3 replies to this topic

[torah613]

I heard a vort from the Vilna Gaon on the possuk in Haazinu that compares Torah to water. Just like water makes plants grow, Torah makes the person grow. But if the person has bad middos inside, the water will make the bad middos grow, just like water makes weeds grow more.

But how does that fit with the chazal - בראתי יצר רע, בראתי תורה תבלין ?

[taon]

it depends if you use the Torah to fight bad middos, or dont let the Torah drown them.

[torah613]

I saw in R’ Chaim Kanievsky’s Orchos Yosher, in the perek about leitzanus, he says that he knows a talmid chacham who is a big letz:

http://hebrewbooks.o...46&st=&pgnum=60
(near the bottom of the page, in the parentheses)

So how can that be – doesn’t Torah depend on yiras shamayim? If someone is a big letz, how can they also be a big talmid chacham?

[Rabbi Shapiro]

I saw in R’ Chaim Kanievsky’s Orchos Yosher, in the perek about leitzanus, he says that he knows a talmid chacham who is a big letz:

http://hebrewbooks.o...46&st=&pgnum=60
(near the bottom of the page, in the parentheses)

So how can that be – doesn’t Torah depend on yiras shamayim? If someone is a big letz, how can they also be a big talmid chacham?

Torah helps someone be better but it does not remove someone's bechirah. He can still be a Letz if he chooses. Nor does it remove a person's Yetzer Horah. He will be a Letz unless he so chooses.

A person's motives for learning Torah also affects the Torah's ability to influence a person. Worst case scenario, הלומד ע"מ לקנטר the Torah itself becomes a "lethal poison" (Taanis 7a).

And a person's Hashkafos affect his Torah as well. Rav Chaim Volozhen said, if a person believes even one thought of Apikorsus, it is impossible for him to ascertain the true intent of the Torah in any area (no matter how good the person's Torah looks). And without אמיתה של תורה, you lose its influence.