📋 Shiur Overview
Guest Lecture: Parshas Bechukosai — Walking as a Mode of Acquisition in Torah and the Imperative of True Growth
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A. Introduction: “Im Bechukosai Telechu” — The Rogatchover’s Chiddush on Walking as Kinyan
This week’s parsha is Bechukosai. Rashi explains *”Im bechukosai telechu”* — *”shetihiyu ameilim baTorah”*, that one should toil in Torah.
The Rogatchover Gaon brings a lomdus-based explanation rooted in the Rambam’s Peirush HaMishnayos on Bava Metzia. The Gemara says that *halicha* (walking) is not a valid kinyan (mode of acquisition). However, the Rambam brings an exception: when shutafim (partners) have joint ownership of something and they make a chaluka (division), and each one must be *mevarrer* (clarify) which portion is his — in such a case, *halicha* does function as a kinyan. The language of the Gemara is *dash a-metzer* — one walks the boundary in order to clarify ownership.
The Rogatchover applies this: every Jew inherently has a chelek (portion) in Torah. The task is not to acquire Torah from scratch, but to be *mevarrer* — to clarify and identify one’s own portion. For this purpose, *halicha* functions as a kinyan. This is the meaning of *”Im bechukosai telechu”* — the walking itself is the act of being mevarrer one’s own portion in Torah.
A Deeper Reading of the Rogatchover
Beyond the Rogatchover’s technical lomdus lies a profound implication in the realm of remez: although there exist many kinyanim (meshicha, hagbaha, etc.), the pasuk specifically says *halicha*. This means that the only way to acquire Torah is through halicha — through being a *holech*, one who constantly moves forward.
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B. The Concept of Being a “Holech” — Constant Growth
There exists a fundamental distinction between a *holech* (one who walks/ascends) and one who moves without progress. A person must be a *holech* — this is what distinguishes a person from an animal and, l’havdil, from an angel.
Rav Shimshon Pincus’s Mashal on Sefira
Rav Shimshon Pincus zt”l illuminated this with Sefiras HaOmer. The counting — *hayom, hayom, hayom* — day after day from one to forty-nine, represents constant ascent. His mashal: the distance from earth to the moon is approximately 200,000 miles. An average person walks around 100,000 miles in his lifetime — theoretically halfway to the moon. But after all those years of walking, the person is not one inch closer to the moon than he was at the beginning, because every time he lifts his foot, he places it right back in the same spot.
This is like the chamor (donkey) tied to the millstone — it walks endlessly in circles, covering a great distance but arriving nowhere. This is not a holech.
A true holech goes upward — ascends, progresses, climbs step after step without returning to the starting point.
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C. What True Halicha in Learning Means — Not Just Covering New Material
A critical insight about what it means to genuinely progress in Torah learning: A person who learned Nashim and Nezikin in yeshiva and then moves on to learn Kodashim — is he truly a holech? He sees new topics in Zevachim, a different world of themes. But what he does there is exactly the same: he asks whether something is a *siba* or a *siman*, whether it’s one din or two dinim, whether it’s a *raya* or a *pircha*. He uses the identical analytical framework that he used in Bava Kamma. He has moved to a different street, but he is not genuinely *mitkadeim* — he is not truly advancing forward.
A person is only a true holech if he can now think in a genuinely new way — new *musagim* (concepts), a new *mehalech hamachshava* (thought process), a new *language* (conceptual language), not the same approach applied in a different place.
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D. Chinuch as Lifelong Ascent
A widespread error: “Chinuch” is associated only with youth — a young boy, a bachur, college-age. But true chinuch never stops. A person must be a *mevakesh chochma* (seeker of wisdom) until 120 — seeking to grow and to become *different* in how he understands Torah, understands the world, and understands the Ribono Shel Olam. It is not enough to say “I learned the Ketzos, now I will learn Orach Chaim.” The essence is to acquire new ways of thinking, new conceptual frameworks.
