Thursday, January 14, 2010

ta'amah ki tov sachara

Daughter #2 actually wanted to give a dvar torah at our little siyum (as opposed to myself and my son who do not look forward to speaking publicly even in front of extended family), so since she is dabbling in learning Mishlei in addition to her schoolwork she spoke about the pasuk of “ta’amah ki tov sachara lo yichbeh balayla neirah.” Meforshim read eishes chayil as a mashal for Torah, and explain this pasuk to mean that when the eishes chayil sees that business is good = when you recognize the beauty of Torah, you burn the midnight oil to try to accomplish more.

My daughter explained the pasuk (OK, she had a little help) as applicable to a siyum. Where does a person get the energy to keep learning day in and day out as part of a daf yomi or some other cycle? The gemara (Shabbos 118) tells us that Abayei would make a Yom Tov when a masechta was completed by the talmidim. In that light perhaps the pasuk can perhaps be read as follows: “Ta’ama ki tov sachara” – when a person has experiences the tov = the Yom tov celebrating the making of a siyum, then “lo yichbeh ba’layla neira,” then he/she is inspired to continue from one project to the next. Indeed, so many people got chizuk and were inspired to start their own sedorim from events like the siyum hashas of daf yomi that it makes one think that if only MSG was reserved for siyumim on Mishnayos, halacha, Nach, Yerushalmi, etc. how much more would be accomplished : )

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:51 PM

    Mazel Tov to you, your son and your BIL on your siyumim and thank you for your continued divrei Torah / machshovos which I recently subscribed to receive via your blog. I especially appreciated your "Torah plug" (in your post: "daf yomi on yerushalmi -- siyum and new cycle") in which you write that "the Yerushalmi is torah too, and you only live once ...so why not try?" It reminds me of a 'vort' I once heard from Rav Moshe Rozmaryn, shlita (mechaber of "Dvar Moshe") that (one of?) the biggest tragedy is for a yid to go through this world having not gone through the entire Tanach (at least once!). Indeed, with the plethora of shiurim, seforim, online sources, etc. so readily available, does anyone really have a good excuse not to? (And by extension, why not go through the rest of it, too, as you suggested?) Having turned 30 recently it dawned upon me (yet again) the reality that you mentioned: we only live once!...and with that I began my own personal cycle of Perek Mishna Yomis just a few weeks ago (with the assistance of the [free] audio shiurim of Rabbi Chaim Brown, shlita -- see http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/mishna/index.htm). Iy"H I plan to tackle the bigger fish -- Shas -- next (Bavli, and then Yerushalmi, of course!). In that vein, your daughter's divrei chizzuk about the energy for daily "cycle" learning were apropos for me as well. Chazak v'ematz!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad you enjoyed and wish you success on finishing all Mishnayos. BTW, just for the record, I am not the Chaim Brown who does those audio shiurim (some people in the past have asked).

    ReplyDelete