A striking exchange between a yeshiva bochur and the tzaddik Rav Dov Kook of Tverya about the proper approach to limud haTorah has emerged.

Last week, a bochur from Yeshivas Shaarei Shmuos visited Rav Kook and asked him to write a dedication and bracha in the sefer Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah. Rav Kook responded that now that the young man is 20 years old, the sefer is appropriate for him, adding that for younger bochurim it is not yet suitable.

At that point, Rav Kook unexpectedly asked the bochur a question: Did he know how one becomes a true lamdan in Torah?

Rav Kook immediately answered his own question with a piece of advice. He warned the bochur not to overanalyze the concept of “methods of learning.”

“It is forbidden to think about this in a literal way,” Rav Kook said. “Because someone who thinks about it in a literal way becomes very confused. You must simply learn normally. What you understand, you understand. Learn in the straightforward way, and that is all.”

Rav Kook continued explaining why he discourages discussions about formal “approaches” or “systems” of learning.

“It damages a person very much when people talk about ‘methods of learning,’” he said. “And if there is anything that could truly be called a ‘method of learning,’ it is only Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah. That is learning in the fullest sense. There is no greater lomdus than this. What is explained there is extremely subtle, the finest of the fine. It is the ultimate peak.”

Later in the conversation, Rav Kook also spoke about the bochur’s rosh yeshiva, Rav Aryeh Shapira, praising the clarity of his teaching.

“Your rosh yeshiva, Reb Aryeh Shapira, has the quality that he speaks straight and clearly, with joy and without deviating to the side,” Rav Kook said. “He speaks in a healthy way — the healthiest way. I have seen this myself. He is very thoughtful. He was here several times. I heard him and saw that he is very clear. He is not simple. He is also the son of great people — his grandfather and his father.”

Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah is the second section of the sefer Tanya, written by the Alter Rebbe, Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi. In this section, the Alter Rebbe elaborates on the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov that belief in the unity of Hashem does not merely mean that there is no other higher power besides Him.

Rather, the teaching explains that Hashem is the only true reality, and nothing exists independently of Him — the concept expressed in the phrase Ein Od Milvado. Everything that appears to exist separately is not truly independent existence. The continued existence of creation depends at every moment on the divine word that sustains it; without that constant divine life-force, all creation would immediately revert to absolute nothingness, just as it was before the world was created.

{Matzav.com}