This is not *nachalas haklal* — it doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Most people are content to walk around in the *tzara* (narrowness) of life and think it is Gan Eden. One needs guidance and *mevinah* (understanding) to recognize the need for genuine growth.
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E. The Extraordinary Combination of Sinai and Oker Harim
A remarkable quality is highlighted: the combination of Sinai (encyclopedic knowledge) and oker harim (analytical brilliance) in one person. As the Chochmas Shlomo noted in his teachings, these two qualities do not naturally coexist — a person is either a *mekabel* (a receiver/recorder of information) or a *misgaber* (an original creative thinker). Here, however, is a person who absorbs extraordinary masses of information — “terabytes” — across the entire spectrum from Zeraim to Uktzin, from Chumash to Kabbalah, from Torah to every topic in the world, and simultaneously produces *chiddushim nifla’im* with a completely original thought process on every subject. The combination is *pele pla’im*.
HaLomed Mikol Adam — A New Interpretation
The Mishna’s teaching *”Eizehu chacham? HaLomed mikol adam”* takes on a new dimension here. First, practically: the beis medrash includes people from across the entire spectrum — no one is outside the range, and one can learn something from every person.
But the deeper meaning: many people learn the Rambam, but they read their own Torah into the Rambam. They come with preconceived *hanachos* (assumptions) about what a *mazik* means, what *tefilla* means, and they find confirmation in the Rambam. But to truly hear what the Rambam is saying — to seek the Rambam’s own *language*, his own hanachos, his own values, how he actually learned — this is a Torah unto itself. True *lamdus* and *chiddushim* require the ability to genuinely listen and learn from the source, not merely project onto it.
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F. The Gap Between Halachic Knowledge and Growth in Yesodos
The Problem: Yesodos Remain at a Childish Level
The core problem being raised is a profound educational and spiritual tragedy: most people advance in the *peratim* (details) of their learning — in halacha, machshava, lamdus — but the yesodos (foundations) of emuna, of Yiddishkeit, of understanding who the Ribono Shel Olam is, how to speak to Him, what He wants from us, and what our tachlis is in this world — in all of this, most people remain like a *tinok ben yomo* (day-old infant). What one absorbed in one month in *kita gimmel* (third grade) is exactly the level at which a person remains for the rest of his life.
Key Arguments and Insights
1. True Lamdus in Rambam: Genuinely learning what the Rambam means requires more than reading his halachic rulings clearly. One must understand the Rambam’s *lashon*, his mode of learning, his *hanachos* (underlying assumptions) about life — his conceptual framework. This requires a special *koach* — this is the true lamdus of lamdus.
2. Hearing What Was Actually Said vs. What We Think It Means: A critical distinction is drawn between hearing what a pasuk says, what a navi says, what a Mishna says, what a Tanna says — and understanding what they actually meant when they said it, as opposed to how *I* understand the topic through my own lens.
3. The Mashal of Disproportionate Growth: A person grows and grows physically and intellectually in Torah details, but the *head* — meaning the fundamental understanding of who he is, what he’s doing here, and what this whole thing is — remains like a *tinok ben yomo*. Such a person is described as *adam she’ein kamohu* — a person without equal (in the tragic sense). People serve Hashem with love, are mekayem all 613 mitzvos, but the mind and heart remain at a childish level regarding yesodos.
4. The “What They Didn’t Tell You” Problem: There exists a genre of books called “What They Didn’t Tell You in Nursery School.” The parallel here is “What They Didn’t Tell You in Kollel” — even at the post-graduate level, the most basic and elementary yesodos of the entire enterprise remain untouched. This is described as a great *chaval* (tragedy).
5. The Need for a Hiluch (Journey): At the very least, a person must engage with the *yesodos* — who you are, what you’re doing here, *what this whole thing is*. In these areas one must certainly grow with deeper, more beautiful *havanos* — not just reviewing the same things, but adding another *deraga* (level) or another *remez* (depth) to the most basic elementary yesodos.
