<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 6:59 PM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:T613K@aol.com">T613K@aol.com</a>></span> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial;"><font size="2" color="#000000" face="Arial"><div><div><font style="background-color: transparent;" size="2" color="#000000" face="Arial"><br><div>5. A different post needs to be written about Pirkei Avos, and a
person who looks up from his Gemara to say, "Mah na'eh ilan zeh!" That
could be a whole separate essay but, on regel achas, it does not mean that a
person should refrain from looking at beautiful sights or should refrain from
noticing that Hashem has created a magnificent world for us to
enjoy. What it does mean -- well that is for the other regel, enough
for now.<br><br></div></font></div></div></font></div></blockquote></div><br>I do not understand the mishnah to mean that a person should ignore the beauty of nature around him, but merely that to cease the learning that one is currently actively engaged in in order to take note of such nature is a misplacement of priorities. I don't see R' Shteinman's refusal to look at Niagara Falls as being in conflict with the idea that has been cited in the name of RSRH and others that the world is here for us to enjoy, but rather as an expression that one should not interrupt in the middle of a sugya to do so.<br>
<br>Joshua Meisner<br>