Balancing Torah Teaching and Personal Life: Insights from Rav Yitzchak Berkovits on Internet, Social Media and Time Management

0:00 It was 18 minutes of total clarity and serenity that I wished never ended. It was just last week that I sprinted over to Revitzchak Bergerwitz, right after he finished Davening Menchah and the Eish Hattorah building in Yerushalayim, to try to introduce myself and to ask a couple different questions that were weighing on my mind. I got a tip that you can't get Revitzchak Bergerwitz. He is simply too busy and especially it was the beginning of the Zman Rechaydesh Elol, with a million different things going on.

0:47 The best shot that I had to have even the most short meeting with him would be a sprint, a blitz to grab or I guess grab, but to get the Rosh Hashiva's ear right after Menchah. So, sure enough, as soon as the Chazin said Qadish, finishing, I started to see that others had the same idea. So I took a couple steps forward to get a kind of head start inching my way forth. I actually had a full-speed blocker. I'd come with a cousin, great friend, and he was helping me out and boom, I made my move and the Rosh Hashiva turned around and kind of a bit overly antsy and excited I said so I guess I don't think I came across as perhaps anything too special, and but the Rosh Hashiva was beyond exuberant and shining and calm.

1:59 I got all of that before he even opened his mouth, because at this point all he had done is said Shalom, aleicha. And he shook my hand and then I was in, I said, and then I took a deep breath and I said, well, I'd just come from America and I had a couple questions for the Rosh Hashiva and he said of course, of course. Now the Rosh Hashiva is using his secret weapon on me, his famous and patented smile that if anyone has had the great merit of seeing, visiting or taking the time to at least stare at the Rosh Hashiva's countenance, his radiant smile, you cannot help but feel calm and cozy.

2:50 His smile makes one feel warmer than if you'd be sitting on a lounge chair on a warm Sunday afternoon. So I'm settling in, I'm excited and in case you know you don't know who Rabiotchuk Berkowitz is well then, maybe you're living under a rock or no offense, but he's just a great rabbi and he holds so many different positions of leadership. It's remarkable to count them, it's tough to enumerate them, but here I just want to give a short introduction of the questions that I peppered him with and the some background information about who this great Ruv is.

3:40 So Rabiotchuk Berkowitz is a rabbi, he is a post-sac, he is a Rosh Kolel, he is a Menahel Ruchani, he is a Lucid Orator, he is a Bal Eitzel. I mean, he's got it all. He's a full package. And he holds the official position. This is all going down in Yerushalayim. He is the head of the Kolel, of the Jerusalem Kolel. He is really the chief arbiter of the Jewish law in all aspects and specifically, the world flocks to him for advice and the halacha in regards to outreach and Kirov.

4:21 He is the main rabbi at Eish Hatorah. He's the number one in charge, the commander in chief. So he's really quite the full package the Swiss army knife, the jack of all trades and the master at all of them. And what I came to find out is that, with all of these honorifics, we are still missing quite a few. Now I also did some research, for I gave this episode. He also happens to be a Levi interesting. He actually comes from a Hasidic background. He also studied in Yeshivas Mir underneath Rabnochom Parchzovitz, the great Magdshir.

5:08 He was very close with Rev Eliashov Zakhreinalov Rakh. So yes, if you haven't gotten the idea and the picture of who this great person is. Well, perhaps now it's a bit clearer. Now, I guess. Actually, if you don't know all this, you probably won't be able to tell because he holds himself in such a humble and unassuming way. But anyway, here I was, I had my moment and now I came with questions. Questions because in the world of Kirov that he is in charge of and the position that he holds in Eishatura, which is very much one of the main players in disseminating Hashem's Torah to the world and bringing back some of the wayward and lost souls back to the path of light and spirituality and Torah, well, he is the Myredeus or he is the one that Eishatura runs through and looks to for advice and for a derrach.

6:05 So I brought my questions, contemporary issues, questions of how to use the Internet, because the internet is here and it seems it's here to stay for the betterment of our lives and the dispersion, the spreading of Torah to all of the corners of the earth, while still finding a way to filter the evil and repudiate the perverse behaviors. Seems to be that there is some middle ground. Perhaps the Rashi'vah would have some advice and sneak peek. Yes, he did, and the advice I hope you will also find it to be clarifying and it will give you some peace.

