What Can We Learn From the Way Rebbi Akiva Viewed the World?
Provided courtesy of Real Clear Daf
I was overjoyed last week to formally complete Talmud Bavli for the first time at a gathering of family and friends in Lakewood NJ. For this week’s column, please enjoy an excerpt from the remarks I delivered at the siyum.
Seven and a half years ago, I joined Daf Yomi with masechtas Makkos and so, Baruch Hashem, I was mesayim with the recent completion of masechtas Sanhedrin. It took me a little awhile to figure out what I could say here, having started with Makkos and ended with Sanhedrin. How could I deliver an inspiring message from these masechtos which are all about punishments? But eventually a couple things came to mind.
One message I realized is: reishis chochma yiras Hashem. We can never truly succeed in learning until we have a true sense that our actions matter. Our goal as we study the halachos of Shas must be to actually implement them and deepen our Yiras Shomayim. As Rava said in Perek Cheilek, קו :
הקב"ה ליבא בעי
Hashem wants the heart.
And then there is Rebbi Akiva. At the end of both Makkos and Sanhedrin we find some incredible stories about one of our most revered Chachomim, Rebbi Akiva. At the end of Makkos the Gemara relates how when the sages who were with R’ Akiva encountered stark reminders of the Churban, they wept; but R’ Akiva laughed. Similarly in Cheilek, קא, the Gemara relates how when the other sages beheld their rebbi, R’ Eliezer, lying ill and suffering, they wept; but R’ Akiva laughed. In each instance R’ Akiva explained how the suffering they were seeing today portended simchah and yeshua that was to come. Was R’ Akiva callous to these sights of tragedy? Of course not. Rather, R’ Akiva had such a clear vision of the big picture, of our destiny, that his joy of anticipation far outweighed the feelings of sorrow that the present invoked.
So a yid must ask himself after making a siyum, or even after learning for a few minutes: is my heart a little more pure? Will I now treat others a little more kindly? Will I now daven to Hashem with a little more sincerity? And did I perhaps make myself a little closer to the great R’ Akiva, who viewed the world with such clarity, and such perfect Emunah?
The truth is that I came in fourth place to finish Shas in my own family; three of my brothers finished before me: Aryeh a’’h, Zev, and Shalom. Aryeh a’’h, who was the bechor in our family of seven boys, finished Shas first. Learning was so central in my brother’s life and, though we remain saddened this his life was cut so short, we take comfort in the knowledge that he now is enjoying the eternal bliss in store for a person who devotes himself to Torah. After my brother’s petira, a question consumed me: is the neshama still aware of the happenings of this world once it’s back in Shomayim? I looked into it and it seems that in general the neshama is preoccupied with its station in Shomayim, but it is informed when important events occur to its family here on Earth. I am therefore certain that Aryeh is aware and overjoyed along with us on this occasion. He continues to inspire me always: to persevere, appreciate life, and try to be a better Oheiv Yisroel.
May we all merit many years of health and blessing in which we achieve all of our learning dreams.