Desiring Torah

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In Parshas Bechukosai, Hashem promises us a long list of blessings if we “go in” His statutes. However, if we do not listen to Him (G-d forbid) we will face a frightening list of curses. Rashi (Vayikra 26:3) explains that “going in Torah” means toiling in Torah study. Thus, Torah study is the source of our blessings. In contrast, he writes (ibid. 14-15) that a lack of toil will cause one sin to lead to another, until the curses result.

Why is toil in Torah so important? How is a lack of toil the beginning of our spiritual downfall, G-d forbid, yet it is the source of our blessings when we apply ourselves properly?

Rav Dessler explains that a person who applies himself to a project wholeheartedly develops a connection with it, and he views the project as his own. The same is true of Torah study. The more that one toils in his learning, the greater a connection that he feels to it. His fondness for learning grows. This type of Torah study affects a person, and ultimately, it leads him in the right direction in all aspects of his life. In contrast, if one’s heart is not in his learning (though he has a learning seder), his heart will lead him in other directions, and this is the beginning of his spiritual downfall.

The Siach Yitzchak (on Siddur HaGra) writes that toil in Torah has the potential to inflame one’s desire to study Torah. However, one has already grown accustomed to desires of more base nature. This is why the blessing on Torah contains a request that Hashem “accustom us to [the study of] Your Torah.” We are asking that He help us free ourselves from the outside distractions to which we are accustomed, which would take us away from toil in Torah. The more that we apply ourselves to learning, the more that we can actually develop a desire for it. Indeed, it is even possible to reach the point that this desire is equal to or even greater than the desire for sin!

This idea sheds light on the Sages’ statement (Avos 6:4), “Such is the way of Torah: eat bread with salt, drink water in small measure, sleep on the ground, and toil in Torah. If you do this … you are fortunate in this world, and it will be good for you in the next world.”

It is difficult to understand how one who subsists on a diet of bread and salt and sleeps on the ground is “fortunate in this world.” After all, he is living like a pauper! The Yad Ketana explains that one who toils in Torah amid the minimalistic conditions described above is completely sated by his desire for learning and the pleasure that he derives from it. He feels no lack whatsoever. On the contrary, he is happy that he does not have the distractions that keep the rest of us from immersing ourselves fully into learning.

In our times, we are not expected to live on bread alone. However, we should try to channel our pursuit of material pleasure into a drive for Torah study. The more that we succeed in doing this, the greater the love for Torah that we will feel – and the more “fortunatein this world” we will be.

This idea can also help us understand a difficult Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 35:1): Dovid Hamelech states (Tehillim 119:59), “I considered my ways, and my feet returned to Your testimonies.” The Midrash explains that Dovid set out in the morning to handle mundane matters, but his feet would nevertheless transport him to the Beis Midrash.

Rav Chanoch Leibowitz notes that Dovid had set out to deal with mundane affairs. If he decided to do so, it was surely a mitzvah – and probably, one that only he could do. If so, why did he allow his feet to lead him elsewhere? How could he go learn instead, and why is he praising himself for this?

Rav Leibowitz explains that Dovid was referring to a specific tactic of the Evil Inclination: the labeling of matters as “urgent.” We are lead to think that something must be handled immediately. Dovid testified that he was only able to overcome this tactic due to his strong desire to learn Torah. Otherwise, his Evil Inclination would have deftly added a state of urgency to his mundane needs. Thanks to his love of learning, Dovid always ascertained whether matters – even if of supreme importance – truly needed to be dealt with right away.

The Evil Inclination almost managed to trick Dovid into perceiving matters as urgent when they were not. Surely we are also susceptible to this tactic! If so, it is crucial to toil in Torah. The greater love for Torah that we will develop will enable us to recognize that most, if not all, of these “urgent matters” can easily be handled outside of our learning seder.

The daughter of Rav Elyashiv would relate that while growing up in her father’s home, people constantly came to ask urgent questions. She said, “When I saw how much my father loved his learning, I simply could not bring myself to disturb him. I only interrupted him when they were truly questions of life-and-death.”

Rav Elyashiv’s wife was once asked how she had managed to raise such a large family amid poverty, without interrupting her husband’s learning to ask for his assistance.

She replied, “When my husband was learning, the joy he felt was so palpable that it spread throughout the entire family.”

May we be zoche to toil in Torah and acquire a love for it!