The Torah - An Elixir of Life or a Potion of Death
Student Summaries of Sichot of the Roshei Yeshiva
Yeshivat
Har Etzion
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Parashat
nitzavim-vayelekh
SICHA
OF HARAV AHARON LICHTENSTEIN SHLIT"A
The
Torah - An Elixir of Life or a Potion of Death
Translated by
Mark Ginsberg
"See, I set before you this day
life and good, death and evil" (Devarim 30:15). Rashi explains that good
and evil refer to good and evil actions, and that life and death here mean
reward and punishment. Seforno explains that the good and the evil are the
reward and punishment one receives in this world, whereas life and death refer
to the rewards of the world-to-come. According to the Seforno, the Torah
discusses human actions in the next verse - "For I command you this day
"
(30:16).
Contrary to these explanations,
R. Bachya ben Asher (a student of the Ramban) offers a different approach -
life, good, death, and evil all refer to the Torah itself. The Torah itself can
be life and good, yet it also can be death and evil, as it says, "Moreover, I
gave them laws that were not good and rules by which they could not live"
(Yechezkel 20:25). Death and evil do not only apply to someone who does
not learn Torah, but also refer to the individual who studies Torah in an
improper manner. The gemara (Shabbat 31a) censures someone who learns
Torah yet is lacking in yirat shamayim (fear of heaven), and it offers
three parables to characterize such a person.
A. This
case is similar to someone who instructs his servant to bring up to the attic a
measure of wheat. After the servant has completed the task, the master asks the
servant if he mixed in to the wheat a preservative so that it would not spoil,
and the servant responds that he did not. The master then tells him, "It would
have been better had you not brought the wheat up to the attic in the first
place."
B.
This person is similar to a custodian who received the keys to the inner
rooms yet was not given the keys to the outer doors and thus cannot enter the
inner rooms.
C. He is
similar to a person who built a gate to his courtyard despite the fact that he
does not have a courtyard.
There are certain discrepancies
between the different parables.
1)
The third parable
implies that the Torah is the gate to yirat shamayim, whereas the second
parable reverses the order. It seems that both approaches are correct; each
component contributes to the other.
2)
From the third parable
it emerges that Torah study without yira is a foolish act that has no
benefit. However, the first parable implies that it is more than foolish; it has
negative consequences, insofar as it is an attack upon the Torah. "It would have
been better had you not brought up the wheat in the first place," and
analogously, it would have been preferable had you not learned Torah at all. The
Torah is profaned when it is placed in a vessel not suitable for it.
The gemara in Yoma (72b) infers that the individual himself, and
not the just the Torah, is also affected by such a situation: "Woe to the Torah
scholars who learn Torah yet do not possess yirat shamayim." The gemara continues: "Why does the
Torah say, This is the Torah that Moshe placed? If one merits it, the Torah is
an elixir of life; if one does not merit it, the Torah becomes a potion of
death." The Gemara also asserts that someone who studies without yirat
shamayim inherits two gehenoms (hells). Rashi (ad loc., s.v.
tartei) explains that one gehenom is in the world-to-come, and the
second gehenom is in this world, for they toiled in Torah study and did
not enjoy the world. However, one may also explain that both gehenoms
relate to the world-to-come. An ignoramus who did not study receives one
gehenom for not studying, whereas one who studied Torah for naught, one
who struggled and toiled in Torah yet did so without yirat shamayim,
receives a double portion of gehenom - not only did he not fear God, but
the Torah that he learned is also worthless.
There are two levels of study
without yirat shamayim.
First, one may study Torah without intending to fulfill what he has
learned. Here there is a complete
disjunction between the intellectual endeavor and the action to be carried out.
The Yerushalmi (Shabbat 1:2, column 3b) describes such a person: "It
would have been better for him had his placenta overturned and he had never left
the womb."
Second, one may feel that Torah
is just another academic discipline and not an integral part of avodat
Hashem. A person who learns
Torah needs to ask himself not just how much to learn, but also why and how.
Though Chazal did indeed value study which is not for its own sake - stating
that "A person should always be involved in Torah and mitzvot, even if
not for their own sake, for this will lead him eventually to perform them for
their own sake" (Pesachim 50b) - they were referring to a person who had
some appreciation of the importance of Torah study and strove to reach the level
of "study for its own sake." However, for someone with no appreciation of the
tremendous value of talmud Torah and with no existential need for Torah
study, the Torah can be a potion of death.
Ramban, in his comments on the
Sefer Ha-mitzvot (#5), explains the commandment of "worshipping
God with all of your heart" as follows: "It is a positive commandment that all
our worship of God Almighty should be with all of our hearts, meaning with
complete and perfect intention, for His sake, and with no negative thoughts.
We should not perform the
mitzvot without intent or with doubts as to their purposefulness
" Ramban
emphasizes intent: we should not perform mitzvot for extraneous reasons,
or without understanding their importance and benefit.
Rambam (Hilkhot Lulav
8:15) emphasizes another aspect in discussion of the verses, "Because you would
not serve the Lord your God in joy and gladness over the abundance of
everything. You shall have to serve - in hunger and thirst, naked and lacking
everything
" (Devarim 28:47-48). Rashi explains that the verse means that
someone who did not worship God in times of joy and plenty will be forced to
worship when lacking everything. However, Rambam explains that the verse refers
to someone who did not worship God joyously. From here the Rambam concludes:
"The joy a person should feel in fulfilling the commandments and in loving the
God who has commanded them is a very great service; anyone who holds himself
back from this joy is worthy of punishment." Again, even one who fulfills Torah
and mitzvot may be punished if he lacks proper
intention.
It is very important, especially
during this season of repentance, that people who are fulfilling mitzvot
and learning Torah should do so with the proper feeling and intention, that they
understand the importance of fulfilling mitzvot, that they perform
mitzvot for their own sake, and that they feel the existential need for
Torah study.