1. The Alter Rebbe opens the laws regarding the blessings of thanksgiving1 as follows: “One is obligated to recite a blessing over any happiness of the heart that he experiences from the goodness of this world. If no one else shares this positive experience with him, he should recite the blessing Shehecheyanu. If he shares the positive experience with someone, he should recite the blessing HaTov VehaMeitiv, [praising G‑d, ‘Who is good and grants goodness’].”
The Alter Rebbe wrote the above-quoted Seder Birkas HaNehenin in his early years as Rebbe. Now, by that time there had already appeared a number of editions of the Shulchan Aruch. As a result, even people who are labeled “unlettered yokels”2 knew which berachos were called for, even in doubtful or borderline or rare cases, because rulings on these subjects had already been published.3 Why, then, did the Alter Rebbe publish his Seder Birkas HaNehenin at that time?
[By way of explanation:] One of its novel highlights is its introduction: “[One is obligated to recite a blessing over any] happiness of the heart that he experiences from the goodness of this world.”
One might well ask: What is the connection between This World and – goodness? After all, This World is evil. In the words of Etz Chayim,4 “all the affairs of This World are severe and evil.” This World fights and bites, and it’s quarrelsome. In the above text, however, the Alter Rebbe seeks to highlight “the goodness of this world,” which arouses “happiness of the heart.” [And in this spirit we learn that] the Torah, and the Holy One blessed be He, and [the Children of] Israel are all one:5 the world exists for the sake of the Jewish people; the Jewish people exist for the sake of the world;6 and the Torah exists for the sake of the Jewish people and of the world.
[With regard to today’s celebration:] According to the halachah,7 one ought to recite the blessing, HaTov VehaMeitiv, because our experience of goodness is shared. However, in addition to the pleasurable factor, there is also the element of time, so we should say, Baruch shehecheyanu vekiymanu lizman hazeh – “Blessed be He Who has granted us life and has enabled us to reach this occasion.”8
The members of Chevrah Mishnayos Be’al Peh, the Society for the Memorization of Mishnayos, now number (thank G‑d!) 670 – which equals the gematria, the numerical value, of ער תיו (270 and 400).9 As a member of the Society, I too am participating in today’s celebration. And as to the blessings that people are granted by studying mishnayos, may they grow, and increase, and become elevated and revealed.
2. Our time is limited, so we will speak briefly.
The [Alter] Rebbe once said: “When we used to hear a Torah discourse from the Rebbe [i.e., the Maggid of Mezritch], for us that was Torah Shebe’al peh, the Oral Law. And when we heard a story from him, for us that was Torah Shebichsav, the Written Law.”
That teaching was repeated by successive Rebbeim, and has been explained in dozens of ways. This is one of them:
There is a verse that says, “Listen, my son, to the ethical teaching of your father, and do not forsake the instruction of your mother.”10 We learn that “the ethical teaching (mussar) of your father” alludes to the Written Law, whereas “the instruction (Torah) of your mother” alludes to the Oral Law.11 However, Sefer Yetzirah (1:4) gives us an additional directive, namely: “Understand (i.e., acquire Binah) by employing Chochmah (‘wisdom’),and acquire wisdom (Chochmah) by employing Binah (‘understanding’).”12
The former phrase (“acquire Binah by employing Chochmah”) means that one should study the Written Law according to the teachings of the Sages, the Aggados, the Midrashos, and the Zohar. If one does not study the Written Law in this way, he is not only “one who interprets the Torah in a manner that contradicts its true intent,”13 but moreover, he is denying the very existence of the Giver of the Torah.14
The latter phrase (“acquire Chochmah by employing Binah”) means that one’s study of the Oral Law should reach its pnimiyus, its innermost depths. In this context we do not mean the pnimiyus of the Torah, as in Kabbalah, but the pnimiyus – the innermost depths – of the galya, of the revealed levels of the Torah. Since those revealed levels are a [mere] garment, one needs to access the kernel within. This means that one’s study of the Oral Law should be accompanied by yiras Shamayim, an awe of Heaven. If that is lacking, a person can arrive at a state so shameful that no one could have possibly foreseen that a Torah scholar should fall so low, G‑d forbid.
3. My great-grandfather, theTzemach Tzedek, had a relative by marriage called Reb Hirsch. This mechutan15 was the grandfather of the Mitteler Rebbe’s son-in-law, Reb Aharon, who was a son-in-law of the Mitteler Rebbe and the father-in-law of the Rebbe Maharash. By the time of the latter shidduch, Reb Hirsch was no longer alive. Beyond his thorough familiarity with the entire Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, the leading scholars of Shklov used to envy the depth of his erudition. He was a businessman. In his case this meant that though he sat in his store to keep an eye on things, he hired workers, and proceeded with his Torah studies.16
During one of his visits to the Tzemach Tzedek, who gave him a warm welcome, they went outdoors and sat on one of the benches that stood among the trees. In the course of their conversation, Reb Hirsch bemoaned the fact that at his advancing age he found it difficult to meditate on profound subjects, and asked for advice on how this could be remedied.
