Resources for Nedarim 81
The גמרא says that the reason that תלמידי חכמים don’t often have kids who areתלמידי חכמים is because they aren’t מברך בתורה תחילה. It also says that the first בית המקדש was destroyed was because people didn’t make ברכת התורה. This is obviously a shocking statement, especially in light of the fact that the גמרא in יומא דף ט famously says that the first בית המקדש was destroyed because of the sins of גילוי עריות, שפיכת דמים, ועבודה זרה. Furthermore, the רמב"ם ’s opinion is that ברכת התורה is only a מצוה דרבנן so how could the בית המקדש have been destroyed when its only a מצוה דרבנן? (This last question is brought by the שאגת אריהin סימן כ"דas a proof to the רמב"ן in מצות עשה ט"ז that ברכת התורה is a דין דאורייתא.) There are many explanations to the above questions.
The מהר"ל inנתיב התורה פּרק ז as well as in his הקדמה לתפארת ישראל explains that everyone certainly made ברכת התורה. The problem was they didn’t do it with proper love to Hashem. The reason it wasn’t with enough love is because when someone typically makes a ברכת המצוה¸the מצוה is a burden for them yet they still thank Hashem for giving it to them. That counts as making a ברכה with כל לבבו. However, if you happen to love doing the מצוה anyway, then you need extra כוונה when making the ברכה for it to be considered בכל לבבו. This is why it was more difficult for תלמידי חכמים who love תורה anyway and why their children would not be תלמידי חכמים like them. Even though תלמידי חכמים certainly love Hashem, when learning they are feeling the love of learning and they cant have both loves fully in their heart at once (this last part is in the הקדמה לתפארת ישראל…). Because of this, הקב"ה, the giver of the תורה, does not make sure that the תורה stays with them, which leads their children to not be ת"ח and to the גילוי עריות, שפיכת דמים, וע"ז and eventually איבוד הארץ.
The ט"ז in או"ח סימן מ"ז ס"ק א says a different פּשט. He says that the גמרא was asking why was the בית המקדש destroyed at the time it was when they had violated גילוי עריות, שפיכת דמים, וע"ז for years? To this the גמרא answered that they didn’t want to make ברכת התורה which means that they didn’t want to learn תורה with all their strength. They just wanted to do it מתוך תענוג and the ברכה of תורה is לעסוק בדברי תורה which means to work at it בפּילפּול ועמילות. Since they didn’t want to work too hard, they didn’t make the ברכה. We know the תורה only מתקיים במי שממית עצמו עליה, so the תורה didn’t stay with them and was therefore no longer protecting them and they were thus held accountable for the גילוי עריות, שפיכת דמים, וע"ז.
The שיטה מקובצת in ב"מ דף פּ"ה ע"ב brings a רמב"ם in a teshuva that explains that there is a הלכה that a כהן is supposed to get the first עליה unless there is a big תלמיד חכם there in which case the תלמיד חכם should get the first עליה. They did not do this which was a בזיון התורה. That’s what שלא ברכו בתורה תחילה means. As to how such a thing could cause חורבן הבית and how it fits with the גמרא that says the חורבן was because of the ג׳ חמורות, the תו"ח explains that our גמרא just means what caused us to reach the level of doing the ג׳ חמורות? It must be some issue with our כבוד התורה.
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