In Attendance, with Attention
When I was once delivering an important message in Miami, I was surprised to find a man in the audience holding a sefer and learning from it, completely oblivious to the divrei Torah being spoken. He was focused on his sefer as though now was the time to learn on his own.
In spite of his demonstration of disrespect, I chose to ignore him and continued with my delivery. Suddenly, he closed his sefer in a state of alarm and paid complete attention to my words. I was surprised at his change of heart and decided to ask him about it afterward.
As soon as I finished my lecture, I turned to the man and told him, “Throughout the speech, I noticed that you were immersed in a sefer. But suddenly, you slammed it shut and listened to my words. Please explain what that was all about.”
In response to my question, he fetched the sefer and opened it to the following words, “When a person learns from a sefer while a Rav is delivering a speech, he indicates that the Rav’s words are unimportant to him. This is a disgrace to the Torah.” The man expressed his regret at having belittled me and my holy message.
The words the man read were a Heavenly signal that he should pay attention to the speech which he was attending, and not involve himself in other works. He immediately ceased his improper behavior.