6:47 I asked him further about time management, how he manages such a busy schedule. I asked him about the mindset that one should have during Elul and the way that one should study Halacha, which Spharm a person needs to know, and how does one give his all to the congregation and his fellow man will also, fully being there for his family. It was 18 minutes of clarity and serenity, and so here we go. So I asked the Rashi'vah. My first question was well, if I want to learn Halacha that was actually what I asked him about Halacha what's the best way to go about it? Do I learn quickly? Do I learn through the sugyas?

7:27 Do I learn? How do I do it? What type of mindset? He said very directly, succinctly, that you should learn until you have clarity on the matter and then, when you have clarity, it's as clear as day. Then you will connect emotionally. And once you connect emotionally, now the laws and the ideas will have an impact on you and now you will actually remember them. Really, there's a lot to unpack there. Think about it. Beautiful Clarity is what we often are missing. Clarity is what brings the enjoyment. It makes a lot of sense and our total learning. If you know something it's clear to you Doesn't make sense, right, we got it.

8:11 It now connects with us. It hits that little bone in our body. It makes an emotional impact. So he said don't move on until it's clear. It has a goal of mine. For just these couple of days since I got back to implement it, it's pretty cool. It's hard to do because you always want to advance in your studies, but if you're able to have the zits flash, the self-control to not move on until you have it crystal clear, it's like you're just picking up gems, diamonds, and things start to make sense. Then he started to walk outside of the Aish Hattora base Knessas the shoal there. People have started to now get closer to him and kind of box them out and actually took a picture with him.

8:56 My father-in-law was there and he took a picture with us. He's a big player at Aish Hattora and he's a big fan of all that they do and he is one of the massive Talmud-e-Kachamun that has a very nice relationship Shout out to my father-in-law with a lot of the great ones from Aish Hattora. So after that he starts, my, the great Rev, yitzchak Borgward, starts to leave the base Knessas. And now I'm following up those winding staircase upstairs. He's going to his office. He said come along, and while I'm going to get my stuff to go, give it to the driver, he's going to be driven back, it seems like, to some other location, perhaps home. I can follow him to his office.

9:36 So now this is the big moment. I'm following up the stairs, I want to see his office. I'm very excited and we walk in and I'm about to ask him my second question and I'm kind of flabbergasted, I'm floored. You can picture it what his office looked like. He has the just to give you a background here, a little bit of the to set the tone, set the scene. He has the penthouse office and the Aish Hattora building, the Dan family campus. It's overlooking the Harabayas. He's got this big glass wall. He literally is sitting and looking at the Kosolya Maravi, the beautiful Mahagany Bookshelves line, all of the walls that aren't this glass wall with Sifaram, sifaram of Godless, of Eichos.

10:23 He has a set of Shaas, everything in order, a set of Shulchan, aruch, poiskem. It's all sitting there. I noticed everything in a very M'sudder orderly, eiffen, in a certain way. I remember that there was a map Interesting. I didn't get a chance to ask him about this. There was a map of the world behind his desk. His desk was perfectly clean. I remember that. It was just it wasn't a pen out of place Big, beautiful computer there that later on I figured out. He has this whole fancy filter on it to make sure that it's kosher. He's got all the lights and the microphones that they have set up for him in order to give his droshas a beautiful, picture-esque picture.

11:04 Perfect, welcome to Tyra. I'd be nervous to sit and learn there just because Hashem seems like he's literally right there. It's like what if I don't get distracted? But I guess if your rebuts look berkowitz, you don't have that problem. So then I continued. I said so. I have this podcast I like to do. I like to spread Torah. It's fun to talk about Torah and the option to do it at such a grand scale and for no cost. Literally, the internet gives us a free key mode of entry to spread Torah to Ireland and Australia and Columbus and all these places, and it doesn't cost anything. How can we not do it? So I love doing it.

11:44 It's fun and everyone gets involved and the Torah is great. How do you use the internet for good, because obviously there are many setbacks and you hear horror stories. So he looked at me as he's gathering his stuff in his office. He said well, two things to tell you. Number one he said that the we made an experiment here in Hashem Torah. It was just to figure out how long people actually spend on technology daily. And cutting to the chase, he said it's shocking, it's remarkable to see that people have no idea how many hours they spend on it. So the first thing I tell you is to have some giddorum, literally a time gather, screen time.