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G. Conclusion: Aspiration and Blessing
The place of learning is described as a *kli chiddush* — a vessel for renewal — to which Jews seeking such depth are drawn and find it. A new addition to the staff is praised for his *kishronos* (talents), authenticity (*amisdikeit*), *chein*, and ability to practically sustain and expand the enterprise with *rechovos*. The work being done here is for itself, for the children and families, and brings *nachas ruach* to the Ribono Shel Olam — *shamru v’na’ase retzono* — for this purpose He created us: to constantly draw closer to Him. The closing blessing is that Hashem should help everyone be zocheh to do what one must, to mean seriously what one does and says, that all *mekamos haTorah* should grow and flourish, until we achieve speedily *kulam yeid’u osi lemiktanam v’ad gedolam* — “They will all know Me, from the smallest to the greatest” — with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, amen.
📝 Full Transcript
Im Bechukosai Telechu: The Rogatchover’s Chiddush on Halicha as Kinyan and the Imperative of Continuous Growth in Torah
Opening Remarks
I can’t say that for me it’s a shame to be a malshin [informer/slanderer]. Just sharing with the world a little bit of my own feelings, a little bit of what… I don’t have enough time to keep up with all the things that are going on in the world of learning. But a little bit of what I see on the train is what is going on.
The Rogatchover’s Chiddush: Halicha as Kinyan in Torah
Rav Yitzchak [the Rogatchover Gaon] said that when the Rambam is sitting in Peirush HaMishnayos, in Bava Metzia, the Gemara says that halicha [walking] can’t accomplish acquisition — that’s what the Gemara says. I say, yes, but how can the halicha not accomplish it? The Rambam says that only one type of halicha can accomplish it.
There are the shutfim [partners], who are partners in a thing, they make a chalukah [division], and they tell us the truth, this is what the Gemara says: to be sure that each one of us is mevarer [clarifies ownership], then only the halicha helps. That’s what the Rambam says.
The Rogatchover says that for every Jew to be koneh [acquire] in the Torah, only the one who is truly mevarer is allowed to be koneh in the Torah. That’s why the halicha is also koneh. It means that the one who is mevarer is the one who is truly koneh in the Torah. That’s what the Rogatchover is saying.
The Deeper Meaning: Halicha as the Only Way
But I think that in the pasuk [verse], or whatever you call it, there is a certain thing that Im bechukosai telechu [if you walk in My statutes] — the pasuk says halicha, but there is only one way, and that is to be able to accomplish it. I mean, it’s the same with the Jews, with the shutfim, with the chalukah, and so on. But there is the halicha, not only the chiddush [novel insight], but the essence of the halicha, which means that the way to be able to be koneh the Torah is only with the halicha.
The Concept of Being a Holech: Continuous Upward Movement
So everyone knows that a person should be a holech [one who walks/progresses], and I think that many of the behemos [animals], or the malachim [angels], should be a holech. So because of this place, because of what they say, that a person should be a holech.
Rav Shimshon Pincus’s Mashal on Sefirah
So they asked me, Mai Svara [what is the reasoning], I had heard about it from Rav Shimshon Pincus, I heard a lot about Mai Svara. So I said, Sefirah [the counting of the Omer], we count from 1 to 49.
He said, how long does it take for you to reach the levana [moon], how long does it take for you to reach the levana? I don’t know, 200,000 miles, I don’t know, a little more, how long does it take for you to reach the levana.
A person walks in his life an average of 100,000 miles, I don’t know, he’s an average walker. Of course, at the end of his life, he had to say, halfway to the levana. But after the whole 100,000 miles that he walked, he didn’t get any closer to the levana. Every time he stepped on his feet, he would step something. He would say, I stepped on my feet, but at the same time he would lift it back up. So, it doesn’t come to anything.
Because, you know, the chamor [donkey], which is connected to the rechayim [millstone], I don’t know how many miles he has walked, I don’t know. It could be 200,000 miles in his life. But he doesn’t walk. He just walks. He goes around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around. And then he gets up.
