Torah’s Inexplicable Effect On Us

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah

This week’s parsha opens with a seeming repetition: “If you will go in My statutes (chukim) and keep My mitzvos … I will bring you rain in its proper time, etc.” (Vayikra 26:3). What does “going in Hashem’s statutes” mean if not keeping His mitzvos? Rather, Rashi explains that going in Hashem’s statutes means “ameilus in Torah” (putting strenuous efforts into one’s learning).

We can ask, however: Why can’t “going in Hashem’s statutes” refer simply to Torah study without strenuous efforts?

The Ohr Hachaim sees the answer in the word “statute” — chok. A chok is a mitzvah that defies understanding. This cannot be referring to Torah learning alone, because Torah learning does not defy understanding. It’s clear that we have to learn Torah. Without learning, we wouldn’t know how to fulfill the mitzvos. Moreover, Torah sharpens the mind. Only, why should we have to be ameil in Torah? Once we understand a Mishna or piece of Gemara, why must we review it again and again, as we are commanded to do? This obligation is in itself a chok.

Also a chok is the fact that we should put in literally all of our free time into learning. Unless one is required to engage in his livelihood or other unavoidable obligations, the expectation is that he devote himself to Torah day and night (each person should consult his Rav as to how this applies specifically to him). Even if one would master the entire Torah, this obligation would remain in effect, as it states in Menachos (99b) that a sage asked if after mastering the entire Torah he could now study academic disciplines of the gentiles. He was answered: we are commanded to study Torah day and night, so in order to learn the wisdom of the gentiles, you must find a time that is neither day nor night to do so. This is a chok to us; and as with all chukim, we fulfill it in order to give Hashem nachas ruach (Brachos 17a).

Rav Simcha Zissel Broideh explains how ameilus is a chok in a different way: Just as a chok is inexplicable, so too the great positive effect Torah has on us is inexplicable. The Talmud Yerushalmi (Chagiga 1:7) states that Torah rescues from sin and brings a Jew to teshuva. How? We do not know, but the fact remains that a bachur studying Bava Kama, learning laws about a goring ox, becomes a better person. Torah builds him. It states (Toras Kohanim 26:3) that Torah leads to yiras Shamayim, and in Pirkei Avos it states that Torah makes one a tzaddik and chassid. How? It’s a chok.

In Nefesh Hachaim (Shaar 4), we learn that Torah upholds the entire universe and builds new worlds. This seems unreal. By learning dinim about goring oxen, I am holding up the world? What chizuk this should give us! Look at what Torah can do! We are witness to this phenomenon when we behold the perfected character of great talmidei chachamim. A friend of mine once told me that to get chizuk, he comes to the yeshiva and looks at the best bachurim. “These are people who are not dragged down into the taavos of this world,” he tells me, excited.

Let’s each think for a moment: what did Torah do to you? You may feel you fall short of your goals or potential, but you can surely appreciate that Torah has perfected you in some way. Rav Yosef (Pesachim 68b) would prepare a feast on Shavuos, explaining that were it not for Shavuos and the giving of the Torah, there would be nothing special about him. “How many Yosefs are there in the marketplace?” he would ask, rhetorically. Without Torah he would have been just another “Joe.” The Kehillas Yitzchak (Parshas Nasso) explains that Rav Yosef is famous in the Talmud as the Amora who tragically forgot his learning, and his comment was made surely after this had happened. Nevertheless, Rav Yosef would prepare a feast in recognition of what Torah had already done for him.

We now understand why chukim refers to ameilus, but still: why are we commanded to go in the chukim? Why not state that we are commanded to study? Why is the word “go” used instead?

Rav Nachum Ze’ev Ziv, son of the Alter of Kelm, explains that this is because the Torah must go with a Jew everywhere—whether he’s in the beis medrash or not. Throughout the day, even amid stressful, difficult situations, the Torah must never be put aside. As the Rambam states, “everyone is obligated in the mitzva of Talmud Torah, whether he is rich or poor, sick or healthy, etc.” (Laws of Talmud Torah 1:8).

Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv exemplified the mitzvah of “going” with Hashem’s statutes at all times. Throughout his life he suffered from ailments and was very weak. Despite sickness, weakness and poverty, Rav Elyashiv was the masmid par excellence in all periods of his life. Toward the end of his life, when he was in an intensive care ward recovering from open-heart surgery, he sat up in his bed and began learning Gemara in his familiar melody. “Rabbi,” exclaimed one of the nurses, “after surgery a patient has to rest!” “Is my learning bothering anyone?” Rav Elyashiv asked. Once he clarified that he was not disturbing someone else, no entreaties of the hospital staff could keep him from Torah study.

When Rav Elazar Menachem Mann Shach convinced Rav Elyashiv to assume a role of leadership in Klal Yisrael, Rav Elyashiv said: “I’m willing to do it, but I have to be able to learn at least 13 hours a day. I cannot take on responsibilities that will cut in to my main learning sedarim.”

May we be zocheh to be ameilim baTorah!