“I’m younger than you,” said the Tzemach Tzedek, “and the same happens to me, too. The remedy is to study mishnayos orally and memorize them, [for] the mishnah (מִשְׁנָה) arouses a revelation of the neshamah (נְשָׁמָה).”17
Even though he was thoroughly familiar with both Talmuds, it was only now, at age 93, that he realized that he had not memorized the precise wording of the mishnayos.18 He therefore embarked on this new project.
4. Reb Pinchas Reizes was once asked: “What lies behind the powerful erudition of Reb Aizel [of Homil]?”
He answered that Reb Aizel once asked the Alter Rebbe to give him his blessing that he should have keilim rechavim, “capacious [intellectual] vessels.” The Alter Rebbe responded by assuring him that if he memorized the whole of Tractate Keilim, [which is a long tractate on the intricate laws that determine the purity or impurity of hundreds of vessels, some of which were better known in the Roman era,] he would be granted keilim rechavim, “capacious [intellectual] vessels.”
I knew many of the Mitteler Rebbe’s chassidim, and from them I heard that they in turn had heard from chassidim of the Alter Rebbe, that he had instructed many individuals to memorize passages of Midrash and Zohar, and in most cases he had instructed people to review mishnayos from memory.
5. The memorization of mishnayos ought to be considered in depth. Indeed, in the World Above, a person is known by the name of a tractate that he has committed to memory.
My grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash, once wanted a certain chassid to approach him, so he called: “Shabbos, come here.” No one knew whom he had in mind. If he had called for Leivik, Yitzchak, Yosef, or Yaakov, they would have known whom he wanted to see – but Shabbos?!The Rebbe Maharash then indicated a certain chassid and explained that he called him “Shabbos,” because that was the name of the tractate that that chassid was then memorizing, and hence, that was what he was called in the World Above.
[The Rebbe Rayatz added:] I am now studying Tractate Menachos, so Up There, I am called “Menachos.” Just as there are distinctive names [for the various levels of the soul] such as Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah and Yechidah, so, too, in the celestial Chamber of the Mishnah19 a person is known by the name of the tractate of mishnayos that he is memorizing.
6. The currentdivision of the mishnayos is different from the accustomed division of the Talmud,20 as it has always been studied when a person was in a House of Study21 or when “when you sit in your house.”22 In contrast, the current distribution of mishnayos to be memorized is intended for22 “when you walk on the way.”23
7. The Midrash24 cites a teaching of R.Benaah: “One should always immerse himself in the study of Mishnayos, so that if in the course of his studies he reaches a deadlock, a path will be opened up for him. If he is studying the Talmud, it will be in the Talmud; if he is studying Haggadah,25 it will be in the Haggadah.” To this R. Eliezer added, citing R. Yehoshua ben Levi: “The Mishnah is a pillar of iron.”
The above-quoted advice of R. Benaah was that “one should always immerse himself in the study of Mishnayos,” for if he does so, he will find clarity in everything, both in Halachah and in Aggadah – because in the Holy Tongue, the word “Mishnah” (מִשְׁנָה) shares the same letters as the word for “soul” (neshamah –נְשָׁמָה).17
Following this, the above-quoted comment of R. Eliezer was that “the Mishnah is a pillar of iron.” In the Holy Tongue, the word for “iron” is בַּרְזֶל (barzel), and the numerical value of its letters26 equals both סָפֵק (safek –”doubt”) and עֲמָלֵק (Amalek). This implies that the pillar of the Mishnah has the power to crush the doubts that stem from the kelipah of Amalek, [which cools the ardor of a Jew’s faith].27
8. I want to give you a piece of good news. It’s not immediate, but it’s good news, as follows: Memorizing mishnayos not only spares one from evil; it also constitutes a vessel for receiving all the positive benefits that are destined to come. And may the One Above grant that they materialize in the very near future.
Out of ahavas Yisrael, the obligation to love a fellow Jew, let me now say that everyone should know, and every person should tell another, that one should commit mishnayos to memory. Those who can memorize ten chapters should memorize ten chapters. As to those who cannot do so, they should memorize at least one mishnah, apart from the mishnayos that appear in the davenen.
This project should be undertaken not in order to enrich the One Above but in order to enrich our fellow Jews, by making things go well with them, both materially and spiritually.
Increasing the dissemination of Torah study, and repeating the letters of the Torah orally, secure not only protection and salvation for oneself and one’s household and one’s immediate environment.28 Beyond that, they fashion a vessel that enables one to receive the wondrous revelations that await us and which mere words would fail to describe. (Anyway, what would be gained if we did have words to describe them…?)
May G‑d grant everyone a healthy summer, and may we all receive the future revelations, without the birth pangs of…,29 but with loving-kindness and compassion.