One of the things that makes me think, makes me think too. In our country, we call it education. So, I think of education. The first thing that comes to mind is the English language, or a book, whatever — college age. But that’s education. But so wrong. That the whole life is like — as long as a person rises, as long as a person goes up, goes higher, comes to the next level — there is something in the world, there is a person, he stops there.
Then the Gestapo did the whole thing. They didn’t want to say the Torah, they didn’t want to say the Jewishness. The first thing they said was, we’re not going to stop, but the second thing they said was, we’re not going to stop, we’re going to stay in the same place, the same place we’ve been. But it means a lot to me. They really understand what the holech means.
What True Halicha in Learning Means: Not Just Covering New Material
Because a person can say, so, now I want to go up and advance. What do I do now? Now I’m going to learn in the yeshiva, in the beis medrash, I don’t know, in peace. So, I learn new things. I learn new things. What do you think about it? What did you learn in the weeks when you didn’t learn where we came from? Yes, the words are different words and the inyanim [topics] are different inyanim.
But what do you do there? The exact same thing. I have basically six or seven things that I can do. I can ask if the thing is a sibbah [cause] or a siman [sign], if it is one din [law] or two dinim, and that’s it.
And what it did when we came and when we left, now it did the same thing this week. So it goes on another street, but it’s not really a holech, it doesn’t go up, it doesn’t go higher, it doesn’t go further.
The only time a person is a holech is when they can actually have a new idea, they can now look for a new way, not the same thing over and over and over again and just now. And now it’s in a different place.
Education as Lifelong Growth: The Kiddush of Continuous Learning
I see how strong the Kiddush [sanctification] is. You know what I mean. The Kiddush says for everyone, that education never stops. So people actually say, we wake up, we go to school, until the age of 120, to actually climb and to be different in the way of understanding the Torah, in understanding the world, in understanding the Ribbono Shel Olam [Master of the Universe].
I don’t want to take away any time from it, but it’s the same as what I said about the Ketzos [Ketzos HaChoshen]. That’s the point. The point is to come up with new ways of thinking, new ideas, a new language, a new shprach [conceptual language] in your head.
And this is the greatest miracle for me, what I see. That’s why we need so much help, because most people are just happy just to go around and around and — I mean, there’s a guy in Egypt, but they’re weak. That’s the Jewish people. The Jews, what do you get? What do you get from that? Why do you keep them open? Why do you open them up for new opportunities, new heights, new levels? And continue to educate themselves and go higher and higher for their whole life.
The Unique Combination of Sinai and Oker Harim
That’s really a great thing that I see you just, you know, I still get the seforim [books], it’s hard to understand how many terabytes you and the adults are taking in the process, it’s unbelievable. They take all the information and it’s normal and it’s like that when you open the Sinai and the oker harim [one who uproots mountains].
And naturally, as I often say, I’m a talmid [student], and it’s natural that it doesn’t go together at all. Some people are a mekabel [receiver], and they take information, others are a misgaber [one who prevails], and they tell their own stories.
But that’s all it takes to be able to take out so much information. And at the same time, the person is with stories on the floor, with lies, a way of everything in the world, it’s not normal. Every thing from Zeraim to Uktzin, from Chumash to Kabbalah, from Stam [plain] to halacha, anything in the world, you know, it’s often a chiddush for my business.
Every thing, it’s my own tradition, it’s my own way of acting. Actually, it doesn’t matter if they reinvent the wheel, because that wheel goes down with the chiddush. It’s something to watch and it’s my own plai pla’im [wonder of wonders].
Halomed Mikol Adam: Learning from Everyone and Truly Hearing the Source
I mean, the greatest Kiddush is, when Zoharimah [the Mishnah] says, so, you and the eizehu chacham [who is wise], with the Rebbeim [teachers], just look around. There is no one who is different from the spectrum. You can learn from everyone in the world, everyone has something to give.
I mean, the real task in the life of the talmid, because it is the only thing a person can learn from. They learn, and they say, what does the Rambam say? They learn, it’s great, the Rambam — he has his own hanachos [assumptions], what does mazik [damages] mean? What does tefillah [prayer] mean? What does this mean?
