48 Ways - 026 Recognizing Your Place

Hashem - The “Place” of the World

One of the 48 kinyanim to acquire the Torah is to be “makir es mekomo”, that one should “recognize his place.”

Simply speaking, this means that one has to learn the part of the Torah that is meant for him to learn. If someone learns a part in Torah which isn’t meant for him to learn, it will get in the way of acquiring the Torah.

But the deeper meaning is that one has to recognize the true “Place” of the world: Hashem. The sefer Nefesh HaChaim writes at length that Hashem is the only real “place” that exists; He is called mekomo shel olam, the “Place” of the world.

Where Are We As We Learn Torah?

Generally speaking, everything exists in three planes: in a place, in time, and in the soul. This is called the concept of “Olam, Shanah and Nefesh” (World\place, Year\time, and Soul\man).

Eretz Yisrael is the main place of our world. The time we are in is currently Sefiras HaOmer; on Yom Tov we make a blessing of “shehechiyanu” that we have reached this time of Yom Tov. Place and Time are concepts we are familiar with. But when it comes to our soul, we are often unclear. Where is our soul?

When a person learns Torah, where is he? If he’s learning in Israel, it appears that he’s in Israel, and if he’s learning in Lakewood, it appears to be that he’s learning in Lakewood. But the truthful perspective is that he is found with Hashem as he learns Torah! When a person learns Torah, he is connected with Hashem.

Chazal say, “Hashem looked into the Torah and created the world”.

When a person learns Torah and he knows where he really is – the place where he’s truly at – he understands that he is really found with Hashem.

This is an amazing concept when you think about it. When we learn Torah, Hashem is learning with us, as Chazal state. We have to recognize that when we learn Torah, we are indeed together with Hashem.

When we learn Torah, we are essentially found in a plane that existed before the Torah – we are found with Hashem, Who looked into the Torah to create the world. When we learn Torah, we are found in a point that came before Torah – we are in the point of Before Creation, when there was only Hashem.

One of the Sages, Rava, was so immersed in learning that he didn’t even notice his fingers bleeding. It wasn’t just because he was immersed in learning and thus disconnected from his surroundings. When a person is immersed in learning, he is attached with Hashem, and that is why he doesn’t pay attention to his surroundings.

When a person learns Torah, it is not just that he’s immersed in learning and that he’s not doing frivolous things, and therefore he doesn’t know what’s going on in the world. It is because when one learns Torah, he is found in a completely different realm. He is with Hashem.

This is a whole new perspective to have towards our learning.

We Are Where Are Thoughts Are

When a person is learning Torah, the question is: Where is he? A person is made up of a body and a soul. His body is found where his body is, but where is the person’s soul? The Ramban says that a person is found where his thoughts are – what he’s thinking about.

When a person goes to sleep at night, his intellect leaves him, and his power of imagination (medameh) takes over. When a person is having a dream, he doesn’t just imagine it – he feels that he’s really there in his dream. That’s the power of imagination – it is a force in a person which makes a person feel as if he’s actually there in that place of imagination. When it comes to imagination, we are familiar with this concept, that a person feels that he’s actually there.  But when it comes to our actual power of thought, our real and true power of thought – machshavah – we usually don’t identify ourselves as being there in our thoughts.

We also have this power in our real mind as well to feel that we are actually found where our thoughts are. Most people do not feel that they are where their thoughts are, because they don’t identify their power of thought as being real. They think that thought is imagination.

The truth is that when a person only knows of imagination, he identifies himself as being in a place of imagination, whenever he imagines something. But if a person knows how to identify himself as being found in the place where he thinks, he is indeed found where his thoughts are.

We were all at Har Sinai. Where are we now? It is possible for a person to access the time of standing at Har Sinai, and to actually feel that he is standing there, ready to receive the Torah again. Why is it that a person doesn’t feel that he is standing at Har Sinai? It is because he identifies himself as a body, and not as a soul. If he would view himself as being a soul, he would be able to feel that his soul is returning to Har Sinai each Shavuos every year to receive the Torah.

