Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ulman: Every year there is a very large gathering for yeshiva students from small yeshivahs who go up to a large yeshiva. Several thousand, it's been a while since they've been ready to listen. And we want to ask a few questions, for the rabbi to answer and for the students to see it.
Maran: It's possible, depending on the situation.
Question: The head of the yeshiva told several times in the name of Rabbi Moshe Deutsch that he would tell about the 'Chazon Ish' a short story that is very long, that the 'Chazon Ish' learned and learned and learned again, and learned and learned. And many got an appreciation from this story of what life should be like. But we want to expand the words a little. Does it mean that there was constant perseverance, that he studied from time to time, or does it mean that he was always immersed in learning, the dedication to learning?
Maran: Both things are true. Persistence and dedication. Such persistence that even when the book is not open, there is always learning before his eyes.
Question: Every young man, every student aspires to gain a taste for learning, for sweetness in learning. The question is, what is the way to gain this? To rejoice in learning, to study persistently, to be immersed all the time, or to pray, to ask for mercy from the One whose wisdom is to gain a taste for learning.
Maran: Everything is good, everything is good, everything is beneficial.
Question: What is the main thing that influences the issue of taste in learning?
Maran: What has the most impact? Prayer is a request from God. If God gives it to him, then he has it, if not, then he doesn't. It's a request, it's not a demand, you don't say 'give me,' you ask.
Question: Ask for mercy?
Maran: God promises that with His great mercy He will answer him, they ask Him to answer them.
Question: So the head of the yeshiva says that the main effort is through prayer?
Maran: Yes. And especially in the sunsets in learning, which is a term. The point is that learning be a term. That it be a term in the things of the learning that he is learning. If he sees something, even things that are special, he sees in learning, he will think about special, renewed things.
Question: To emphasize that it is renewed? To pay attention?
Maran: Someone who sees the Ramban of Beri and Shema Beri is better, and a perception of the method that believes that the Cohen attacks is useful. So he thinks about what the Ramban says here. No, it's not like that, if it's by the way, it's blooming from here to there. We once talked about it, the ends of the breastplate and more. So he sees new things, or even things that are understood in it, things that he didn't think about before.
Everything in learning, as the Chofetz Chaim said, should be asked, what would I say if this were the case? This is a great rule of the Chofetz Chaim, it is already written in the Rishonim. What would I say if this were the case? What is written here?
And if there's something special, then as the Briske'er Rabbi said, who was young and would look at Rogochober's book, and his father asked him, what do you see in it? Great knowledge? No, he didn't answer like that. He knows how to pause well, to pause in learning. So he said yes, that's what he learned from my father, the Levitical House. And there's also another thing, that something that's very new, that we didn't think about and suddenly something new arises in our minds, should light up our eyes. Not that it'll be like this, it'll be like this, if it's a wonderful invention of Rabbi Akiva Eiger that opens our eyes. Rabbi Akiva Eiger, it's all... It's not appropriate not to address [things] It'll be like this, it'll be like this, who cares. Yes. Admiration. Anything that's new that we didn't think about, and it inspires.
Question: A guy who goes from a small yeshiva to a large yeshiva, so it's a transition. Until now, there was a team that supervised what he did. From today on, he becomes independent. He feels...
Maran responded in amazement: There is a supervisor, and there is a Rosh Yeshiva…
Question: But in fact, there is less strictness about a guy, he sets his own daily routine a little bit.
Maran: There is a yeshiva order, when the yeshiva says, why not?
Question: In a smaller yeshiva, the young man is more active, in a larger yeshiva, less active.
Maran: It is possible according to what is in the large yeshiva. If he is disciplined, let him be disciplined in what is being done, disciplined. He is a young man, he is a world genius… But let him be disciplined, and know how to respect even one person among his fellows, that is another thing. Without that, one does not buy Torah.
Question: Does understanding one another also add to learning?
Maran: That's how it's accepted, and that's how simple it is. To hear the other person to the end, even if you have a contrary opinion.
Question: There are some young men who, when they go to a large yeshiva, say they don't need to listen to classes. They can look at books, they can listen to recordings. Maybe he will hear the important basics from the hebruta.
Maran: There are bigger nonsenses…
Question: So the head of the yeshiva says that one should attend the classes, is it worth writing the class? Does that add anything?
Maran: Not everyone can write, but for those who can, it's very good that they write. Later, they'll enjoy it very much. While writing, something is also renewed. Always, if someone writes, then they think about it. It depends on the character of the guy, not everyone is similar, not everyone is the same.
Question: Today, the reality is that young men go to bed later, making it harder to get up in the morning. Should we still make an effort to get up for prayer in the yeshiva?
Maran: Of course, of course. From the side of the yeshivah's order and from the side of himself, what will he do? Will he go to the big synagogue there? Before they even begin, he will finish the prayer...
Question: And what if there is a minyan of avrechim at eight thirty?
Maran: If… if… there are a lot of "if ifs", yes. If he doesn’t want to get up… get up! Set a clock, an alarm clock and get up, the author says 'Be strong like a lion.' If you practice, then it’s very easy.
Question: The issues of outlook, how is the attitude towards secularism, modernity, the state? Now that young men are in a state of tension sometimes or arguments, is this something that a young man needs to know, needs to learn?
Maran: You don't have to think about it so much.
Question: Shouldn't boys deal with this issue of state and religion?
Maran: They need to learn, not think anything, not think. They need to think through learning. And between a person and a friend, respecting the other is very, very important, listening to the other, being happy when they are doing well and, God forbid, being sorry if they are not doing well. Really living for the other, as much as possible.
Questioner: Then we will ask the Rosh Yeshiva to give a blessing from the depths of the heart to all the young men present at the conference.
Maran: May God help us, as we said, to have a heavenly help, that they may know that the world is standing on them, that they may live forever. Studying the Torah, this is what protects us, this has always protected us. And let us study this, and God will help that all persecutions will be like a dream that flies away, like a passing cloud, like a blowing wind, and we will deserve great privileges in everything, and for all the people of Israel, the coming of our righteous Messiah will come quickly in our days, Amen.
