Shavuot-Spiritual Tools: Applying Torah

From my father zt”l: “He sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, to prepare – lihorot – ahead of him in Goshen (Genesis 46:28).” Rashi cites the Midrash that Yaakov sent Yehudah to establish a Beit Midrash, a House of Torah Study.

Why does the Torah use the expression of lihorot, which usually implies a Halachic ruling, rather than the usual word associated with a Beit Midrash, “leishev,” as in Yeshiva?

This is to teach us that once we are in exile, we must look to the Beit Midrash as the source of rulings that will guide us in applying the wisdom of Torah to teach us how to act, what we should become, and how to become. If the Beit Midrash is not a place of lihorot, practical instruction and application, it is not a Makom Torah! (From a conversation on 12 Tevet 5757 – 12-22-1996)