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From
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/9ow62xs" eudora="autourl">
http://tinyurl.com/9ow62xs</a><br><br>
<font size=3>“He [Rav Dr. Y. Breuer, ZT"L) stressed that the
<i>Sifrei HaNeviim</i> not be regarded as mere relics of the past, but
must instead be understood as sources with contemporary relevance and
power: “He who reads the Prophets as they should be read receives
eternally sacred messages from their mouths….Rav Breuer viewed the
<i>Neviim</i> as Divinely inspired leaders commissioned by God to assist
us in comprehending the enigma of life.” He wrote “The Books of our
Prophets are the immortal sources from which flow the Jewish
consciousness and Jewish strength in an inexhaustible stream.”<br><br>
“Rav Breuer saw the works of the <i>Neviim </i>as invaluable aids to
understanding the history of the Jewish people within the context of
world events. He saw the prophets as the quintessential “interpreters of
the guidelines to history and mankind’s growth as laid down in the early
pages of the Divine Book,” and could not imagine how it was possible to
develop a comprehensive view of Jewish history without a thorough
knowledge of the <i>Sifrei HaNeviim. </i>As he once remarked, “How can
one understand world history without <i>Yeshayah</i> and how can one
understand <i>Yeshayah</i> without world history?”<br><br>
His shiurim in Tanach were exceptional, abounding with emotion and
excitement, in the words of Rav Shimon Schwab ” .<br><br>
Rav Breuer was deeply troubled by the fact that most <i>yeshivos</i>
neglected the study of <i>Tanach</i>.<br><br>
Rav Breuer’s grandson once told him his Yeshiva schedule, whereupon the
Rav asked him “And when do you learn Tanach?” His grandson responded,
“The rebbeim say we should learn it by ourselves.” To which Rav Breuer,
displeased, responded “Do you think Tanach is nursery rhymes that you can
just read it on your own?!”<br><br>
In Rav Breuer’s words, “The profound importance and lofty significance of
<i>Gemara </i>study cannot be stressed enough. But it is wrongly applied
if this means neglect or even elimination of the vast realm of other
Torah areas.” He felt that the study of all aspects of Torah “is an
irreplaceable source from which we all, in every age and especially in
the youthful stage, may draw an inexhaustible wealth of ideological
values which form the eternal reservoir for the strong <i>Yehudi</i> who
is proudly conscious of his Divine Judaism.”<br><br>
He held that while a negative attitude toward Tanach study by Yeshivos
was understandable in the past when the<i> ‘Haskalah’</i> movement
threatened tradition and wanted to have <i>Tanach</i> study supercede
<i>Gemara</i> learning, nowadays there is no reason for such an
attitude.<br><br>
Rav Breuer always kept a small <i>Tanach</i> on his desk and referred to
it often. Every time the <i>Gemara</i> would quote a <i>pasuk</i> from
the <i>Tanach</i>, he would look it up (finding it within seconds), and
learn almost the whole <i>perek</i> where the <i>pasuk</i> was
found.<br><br>
When Rav Breuer would come to test the <i>bachurim</i> of the Yeshiva who
were learning <i>Gemara</i> and <i>mefarshim</i>, his first question
would be, “Where is the source in <i>Chumash</i> for the <i>sugya</i> you
are learning?”<br><br>
His grandchildren reported “When we came across a <i>pasuk</i> in the
<i>Gemara</i> he would ask us if we knew where the <i>pasuk</i> was. If
we answered wrong, he would be very annoyed.”<br><br>
Let us try to follow the guidance of Rav Breuer here, and thereby,
hopefully, gain the very necessary guidance we so need in our difficult
times from the pages of the Tanach.<br><br>
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