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Rabbi Elazar ben (son of) Azariah said: If there
is no Torah [study] there is no proper conduct; if there is no proper
conduct there is no Torah [study]. If there is no wisdom there is no fear
of G-d; if there is no fear of G-d there is no wisdom. If there is no
knowledge there is no understanding; if there is no understanding there is
no knowledge. If there is no flour (sustenance) there is no Torah; if there
is no Torah there is no flour.
Last week we
discussed our mishna’s first statement — “If there is no Torah [study]
there is no proper conduct.” As we explained, a person who is guided by his
conscience alone will invariably fall short of the eternal, unbending
principles of morality set forth in the Torah. Our consciences will roughly
point us in the proper direction — they are G-d-given and they do hear the
echoes of our eternal souls, yet even in the best case they will fail to
provide us with much of the details outlined in the Torah for proper
behavior. Further, the human conscience is as prone to error as human
beings themselves. It can easily be duped by transient, fashionable or
plain wrong concepts of morality and fair play — which as we know all too
well, can at times be diametrically opposed to the real thing.
At the same time, our
mishna tells us that without proper conduct one will not accomplish in
Torah study. The commentator Rabbeinu Yonah explains that the words of the
Torah will simply not dwell with a person who is not worthy of its
teachings, who lacks the basic proper behavior of the student of Torah. R.
Samson Raphael Hirsch explains further that if one seems uninterested in
applying the Torah’s concepts to his life, much of the Torah’s beauty and
relevance will be lost upon him. He will not study in order to internalize,
to apply to himself and to life situations. Much of what the Torah has to
say will to him be abstract and empty knowledge.
“If there is no
wisdom there is no fear of G-d; if there is no fear of G-d there is no
wisdom:” Without wisdom, without a serious understanding of G-d and His
relationship with the world, one cannot meaningfully fear G-d. Such a
person might be “afraid” of G-d — knowing He is bigger and stronger than he
and will punish him for his sins. But he will lack the mature understanding
of the concept of an infinite, all-powerful G-d. As we know (and discussed
recently), G-d does not attempt to rule though fear and intimidation. We
have to be mature enough to recognize G-d ourselves, and to stand in awe of
Him rather than in abject and senseless terror.
The truth is, human
nature is ordinarily to be far more fearful of the unknown — death, the
afterlife, spirits, things that go bump in the night — than that which we
know about. We feel much more composed and able to deal with matters when
we know what a danger is — even if an angry Doberman Pinscher — than to
have that eerie sense that some unknown danger is lurking.
When it comes to
knowledge of G-d, however, the precise opposite is the case. If we know G-d
exists but relegate Him to the realm of the unknown, He will become a
vague, undefined concept. We will live life in the physical world alone,
perfectly content to ignore the existence of the many spiritual layers of
creation just beyond us. Ignorance is bliss. If we know something is
watching us but don’t know who or what, we are afraid. If, however, we can
look around and convince ourselves there is nothing watching us at all
(even if subconsciously we know life is not really that simple), we are
quite at ease.
The Talmud relates
that R. Yochanan ben Zakkai, on his deathbed, wished his students that they
would fear G-d as much as they fear man. His students asked: “Only that
much?” He answered: “If only! Know that when a person sins he looks around
and says ‘I hope nobody is watching.'” (Brachos 28b).
The Chovos HaLevavos
(Sha’ar HaBechina 5; this is a classic ethical work which some attribute to
R. Bachya ibn Pakuda of 11th century Spain) writes that it is one of the
wonders of creation that man has an instinctive sense of shame before his
fellow but has no such shame before his Creator. Even though we might
believe with perfect faith that G-d is watching us at all times, we do not
have a sense
of His presence. He is far less present to us (except the most righteous
among us) than one of His puny creations who happens to be passing by.
R. Elazar of our mishna
therefore tells us that in order to truly and properly fear G-d we must be
proactive. We must have the wisdom to conceptualize our understanding of
Him. We must study and internalize the concept of G-d and His relationship
with the world. We will certainly never really understand G-d or His ways,
but we cannot simply consign Him to the realm of the unknown and
unknowable, lest He slip out of our consciousness altogether.
At the same time,
continues our mishna, without fear there is no wisdom. We explained in Mishna 11
that if we do not feel a sense of urgency in our studies — that we are
anxious to understand and follow G-d’s Torah and are literally scared of
falling short, what we learn will lose its significance and will never
stick. Torah study requires a great deal of self-motivation. If we see it
as an interesting excursion, it will never become a part of us and never
have the impact it must.
(It’s kind of
reminiscent of taking off work time to attend an optional training course.
If we’re not too tired, we might actually listen. But no tests? Optional
homework? Forget it! Imagine if school would have been like that! Where
would we all be today?)
We now arrive at the
final few statements of our mishna. In the interests of brevity, I’ll deal
with each of them quickly.
“If there is no
knowledge there is no understanding; if there is no understanding there is
no knowledge:” The terms used in our mishna are “da’as” which we translated
as knowledge, and “binah” or understanding. (As Eskimo language has umpteen
words for snow, Hebrew has a large collection of words for the many
different shades of wisdom. (We have a lot good food words too, but they’re
mostly Yiddish.)) 😉 The commentators offer
different explanations for these two terms. Maimonides understands da’as to
mean knowledge which one has acquired, often from other sources. Binah is
the result of one’s own reasoning, typically by further defining concepts
or cases, or by comparing and contrasting them to other cases. The meaning
is thus that without understanding the basic facts, one cannot possibly
discern subtleties of definition and analysis. However, only after defining
and contrasting do we truly understand the cases themselves.
“If there is no flour
(sustenance) there is no Torah; if there is no Torah there is no flour:” In
Chapter 2
Mishna 2 we discussed the importance — from a religious standpoint — of
earning a livelihood and of being self-sufficient. Without sustenance, one
will have neither the financial means nor the emotional security to pursue
religious endeavors. Such a person may not be spending the many hours most
of us do commuting and working at the office, but without a means of
support and the emotional well-being (as well as the self-confidence) it
fosters, such a person may learn less — in quality if not quantity — than
his hard-working counterparts.
At the same time,
without Torah there is no livelihood, meaning, according to the
commentators, one’s livelihood serves no purpose. If one works, but it is
primarily for the sake of Torah — to allow him to live his life
religiously, to raise a family founded upon Jewish principles, and not
least to give the appropriate amounts to charitable causes — his very
working will become an act of Divine service. It is a fulfillment of G-d’s
wishes. If, however, one works basically for himself, it is fundamentally a
mundane activity. In order to sanctify the mundane, to transform secular
acts into spiritual ones, we must live every aspect of our lives for the
Torah and for G-d.
Text Copyright © 2004
by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld and Torah.org.
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