The Place of Torah Study in the Worship of God (1)

 

Thus far we have dealt with the conceptual significance of the realm of practical Halakha. In the coming lectures, we shall deal with the conceptual significance of the realm of Torah study. In this lecture, we shall examine a fundamental issue: How does the study of Torah contribute to our spiritual world?

 

THE CENTRALITY OF TORAH STUDY IN THE WORSHIP OF GOD

 

It is difficult to exaggerate the importance attached to Torah study in the Jewish world. God instructed, "You shall meditate therein day and night," and the Sages of Israel strictly adhered to this directive. Hundreds of rabbinic dicta and midrashim emphasize the centrality assigned to Torah study in our religious consciousness, and the priority given to it over other modes of religious worship. Thus, for example, Chazal declared:

 

"The Lord loves the gates of Zion [tziyon] more than all the dwellings of Ya'akov" (Tehilim 87:2) – the Lord loves the gates distinguished [metzuyanim] by Halakha more than synagogues and study halls. (Berakhot 8a)

 

In an even more explicit and daring manner, Chazal argued that Torah study is superior even to the sacrificial service:

 

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to [David]: One day of your Torah study is better to me than a thousand burnt-offerings that your son, Shlomo, will one day offer before Me on the altar. (Makkot 10a)

 

As opposed to what is generally the case in other religions, the individuals most revered in the Jewish world, those whose names are known to every child, are not pietists devoted to asceticism and mortification, nor monks over whom hovers a halo of holiness, nor pale-faced mystics. The figures most admired by traditional believing Jews are men of Halakha, those authorities who have studied and shaped the Torah. Moshe Rabbenu, the giver of the Torah; Rabbi Akiva, the greatest Tanna; Rambam, "the great eagle"; Ramban, the light of our eyes; the "Gaon," Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna – the Torah giants of Israel, who have left their mark on the world of Torah – these are the people whose names are uttered with utmost reverence by every believing Jew.

 

The Vilna Gaon, for example, was neither an inspiring preacher, nor a famous public figure. In fact, very few people had the privilege ever to have set their eyes upon him. He shut himself in his room with his worn-out talmudic texts, and there he carried out his great halakhic enterprise. The Vilna Gaon did not speak on the radio, nor appear on television. In his entire being, he was a man of Halakha, confining himself to its narrow bounds. This notwithstanding, for hundreds of thousands of Jews of his time, and for millions of Jews ever since, every word that he spoke was the Holy of Holies. His influence on Judaism – in his own generation as well as in later generations – was astounding. From his tiny room, he led the Jewish world, solely on the basis of his Torah authority.

 

The late poet and member of Ha-shomer ha-Tza'ir, Abba Kovner, related that when he was growing up in Vilna, more than a hundred years after the Gaon's death, the Gaon's image still lived on in his townsmen's consciousness as if he were looking down upon them from his gloomy room. The women who sold their wares in the marketplace, Abba Kovner added, would still mention the Gaon's name when they wished to curse their neighbors with a permanent curse that would not allow for regret and removal. The Torah sage who engaged in elitist intellectual pursuits became etched in the popular mind as the outstanding representative of the religious tradition.

 

PRACTICAL HALAKHIC DECISIONS

 

Why does Judaism attach such great significance to Torah study? Why is it so important to study and engage in the laws of the Torah? Already in antiquity, the Jewish sages disagreed about the goal of Torah study. One of the foci of the dispute is the meaning of the expression, "Torah for its own sake."[1] Chazal praise one who studies Torah for its own sake (Sanhedrin 99b, Ta'anit 7a). But what does "for its own sake" mean? What should a person be thinking when he engages in Torah study? The answer to this question, which relates to the Torah scholar's subjective motivation, may contribute to our understanding of the objective purpose and goal of Torah study.

 

Rabbi Yehuda he-Chasid explains "for its own sake" as follows:

 

When a person decides to study Torah for its own sake, what should he be thinking in his heart while he is engaged in study? Whatever I learn, I will fulfill. (Sefer Chasidim, no. 944)

 

Rabbi Yehuda he-Chasid maintains, as do many others, that when a person studies Torah, he should direct himself to achievements in the realm of halakhic decision-making and practice.

 

Rabbenu Bachya ibn Pekuda, author of "Duties of the Heart," takes this approach to the extreme when he cites "one of the sages" who admonishes a person who had raised a question about a highly unlikely case relating to divorce:

 

Once, one of the other sages came to ask him something about an obscure point in divorce law. The sage answered him as follows: I see you are asking about something it would do you no harm not to know. Do you already know all you have to know about those mitzvot that you can neither disregard nor transgress, that you are thinking up far-fetched questions which will neither advance you in your Torah study nor in your faith, nor undo faults in your personality (Rabbenu Bachya ibn Pekuda, Duties of the Heart, Introduction)

 

A person's intention to fulfill what he will learn, as espoused by Rabbi Yehuda he-Chasid, does not suffice for Rabbenu Bachya. According to Rabbenu Bachya, a person must also limit his learning to those areas that will yield practical halakhic conclusions or moral benefit. The goal of learning in the halakhic realm is simple – to know the Halakha. The Torah sages study Torah in order to know how to rule on complicated questions, and ordinary people study in order to know how to deal with the halakhic problems that they encounter every day. Clearly, such an approach will have a far-reaching effect upon the choice of material to be studied and upon the nature of the study.

 

We know that in actual practice the Torah world has never adopted Rabbenu Bachya's approach as the exclusive approach to Torah study. Many Torah scholars focused themselves on practical Halakhic rulings, but the works of authorities like Rambam and the Tosafists relate to the entire talmudic corpus, with no discrimination between those sections that apply today and those that do not. Thus, we must find another explanation for the centrality of Torah study.

 

EXPERIENTIAL COMMUNION

 

     The chassidic masters proposed an alternative approach. They suggest that the primary goal of Torah study is reaching experiential communion with God:

 

… Therefore, Torah study involves two matters: The first is adornment of the Torah – this is the revealed aspect of the Torah, called "the garments of the Torah." As they said: "These constitute the very substance of Torah," and as it is explained in the Zohar: "He forbids and he permits – this is the adornment of the Torah" (see inside). And just as a bride after she has adorned herself and donned her garments … so is intimacy and communion with the innermost aspects of the Torah which is God's Torah. You shall cling to Him with devotion, craving, and desire … Thus you will understand [what Chazal said]: "A person should always engage in the study of Torah not for its own sake" – that is with the garments of the Torah which are called the adornment of the Torah … for he will come thereby [to study Torah] for its own sake, which involves devotion, craving, and desire for the Blessed One. (Toledot Ya'akov Yosef, Shelach)

 

The main objective of Torah study is to develop those emotions that are directed to God, to adhere to Him and crave His intimacy. Study itself – "the revealed aspect of the Torah" – is perceived as a peripheral "adornment of the Torah," having the nature of "not for its own sake," and concealing the true inner goal of study. The extreme application of this approach is found in certain circles of Bretzlav Chassidim, who read the talmudic texts with great excitement, but without making any effort to try and understand their contents.

 

 

(Translated by Rav David Strauss)

 

FOOTNOTES

 

[1] Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm analyzed this topic at great length in his book, "Torah Lishmah: Torah for its Own Sake."