Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism

"The fires shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out" (Leviticus 6:6)

Rav Moshe Feinstein z"l in Derash Moshe learns that to teach Torah to students one needs to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm to get the message across.  Rav Moshe cautions though that the enthusiasm and the energy is not to be mistaken for the learning itself since the learning must be done with great concentration and understanding.

The enthusiasm is only part of it; the preparation and the energy with which one gives over to the students is what will be remembered. This is also called learning Torah from the perspective of the greatness of Torah and the mitzvos but the real aspect of learning Torah is with diligence, concentration and great effort.

The reason Torah has to be learned that way is so one will not make a mistake in its teachings and be stringent when you should be lenient and lenient when you should be stringent! Although we should have great energy and enthusiasm when we learn, nonetheless we could get up in the moment and still make mistakes which is why we need to have proper concentration and diligence while learning G-d's law.

This is something that is somewhat lost today. We get caught up in the everyday of what to do and how to do it, we forget that we are serving G-d. Yes we do what we are supposed to do, keep shabbos, the holidays..but we get so bogged down on the what's and how's we sometimes forget about the enjoyment aspect of what we are doing!

We live in a world that doesn't give us much time to catch our breath as we are so busy with so many things! Nonetheless, we still have to pray, make blessings...to the best of our ability and remember that G-d still runs the world! This doesn't mean that we are robots or machines but we have to focus on what we are doing, understanding it to the best of our ability and putting it into action.

This is definitely easier said than done with the myriad of trials and tribulations that are thrown our way. We then have to pick ourselves up after adversity and continue to serve Him even if it is difficult. This is where we get the most merit i.e. when it is hard and we struggle.

We always have to keep that fire lit within ourselves, continually learning and trying to become better people. This is a lifetime of work but we start slowly building our knowledge, our observance level and then continue.

The most important thing is to have the desire to do so. This will give the impetus to continue, be consistent and incorporate the incredible teachings into our lives. This does not mean that it will be easy but we will soon see how transformed we are by keeping G-d's law!

Shabbat Shalom