By: Rabbi Avrumi Wax
If every generation is weaker than the one before it, how is it possible that new Torah continues to be revealed? At Kabbalas HaTorah, something fundamental took place: each neshama was assigned its own distinct chelek in Torah.
Rebbe Avraham Azulai, in his sefer Chesed LeAvraham, writes that each and every neshama has its own unique portion in Torah that cannot be revealed by any other. Only that neshama will bring those secrets to light, and as long as it does not reveal them, Hashem does not make them known even to tzadikim.
Similarly, the Shevet Mussar writes that a person cannot originate a teaching in Torah that his fellow is meant to reveal, for everything has already been prepared before Him since the creation of the Torah.
The Sefer אפים ארך writes that there are times when later generations are able to introduce a Torah teaching that earlier generations could not, even though the least of the earlier generations surpassed the greatest of the later ones. This is because the time for that chiddush to be revealed had not yet arrived.
The Gemara in Chullin 7a says that the earlier generations left room for the later generations to excel.
In the hakdama to the pirush Zikukin DeNura on Tanna D’Bei Eliyahu, he brings from the disciples of the Arizal, on the pasuk (Devarim 29:14),
כִּי אֶת אֲשֶׁר יֶשְׁנוֹ פֹּה עִמָּנוּ... וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר אֵינֶנּוּ פֹּה עִמָּנוּ הַיּוֹם
that every neshamah was at Har Sinai, and it was decreed upon each one: this one will bring forth this teaching, and that one another. Each teaching can emerge only through the one to whom it belongs, because it is a spark of his soul.
The First Step to Being Mechadesh Is Writing
The Maharsha (Bava Basra 10b, ד״ה אשרי מי שאומרים שהיו) writes:
עיקר הלימוד ושנעשה בו רושם הוא הלימוד הבא מכתיבת יד, אשר על כן נקראו החכמים סופרים
“The primary learning, and that which leaves an impression, is the learning that comes through writing by hand; and it is for that reason that the sages are called scribes.”
A remez to this idea can be found in the verse (Shemos 17:14),
כְּתֹב זֹאת זִכָּרוֹן בַּסֵּפֶר
“Write this as a remembrance in a sefer.”
Amudeha Shivah brings from the Zohar that when one writes down a chiddush he has learned, this writing is considered in place of a korban.
This does not have to be something he himself was mechadesh. Rather, he should write down something he considers a chiddush or a yesod that he wishes to remember. From that writing, he will see that he can gradually build structures far beyond what he ever imagined himself capable of creating.
Following this idea, the Shevet Mussar (chapter 35) writes that from every chiddush in Torah that a person records, wondrous chambers and canopies are built Above, in which the soul will delight. To hint that these structures are built from letters, they are called “stones”. Accordingly, it is fitting for a person to put every chiddush into writing, so that it can effect a construction Above. Even a small point should not be light in his eyes, for even a structure of great and precious stones can only stand through the small stones placed between them. So too Above, in the structure formed from the letters that come into being through writing.
“Do not ever think,” says the Medrash Talpiyot, “that everything that can be expounded has already been said, and there is nothing more left for me.” Rather, it is always only partway finished, for there is no end to drawing from a living spring: the more you draw from it, the more it flows and increases, as if nothing was taken at all, as it says (Tehillim 119:96),
לְכָל־תִּכְלָה רָאִיתִי קֵץ רְחָבָה מִצְוָתְךָ מְאֹד
Know that all souls were sworn at Sinai to engage in Torah and to reveal new teachings according to the capacity of the root of their soul, and through this a person inherits his place in Gan Eden. When a person neglects the Torah, the chiddushim he did not produce are given by Hashem to another righteous person—his counterpart (בן גילו)—who will bring them forth. The world cannot exist without this, for its continued existence depends on the six hundred thousand Yidden together with the chiddushim they are all meant to reveal in Torah. Therefore, he rightfully receives not only his own portion, but also the portion of his fellow in Gan Eden (see Chagigah 15a). So it is written in the sefer Minchas Eliyahu, chapter 13.
