Chasidut for Pirkei Avot 3:2

רַבִּי חֲנִינָא סְגַן הַכֹּהֲנִים אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי מִתְפַּלֵּל בִּשְׁלוֹמָהּ שֶׁל מַלְכוּת, שֶׁאִלְמָלֵא מוֹרָאָהּ, אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵהוּ חַיִּים בְּלָעוֹ. רַבִּי חֲנִינָא בֶן תְּרַדְיוֹן אוֹמֵר, שְׁנַיִם שֶׁיּוֹשְׁבִין וְאֵין בֵּינֵיהֶן דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה, הֲרֵי זֶה מוֹשַׁב לֵצִים, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים א) וּבְמוֹשַׁב לֵצִים לֹא יָשָׁב. אֲבָל שְׁנַיִם שֶׁיּוֹשְׁבִין וְיֵשׁ בֵּינֵיהֶם דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה, שְׁכִינָה שְׁרוּיָה בֵינֵיהֶם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (מלאכי ג) אָז נִדְבְּרוּ יִרְאֵי יְיָ אִישׁ אֶל רֵעֵהוּ וַיַּקְשֵׁב יְיָ וַיִּשְׁמָע וַיִּכָּתֵב סֵפֶר זִכָּרוֹן לְפָנָיו לְיִרְאֵי יְיָ וּלְחֹשְׁבֵי שְׁמוֹ. אֵין לִי אֶלָּא שְׁנַיִם, מִנַּיִן שֶׁאֲפִלּוּ אֶחָד שֶׁיּוֹשֵׁב וְעוֹסֵק בַּתּוֹרָה, שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא קוֹבֵעַ לוֹ שָׂכָר, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (איכה ג) יֵשֵׁב בָּדָד וְיִדֹּם כִּי נָטַל עָלָיו:

R. Chanina, the adjutant high-priest says: Pray for the well-being of the king, [even the kings of the nations]. For if not for its [(monarchy's)] fear, one man would swallow his fellow alive, [as it is written (Habakkuk 1:14): "And You have made a man like the fish of the sea" — Just as with the fish of the sea, all who are bigger than the other swallow the other, so with men. If the fear of the king were not upon them, all who were greater than the other would swallow the other.] R. Chanina ben Teradyon says: If two sit and there are no words of Torah between them, this is called "the seat of scoffers," as it is written (Psalms 1:1): "And he did not sit in the seat of scoffers. ((2): For in the Torah of the L rd is his desire, etc.") But if two sit and there are words of Torah between them, the Shechinah is between them, as it is written (Malachi 3:16): "Then the fearers of the L rd spoke to each other [(two are implied)], and the L rd listened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for the fearers of the L rd and the thinkers on His name." This tells me only of two. Whence do I derive that even if one sits and studies Torah the Holy One Blessed be He sets aside reward for him? From (Eichah 3:27): "He shall sit alone and be silent, [learning by himself in "a still, small voice"], for he has taken it upon him" [i.e., it is as if the giving of the entire Torah was for him alone.]

Hakhsharat HaAvrekhim

It cannot be more strongly emphasized that the main point of the chevraya is not the chevraya itself, but the member, friend, man, Avreich, and Bachur who enters into the avodah of the chevraya. When the Gemara tells us to form groups for the study of Torah, because the Torah is only acquired through association with others, it is not trying to tell us that the group and not the individual is the primary focus, and that if a person cannot study together with others then he should not study alone, God forbid. After all, the Mishna²³⁶Avos, Chapter 3 Mishna 2 tells us that even if a man studies Torah alone God rewards him, as it is written, “He sits alone in silence, because God has placed it upon him.”²³⁷Eicha, 3:28 If our discussion in these pages have emphasized the group, it is only in response to a grave threat. The Jewish people are compared to a house whose every corner is burning in flames, with our enemies attacking us and embittering our lives from without and our own coldness to the Torah and the avodah threatening us from within. This danger could bring about our physical and spiritual destruction, God forbid. We already said at the beginning of A Student’s Obligation that the only thing that can save Israel from assimilation and the desolation caused by such an ice-age of avodah is when the child, young man, and Avreich serves God and learns Torah with the fire of Chassidus, and feels the delights it brings from the Garden of Eden. And just as one man’s lonely pail of water cannot put out a raging fire, but only when water is brought from all directions – one with his pails, this one with his barrels, and this one with his bottles - so too, it is not enough for Chassidus alone, even though it is the crucial and sure-fire medicine, cannot save Israel from destruction even if it is ingested into our bodies and souls according to the methods and practices that we have presented. Like those other pails of water, we also need the chevraya. But the chevraya is not the vital ingredient. If we use all of these means together, then maybe God will help and save our bodies and souls from pending destruction.

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