[Avodah] bittul torah for a talmid chochom's levaya

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Rafi and Shifra Goldmeier  <goldmeier.family at gmail.com>


>> there is an obligation to  stop learning torah for a talmid chochoms 
funeral, until he has at least  600,000 attending.

My question is does that include creating a situation  when people will 
also not learn the next day? People didn't get home until 3  am, or 5 am, 
and clearly would not be able to learn the next day after being  up all 
night. My kids all went late to school and missed enough learning to  
prompt my question. I did not work efficiently today - if not for the  
fact that i work mostly for myself, I would have had a shailoh of  
short-changing a boss. So, is the next days bittul torah also included  
in that halacha or only the bittul torah at the time of the funeral?  <<

kol tuv
Rafi Goldmeier




>>>>>
 
Everyone should make up the missed learning (due to missed  sleep) during 
the hours that they would not have otherwise been  learning.  They should 
give up their Shabbos nap this week if  necessary.
 
As for "creating a situation when people will also not learn the next day"  
it was not human beings who "created" this situation.  It is not in  the 
hands of any human being to determine what time a tzaddik will die, and  since 
it is a long-standing rule that a body is never left overnight in  
Yerushalayim, the midnight levaya was also not really in the hands of human  beings.
 
Your kids will remember all their lives that they were at the levaya of Rav 
 Elyashiv.  The crowds they saw will engrave in their memories a picture  
of the kovod that Klal Yisrael gives to its great ones.  This is  a rare 
opportunity that must be taken when it comes.  Instead of sourly  expressing 
regret at the late start to the school day, you should emphasize to  your kids 
the amazing zechus they had to be in Yerushalayim at such a time and  to 
witness what they witnessed.
 
I reject completely the validity of this subject line:  "bittul torah  for 
a talmid chochom's levaya."  The mitzva of halvayas hames  especially in 
such a case is not bittul Torah, and the time it takes  to get home from the 
levaya also is not bittul Torah. 
 
Some people consider basketball or other exercise to be an unwarranted  
waste of time when youngsters could be learning every moment of every day.   
Others believe that a break from learning can help youngsters go back to their 
 learning later refreshed and healthy, with a new enthusiasm.  I am with 
the  latter group.  And if a break for exercise is worthwhile, kal vechomer a  
thousand times a break from learning in order to have the inspiration of  
seeing crowds of people being melave a great tzaddik to his final resting  
place.  The fact that this all took place in the middle of the night when  
people would otherwise have been home in their beds adds all the more to the  
inspiration and mystique of the event.  Everyone who saw this levaya will  
return to their learning with a fresh infusion of inspiration and enthusiasm 
for  Torah learning.
 

--Toby Katz
=============
Romney -- good  values, good family, good  hair


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