פרשת תרומה וקדושת התורה
This week’s Parsha opens with the verse, “And you shall take for me Teruma”. The Midrash comments that this verse is coming to teach us that when we take the Torah upon ourselves, Hashem comes along as part of the package. The Midrash likens this to a king who had only one daughter. When it came time to marry her off, the king chose a fellow nobleman as a husband for his daughter from a faraway land. After the nuptials, the young royal husband wanted to take his new wife back to his kingdom. The king asked for an audience with his son in law. He told him, “Before you go, I have a request of you. It is very hard for me to part with my daughter. Now I know I can’t ask you to stay, as you must get back to your affairs, and I also know I can’t come with you, as I need to remain here. But I would like you to do one thing for me. Please make a small room for me wherever you choose to dwell so that I may visit at any time and I will have a place to stay”. The Midrash concludes this fascinating analogy by saying that similarly, Hashem was reluctant to separate himself from the Torah, which was extremely beloved to him. So He told the Jewish people, I do not wish to be away from the Torah, but I also cannot come down to the world with you, so all I ask in return is that you make a place for Me to stay in each of your hearts so that I may visit at any time.
As beautiful as this Midrash is, R’ Modechai Gifter points out three powerful difficulties with it. Firstly, what does the Midrash mean when it says that Hashem found it difficult to part with the Torah? Does Hashem generally feel anguish? We know that one of the most fundamental tenets of our faith is that there is never anything lacking from Hashem. This Midrash seems to contradict that tenet. Secondly, Hashem Himself created the Torah. How can He miss something that He created? Just as He was fine before He created the Torah, He would continue to be fine after He gave it away. And thirdly, and most powerfully, what do those words even mean? It’s not like Hashem gave the Torah away such that He himself cannot access it. Did He forget to retain a copy in the Heavens for Himself before He gave it to the Jewish people? What kind of a silly Midrash is this?
R’ Mordechai gives one answer which removes all three difficulties simultaneously. All three of these questions assume one faulty premise – that the goal of the Midrash was to teach us about Hashem, when in fact the Midrash’s sole purpose was to instill in our hearts the level of holiness which is in the Torah. When the verse says, “And you will take for Me Teruma”, the Midrash expounded on the verse that Hashem is part and parcel of the Torah. When one realizes this, he understands that to acquire Torah means by definition to bond himself with Hashem, and the Torah is so pure and holy that it is the vehicle which makes this possible. This incredible Midrash is teaching us that when we study and practice the Torah, we are actually walking in Hashem’s ways and being influenced by His holiness since Hashem and the Torah are inextricably linked.
The Ramchal as well depicts a very similar understanding. He says that there are two levels of Torah study. The first is learning in order to know what Hashem wants from us. This is the most basic intention. The loftier target would be one who learns with the idea that his learning will illuminate his soul with its inner light, and bring him closer to Hashem with its tremendous holiness. The Ramchal adds, however, that there is one caveat for this type of intention to be successful. Since Hashem, the Torah, and the Jewish people are one, Hashem attached Himself (as it were) to the Torah. This being the case a person must prepare himself by constantly maintaining a level of cleanliness from sin in thought and action, since the Shechina can obviously not rest in a dirty place, and he must contemplate the specialness and sacredness of the task which he has chosen to embark if he wishes to be successful in achieving this elevated level of Torah study.
There is an interesting Gemorah in Shabbos (88) which says that when Hashem wanted to give the Torah to Moshe, the angels became very upset. They said, “Master of the world, you have this precious treasure which was created 974 years before the world, and which you delight in every day, how can you give it to man who is lowly and full of sin”? Hashem asked Moshe to respond and Moshe said that since it says in the Torah commandments which have to do with human temperament, it is in fact more appropriate to be with man than with angels. R’ Chaim Kamil used to ask what exactly the nature of this strange argument was. It doesn’t exactly seem like both parties are talking to each other. R’ Chaim would quote the Sabba from Kelm who says that the angels were claiming to Hashem that the Torah needs to stay in the Heavens because in Heaven, the Torah will receive more honor. R’ Chaim would ask, if the Sabba is correct, then how did Moshe counter this argument? He explains beautifully that Moshe admitted that in the Heavens, the Torah would receive a tremendous amount of honor, but when the world sees how such imperfect creatures as human beings can refine their ways to the extent that their actions resemble those of the angels, that display would far outweigh any honor that the angels, who are already perfect could give to the Torah. In other words, had the Torah remained in Heaven, the Torah’s true potential to transform maggots into men would have remained hidden.
There is a story told about the Rabbi from Kotsk who was once approached by a man who seemed to be gloating about how much Torah he had learnt in his life. The Rabbi, who was known for his exceptional sharpness responded, “True, you have been taught a lot of Torah, but what has the Torah taught you”? Learning Torah must not become a competition for merit badges for us, but rather it must be about how much of it we can internalize to better ourselves and become the type of people who are more similar to our Creator in every way. This can only be done if our learning is done with an eye toward perfecting our character traits, and allowing the Torah to affect our hearts with its tremendous holiness and purity.
May we all merit to study Torah with intensity and fire so that our souls become illuminated!