Rabbi's Blog

As a Rabbi I attend many life cycle events, some of which are happy, others sad. In addition to life cycle events there are also community functions and "happenings" that I go to. From time to time I am asked to speak at such engagements; sometimes I am given adequate advance notice while other times I am asked to speak on the spot. Recently, I attended an "event" and wasn't even notified at all but rather was called up to the podium by the master of ceremonies right then and there.

At a recent family simcha I was asked to speak on short notice and I obliged. One of the guests came up to me and said something to the effect, "Oh you probably have an entire repertoire of speeches for all different occasions." Even if that were true, a Rabbi or anyone else for that matter, does not or should not just get up to speak without some preparation. Even a speech, lecture or class that had been given previously requires some review of the material and practice of presentation and delivery. One of the reasons for this is that no situations are alike; a speaker needs to modify and formulate the message for the appropriate time and situation.

When it comes to public speaking, a person must go over the material not only in his head but actually orally say the words he will be speaking to the audience. Not only is this a suggestion, it is an imperative found in this week's medrash on Parsha Ki Sisa. I stumbled upon this medrash in the Aruch Hashulchan. Rav Yechiel Michel Epstein Z"TL,in his halachik masterpiece on Jewish law, discusses the laws of Torah reading. In Siman 139 he quotes the Tur and Shulchan Aruch stating, "The one who reads a portion of the Torah must organize and review the portion two or three times by himself first before reading it in public. This is similar to a story of the great Rebbi Akiva who refused to go up to read from the Torah because he did not look it over beforehand". This story is quoted in the second Medrash of Parshas Ki Sisa.

In medrash Rabba chapter 40, Rav Tanchuma Bar Abba quotes a verse from Iyov 28:27: "Az Ra'ah Vayisapra, hechina vgam chakara, Then He saw and counted it, prepared it, yea, searched it out". The sages commented on this verse saying, "A person needs to have a parable or a medrash, some aggada or P'shat at the time that he is preparing to speak to the crowd. At that moment he should NOT say to himself, 'Oh since I know this material very well I will just say it when I walk in'. Rather, we must learn from God that when He wanted to speak the Torah to the Jewish people, He repeated the speech four times to Himself before He tellling it to the Jewish people. The passuk states "Vayidaber Elokim es kal hadevarim ha'Eileh, Laymore" - "First Hashem spoke all these words to Him and only then did He relate it to the Jewish people".

It is critical when speaking that a person review what he is planning to say, rehearsing that material a number of times prior to speaking. Unlike writing (which has its own set of challenges), once you say something it's out there; the words and letters just float away. When it comes to ordinary speech we ask Hashem at the conclusion of every Amida that we say three times a day to guard our tongues from speaking evil and our lips from speaking deceit. When it comes to speaking and teaching Torah, a person has to be particularly clear and deliberate when it comes to the word of Hashem. When we speak words of Torah it is as if we are taking the words from Hashem's mouth and relating them. We must be sure the words we speak are clear and therefore we are required to review them a few times before saying them.

It is interesting to note that when Moshe Rabbeinu breaks the Luchos after seeing the Jews celebrating with the golden calf, the Medrash says the letters flew up into the sky. The letters that were inscribed on the tablets were actually separate from the stone itself and at the same time etched out from the stone. The letters and the words on the Luchos made the heavy stone tablets light so that Moshe could carry them. As soon as the letters flew off the Kedusha left the stone tablets and they immediately became too heavy for Moshe to carry. As a result Moshe had to drop the luchos and they smashed.

The Kli Yakar explains that in Chapter 34:1 when Hashem tells Moshe to make a second luchos, He instructs him to use the same words that He used on the first Luchos. The simple pshat/understanding was that the wording itself should be replicated, but the Kli Yakar explains it was the actual letters from the first tablets that had flown away were now being brought back and used again on the second luchos. The spoken word of Hashem, the Torah that He had practiced, reviewed, said over a number of times doesn't just get destroyed; it is preserved.

We can now appreciate the value of reviewing and cherishing something over and over again as we see its permanence. Something that we care for- and look over is bound to last a long time. The Torah is timeless and therefore its words are here forever. When we speak in the name of the Torah or teach Torah, it must be prepared as something that will last forever. When it comes to Torah there is no speaking off the cuff. One must prepare and say it over and over again a number of times. When it is taught it will have a kiyum, permanence, in the world just like the letters of the Luchos which flew around but were always here.

Ah Gut Shabbos Rabbi Avram Bogopulsky