2020/5780
Last Friday there was an event that many students in our yeshiva had the privilege of experiencing. Divrei Chizzuk with the Gadol, HaRav Asher Weiss, and a kumzitz with Joey Newcomb. Not everyone went, but many videos surfaced, displaying the hundreds of high school talmidim inflamed with passion for Torat Hashem. How do we sustain the inspiration of this event?
In this week’s Parasha, the Torah states “VaYishma Yitro Cohen Midyan Choten Moshe Et Kol Asher Asah Elokim LeMoshe OoLeYisrael Amo Ki HoTzi Hashem Et Yisrael MeMitzrayim” - “Yehoshua, priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the Lord had brought Israel out from Egypt.” (Shemot 18:1) Rashi, commenting on this pasuk, asks what specifically did he hear causing him to come? He answers that it was the splitting of the sea and the war with Amalek (18:1 s.v. VaYishma Yitro). The Zohar, in turn, refers us to the Shirat HaYam that explicitly states that many nations heard this as well. The Pasuk states “Shamu Amim Yirgazun” “The nations heard and trembled” (Shemot 15:14) - so what was so special about Yitro? Why was he singled out? The Zohar answers that everyone heard, but not all were inspired, Yitro heard and was inspired, so he drew close to Hashem.
What did Yitro do that proved this? If we pay close attention to the words that Rashi is quoting from the Midrash, “Ma Shamua Shama UBah” “what did he hear that inspired him to come?” (18:1 s.v. VaYishma Yitro). Chazal are teaching us a valuable lesson in maintaining and acting on our inspiration. As soon as you are inspired, do not wait, do not delay and cause the inspiration to fizz out. Rather, act on it immediately! If Yitro would have waited on his inspiration, even one extra moment, he would have remained static like the rest of the world who merely heard. When we are inspired, do not wait or push it off. Act on that inspiration. If one holds off on his inspiration, the inspiration will flee. But, when you act on it instantly, you bring it into this world, into something tangible, and that is the only way it will remain.
Rav Chaim Shmulevitz tells a story that he heard from his father. In the times of Rav Chaim, in the Volozhner yeshiva, a student asked one of the geniuses of the Yeshiva, in the middle of a Seuda, a question for which the answer was very explicit in a Tosafot in the Masechet they were currently learning. However, the genius student didn’t know the answer and due to the pain he felt from not knowing; he stood up in the middle of the seuda without benching, secluded himself in a certain area of the Yeshiva and learned the next seven years, with tremendous Hatmada (diligence) and Mesirat Nefesh (sacrifice), and became one of the greatest Torah scholars of th generation. They asked Rav Chaim Volozner if this genius student acted correctly, for he did not recite Birkat HaMazon! Rav Chaim answered, “Of course he did not adhere to the Halacha for it is prohibited to leave a Seuda without Benching! However, if he would have waited and benched, then I can say with certainty that he would not have been as inspired as he was at that moment, and he would have never been the person that he is today.
This is, in fact, the reason we have Isru Chag. Isru Chag means to tie ourselves to the Chag by which we were just inspired. By doing something, and taking upon yourself something, we tie ourselves to the inspiration which will, in turn, maintain the inspiration.
Let’s act on our inspiration like Yitro, who did not wait, but came to Klal Yisrael immediately after he heard. Let -us take in the lesson from the genius student that acted on his inspiration. And finally, let us not have to wait for Yom Tov to be inspired and Isru Chag to act on it. Instead, let us be inspired today and act on it, and internalize it immediately! May Hakadosh Baruch Hu help us act on, and maintain our inspiration.