Harav Malkiel Kotler spoke Tuesday morning after Shacharis at Mekor Hachaim Shul in São Paulo, Brazil, before the gedolim depart to Argentina on behalf of Keren Olam HaTorah.
Harav Malkiel spoke about the simcha of Torah, citing the Gemara that Reb Yosef would make a special seudah on Shavuos, saying that without Torah, “כמה יוסף איכא בשוקא” — he would be no different than anyone else.
He shared that Rav Aharon Kotler zt”l would ask why there is no special mitzvah on Shavuos, and explained that if a person is truly oisek baTorah, the Torah itself brings him simcha.
Harav Malkiel emphasized that Torah does not only give a person knowledge — it changes who he is. One who learns Torah becomes a different person, a klaf of Torah, and the difference can be seen in his entire conduct, in his honesty and in the way he deals with others.
He related that when a chassidishe bochur once asked his grandfather for permission to leave Lakewood for Shavuos, Rav Aharon responded, “You are leaving the Ma’amad Har Sinai?”
Harav Malkiel said that the Ma’amad Har Sinai continues in every yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel, and that the mission of Keren Olam HaTorah is to sustain that living Ma’amad Har Sinai.
He concluded with the message he received from his grandfather: every person must have a real kevius in Torah — not only because of the chiyuv, but because of the transformation Torah creates in a person.
