Spiritual Tools: Sha’arei Torah: The Battle of Life

The 2nd of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Binyamin Zev Lev (ben Elazar Leib) Rokeach (1777-1851). He was born in the small town of Vadislav, and his father, the Shemen Rokeach, sent him to the yeshivos of R’ Eliezer Kempne of Prostitz, and of his brother-in- law R’ Yirmiyohu of Mattersdorf. He married Feigele, the daughter of Rav Yitzchak Eisik Elkish, Rav of Ushpitzin from the dynasty of the Rebbe R’ Heschel and the Moginei Shlomo. He subsequently became rov in Amshinov.

He is the author of Shaarei Torah. His son, Yirmiyahu, was author of Divrei Yirmiyahu.

Each of us must wage a different battle in life, with a constant awareness that we never believe someone who says, “I have toiled and not found.” We find some element of truth in the toil itself.

Therefore, when I found issues in Halacha that seemed to contradict each other, I did not say that I, so limited in comparison to the great teachers in our history, cannot begin to find answers where they did not. This is my mission in life. I worked with love for the work itself, and with a loving desire to discover the light of Torah.

I must also battle my memory, and write down each though as fulfillment of the Mitzvah to “Never forget what happened at Sinai,” for each new insight is a gift from Sinai. I humbly offer my meagre thoughts written to fulfill this Mitzvah, collected in this book, for you to examine, question, challenge, and study. Please share the sparks of my soul embedded in my Torah study, the love imbuing my work, and the drive to discover truth and attach to God that motivates everything I do.

Gathered from the Introduction of Sha’arei Torah.