Building Knowledge from Partial Sources

Gemara: Hashem loves rabbinical students who supplement each other’s knowledge of Halacha. This is only if they have basic knowledge of the teachings in advance and if there is no available teacher from whom to learn.



Ein Ayah: Spiritual "sprouts" grow with the spirit as it seeks hidden truths. They expand one’s spiritual, intellectual, and emotional spirit. The "sprouts" must be based on the Torah of truth.

Hashem arranges matters so that when intellectual "buds" spread out in different directions, the simple truth may disappear so that the intellect can experience a thirst to search for truth in different places. That is why rabbinical students may find themselves without the simple truth that a teacher could give them. They must then join together and use the perspectives that they have to search for it. This is good even if they need to stray somewhat from the point of the truth.

They become elevated in the process, and divine love that grows according to a soul’s spiritual level will be revealed in its full grandeur. However, this can work only when they stand on a frame of Halacha and their search is to expand the details. Then, although the path is complicated, the search for truth is able to light it up. When no teacher is available, the desire for truth and a strong basis straighten the straying path of the light. However, if a reliable source can directly provide truth, then one who ignores it is missing a basic building block of a proper search. A person who prefers a less reliable path does not sufficiently care about the truth.