Bamidbar/Shavuos 5782 – Demonstrating Gevurah for Kabbalas Ha Torah
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Shiur presented in 5780
Consider sponsoring a shiur
Visit YTATorah.org
Shiur presented in 5780
The story of Korach is an amazing story of how an individual who was of the greatest of the great fell. To say someone is great is nice, but to be great among greats is a much more difficult challenge. The Torah says: “And Korach…took for himself, along with Dasan and Aviram…descendants of Reuven.” Rashi says that because shevet Reuven were neighbors to Kehas and his children they joined Korach in the machlokes: “woe on to the rasha and woe on his neighbor.”
The subject we’d like to discuss today is an important one because many people pose the following question. The Torah says: I created an evil inclination, and I created Torah as its antidote (Kiddushin 30b). So that means to say that the antidote, the counterforce for the yetzer hara, is Torah.
Tonight’s subject be’eizer Hashem,is to figure out the purpose of our lives in this world, for each one of us. One of the most fundamental principles of Judaism is that there is no creature that exists, that was created for no reason, or by chance. Every single one of the creatures in the universe has a specific purpose. That’s a mind-boggling concept. Every blade of grass, every ant, and every fly has a purpose in Hashem’s creation. That’s principle number one.
Yesterday, we spoke about the power of the yetzer hara, where he comes and he challenges each and every one of us, and presents us with new things. He has innovations. He offers us opportunities for new, imaginary horizons. And people succumb to his tricks. He gets into our minds, and messes with us, and we fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
Somebody did a big avlah to the Brisker Rav. The Brisker Rav was upset. This fellow considered himself the Brisker Rav’s talmid. My rebbi told me, “My father, the Brisker Rav, sent him a message: ‘I won’t have a shaychus to you from now on, not in this world and not in the next world.’” When I heard that, somehow, for some reason, it struck a chord, and I realized that what I have with my rebbi is not just while I’m with him in his house or sitting by his shiurim…You’re with them in the next world.
The Torah tells us a story about a person in the midbar who cursed Hashem and they put him in prison. That was a very rare occurrence. The prison system wasn’t common. It wasn’t common at all in Klal Yisrael. They put him in prison until it would be clear what his din was. When they found out that he was supposed to get sekilah, everybody subjected him to sekeilah.