12:26 Just give yourself a certain amount of time that you'll be on it. And then he said something very interesting that when it comes to the internet and using it to further Torah and send it around, it is a never ending objective. He said because once you have this talk, then there's endless amounts, a breath of instant Tyra. That goes even deeper. You click on this and you get more sources, and then you can say and get different antonyms and synonyms and you can create better source sheets and you can do a better audio, and then you can do a better video and we can put out doubly amount. It never ends. So there is something to be very wary of to make sure that the time is spent in the right way, because it can be seductive, bring one in and intrude and steal from one's personal time, and one just has to set up the necessary boundaries.

13:20 Very interesting Again. You see that the great ones seem to be to put time very much at the top of their priorities. And then you said something that I didn't necessarily expect. You said actually Michal, and you said Michal. You said actually truthfully. He told me that you know Eshdaq Torah has eight full time content creators, eight separate people that are working to make sure that Eshdaq com and all of the social media channels are updated with inspiring and informative Torah content. They do an amazing, remarkable job.

14:01 You said but we have eight people that are full time doing that. I'm not involved, someone that's on the content creation side. If you want to play the rabbinic role, so maybe learn the content, get the content, he said, and then hire someone to do the other side of things, somebody that is skilled in those areas, that wants to make it more of a career. Go and get them, he said in any certain spot, even if you want someone. He said in a different way and just sometimes in Shabbos you need a Malachadon. You hire a Shabbos guy, he said in jest so maybe you know you can hire someone, a Gentile, you can hire someone that has kind of more open to it, that is an expert at it.

14:42 It goes better and when you do it like this seems to succeed you don't even have to be involved. He gave over a story. He said actually one time that there was a question about the Hashqafa one thing. They sent it to me. It was actually blocked on my computer so I couldn't see it, but he said it's very clear to me that one should have his Ghadarim and it may not be the spot for a Ben Torah. Those were the words that he used, if I remember correctly to be fully involved in the social media world, because it does have some things that the Jewish world doesn't necessarily agree with. So number one his advice was Ghadarim careful with the time.

15:24 Number two was if you don't have to be involved in that side of things, then don't be. I pressed a little bit more about content on. Is a difference between? Youtube sounded like he was maybe a little bit more okay with that, but having someone do it there. Then some of the other ones. He knows what he's talking about. He said then I asked him about WhatsApp, he said you know, doesn't seem like it is social media, but definitely I have no idea who permitted it. For the Ben Torah it does seem like the source sheets for Torah organizations are sent around on WhatsApp and the girl's schedules in the Beziakuvs are sent out on WhatsApp. So, hey, I guess somebody said it's all good and it's kind of just like texting, but I don't know who that was, so that is interesting to know.

16:14 But then he finished that I guess you know, if you hire someone to do all this, it really doesn't matter in which platforms you are available, and quite the opposite, then be available everywhere because someone else is taking care of it. I found that to be very helpful and kind of alarming, I guess. Also, Now that Rosh Hashifah walked out of his office, he closed it up tight. We're walking towards the elevator to go down to his driver. I then asked him. I said how does a person balance his obligations to the congregation, try to help out society, the Jewish people at large, being fully present for his family? He said something that was so brilliant, it resonated with me so strongly.

16:58 He said as long as there is some disagreement, some machlokas, a standoff between your Meshpacha and the Jewish people, then your Meshpacha is going to win. Call yourselves going to lose. Everything's really going to crash and burn because then the Meshpacha is not going to be happy and nothing's going to work. The only way he said I can't recall if he said the only way he said the way is to put your wife and your children on actively in the Harbatsastora, not passively, not on the side, rooting for you, but when they feel and they understand that, oh, you know, the wife, the Rebbitson, even organizes the sources, beautifies a certain picture to make sure that people will come.

17:50 Make sure that all the details of the shear or an organization that you're starting are taken care of, the children they're in on it and they are sourcing sources in order for the Drusha to be better and the whole family is picked up and swept up by this Harbatsastora bug, this great bug. That's the way the Rebbitson staying up, your husband, everyone involved, to try and root on together for further Harbatsastora with angst, nervousness. Did the Drusha go well? Did the safer print properly? Moishi, is that really a good source?

