QUESTION:
I saw that HaGaon R’ Dovid Soloveitchik shlit”a is very against learning Kaballah, because it is gaavah (conceitedness) for people to learn Kaballah before they mastered Gemara, and people who go learn Kaballah are fooling themselves as if they are already know Gemara well-enough to enter into this secret part of the Torah, and also because it is laziness and an escape from working hard at Gemara. In light of the above, is the derech of Brisk not meant for people who want to learn the area of pnimiyus of Torah?
Also, what is the way of avodas Hashem of Brisk? Brisk stands out uniquely as a world unto itself that is completely independent from all other ways of yeshivos, both in their way of learning and in their way of life. What is the inner root behind the derech of Brisk, and how can a person know if the derech of Brisk is for him or not?
Also, what is the way of avodas Hashem of Brisk? Brisk stands out uniquely as a world unto itself that is completely independent from all other ways of yeshivos, both in their way of learning and in their way of life. What is the inner root behind the derech of Brisk, and how can a person know if the derech of Brisk is for him or not?
ANSWER:
[When it comes to the study of Kaballah], the style of learning in Brisk doesn’t fit with the simple way to learn Kaballah. However, the path of Brisk is not in contradiction with the learning of Kaballah as explained according to Gra. Even more, the way of learning of Brisk is actually a proper basis for in-depth, analytical learning which is not abstract, but well-defined. The Divrei Torah that comes from Brisk is essentially all about giving proper definitions to something, to get to the root of a point, and usually, there are two roots to every matter. Through finding the root(s) of a matter, one uncovers all the different points and dinim (halachos) that stem from it – each din is established based on its root.
The path of avodas Hashem of Brisk is: to be totally subservient to ratzon Hashem (to Hashem’s will). And from that sense of subservience, one becomes afraid of chas v’shalom transgressing His will. In Kabalistic terms, this is called the kav s’mol, the “left line”. In the area of Torah learning it manifest as giving definitions and boundaries to each thing, and in the area of avodas Hashem it manifests as yirah, fear of Hashem. But certainly there is plenty of ahavas Hashem there too – and wondrously so. But yirah is the root there, both when it comes to avodah and in Torah. Upon subtle analysis there is actually a huge difference between the paths of the Beis HaLevi, R’ Chaim, and the Brisker Rov. It is enough to mention this just to give some understanding of this. Every person has to examine the nature of his own nefesh and his shoresh neshamah (soul root) to know if any path of avodas Hashem is for him or not, and that is a very broad matter.
The path of avodas Hashem of Brisk is: to be totally subservient to ratzon Hashem (to Hashem’s will). And from that sense of subservience, one becomes afraid of chas v’shalom transgressing His will. In Kabalistic terms, this is called the kav s’mol, the “left line”. In the area of Torah learning it manifest as giving definitions and boundaries to each thing, and in the area of avodas Hashem it manifests as yirah, fear of Hashem. But certainly there is plenty of ahavas Hashem there too – and wondrously so. But yirah is the root there, both when it comes to avodah and in Torah. Upon subtle analysis there is actually a huge difference between the paths of the Beis HaLevi, R’ Chaim, and the Brisker Rov. It is enough to mention this just to give some understanding of this. Every person has to examine the nature of his own nefesh and his shoresh neshamah (soul root) to know if any path of avodas Hashem is for him or not, and that is a very broad matter.
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