Community Magazine August 2006

 ”  22 Community Magazine af’eihem, the bet in ashbita, and the nun in mei’enosh). Avner under- stood what this allusion meant – that he would be obliterated from memory – as the verse describes. He decided to perform teshuva and set sail on a ship, never to be heard of again. If one understands the Torah properly, he can arrive at everything – at all human knowledge – through the process of Torah study. Seeking Gd’s Advice Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman (Lithuania, 1875-1941) once described the all encompassing nature of Torah wisdom through the image of a person who is faced with a certain dilemma, who must make an impor- tant life decision and has the opportu- nity to ask Gd directly. Imagine such an opportunity – to get clear, explicit direction from Gd whenever we are faced with an important decision! Rav Elchanan writes that we indeed have such an opportunity. Whenever we have a question, a problem, an issue with which we must grapple, we can find the answer in Torah, by consulting with the Chachamim who have mastered the Torah. Many Rabbis have demonstrated their abil- ity to offer sound advice on a wide range of issues – family, marriage, child-rearing, even business decisions. Through the mastery of Torah, which “contains everything”, scholars are endowed with knowledge and exper- tise in many different fields, and thus serve as a valuable resource to us for many problems and decisions that we confront during our lives. The Gaon of Vilna would say that when a person has an important deci- sion to make, when he is uncertain about a given matter, he should study for two hours, purely for the sake of the mitzva of Torah learning. He should then reassess the given issue, and the answer or decision that comes to him during this reassessment is the answer provided by the Torah. Learning Torah may be compared to paving a bumpy road. If our thought process is “bumpy” and shaky, Torah provides us with clarity and proper perspective, and removes the obstacles that get in the way of clear thinking. I had Rabbis in Yeshiva who offered me this advice, and I experienced firsthand this clarity of vision that one acquires through the study of Torah. The Gemara in Masechet Chagiga says that Gd created the world with a brilliant light that enabled Adam to see from one end of the earth to the other. But the Almighty decided to conceal this light until the next world, where the tzadikim will finally be granted access to this extraordinary resource. The Ba’al Shem Tov (founder of Chassidut, Poland, 1700-1760) asked: Where did Gd hide this light? Where does He keep it until the time when he will allow the tzadikim to use it? The Ba’al Shem Tov answered that this light is concealed within the Torah. Torah provides the student with “light,” with clar- Dedicated for the yeshua of the Jews in the land of Israel