Parshas Naso  - Torah Academy Graduation

Good Shabbos!   This past Thursday night, June 5, 2008, was the graduation exercises at Torah Academy.   I felt so proud to hear the way each of the graduates spoke with passion and conviction about fulfilling mitzvos and studying Torah.   I feel sure that with the help of Hashem, they will all go on to bring much nachas to their families, to this community, and to the People of Israel.   Allow me to briefly recount just a small taste of what they each shared with us.     

Chana Raizel spoke about the importance of learning Torah.   She explained that Torah must be a regular part of the day, like eating lunch! She asked those assembled to try to imagine how empty they would feel on a day without lunch. She said that “Torah is the same”.  The only difference is that when you miss lunch for a day, you automatically feel empty; but when you miss a day of Torah study, it takes a bit of time before you  feel the emptiness caused by the lack of studying. In addition, she shared the teaching of the Sages that Torah study should not be reduced to a secondary, casual position in our daily lives. On the contrary, Torah study should be a primary and vital part of our lives, for G-d put us on this earth to fulfill the mitzvahs, and we can’t properly fulfill the mitzvos without some studying each day.

Sheina spoke about the importance of doing mitzvos.  She told a story of a bird that approached G-d with a complaint.  The bird asked, “Why did you create me so weak unlike the tiger that has claws or the snake that has fangs? How am I supposed to protect my self?”  Hearing the birds cry, Hashem gave the bird a gift of wings. 

But soon the bird was back to complain once again.   “Hashem, why did you give me these wings?  I am no longer free to move around quickly anymore, because these wings weigh me down!”  Hashem replied, “I didn’t give you the wings to weigh you down.  I gave you the wings to help you fly and rise above all of the problems and the dangers of the world!”  

So too, she explained, the mitzvos were given to us by Hashem, not to burden us with restrictions but rather to enable us to rise above all the challenges of this world and to dedicate ourselves to Torah and Mitzvos. 

Rivka spoke about the lesson of Rabban Gamliel when he teaches “Torah study must be combined with work, for the exertion of them both makes sin forgotten”. She asked what type of work must be done alongside the study of Torah? 

She shared the lesson of the Bartenura who explains the “work” which must accompany Torah Study refers to having an occupation.  For when a man is exerting himself in both learning and working, he will not have the energy to even THINK about sin.  She quoted the Abarbanel who explains that it is not enough to just study Torah, but one must also “work” at applying these teachings of the Torah to everyday life.  She also spoke of the Baal Shem Tov who teaches that Torah Study must be accompanied by a very specific type of “work” – the work of loving other Jews.  Why is this referred to as work? Because, in order to truly fulfill the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel (loving others as yourself) you must also love those whom you have no desire to love, and that can be hard work.

The girls all spoke beautifully but I was intrigued by the question raised by Rivka.    What is the right mix of Torah and work?  Are our jobs just a tool to make money so we can better provide for our families in their pursuit of a Torah lifestyle?  Or are we more similar to gardeners placed in G-d’s world to live and work in the world so as to leave the world a better place then we found it? 

The truth is, we Jews have been debating the issue for as long as we have been a people. Moses told us “Be a nation of priests” and a “holy people”? On the other hand, we say in the Aleinu prayer that our goal is to do tikkun olom and fix the world as G-d’s kingdom.”

One one hand we have the quote that Rivka shared from Ethics of our Fathers: Beautiful is the study of Torah when it is accompanied by work. But on the other hand, we have the teaching of Rabbi Nehora’i on the last page of the Kiddushin;  “I put aside all the professions in the world, and I will teach my child only Torah”.

The two sides of the debate come to a head in the tractate of Berachos, expressed by Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai:

It is written: “And you shall harvest your grain, your wine and your oil” (Deuteronomy 11:14). Rabbi Yishmael explains:  Without this verse I would have thought that a person should ONLY learn Torah, as it says:  “This book of Torah shall not cease from your mouth” (Joshua 1:8).  But now that it says you should harvest your grain and wine and oil, this teaches us that we should also take part in the ways of the world. 

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai counters by asking: If a person plows in the plowing season, sows in the sowing season, reaps in the reaping season, and threshes in the threshing season, what shall become of the study of Torah?   It is better that the Jew do solely the will of G-d and G-d will provide that his work is done by others, at it is written (Isaiah 61:5): “And strangers will stand and graze your sheep…” ( Berachos 35a).

The Talmud concludes: “Many did like Rabbi Yishmael, and succeeded. Many did like Rabbi Shimon, and did not succeed”.

I think in a perfect world, for example once the Moshiach comes, everyone will have only G-d on their mind all the time.   We will just study Torah and G-d would ensure that everything we need is provided for us.   Rabbi Shimon was a righteous Tzadik who lived that type of life 2000 years ago, and indeed, G-d provided for all of his needs.  But it is a hard thing to keep that level of belief and perspective in the forefront of our hearts and minds all the time, especially during this period of national exile.   It may work for a few, but it is hard work to always keep on that level. 

Jews have struggled with this from our earliest days.  Our portion makes a distinction between the Levites and the rest of the Israelites.  The Levites remained “holy to G-d” and became teachers and served in the Temple, while the majority of the ancestors became farmers and merchants. 

In conclusion, it is the Rambam who clears up the issue for us. He writes that anyone who chooses to stand before G-d - to serve Him, to worship Him, to know Him and to walk justly in His ways – may be considered as Holy as the Levites and G-d will grant him his needs in this world, as He has granted to the Levites… (Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Shemittah and Jubilee Cycles, 13:13)

Each of us must strive to be closer to G-d and to feel Him strongly in all that we do.  When we do that fully and properly, G-d will provide for all of our needs in a miraculous way.   Until that point, we must combine Torah study with an occupation.  But our goal is clearly to come to the day and to the level of Rabbi Shimon when we relate to G-d in the highest of levels and He rewards us with all of what we need. 

As the girls all said - it is up to us to learn Torah, do mitzvos, be holy and work towards strengthening our relationship with   G-d, as we continue to grow and to improve always.   May these girls be a source of nachas to their families and may they continue to grow in their learning, in their midos, in their studies and in their observance of mitzvos, and let us say, Amain.