THE INFINITE HOUR

A point from the weekly D’var Malchus with a relevant life message. * This week, how is it possible to learn Torah for an hour in an unlimited way?

Sometimes we ask ourselves, what can we add already in Torah study? Boruch Hashem, we maintain the shiurim of Chitas and Rambam. We generally manage to finish them before sunset and if that’s not possible, we don’t go to sleep until they are done. Aside from that, we go to one or two shiurim a week. Some people learn on the phone, etc. So how can we add more learning to our busy days?

From this week’s D’var Malchus, we see that the Rebbe demands not only more Torah study but beyond that, to learn in a manner of bli g’vul (infinite, without limits). What does it mean to learn in an unlimited way? Does it mean we have to stop working and learn all day? Or should we shut our cell phones after Maariv, not look at the clock, forget about helping with the children and other obligations and immerse ourselves in Torah bli g’vul?

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The Rebbe explains in the D’var Malchus that “doubling” refers to multiplicity, an endless amount, bli g’vul. The doubling of “Nachamu, Nachamu” indicates bli g’vul. As it says in the Midrash, Hashem sends the Avos and the Prophets to console the Jewish people over the destruction of the Battei Mikdash and they come before Hashem and say, “Master of the universe, the Jewish people do not accept consolation.” Hashem responds, “I and you will go and console her” (at first, Hashem tells the Avos and Prophets “console, console ami – My people” and in the end, Hashem says, “console, console imi – with Me,” i.e. come with Me and we will console the Jewish people together). Since Hashem Himself goes to console them, obviously the “Nachamu, Nachamu” comes in a manner of bli g’vul.

The uniqueness of “Nachamu, Nachamu” is that the doubling is pure, with no additions. There can be a doubling in which the repeated word adds something, like “pakod pokadti,” and even “Lech lecha” (where the change is only in the vowels). The words are different, which indicates that something is added. With “Nachamu, Nachamu” nothing is added; the same point is repeated.

So too with the Battei Mikdash. The advantage of the first Mikdash was that it had a loftier G-dly light. The Jewish people were on the level of tzaddikim and were receptive to this lofty, G-dly light. But on the part of the spiritual avoda of the world, the second Mikdash was greater. During the second Mikdash, the Jewish people were on the level of baalei t’shuva, and physicality itself had become transformed into something sanctified. With the third Mikdash, there will be the ultimate expression of bli g’vul, a combination of Upper and Lower.

What does all this have to do with learning Torah in a way of bli g’vul?

The fact is that, unfortunately, we are still without the third Beis HaMikdash (as of this writing), and the Rebbe demands that we learn Torah in a way of “Nachamu, Nachamu,” in a way of bli g’vul.

A person can say, I have no time for more, but the avoda demanded in this week’s D’var Malchus is not necessarily a quantitative increase but mainly a qualitative increase. To sit and learn in a bli g’vul manner means not to suffice with your set shiurim. The concept of k’vua – “set” (or steady, regular), which has its advantages, limits the learning and the way of learning. The k’vua kind of learning is like one of the extremes, either of the first Mikdash or the second, but is definitely not like the third Mikdash. For example, “the first Mikdash” doesn’t look at the clock at all even when it’s time to finish; “the second Mikdash” looks at the clock constantly while learning.

The Rebbe wants us to learn in a manner in which the limitation simply does not exist. Put simply, when we talk about a limited situation, there isn’t much to add. The day is packed with activities and we can barely fit in our regular shiurim. It reaches the point where sometimes we don’t manage to learn the entirely weekly D’var Malchus and instead, we manage to find time, with mesirus nefesh, to read this column with a point from the D’var Malchus … We don’t have time within g’vul. The Rebbe is talking about something else entirely, about reaching a state of bli g’vul where time is immaterial!

Those times that we actually learn, we shouldn’t learn with a clock that limits us. We need to truly feel that right now nothing else exists. When it’s time to stop, we stop, but until that moment, we don’t pay any attention to the passing time. We forget that we are in a world in which limits play any role. In that way, even adding a few minutes, or even one minute, constitutes crossing over the border from finite to infinite.

The Geula message in the D’var Malchus is, do you want a bli g’vul Mikdash? Start acting in a bli g’vul manner, and in your learning too! Hatzlacha!