The Sifsei Kohen writes that when one brings forth a new Torah teaching in this world, then on Motzaei Shabbos, when the souls ascend, Hashem asks that additional soul (נשמה יתירה) and says to it: “Did you go to your host (i.e., the גוף)? What food was set before you, and what did you bring back from there—that is, what chiddush did you bring forth?” It answers, “I produced such and such a teaching.” Then Hashem gathers the entire heavenly entourage and says to them, “Listen to what this soul has newly brought forth.”
The Obligation to Write Chiddushim
It is written in Shevet Mussar (chapter 22) that a person who does not write down his Torah insights because they seem insignificant in his eyes will, in the future, be held accountable for this. The reason is that they say to him: when it comes to business, a person writes down every detail—what others owe him and what he owes them—even something small. So they say to him, “Was that tiny amount of money really more important to you, that you made sure to write it down so you wouldn’t forget it, than a Torah teaching—even a small one?”
Therefore, a person should write down everything he brings forth in Torah so that he does not forget—even a small insight. It would seem that this is what our Sages meant when they said (Bava Basra 10b), “Fortunate is one who comes here with his learning in his hand,” meaning that he brings with him everything he has learned and developed, without having forgotten it. And how is this achieved? By writing it down. Through this, that insight is not forgotten from the world, and he carries it with him at the time of his passing.
The Shevet Mussar emphasizes that even a small teaching has great value, for it can connect to and lead to greater understanding, just as small stones are essential in supporting a large structure. In this way, even a minor point can contribute to building something great. Therefore, one should not refrain from writing down even a small chiddush, nor from listening to one, for all of it is included in Torah.
Consistent with this approach, in chapter 14 he writes that when a person hears a Torah insight, even if it does not appeal to him, he should not look for ways to refute it and say, “This is not the truth.” Rather, he should show appreciation that someone came to share a new idea with him, and he should seek proofs to support it. For it is the way of a fool that, upon hearing any new idea, he immediately argues and says, “This is not so.” This is a very negative trait, for it leads a person to become ungrateful even for the goodness of Hashem.
A Person Should Always Learn the Torah That His Heart Desires
In light of all this, he reveals a guiding principle in chapter 1 with which we will conclude: a person’s primary focus in learning should always be in the area of Torah that his heart most desires. If it is Gemara, then Gemara; if derush, then derush; if remez, then remez; and if Kabbalah, then Kabbalah. A hint to this is the verse (Tehillim 1:2),
כִּי אִם בְּתוֹרַת ה׳ חֶפְצוֹ
“but in the Torah of Hashem is his desire” (see Avodah Zarah 19a), meaning that the Torah of Hashem is dependent on what his heart desires to engage in.
This is echoed in the writings of the Arizal in Derushei HaNeshamot VeHaGilgulim (chapter 3), where he writes: “There are those whose desire and toil are in the plain meaning of Torah, others in derush, others in remez, some in gematria, and others in the path of truth (i.e., Kabbalah). Everything depends on what that soul was sent to rectify in that particular incarnation. If it has already completed other areas in a previous lifetime, it need not engage in all of them again in every incarnation.”
Do not pay attention to the words of those who oppose you regarding what your heart desires to engage in within Torah—whether in Gemara, pshat, drush, etc.—when they say to you, “Why do you spend all your days on this particular area of Torah and not on another?” For the very matter that you desire to learn is the reason you came into this world. And if you heed their words, they will cause you to return in another reincarnation, and your soul will have to pass beneath the sharp sword of the Angel of Death and taste death once again.
The Alshich HaKadosh once came to the Arizal seeking to study Kabbalah. The Arizal told him that in a previous incarnation he had already mastered the depths of Kabbalah, and that his return to this world was only to complete his portion in derush. Therefore, it was not necessary for him to engage in Kabbalah again, as that aspect of his soul’s mission had already been fulfilled.
May each of us be zoche to uncover our unique chelek in Torah, to develop it through learning and writing, and thereby fulfill the very purpose for which our neshama was sent into this world.
Taken from the Kollel Avreichim Hollywood
