Which Torah Study is Called 'Strange Fire'? Parshat Bamidbar from the Holy Words

"When they offered strange fire" (3-4) - There is one who studies and illuminates. And there is one who studies and darkens.

Not everyone who sits before the Gemara truly grasps the hidden light within it. Torah—like fire—can warm, illuminate, and give life. But to the same extent, it can also burn, parch, and cause destruction. It is not the words that determine this, but the heart behind them. Not the quantity—but the intention. And unfortunately, even in a generation of abundant classes and books, the light does not always descend into the world. Because without humility, without truth, without a true tzaddik who directs the study—even the Torah can turn into "strange fire." And this is exactly what must be clarified now: How does one approach the Torah in a way that gives life—and does not destroy?

These are the holy words of our teacher, the Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a:

Studying Torah in an incorrect manner can cause one's departure from the world or turn a person into a 'Jewish demon'

The moment a person engages in Torah, the moment a person engages in holy words, but it is not for the sake of Heaven, it is not according to his level, it is not according to the simplicity and innocence that belongs to him, he is studying Torah in an incorrect manner, this is called offering strange fire! Nadav and Avihu were holy of holies, whom we have no grasp of; they merited to depart from the world and remained true tzaddikim, because when a person merits, he departs from the world but remains a tzaddik, and if he does not merit and continues in his error and does not do teshuvah (repentance), then he turns into a 'Jewish demon'.

"And Lavan is a Torah scholar who is a 'Jewish demon' whose Torah is for arrogance and contention... and such a Torah scholar is worse than a carcass... And Yaakov kissed Rachel and raised his voice and wept"—Rebbe Nachman says in Torah 12 that all of Yaakov Avinu's meeting with Rachel was only to establish the people of Israel as a treasured nation. And at the moment he met her, he received such Ruach HaKodesh (Divine Inspiration) that he saw that his entire plan, his entire goal, his entire mission would fail due to unworthy students who would turn the Gemara and the Torah into a tool for their own pride. "And he raised his voice and wept"—Yaakov Avinu wept! He saw through Ruach HaKodesh how much the people of Israel would yet suffer and pass through in exile, all because of unworthy students who would not be able to withstand the test and would fail in pride and arrogance.

The Tannaim who compiled the Gemara did not compile it to tell us more wisdom; they could have written us practical halachic rulings like the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and been done with it! Why all the pilpulim (dialectics) in the Gemara? Why all the discourses in the Gemara?—Every Amora, every Tanna, could have issued several halachic rulings of his own, what he received from his teachers, and been done with it! Rather, the holy Gemara is the power for the indwelling of the Shechinah (Divine Presence). By studying, by laboring in Torah, it gives the power to return the Shechinah to the people of Israel; through the labor of study, we return Divinity to the people of Israel. The Rebbe revealed how the Geulah (Redemption) will come—the Geulah will only be through studying Gemara in the correct way. The 'Baal Davar' (the adversary) knows that everything will be in the merit of studying Gemara! The 'Baal Davar' knows very well what the voice of studying the holy Gemara does! He knows that every single word in the holy Gemara is a combination of holy names! The 'Baal Davar' knows that through studying Gemara, through studying Torah for its own sake, a person receives the power to serve Hashem, to pray with intention, to perform hitbodedut (secluded prayer), and therefore the most difficult test is in the study of Gemara.

"And the 'Baal Davar' overcomes this even more to cause a person to study with pride"

When a person studies, he receives pride from the very act of studying, and in this pride there are two aspects—he has the pride that he is studying, that he is a scholar, that he is wise, that he is a genius, and he also receives pride to laugh at the other, to mock the other, and this is what Rebbe Nachman explains in Torah 12, that there are such scholars who always mock the tzaddikim even though those tzaddikim are greater than them even in study! Nevertheless, they mock them. When we study Torah, our goal is not to be mere geniuses! But our goal is that through our study, we will draw closer to Hashem, we will feel Hashem, we will pray with more intention, we will feel the love of Hashem, as King David said, "But as for me, the nearness of Hashem is my good."