18:31 Should Tati use that? Does this work? Should we spread this? When the whole family's in on it, it flourishes beautifully. I then asked the Rosh Hashiva how the Rosh Hashiva is able to, at his capacity, manage the 80 million responsibilities that he has, from Rabbi to Rosh Hashiva Drusha. He speaks in girl schools, gives halacha, vadim, tapes svara man, lushan hara for the Chavitschayim Heritage Foundation. How does he do all of it? I said, ingest, does the Rosh Hashiva just simply wake up at five am? To which he responded and I kid you not. Five is late and my alarm goes off at three am. So I do not believe there's much for us to dwell on here, other than there is quite a very simple approach.

19:18 If you want more time and you need more time I guess you have to wake up earlier, and we must also put another feather in the Rosh Hashiva's cap. He's not only a Rav or a Shiva in a Pysic, but a man of ridiculous stamina and hasmada in the way that he learns. After that I moved on. I wasn't gonna wake up at three am Maybe, but I heard, I got the message. If you need more time, sometimes you gotta wake up early. I said, rosh Hashiva, can a person rely on the curriculum that we have been given in Yeshivas to become a great one.

20:00 If we just follow the system, go from preschool, middle school, start learning Mishnah, start learning Gamara, you start learning in depth in Yeshiva the female track, learning Tanach, learning all the pertinent halachos and how to build and progenate a beautiful family of servants for the Almighty. Can we just rely on the Beysiakov system and the Yeshiva system or do we need to put in more? And he said much to my perhaps dismay, and I don't know. I never expected him to say something like this.

20:42 He said no, it is actually just the minimum requirements, the nine to one and the three to six and the nine to 11 that you do in Yeshiva. That's minimum. You still gotta know halacha. Outside of that, you gotta spend time. What's gonna be with the learning of Nafi? A Bantaiyayi has to know Nafi. Unbelievable, a little bit daunting. I came at this moment trying to perhaps try to look better than I am and impress the Yeshiva, and I said oh, like that, kimar, that says that a person should divide up his Torah learning into a slish, a slish and a slish one third in three separate areas of Torah, and one of them includes the study of Nafi.

21:26 He said actually, in fact the Ramah and denotes to many says that we just learned Talmud-Bavli in these days, learned the Babylonian Talmud and you get everything, everything. Hafukhba, hafukhba, dekulah, but everything's inside of Talmud-Bavli and you even get Nafi, so you don't necessarily need to learn Nafi. That was the Psoch of the Ramah. But then he looked at me and he said but do you know Talmud-Bavli or do you just know the two or three or four Yeshiva, masechdas and every single nuance and all the beautiful Torah and all the different things and all the rashi's and the ksoys and the Siva's and Shavshmaita? You gotta maybe at whatever level. But do you know Talmud-Bavli or do you need to carve out some time in your schedule to know Nafi?

22:12 He said a Bantara needs to know Mishnebura. You can get by in the laws of daily living by just learning the Saffarium of the Chappetzchayim. The Mishnebura Seemed to really ask Godless of us. It's really eye-opening, I guess. To become a God-all, to become someone great, then one needs to adequately educate himself if he ever seeks to educate others. This would only make sense. By this time the elevator doors had opened at the ground floor of the Eishatora building.

22:58 Reshiva still couldn't escape me. I was followed him into the elevator and now I was getting specific. I said Reshiva, which Sifare does a Ventora need to know? And he mentioned two that I definitely didn't expect. Number one he said the Sifsei Chaim, the great works from Rebchaim Friedlander, the Ponevichir Mashkiach Talmud of Elyo desler, the Malif Lewis voiced brilliant Talmud Chacham and Bal Musser. I said that's interesting.

23:39 Why can't we, you know, learn Rimbane or Ramchal? What's unique? Perhaps Rebje Ruchem Levavets? What's unique about the Sifsei Chaim, rebchaim Friedlander's works? He said he gives over the clearest definitions in plain and simple, easy to read Hebrew for the general public. And he mentioned the words Emuna and Batakhon that it just it's hard sometimes to get a grip on what it actually means and he gives it to us in the easiest to grasp clarity. Very interesting. And secondly, he said Tyras Avram, from the great spiritual Dean of Slabotka, rebav Roham Grudzinski, the Talmud, the exemplar of the Slabotka Yeshiva, one of the most regal and king-like manifestations of Godless Ha'adam, and the altar of Slabotka, said about him that Zechelki Mikol Amolai, that Rebav Roham is his portion, is his success, so to speak, from all of his work.

