Words of Torah in Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv's Handwriting

Words of Torah in Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv's Handwriting

Words of Torah in Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv's handwriting. Aggadda and mussar on Adam's sin of the tree of knowledge, the purpose of life and the soul of man.

Summary: the essence of Adam's sin, the serpent's temptation to induce a person to seek that which was not given to him, and to cast doubt on what he does have, and that he was punished in that even what was given to him was then taken from him ['וקוץ ודרדר תצמיח'] (['Thorns and thistles will sprout']). After Adam takes pleasure in what is not his, the pleasure turns to anguish and ends in sorrow and grief. As it says, 'ותפקחנה עיני שניהם' ['The eyes of both of them were opened'] about Adam, who at that very moment, the door opened to desire and luxury and discontent with what a person has, about which it says, 'זה ספר תולדות אדם' ['This is the story of man'] - that at that very moment, it was decided for all generations that man is cursed in that he desires things that are not really necessary, such as luxuries, etc., and so he was banished from the Garden of Eden, where everything was budgeted according to real need, as he lived an existence where angels took care of his food - meat and wine, etc. The rectification for this comes every year on Sukkot and Simchat Torah after Yom Kippur, in that on Yom Kippur a person renounces his pursuit of luxuries and admits his sins, and when he goes out to his sukkah he proclaims that what he receives from Hash-m is sufficient, without unnecessary demands, thus meriting the pre-Adam's-sin joy on Simchat Torah, when we are joyous with the Holy One, without other demands, and additional topics.

Distinct from his other mussar letters in which he addresses words of mussar as notes to himself, here Rabbi Elyashiv writes the words addressed to another: 'You have questions like (the seeds of a) pomegranate, and you are annoyed at life in that you don't find satisfaction, and today you want this and tomorrow you want that, and your health is not all right, etc.'

[1] leaf written on both sides. 16x21 cm. Very fine condition.

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv [1910-2012] was born in Shavel, Lithuania as an only son to his parents after seventeen years of marriage.  In 1924, he immigrated to the Land of Israel with his family, where they settled in the Meah Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem. He served as a judge in the Rabbinical High Court, and was known primarily for wondrous diligence his entire life. He eventually became the greatest adjudicator of the generation, and leader of the generation.