פרשת בהר – בחוקתי
This week’s Parsha opens with the words, “If you walk in my ways, and keep the Mitzvos…”. The verse then goes on to say that in lieu of the Jews’ proper Mitzvah observance, they will receive everything good and every blessing that this world has to offer, not to mention the appropriate reward in the next world. However, Rashi is troubled by the seemingly redundant phrase that we opened with. What does it mean to walk in Hashem’s ways, considering that the second part of the verse already makes a reference to Mitzvah observance? Rashi answers that the first part of the verse is referring to toiling in Torah.
This Rashi seems strange. Generally speaking, the Torah first gives us a commandment, and only afterward tells us that we must be willing to sacrifice in order to properly observe that commandment. Each commandment requires commitment and dedication in order to be fulfilled accurately. Yet here, Torah study for some reason seems to be singled out in that there is no instruction in this week’s Parsha to perform it, instead we are told straight away that we must toil in it. How do we explain this anomaly?
It is clear from countless places in Chazal that Torah is unique in that as opposed to other commandments, it can only be performed through perspiration. Other commandments are sometimes more difficult, and sometimes easier. The Mishnah in Avos says, “According to the amount of difficulty, so is the reward”. But learning Torah is never easy, and if it seems easy, then the Mitzvah of Torah study is not being performed properly. The Gemorah in Megilah (6b) says, “If you find somebody who says that he acquired Torah, and he did not work for it, do not believe him, for he is surely lying”. From this Gemorah it is clear that understanding in Torah can only be made possible through arduous effort, and cannot be achieved carelessly. Similarly, Chazal learn out from a verse in Job (11) “You won’t find Torah in the land of the living”, that Torah can only be acquired by somebody who kills himself over it. It is clear from all these sources that toil in learning is not merely an adjunct to the learning, but rather an integral component, without which a person cannot actually say that he has learnt anything properly.
Based on this formula, we come out with a different understanding in terms of how to go about acquiring Torah knowledge then secular knowledge. Generally, in the secular world, the smarter a person is, the easier it will be for him to pursue knowledge. Torah, on the other hand is not any easier for the intelligent person, then it is for the slow witted person. It is just done on a different level. If anything, it is probably significantly harder for the individual with greater intellect, because he is probably not accustomed to working hard to acquire his knowledge, and is therefore forced to change is entire behavioral pattern in order to study Torah. The verse in describing Moshe’s revelation at Mt. Sinai says that he neither ate any food, nor imbibed any liquid for the entire forty days he was up in Heaven. The Mechilta learns out from this verse that he even gave his blood in order to be able to properly comprehend the words of the Torah. We see from here that even the greatest person in the world, Moshe Rabenu, was not able to get by in Torah study by merely “floating along”, but rather was forced to shed his own blood in order to acquire the Torah. R’ Shimon Bar Yochai, whose Yortzeit we celebrated on Tuesday, went into a cave for 13 years in order to study Torah. While there, he ate only a small amount of carobs, and drank water from a stream. In order to be clothed while he was there, he buried himself in the ground for the entire 13 years. When he emerged, his skin was so cracked that his blood was pouring out of his body. When his son in law, R’ Pinchas Ben Yair saw him, he began to cry that he was forced to see this outstanding Tzadik in such a state and his tears stung R’ Shimon’s wounded body. R’ Shimon responded that he was lucky to have seen him in such a state, because his Torah learning had improved dramatically due to the conditions in which it was acquired. We find yet again, that even such a righteous, intelligent person such as R’ Shimon Bar Yoachai did not feel that he could have obtained his level in Torah without tremendous toil and self-sacrifice.
There is a fascinating Gemorah in Sanhedrin (99b) which quotes the verse which says that a person was created only in order to work. The Gemorah asks, “Does this mean to perform manual labor”? The Gemorah answers, “No, rather this is referring to work in Torah study.” R’ Aryeh Leib Shteinman asks a powerful question on this Gemorah. How could the Gemorah possibly entertain the idea that we would have only been created to work for a living? Is this the purpose of life? Could the Gemorah have really believed that the primary reason for creation would be to go work the land and get a paycheck every week? R’ Shteinman explains that we see from this Gemorah that work changes a person. Hard work, even that of a mundane nature, causes a person to develop into the type of human being that Hashem wanted. So the Gemorah thought that if a person keeps all the commandments, and he also works hard to earn his bread, these two activities operating in tandem would ensure his proper evolution into a refined human being. But the Gemorah rejects this understanding, based on the above quoted verse, favoring the understanding that only toil in Torah will cause that kind of development, and not any regular labor. Why is this conclusion true? Why is toil in Torah the only type of toil which will uplift a person fully, and not any other type of toil?
To answer this, perhaps we could employ the words of the Shem Mishmuel. The Midrash in this week’s Parsha cites the famous words of King David who said that whenever he left his house to go about his daily affairs, his feet always unconsciously carried him to the Beis Hamidrash so that he would end up learning and praying. These words of David are quite moving, but what do they have to do with toiling in Torah? The Shem Mishmuel explains that each of us have different desires which pull us in different directions. We cannot choose which natural “pulls” we will be born with. But when a person toils in Torah, his entire thought process is altered, and holiness and purity can seep into and permeate every part of his consciousness. Study alone is not effective in changing a person this way, but true toil has this unique quality to purify a person’s mind. With this explanation, we can now well understand why only toil in Torah, and not mere hard work on mundane matters will be truly effective in uplifting a person and purifying him. It is well know that the brother of the Vilna Gaon writes in his book that if a person strives fervently in Torah, there will be no need for him to dedicate time to perfecting his character traits through bodily flagellation, because that process alone will be sufficient to purify a person’s attributes.
May we all merit to toil in Torah all of our days!