24:43 And Tyras Avram are his ma'amurim. And he mentioned the Yeshiva did that. It's hard not to hear Rebarn Cutler coming across in some of the same concepts. I believe Tyras Avram actually just came back into print so you can get it now, but those are the two sperm that he mentioned. I then said and now we're outside the building and the driver should be arriving any moment, bar Hashem, he was running late. I said what is one of the overlooked concepts? That perhaps the mashpeim, those that are the speakers, those that seek to influence Klajusr, all for the betterment of society, to help them out, what is it that maybe is an overlooked topic that's not getting enough attention?

25:30 He said what must continue to be spoken about is the concept that Hashem created the world because he wanted to be a matev. God wanted to give good. In order to give good, god needed receptacles to accept the good, henceforth creation, people, animals, items, all to be makhabel, to accept God's goodness. And it's our job to mimic Hashem and to follow in his ways, to constantly bestow good and do good and lives in that, I'd imagine, not being self-centered and taking it, but more giving and giving to be made of, like Hashem.

26:11 And we can deduce from this that if Hashem created the world for one purpose, just to be made to give and do good. Therefore, nothing can happen to us and the negative, nothing is bad because the entire tafkid of the world is all for good. That's all I imagine would live in the concept of a muna batakh and understanding it's all for my shahm and he's doing it to be made of, to do good. So I said I guess that's kind of what people are talking about. So he said, yet for good reason, this is what needs to be spoken about and what people need to be reminded of At this point.

26:53 There's a young man who's kind of inching closer, trying to get the rushesheva's ear outside this great tracklin, this great palace of Asha Taur. We're standing at the bottom. We can kind of see the coastal. There's a glass wall down there and he's kind of inching over and I realized that this maybe would be my last question. So I said rushesheva, perhaps one last thing. What should be a person's mindset during Elul? What's the unique avodha? How can we tap in? And he said every person that was born was given one unique gift, one super talent they're supposed to bring out and bring to the world, discover, make an account, make a hejbana navesh, why that attribute and talent isn't flourishing, like it can and should be, and then seek ways to remove the impediments and dams so that it can burst forth Interesting.

27:55 And he said also, seek ways to further it, not just to get rid of the bad, but to further this in the good, to develop it further and further. Clearly my time's about up. This fellow is inching his way closer and closer. Seems like he's about to throw me out the window Not the rushesheva, but this guy. And I say, okay, I kind of wind down, thank you. And he looks at me and he says now, remember Godel. Someone who wants to be great has to ask himself how can I help Kalei Israel? What can I bring the Kalei Israel needs?

28:36 How can I take the initiative for the betterment of Kalei Israel? And he did mention that at times it's all about our own personal growth and we can lose track of the way the great ones think, which is about helping the Kalei, helping the public. Seems this is a me that that so many great ones have. It's the way their abuse of Berkowitz definitely lives. His life meeting was perfect, his thought process, so methodical, the wisdom.

29:17 As I was Walking out of the ash atore rebuilding, walking back, I got a phone call from someone. I didn't answer because I wanted to think about what had just happened. And actually my father-in-law and my cousin who was there with me, came over. What do you say? What do you say? That's trying to process all of it. I rent and I wrote it all down so that I would remember to keep it and to tell y'all Wow, the Berkowitz is just different. He's patient. His aza was very direct, unapologetic, he said, spoke with purity, with Lucidity, with certainty.

30:02 He lives with joy. His exuberant smile and outlook on life is Infectious. Realized that the great ones work harder than everyone else and that's probably why they're so great. His work ethic, his asmada, is unparalleled. His knowledge of Tyra, his knowledge of halacha, his mastery over his own human body and his emotions Is something to marvel at. He's really an ish Clow is a man of the people. I Got to witness this great gullible up close and personal for only 18 minutes.

30:46 It was perfect, it was spectacular. The only thing that I still regret is that it didn't go any longer. I wish it would have continued forever, but just those 18 minutes suffice it to say, diana, you.