Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism

The next of the 48 ways to acquire Torah is closeness of friends. This means that a person who has close friends, they can help him in his ability to acquire Torah. They help him understand the text better through the way they make inferences and the knowledge that they have.

Another possible explanation is that through the camaraderie of friends, they will help one understand what their rebbe is teaching. This means, after the rav gives the class, they discuss the intricacies of the class and break it down to make sure they understand every aspect.

This does not mean that one cannot understand the class by himself but as explained previously, since one has their own biases of how they look at things, it is better to learn with a chevrusah (study partner) to bounce ideas off so what they learn will be crystal clear.

Rabbenu Yonah tells us that from the the Mishna in Chapter 2 Mishnah 12 that one of the best things to have for character development is to have a good friend since one can get good advice and direction from them.  Usually, good friends will not lead one astray and the benefits from one are limitless.

"And a fire went out from Hashem and devoured them and they died before G-d" (Vayikra 10:2) There are many reasons given as to why Nadav and Avihu, two of Aharon's sons died: 1) they gave a halachic decision without asking permission from Moshe Rabbenu; 2) or that they drank wine when they did the sacrificial service; 3) they did not marry and did not fulfill the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying; 4) they said when are these two old people (Moshe Rabbenu and Aharon) going to die and you an me will sustain and lead the generation. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky z"l in Emes L'Yaakov asks why the rabbis give so many potential reasons that these great people died and why was it not enough to give the reason the Torah gives that "they brought up a strange fire that they were not commanded to do?"

If we are talking about such great people, how could they have answered a question before asking Moshe himself? Rav Kamenetzky tells us there must be some level of hubris here, that caused this. Also, the fact that they drank some wine before doing the priestly service was not yet forbidden and not only that it was a day of great joy since it was the day of the inauguration of the Mishkan and they made a festive meal and had a little bit of wine but did not get drunk. It could be though that even on such a great day, they should have been more careful when doing the priestly service and should not have drank any wine. This caused a little bit of hubris and showed that they did not have proper fear of G-d at that point.

Even with the other reasons that are given, there could be answers to why they did what they did. Rav Kamentzky tells us that for every person there is a central point that attaches itself to him and that point is the one that is inclusive of all the others. We also find that many times the rabbis mention the many sins of a person and place it under one main category or umbrella which is representative of all the others.

Each person will have to make an accounting of their actions after they die and will have to explain their actions before G-d. At the end of the day, though G-d may place these things as a failure of ..... which is the main reason that caused his downfall in other areas as well.

Next on the list of the 48 ways to acquire Torah is learning from Torah scholars. One of the most important aspects of being a rabbi is not just passing the requisite exams to become a rabbi but having a mentor, a rav that one has learned from. Learning from a great rabbinic scholar is not something that may take a few days, months...it is something that one accumulates over time.

This is why learning from a Torah scholar is even greater than learning itself because here you are understanding how to put the knowledge that one has acquired into practice. This is why it is so important to learn from someone that not only has the knowledge but the practical experience as well.

This also helps us understand how we look at our rabbinic authorities today. We have to evaluate the scope of what the Torah scholar has learned but who that person learned under is of crucial importance. The person one learns from must be exemplary in his scope of Torah knowledge but also must be impeccable with character development.

Torah is meant to change a person. A person does not just acquire great amounts of knowledge without it changing the person. If a person learns lots of Torah but it does not affect his character development, then the Torah one learns is nothing more than mental gymnastics.

As the Talmud tells us, one must look at his Rabbi as no less than an angel. If a person cannot or there is flawed character within that person, then don't learn Torah from them. They are perpetuating a great tradition, passed down generation to generation and if there are noticeable flaws, then one must be very careful!!

Learning from a Torah scholar makes a person complete because they are able to use what they learned under proper guidance to make that person complete. As the Mishna in Pirke Avos tells us, "Acquire for yourself a Rabbi." According to one opinion, this means that even if it costs you money, you should have a rabbi as a mentor to guide you to give you the best chance to reach your true potential!

     There is an obligation to start counting the Omer from the second night of Passover until the holiday of Shavuos. During this time, there are customs of mourning due to the fact that 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died. We don't have marriages, get haircuts or listen to music.

How do we define what Simcha (Happiness) is according to the Torah. According to some commentaries, we look at happiness in the essence of our enjoyment when we learn Torah and keep mitzvos. From this we can learn a number of things.

The first thing we can take out is that if we don't learn Torah and keep mitzvos with great joy and excitement, then we won't be able to keep the Torah the way we need to. The reason is that if we look at Torah and mitzvah observance as a burden and as being too difficult, then why would we keep it and how would we pass it down to the next generation?

Happiness elevates a person to reach tremendously high spiritual levels. So much so, that G-d's presence does not dwell on someone that is sad. We see from this that keeping's one's focus and serve G-d out of love and enjoyment help a person in their mitzvah observance.

When we say the Shema every day, in the first paragraph we say "V'Ahavta Es Hashem Elokecha..." "You should love the L-rd your G-d..." The root of the word to love is either Ahav to love or the letters Heh and Beis to make the word Hav, which means to give. If you want to have this close relationship with G-d and His Torah, you must give of yourself to do it.

The more effort that one exerts in his understanding the vastness of the Torah, the more sweet the Torah is. The idea, as difficult as it may be will be to keep our focus on what we need to do vis-a-vis our relationship with G-d regardless of the difficult situations we may find ourselves in.

Happiness in general is something worthwhile to acquire. The reason is that if we look at everything as being bad, difficult with a poor disposition to the world, then it can be a very depressing place to live. Do we look at the cup as half full or empty? Shouldn't we be thankful for everything we have regardless  of everything else going on around us?

There is a story about the students of the Vilna Gaon (Rabbi Elijah of Vilna) who had very difficult lives and suffered from extreme poverty. The Gaon would send his students to visit sick people in the hospital before Shabbos. After these visits, his students came into Shabbos totally transformed. The reason was simple: they saw people who had pains and all kinds of ailments but they themselves were healthy!

By looking at the world with different eyes, we can see the good that we have instead of complaining and worrying about what I don't have and the difficulties that we may go through. There is so much to be thankful for. Let us live every day and focus on the positive things that we have!

As we count the days of Sefira as we approach the holiday of Shavuos, the Mishnah in Pirke Avos (Ethics of our Fathers) Chapter 6 Mishna 5 tells us "Torah is greater than the Priesthood and from Kingship since Kingship is acquired with 30 attributes, the Priesthood is acquired with 24 attributes and the Torah is acquired with 48 ways."

Even though there may be the simple explanation of why we do a particular mitzvah, nonetheless there are many hidden explanations as well. For examples, the mitzvah of blowing the shofar, the Rambam writes in the Laws of Teshuvah Chapter 3 Halacha 4) that even though the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is really a Divine decree written in the Torah, there is a hint as to why we do it. The reason is because we are sleeping most of the year in our performance of mitzvos and the shofar helps wake us up to get back to our true selves. There are other mitzvos as well like eating matzah on Passover or sitting in a sukkah on Sukkos that the reasons that we do these mitzvos  are pretty clear. What about Sefiras Ha'omer? The reason why we count days, weeks seems to be extremely hidden  and unclear why we do it.