[Avodah] Questions as a Result of the Flatbush Lakewood Shabbos

[Yitzhak Grossman]

On Mon, 8 Dec 2008 10:24:16 -0500
"Rich, Joel" <JRich at sibson.com> wrote:

...

> IIRC the Milton quote has a totally different meaning (as only a former
> benchwarmer can understand). I'm pretty sure that the logical conclusion
> of the 2nd paragraph is that whoever davens longer is "more better"
> davening, is not necessarily so.

The quote is, as Rav Aharon Lichtenstein says [0], the "magnificent
conclusion" of Milton's "profoundly religious sonnet 'On His
Blindness'".  The poem is one of the most beautiful and poignant in the
English language:

"Speaking for myself, however, I can emphatically state that my general
education has contributed much to my personal development. I know that
my understanding of Tanakh would be far shallower in every respect
without it. I know that it has greatly enhanced my perception of life
in Eretz Yisrael. I know that it has enriched my religious experience.
I know that when my father was stricken blind, Milton’s profoundly
religious sonnet “On His Blindness” and its magnificent conclusion,
“They also serve who only stand and wait,” stood me in excellent stead.
I also know— and this has at times been a most painful discovery—that
many of these elements are sadly lacking among the contemners of
culture on the Right."

The poem itself [1]:

WHEN I consider how my light is spent	 
  E're half my days, in this dark world and wide,	 
  And that one Talent which is death to hide,
  Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present       
  My true account, least he returning chide,
  Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd,
  I fondly ask; But patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
  Either man's work or his own gifts, who best
  Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
  And post o're Land and Ocean without rest:
  They also serve who only stand and waite.

I seem to recall a discussion of the sonnet by RAL himself (as opposed
to a transcription of an address by someone else), as does RnCL [2]:

"Somewhere or the other I have (but unfortunately cannot find) an article by
Rav Aharon Lichtenstein which he wrote on his father becoming blind, and
hence, of course, al pi the straight understanding of the gemora, becoming
patur from mitzvos.  I confess I don't remember the details, although he (or
perhaps it was his father) took great comfort from the statement by Milton
that "They also serve who only sit and wait"."


[0] http://www.vbm-torah.org/archive/develop/12develop.htm
[1] http://www.bartleby.com/101/318.html
[2] http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol23/v23n225.shtml#09

> Joel Rich

Yitzhak
--
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