For Your Inspiration
The Gedolim Speak
For Your InspirationThe Obligation on Torah Students
Although Torah students have to make difficult choices with their time, they are also obligated in kiruv rechokim.
Question: Should somebody who is involved in full-time Torah study set aside time every day for kiruv rechokim?
I have been asked this question many times, and the truth is that there is no general rule in this matter. Every case has to be judged independently. The student's own teacher is in the best position to make the assessment because he understands his pupil's nature and talents. There are some students who become completely derailed from their studies if they adopt the smallest project. And there are others who are able to remain focused. Some are engaged in such deep analysis that the slightest break would be highly disruptive. Rabbi Aharon Kotler, zt"l, derived from the Rambam...that when we desist from Torah study in order to perform another mitzvah, we must also take into consideration the Torah study that will be neglected after the other mitzvah has been completed...
When occasional opportunities for kiruv rechokim arise, yeshiva students are definitely obligated to participate. In the responsa of the Maharam Shik (Yo"d, 227), he decides that if it is permissible to stop studying Torah in order to help a bride raise wedding funds, then it must be an obligation to stop studying in order to return children to their father in heaven. Sometimes the great merit of saving souls will draw Divine assistance and actually enhance the student's Torah study. Other times, the evil inclination is at work to distract the student from his learning entirely.
In our times, people are thirsting for the word of G-d. We have many opportunities to save Jewish souls. B'nei Torah cannot absolve themselves on account of being b'nei Torah. The obligation actually rests more heavily upon them. However, it is necessary for them to assess the factors that I mentioned earlier...
I want to conclude with a nice idea, which I heard from ha'gaon ve'tzadik Rabbi Moshe Schneider, zt"l. The great and righteous Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, zt"l, moved from Lithuania to Paris in order to influence the people there. Many argued, "Couldn't you be more influential with the people in Lithuania?" Rav Yisroel responded, "The maskilim have created a powerful downward momentum in Lithuania. It is very difficult to stop a force in the middle of its descent. In Paris, things have already deteriorated to rock bottom and have settled there. The people see the effects of their decline. They see that the haskala has ruined them. Perhaps it is easier to make an impact there." Rabbi Schneider, zt"l, explained that our world is comparable to Paris. We have already seen the outcome of the haskala. So today we can be more influential than we were able to be in earlier generations. We should not squander this opportunity to influence and rescue many souls, for the merit is very great and success is more attainable than ever before.
(The first three paragraphs were translated from Shu"t Teshuvos Ve'hanhagos, Volume II, siman 454. The final paragraph was translated from Shu"t Teshuvos Ve'hanhagos, Volume III, siman 480)
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