply because they do not know any better.

Most of these precious Jews never received a serious and meaningful Jewish education at all. On the other hand, some of them did have the opportunity to attend Jewish schools when they were younger. They learned a tremendous amount about Judaism and Halacha. But once they graduated, they never continued to learn, and they never studied new halachot (Jewish laws) that applied to the various stages of their lives. When they were in school, they never learned the laws that are applicable to a husband and wife, for example. They never reviewed what they did learn in their youth, and, with time, they forgot everything that they had learned.

Once I was visiting the Jewish communities throughout Mexico. Two elderly women came to see me in one of the cities. They spoke fluent Yiddish, which was common amongst the first generation of European immigrants. During our conversation, I asked if they were Shabbat observant. “Yes, of course,” they answered definitively.

However, I continued to ask about specific Shabbat laws. I asked if they used electricity on Shabbat, drove in a car on Shabbat, cooked on Shabbat etc. To each of these questions, they also answered “yes”! I asked them directly, “I don’t understand. You told me that you were Shabbat observant, yet you are violating all of these laws and desecrating Shabbat!?” Shocked, they replied, “What does the Rebbe mean? Of course, we are Shabbat observant. We make kiddush. We don’t know what else to do!”

Knowing What and When to Ask

The Vishnitzer Rebbe, the Ahavat Yisroel, used to have a saying: a scholar – a talmid chacham – is someone who does not study.” The Rebbe explained that as long as a person does not study, he thinks that he is a wise. When a person begins studying Halacha, he realizes that he doesn’t know anything at all, that there is a wealth of knowledge that is still unknown to him. He realizes that despite everything he thinks he knows, there is far more that he has yet to learn and observe. The ignoramus, on the other hand, thinks he is wise.  

Once a Rav, a rabbi, asked the Sheirit Menachem from Vishova, why he instituted that the boys in his yeshiva spend a substantial portion of their days learning Jewish law. Even if they all graduate with rabbinic ordination, there simply aren’t enough Jewish communities for all of the 400 students to secure rabbinic positions. The Rebbe replied, “Even if only one student becomes a rabbi in a community, we would have succeeded in creating 399 Jewish men who will go into the world, raise families and know how and when to ask a Halachic question to their Rabbi.”

This Is the Greatest Struggle

It says in Tehillim (36:4), “His words are evil and deceitful; he will not learn to do good.” The Baal Shem Tov, zt”l, explained that the driving motivation that fuels all of the deceitful taunting of the Yetzer Harah is to keep a Jew from learning how to connect to Hashem. For the Yetzer Harah to succeed, he needs to prevent you from learning how to behave and act in accordance with the Will of Hashem. He needs you to remain ignorant and naïve. He needs you to ignorantly ignore Halacha. The Yetzer Harah’s “words” that are “evil and deceitful” are meant to keep a Jew from “learning to do good”. The essence of this struggle is to keep a Jew from learning the laws in the Shulchan Aruch that will empower him through that knowledge to live a life of Torah and to keep the mitzvot properly.

Connecting to Hashem Through Halacha

The seforim Hakedoshim explain that even learning the Halachot that are no longer applicable helps a Jew connect to Hashem in a meaningful way. The Bnei Yissacher, explains in his commentary on the Torah, the Igra D’Kalah (Parshat Mishpatim) that the mitzvah of learning and the opportunity to connect to Hashem apply to all aspect of the Torah, even the laws that are no longer applicable. You need to learn about everything what is the Will of Hashem in such a situation. However, to accomplish this connection, to feel this closeness to Hashem, a person must also study laws that are applicable to him. This, in of itself, in a unique mitzvah.

We find this articulated in the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 246:6) that even though women are exempt from the mitzvah of studying Torah, since they nevertheless must learn the laws that are applicable to them, we see that they say the blessings for the mitzvah of Torah study.

Daily Living

It is particularly important to study the sections of the Shulchan Aruch called “Orach Chaim,” the volumes that deal specifically with common, daily activities. When a person learns how to act in accordance with the laws outlined in “Orach Chaim,” they are going on the right path to the eternal life in the World to Come, of Olam Habah.

Reb Elimelech from Lizensk (Hanagot HaAdam Section One) teaches that before someone learns anything, he needs to study the laws of Aruch Chaim.

Similarly, Reb Yitzchak Isaac of Kamarna in Derech Emunah (12b) requested that all his descendants and followers for generations to come should be fluent in the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim with the commentary of the Tur and Beis Yosef. It should “live on their lips like the words of Ashrei” – which we say three times a day.

The Belzer Rebbe, Reb Shalom, zt”l, said about himself, “I received my yiras shemayim, my Fear of Heaven, from learning the Tur and Beis Yosef. In particular, the sections of Orach Chaim filled me with a wellspring of yiras shemyaim.”

Halacha in This World is the Path to the World to Come

Every morning we say, “Anyone who learns Halacha every day is guaranteed to enter the World to Come. As it says, ‘the pathways (halichos) to His World.’ Don’t read it halichos rather halachos– Jewish laws.”

The Hebrew word used here for learn – Shoneh – is from the same root word as shinoi -to change. Through leaning Halacha, a person can change who they are and how they behave. They can align their lives with Hashem’s Will. By course-correcting their lives, they can be guaranteed a place in Olam Habah.

Yisro’s Advice

This is what Yisro was saying to Moshe Rabbeinu in our Pasuk: “And you shall admonish (warn them) them concerning the statutes and the teachings” – Teach the Jews about the general rules and laws of the mitzvos. But you should especially emphasize teaching them to know “the way they shall go and the deed[s] they shall do”. Teach them that the path to Olam Habah is through learning practical Jewish law; knowing how to behave and what to do.

We can learn from this the tremendous zchus (merit) one can gain from learning Jewish law every single day. Especially if someone participates in a program like “Dirshu” which requires a person, through review and exams, to truly internalize the laws that they are learning. There are tremendous resources to help you learn Halacha. Every Jew needs to recommit himself to learning Halacha to establishing a set time every day to delve into the Shulchan Aruch.

By doing so, you will bring light into the world, strengthen the awareness of Hashem’s presence amongst the Jewish people, and merit a blessed life in this world and the World to Come.

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The Kalever Rebbe is the seventh Rebbe of the Kaalov Chasidic dynasty, begun by his ancestor who was born to his previously childless parents after receiving a blessing from the Baal Shem Tov zy”a, and later learned under the Maggid of Mezeritch zt”l. The Rebbe has been involved in outreach for more than 30 years, and writes weekly emails on understanding current issues through the Torah. You can sign up at www.kaalov.org.