It’s possible a person is learning Torah all day and doing all the mitzvos, but he is only found where his body is at, because he only identifies himself as a body.

Our souls left us at Har Sinai. Where did they go to? Our souls left us and went to the place where our soul is connected to. Our soul is found in the place that we think about. When a person learns Torah, he is really found in that place of Torah he is learning about. The Rambam says that Torah is like a mikveh which purifies a person – a person enters it and becomes purified. Learning Torah is actually entering a mikveh!

The Chazon Ish stated, “The secret of holiness is to be constant.” When a person feels that he is truly found in a different place when he learns Torah, he is found in that consistency of Torah.

Learning Torah: Identify Yourself As Being In The Torah That You Learn

This is not inspiration, but a concept that change a person’s entire approach towards learning, if he absorbs this well.

A person might learn a lot of Torah, but that doesn’t mean he’s there. He has to identify himself as being there, in that area of Torah that he’s learning about.

Rav Chaim of Brisk was oblivious to his surroundings as he learned. It was because he identified himself as a soul, not as a body. It wasn’t simply because he was immersed in learning and thus disconnected from his surroundings. It was because he identified himself as being found where his thoughts are.

Where is a person’s “I”? Where does a person feel that his “I” is located? How does a person identify himself? Is our “I” found in some part of our body? Is it found in our heart’s feelings? Is it in our brain? Is it in our hands? A person has to take the time to reflect about this and locate where his “I” is actually found.

If a person makes such a reflection and comes to the conclusion that his “I” is found in his heart – he feels himself existing entirely in his emotions – then his entire sense of self-worth is limited to his emotions. He is off-based in his assessment of himself. When a person identifies himself with thoughts, though, he has begun to feel where his true self is.

A person has to reach a point in which feels that Torah is his where his true self is. When one learns Torah, he has to feel towards it, “This is where I am found.” Without this recognition, a person can learns Torah but he feels that he is his body, and that it is merely his brain which thinks about Torah and analyzes it intellectually. A person has to feel that his “I” is actually found where his thoughts are, and then he can begin to feel that Torah is his true place where he is found.

Preparing For Shavuos

Preparing for Shavuos is not just about learning more Torah. It is about changing how we approach learning Torah. We must know how to identify where our true self, to know that we are really found in the Torah we learn.

We all have various problems. How do we avoid getting distracting from our problems and remain focused on our Torah learning?

Right now I am here in Lakewood; the problems here don’t bother me, because I do not live here. Nothing is of interest to me here, and therefore I have no reason to be bothered. But when I get back to my home in Israel, things bother me, because since that is where I am found, the things in that place can bother me. The place you identify your “I” with is what is of interest to you, to where you feel connected to.

To always “think in learning” is not just about learning how to concentrate always on Torah thoughts. It is about living in a world of thought, in the world of Torah thought. It is to identify our true “I” as being in the place that is Torah, to feel that Torah is your true place.

Practically Applying This Concept

Firstly, we need to get used to always thinking in learning, besides for when we actually learn. Have time during the day in which you think only in Torah. This can be for about 5-15 minutes; whatever you can handle. During this time, don’t open a sefer, because the point is to see where your thoughts wander to when you’re not actually learning.

Pay attention to where your thoughts wander to. You can slowly identify yourself as being found in thoughts, with the more and more you do this.

This will reveal your intellect and sharpen it to think clearer when it comes to your Torah learning. The more you come to actually feel that your true “I” is found where your thoughts are, the more sharpened your thoughts will become, and your power of thought will become holier and more pristine as you think of what you learn.

The Sages say, “One who recognizes his place is called a wise person.” The way to reach wisdom (chochmah) is through recognizing where one’s true place is. A person has to recognize that he is really found in a place of chochmah\wisdom – the Torah.