But the Rambam still says what the Rambam says. But they really have what the Rambam says. They see what the Rambam says, how the Rambam learned, and what his hanachos were in life, what are his assumptions. And they actually learn what the Rambam meant when he did the Rambam. It’s the same for everyone.
So the real halomed mikol adam [one who learns from every person], we have to take it from him. We have to take it from him. And now I’m going to take it from everybody. From the young Jews. But we come to that. I can’t just say that the lomdus [analytical Torah study] is for everyone. But thank you.
The Foundation Crisis: Why Our Yesodos Remain at a Child’s Level
The Real Lomdus in Learning Rambam
I mean, the real touch in the life of the scholars, because it’s a thing — a person has to learn Rambam, to learn Rambam. I don’t understand, what does Rambam mean? To learn, it’s very expensive in Rambam. He already has something, like, what does mazik [damages] mean, what does tevila [immersion] mean, what does this mean?
The father in Rambam, the father in Rambam, the father in Rambam, the father in Rambam, the father in Rambam. They saw what the Rambam said, how the Rambam was learned, what his life was like, what his assumptions were, and they actually learned what the Rambam meant when he did the Rambam. It’s the same for everyone. The real lomdus and chaludah [sharpness] are different from each other. That was the case.
The Universal Problem: Hearing What Was Actually Said
Now I’m talking about everybody. I’m talking about the young Jews. But we come to the point. I can’t just say that they are lomdus for everyone. But I can say what he said. What the pasuk said. What the navi [prophet] said. What the pasuk said. What the pasuk said. What the pasuk said. What the pasuk said. What the pasuk said.
This is a tradition that we have. You have to think about it. It goes back to the same thing. People have to look at the details in their lives. It’s basically the same as in halacha, machshava [Jewish thought], in lomdus or wherever it is. That basically stays the same. And the details are a little bit more.
The Tragedy of Stunted Foundational Growth
But the biggest thing that we have to remember is — but the main, the most important things in life: the yesodos [foundations] of emunah [faith], the yesodos of Yiddishkeit, the yesodos of the people of the world, the yesodos of the people of the world, who are the people of the world and how do we relate to them?
And these yesodos are always, the people of the world are always, you know, they are a genre from books, what they didn’t tell you in nursery school. I would say, you learn what they didn’t tell you in kollel, you know, in post-graduate. Because it’s a thing of the past.
The Mashal of Disproportionate Growth
A person, he doesn’t know, but it’s like the emotions that we have. A person grows, grows, grows, and the head stays the same as it was a little while ago. And the people still live like that. They serve their people with their avodah [service], with their children, their children, but the head and the heart stay the same as they were a little while ago.
Whatever is picked up from the emunah in kitah gimmel [third grade], that’s exactly the level, the level, the level, the level we have left. I have to say, today, at least, it’s like a chevel [tragedy].
The Path Forward: Growing in the Yesodos
The sides of things, where they are, what it is to do, what’s this all about — there you can surely climb the next one, and come to a new havana [understanding], a deeper havana, not just the same things, the same things.
And then there were three or more levels in the same basic elementary or bench from the 60s. And then there was this place, and they said, it’s a lot of Jews. And they said, the Jews will see this, and they will understand this, and they will draw to this. And it was a huge, huge thing.
The Mission of This Place
But we know that the Jewish people have a lot of respect for the Jewish people. They have a lot of respect for the Jewish people. And I think that’s what’s important. And I think that’s what’s important.
If you can support the people, if you can give them a light, on the learning, on the important matters. It is for themselves, for their own children, for their own families.
It also brings the nachas [satisfaction] of the Ribbono Shel Olam, the people who live in the tents, who are in need of help, who are in need of help from the Ribbono Shel Olam.
Closing Bracha
So we can be sure to do what we can, to think seriously about what we do, and what they say. And we can all come together, climb and fly, and if we can, we will be able to do it.
Thank you.