“I do not know how to explain it, but teaching has a tremendous and very strange impact upon me. When I teach Torah, I feel the breath of eternity on my face. Even now, in my old age, teaching Torah and giving shiurim relieves me of the fear of death and all the gloomy and depressing moments which elderly people go through. When I teach Torah, I feel rejuvenated and as if I were a twenty-five or thirty years old. If not for the study and teaching of Torah, I would have lost my sanity in year of my triple mourning in 1967 when I lost my mother, brother, and wife. I was on the verge of mental collapse and breakdown. I did not break down; I emerged victorious. That victory over despair was due to one thing only, I would say - my overwhelming dedication to Torah and teaching Torah. I am not trying to bead or to boast; I am telling the truth. I was sick that year and the following year. I felt somehow that because of teaching Torah, I was not alone and that I had somebody. That somebody was invisible, but I felt His presence, I could confide in Him. There was somebody on whose shoulder I could cry, and there was somebody from whom I could almost demand words of solace and comfort.”
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