Hashem Will Be His Teacher: Rabbi Kanievsky’s Answer to a Struggling Convert

A Jew who gives a daily Gemara class in Herzliya once came to Rabbi Reuven Karlinstein with a moving story. “There’s a man in my class,” he said, “who’s been in the process of converting and has been learning about Judaism for several weeks now. One day, he came up to me, clearly frustrated, and said, ‘That’s it! I’m done. I’m not going to convert.’”

I asked him, “What happened?” and he answered, “I’ve been sitting here week after week, listening carefully, and I just don’t understand a word. And don’t tell me the shiur is too advanced. I see children sitting here, young boys, and they’re keeping up, asking questions, answering, discussing. And me? I sit here lost. And don’t think I’m not smart! I can show you my degrees and test scores. I know I have a sharp mind. So what’s left to say? That Gemara just isn’t for me? Why would I convert to a religion where I can’t even understand the most basic part of the learning?”

I told him honestly, “You’ve asked a powerful question. One I don’t have an answer for. But in Bnei Brak, there lives a great Torah scholar, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky. Let’s go together and ask him what he thinks.”

So we went to Rabbi Kanievsky and posed the question. The Rav smiled gently, turned to me, and asked, “How do you expect him to understand Torah when he has no teacher?”

At first I was confused. “What do you mean he has no teacher? I teach him every day!”

But Rabbi Kanievsky continued, “It’s true that you teach him. But we say each day in our blessings, ‘Blessed are You, Hashem, who teaches Torah to His people Israel.’ Hashem teaches Torah but only to His people. He doesn’t teach Torah to non-Jews. And since Hashem hasn’t yet become his teacher, it makes perfect sense that he’s struggling to understand. But once he becomes a Jew, once he joins the people of Israel, he’ll gain a new teacher, Hashem Himself. And then he’ll understand.”

That’s exactly what happened. After completing his conversion, this man came back to the same class and started understanding everything. His questions flowed, his insights deepened, and the Gemara opened up to him in a whole new way.

Rabbi Reuven Karlinstein, who shared this beautiful story, added a powerful lesson: “Wherever a Jew sits and learns Torah, the Divine Presence is right there with him. Hashem Himself is learning with him, teaching him. If we could truly feel that, that we are studying Torah with Hashem, we would be overwhelmed with joy every time we opened a sefer.”

This story is a reminder that Torah isn’t just intellectual. It’s spiritual. Understanding it isn’t just about brainpower, it’s about connection. And that connection begins the moment a Jew opens his heart to Hashem.