When a person sees that he has been studying Torah for many years and has not progressed at all, a resentment is created in his heart, as it were, against the Torah: Why did the Torah not advance him? After all, he decided to study Torah! He didn't just decide! He wanted to be a new person! In the end, he sees that he has not changed in anything; he remains as before with the same bad character traits, and the bad traits have even become worse! He does not understand what is happening here; it seems to him as if Hashem is weak in helping him. Rebbe Nachman says in Torah 12 that the mistake lies in the fact that he needs a true tzaddik, a worthy Torah scholar to guide him and teach him how to study Torah for its own sake, how to break pride during study, how to study Gemara and together with that remain in the ultimate humility and lowliness. Because in order for the Torah to move something within the internal system of the person, for his character traits, his nature, his inclinations to change, he needs to find such a tzaddik who is called an angel of Hashem of Hosts—as it is written, if the Rabbi is like an angel of Hashem of Hosts, seek Torah from his mouth. And when he does not have such a tzaddik, it is hard for him to reach the path of good; he studies Torah, he has much knowledge, he can be a great genius, he can be the greatest advisor in the world! But it is like Achitophel, who reached the level of the Urim V'Tumim, and nevertheless, he has no share in the World to Come.

The Zohar says: "The Holy One, blessed be He, looked into the Torah and created the world"—you should know that you who study Torah, you hold in your hands the keys to the world. Those who study Torah hold in their hands the keys to the existence of the world, to the continuity of the world. And when they hold the keys in the correct way, when they study with humility and lowliness, the world functions in proper order—nations live, nations create, nations build, nations continue to exist. But when they hold the keys in an incorrect way, then nations are destroyed, nations conquer one another, destroy one another, the earth trembles. All the disasters heard every day across the entire globe come because they are studying Torah in an incorrect way; it comes due to the words that are said "not as is fitting"—that is what the Zohar calls it, "not as is fitting." These words that are said are the very things that destroy the world! Because the world stands only on words of Torah; the world stands only on the letters and words of the Torah that are said every moment and second by those who study it. When Torah is studied as it should be, the world exists—when Torah is not studied as it should be, the world is destroyed.

"To study Torah from a place of humility and lowliness"

A person who has decided to study Torah becomes the master of the world! And when he studies Torah with humility and lowliness and he knows that he is less than everyone else, he does not speak about anyone, he does not mock anyone, he studies Torah with midnight prayers, with prayers with intention, then he merits that his Torah sustains the world. But if he does not walk in this path, then this is the cause of all the destructions and ruin that exist in the world.

Every day a Heavenly voice goes out and cries, "Woe to the creatures for the insult to the Torah"—if you study Torah, know this! You have received an instrument to control the entire world! You control the world! You give life to the world! You are responsible for the world! When they send a spaceship into space, thousands of experts stand below in the control room and watch over all the lights, all the lamps, that everything functions properly. And if there are human beings in the spaceship, they worry and watch even more that everything works and functions properly! That there be no harm to human beings. And the parable is that when a person studies Torah, he receives a spaceship! He receives control! He receives the entire globe with several billion people; he controls the entire globe, and all the lamps and all the lights and all the communication devices that are in this spaceship, in the globe, are operated only by these holy letters, only by the holy Torah. When we say these letters, we give life to and control that giant spaceship called the globe.

The "Mei Marom" says: Woe to the creatures for the insult to the Torah! They give such a person a giant instrument, they give him control over the entire globe, they give him to control such a giant spaceship with several billion people, and a person treats this instrument with contempt, does not watch to study Torah as is fitting, and uses it in an incorrect way. And therefore, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said to his colleagues, "I beseech you"—please! Do not utter any word, any Torah thought from your mouth "not as is fitting," so that you do not cause disasters, killings, earthquakes in the world. And the colleagues said—may the Merciful One save us, may the Merciful One save us! Hashem will save us! If this is the power of the Torah, if there is such power to the Torah, that through one word it is possible to destroy countries and cause destructions and disasters, we pray that Hashem will save us.