So accessible

I ate by my brother's Friday night, and noticed a towering stack of boxes in a corner. I asked him what it was. He said they had a sale of the Artscroll Shas, small books, so he purchased the whole set for about $1,300 dollars. They are finishing the shas soon and will be starting again, so he decided to try out daf yomi.

I find it so beautiful to see how far we have come. In the times of the Baal Shem Tov, there was a big divide between the knowledgeable Jews, and the poor unlearned ones. In fact, the rich knowledgeable Jews looked down upon the simple folk, some of whom could barely read Hebrew or even daven, let alone pick up a sefer and learn Torah.

But the Baal Shem Tov, with his love of every Jew and extreme patience, traveled the countryside, visiting every Jew and teaching him that what Hashem loves above all is simple and sincere faith in Him, and the effort to do the mitzvos to the best of out ability.

Now, Torah is so accessible to all Jews. It has been translated into many languages. Someone who has never learned Gemara in his life can pick up an Artscroll edition translated into English and learn something on his lunch break.

There is really no excuse to not learn Torah. Hashem, look how far we have come.