פרשת וזאת ברכה

This week’s parsha has one of the most famous verses in the entire Torah. “The Torah that Moshe commanded us is the heritage of the community of Yaakov.” (Devarim 33, 4) The Torah is not unreachable to the extent that it can only be attained by those who are exceedingly talented. In truth, the Torah is the inheritance of every Jewish person and is accessible to all. As the Rambam writes “Anyone who wants can come and take.” (Talmud Torah 3:1) This idea is so important that this verse is actually one of the first things that a parent is instructed to teach his child. However, even though it seems to be very clear from the Chumash that the Torah is indeed our inheritance, the Mishna in Pirkei Avos seems to say the exact opposite.“ Fix yourself in order to learn Torah because it is not your inheritance.” (Avos 2:12) How can we resolve this apparent contraction between the written and oral Torah?

The Sfas Emes answers in his commentary on Pirkei Avos that even though it’s true that the Torah is the personal heritage of every Jewish person, that doesn’t mean that it comes automatically. In order to truly “get” the Torah, we need to work for it and develop our learning. The gemara in Pesachim 49b says that Torah is not only our inheritance. We’re also “engaged” to it. The Maharsha explains that engagement is only the first step in marriage. After one becomes engaged, he still needs to bring his new wife to the Chuppa and take her into his home. Similarly, we Bnei Torah also need to understand that to become the people that we are supposed to be requires great effort on our part. We are the only ones who can make the Torah truly our own. We need to develop our relationship with the Torah and we need to make it part of ourselves. It won’t be easy, but this is the only way we can claim our rightful inheritance.

So what can enable us to develop our relationship with Torah? Rashi, in our week’s parsha, gives us insight into what knowing that the Torah is our inheritance is supposed to inspire. Rashi teaches us that every Jew should realize that the Torah is something we have to constantly hold on to and never leave. The mitzvah of learning Torah never ceases and every second that we can learn is exceedingly precious. We must remind ourselves of the incredible level of intimacy that the Torah demands from us. Bitul Torah is very serious and the Talmud Yerusalmi in Brachos 9:5 tells us that the Torah itself even responds to the insult of its neglect by saying “If you leave me for one day, I’ll leave you for two days!” If we want to improve our relationship with the Torah, we have to appreciate the essence of the relationship and understand that if we really love Torah, we’ll never let go.

Furthermore, we should be excited about learning Torah and sincerely love and enjoy everything we learn. Every day when we get up, we make a bracha before we learn, praying that Hashem should make the words of Torah “sweet in our mouth.” Rav Elyashiv would always stress that a person should constantly try to find new ways of “sweetening” his Torah. One should learn in a way that brings him the most joy because that’s the way the Torah is supposed to be. The Or HaChaim, in Parshas Ki Tavo, comments that once a person truly tastes the sweetness of Torah, he’ll leave everything else in the world for it. Once a person experiences such happiness with the Torah, he can’t help but come to a powerful love for it. The Gemara in Shabbos 88a tells of how a certain Sadducee once walked by Rava as he learned and was appalled by what he saw. Rava’s fingertips were dripping with blood due to the pressure with which he pressed down on his fingers as he learned, not even noticing the gruesome effects of his learning. The Sadducee couldn’t understand what insanity could drive a person to do such a thing, but Chazal tell us that love transcends reason and this indeed was the love of Torah that Rava had.  Although we may not necessarily be able to exert ourselves as much as Rava, we certainly should strive to cultivate the great love of Torah that so many great people before us had. We need to cherish our precious inheritance and develop our love of Torah.

There’s a certain story that sticks out in my mind which I believe is particularly suitable during this time. Once, a man came to a very well-known Rav to ask him for advice. The man had worked for most of his life and had never received a formal education in yeshiva. Now, later in life, the man expressed the desire to learn but didn’t know of anyone who would have the patience to teach him. The Rav, before giving the man advice, first broke into joyous laughter, with a giant smile on his face. “First, before we figure out how we can help you to learn,” said the Rav, “Let’s celebrate the fact that you want to learn! We should even dance about it!” To me, this is what Simchas HaTorah is really all about. Of course, we need to learn how to learn and we need to find our own place in the Torah. We need to enjoy our learning and we must develop in our understanding. However, on Simchas Torah, the main focus is not on the learning. It’s about developing the happiness we have with the Torah. We celebrate that we have yet another year of learning ahead of us. By singing and dancing about the preciousness of the Torah, we express our joy and even add upon it. On Simchas HaTorah, we can truly build upon our appreciation for the dear gift Hashem gave us and this can give us the push we need to last us throughout the rest of the year. When we dance, we should put all our energy into showing Hashem and ourselves how much we love His Torah.

May we all be zoche to grow in Torah this year and experience the incredible joy and love of learning!!!