A Place of Calm Within the Storm: A Meditation on Torah from R. Moshe Rosenstein
This is a teaching from R’ Moshe Rosenstein (1880-1941), the spiritual guide of the Lomza Yeshiva. This teaching was delivered Monday January 23rd, 1929 and recorded in the sefer “Ahavat Meisharim”.
“Every person needs a home, a dwelling wherein they may rest. A place where they may find relief for their body and soul whenever they may need it, so that even when they find themselves wandering outside they will know that they have a space to which they may return. In that space they will find all that they need, prepared and arranged for the rectification of their body and soul. Woe to the person who wanders incessantly with no permanent space to which they may return, dragged throughout the marketplaces and roads without comfort, with no place to hide from the stormy winds and pouring rain. Every person- wherever they find themselves- knows where their dwelling of comfort is, so that they may return there to find relief and comfort.
So too, each person as a thinking soul must know where their place of comfort is. A comforting space that is always with them even when they are forced to leave it, wandering away for the sake of this-worldly needs. They must know- even then- that they have a place of rest to which they may return. Woe to the person who has no answer when asked where their place of comfort is so that they may find relief. For this person is incessantly wandering with no place of comfort wherein they may find relief from the onslaught of the stormy winds we find ourselves in. Wandering from place to place without any permanent space within which they may hide and find relief. This is what the holy books describe when they speak of the punishment of “being flung from a slingshot” (kaf ha’kellah), wandering from place to place without any space to rest.
Now the soul’s place of comfort is within the Torah, as we find in the words of the Sages, “the Holy One blessed be He has no comfort except in the Torah”. This is obviously not speaking about G-d, but rather that which relates to the human spirit. Every person must build a dwelling of truth within the Torah to protect them, to hide them away from the strong winds of this world. To find comfort in the Torah itself.”
