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Book Excerpt from 49 Steps to Greatness

49 Steps to Greatness: A day-to-day plan for success through Torah learning By Ephraim Nisenbaum Achieve personal greatness through Torah learning with this easy-to-follow 49-day plan. Torah self-help that's perfect for sefira, Elul & everyday. Buy 49 Steps to Greatness at a special online price at www.targum.com

ATTENTIVE LISTENING

When one learns from a teacher, or even from a friend, it is necessary to pay attention to each word that is being taught (Midrash Shmuel; Derech Chaim).

This is especially true regarding instruction in Torah, because the wording of the Torah is so concise and precise. Sometimes, missing a single sentence, detail, or just one word, can change the entire context and meaning of what is being taught, leading to a serious misunderstanding. Carried a step further, this can result in improper observance by the student or by anyone who learns from the student. Ultimately, a breakdown of the mesorah, the intergenerational transmission of the Torah, can occur.

Being attentive shows that one is making a concerted effort to listen carefully to what is being said, and that he doesn’t want to miss any of the details. A devoted baseball fan can rattle off all the “stats” of his favorite team and knows the batting average of each player, the number of runs batted in and homeruns scored. He pays careful attention to these details, because they interest him. A true interest in Torah is also expressed in attention to detail.

Rav Elchanan Wasserman once commented that there is a major distinction between success in Torah learning and success in other areas of knowledge. To achieve greatness in medicine or science, for example, one must be blessed with a sharp mind and considerable talent. To achieve greatness in Torah, however, all that is required is an attentive mind and the desire to excel (Kovetz Ma’amorim).

Rav Simcha Zissel Broide, the late Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivas Chevron, recalled his own experience in the yeshivah, how Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka, would deliver a discourse. The Alter would speak very softly. The students would crowd around, leaning precariously on their shtenders, eager to hear every word. The stillness of the room would occasionally be broken by the sound of a shtender falling to the floor, its owner obviously having leaned too far over. Yet still the students continued to lean, straining their ears to hear the Alter’s words of Torah, hanging on to every word the Alter uttered.

Rav Elchanan Wasserman was the Chafetz Chaim’s premier student. A Torah giant in his own right, each year he would leave his own yeshivah in Baranovich and travel to spend Rosh HaShanah with his rebbi. One year, after the Chafetz Chaim finished delivering words of inspiration to the yeshivah, Rav Shalom Eishishoker leaned over to Reb Elchanan and whispered, “I think he said the exact same thing last year.” Reb Elchanan whispered back, “No, this year there were eight words different!”

Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank expands on this quality. He points out that one should not only listen carefully to the words of his teacher, but that he should also listen to what he himself is saying as he studies. This is closely related to the next essential quality for studying Torah: articulate speech, or, studying aloud.

Listening to the words one is saying, paying attention to those words, is a great help in understanding the material clearly, because it helps one focus and concentrate (cited in Mishel HaAvos ).

Plan: Pay closer attention to shiurim and chavrusos, listening carefully to each word and every nuance.

Buy 49 Steps to Greatness at a special online price at www.targum.com

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