אין זכות כמזכה את הרבים
There is no merit such as benefiting the public. There are several ways in which we could understand these words of the Rokeach. The first and simplest way is that they refer to the reward we receive for helping the tzibbur. If someone guides and teaches the tzibbur, and because of him they perform mitzvos, etc., then he has a part in their mitzvos. That warrants great reward. There is an important caveat, however. The Gemora relates “R’ Yose says, someone who says that he has only Torah (meaning that he studies the Torah, but does not follow the Torah), only has the Torah (he will only receive reward for study of the Torah). That is obvious?!… (This teaching) is necessary if he teaches the Torah to others and they follow the Torah. You would have thought that he receives reward (for their performance of the mitzvos). And this (the braisa) teaches us (that he does not receive reward for their performance of the mitzvos).” You say a shiur, and it affects people and they go home and implement what they learnt in the shiur; that seems perfect, whether you are in Yeshiva, or in kiruv. But if you do not apply to yourself that which you taught to others, you’ll get nothing from what they do. This is a very dangerous point for a Mashgiach: it could be you helped a bochur, “stood him on his feet”, turned him into a ben Torah, but you’ll get no reward…
A second way of understanding the Rokeach is that “זכות” here is not referring to reward. Rather it has a similar meaning to the term “זכות אבות”—merit of forefathers. זכות אבות does not mean “reward”. It means that the person is found in an enviable place, a good position. According to this explanation, the Rokeach is saying something similar to what Reb Yisroel zt”l taught, that the most favorable position we can place ourselves in for Rosh Hashana is to be מזכה the רבים. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is always concerned with the רבים; their progress is important to Him, so someone who benefits the public finds himself in an enviable position; he is important to the Borei Olam.
There is a third way of understanding. I cannot say that I really knew Rav Beinish Finkel, zt”l—I do not know if anyone really knew him—but I had a good relationship with him. He was incredibly intelligent, and he was always making jokes. His sense of humor was extremely sharp. Once I shared with him a “good line” that I had about the tzibbur. You can’t imagine his response: he wanted to take off my head. “Lashon Hara on the tzibbur!” He was educating me: this is a red line that cannot be crossed. It is very sad for me when I hear someone say that there is nothing can be done with a significant segment of the Jewish community. I am not even discussing secular Jews or extremely liberal Jews. I was on a panel for avreichim who tutor bochurim in American yeshivos here in Eretz Yisroel. These are bochurim who come to yeshiva for a year or two, not typically the biggest bnei Torah. A question was posed to the panel: what should an educator do with a bochur who has a smartphone. A Rosh Yeshiva on the panel answered that there is no one to work with: get rid of the phone or throw him out. I was stunned: all the bochurim in these yeshivos have smart phones! I asked for the microphone, and said that Reb Yisroel in Iggeres Hamussar gives advice for how people who are accustomed to the aveira of arayos to such a degree that “נעשה להם כהיתר”—it becomes for them as if it is permissible—can pull themselves out of their lowly state. He did not give up on people! But this Rosh Yeshiva would not accept that. Now, I also do not have a solution for how to work with bochurim who have smartphones. I think it is a terrible problem, and not only because of the “shmutz”. But I cannot accept that we simply cut off a part of Klal Yisroel. This is also included in “מזכה את הרבים”—to think favorably of the רבים. I do not mean to judge favorably, but to think favorably, to maintain hope.
אין קרבן כשבירת הלב
What is “שבירת הלב”? It does not mean to be broken or depressed; nothing could be further from the truth. When a person is depressed, he is unproductive, and that, the Torah certainly does not want. The לב—heart, is the center of a person. שבירת הלב means that I examine my inner core, my basic approach to life, and ask, maybe it’s all wrong? Maybe I have to change? I almost attack myself. This is an art which is almost obsolete: people do not want to consider that. Chazal teach us that “רשעים לבם בריא להן כאולם”—they hold on strong to their own way.
This is related to the ability to listen. I was speaking to a serious Ben Torah who has a difficulty in this area. I mentioned that people do not really listen today, and he immediately responded that perhaps in learning this is the case, but in Mussar and Avodah of course people listen: “I listen”. He was not really listening to me even then; I did not mean that people do not listen acoustically. Of course he could repeat to me verbatim everything I had said, but that is not the point. So, what did I mean? Now, you most likely would say that “listening” means to identify with what is being said, to be inspired, but that is also wrong, because it is not שבירת הלב. A person becomes inspired where he wants to be inspired, not where he has to change. Rav Yechatzkel Levenstein zt”l remarked that if someone davens better after hearing his shmuess, it means he did not really listen to the shmuess, and will never understand it. People think the opposite; they say “after the shmuess, the entire Yeshiva davened differently…” That’s a sign that nobody understood the shmuess! A person becomes inspired and davens better when he hears something that fits into what he thought before. But listening should make you question what you thought before.
A קרבן represents closeness to the Borei Olam from the word “קרבה”. We think that a person is closest to the Borei Olam when he feels uplifted, inspired. But no, the Rokeach is teaching us that true closeness begins when a person feels that he is in the presence of something that is greater than him, and feels inadequate. Some of you may have experienced that, a feeling that you are in the presence of something greater, and you just want to run away. That is closer than simply “basking” in the kedusha.
שבירת הלב requires much self-confidence. The goal is not to break the person, just his approach. If the person can remain “whole” then he becomes even more productive, because he has a new work in front of him; he has to grow “new muscles”.