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Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1 - 4:20)
By Shlomo Riskin
Efrat, Israel-Bamidbar, the Hebrew name for the fourth of the five books of the Bible,
literally means desert, but it is built around the smaller root word Davar, which means
object or word; indeed, the ten commandments - which were given in the desert
(midbar) at the Revelation at Sinai - are called aseret hadevarim, or the ten words,
perhaps because these are the words which can transform a desert no-man's land
into a habitable community of people. And the festival of Shavuot, which takes place
this year immediately after the Sabbath of Bamidbar, is our holiday of the Giving of the
Torah, or the words of G-d, divrei HaShem .(And the fifth of the five books is
Devarim, or the words of the Divine).
The study of the words of our Torah is a positive Biblical Commandment, emanating
from the verse "This book of Torah shall never leave your mouth; you shall meditate
therein by day and by night" (Joshua 1) as well as " you shall teach (these Divine
words, devarim) diligently to your children" (Deuteronomy 6:7). But what is the nature
of the Commandment? Is the Jewish Ideal that we study all day and all night -
spending our lives in a perennial Kollel of Torah study if it is at all possible for us to do
so - or are we to combine Torah study with professional pursuits and/or other
activities? To what end are we to study Torah?
There is a fascinating incident in the Talmud (B.T. Betzah 15b) which, upon further
analysis, will supply the answer to our questions.
"It has been taught by our Sages that R. Eliezer once taught and expounded the
laws of the Festival for the entire day of a Festival. (One by one of the various groups
of students began to leave, group by group). R. Eliezer looked with scorn at those
who left... since they were forsaking the eternal world in exchange for the temporal
world (of eating with their families). But rejoicing on the Festival is a Divine command
(so why criticize them for leaving study in order to rejoice)?
R. Eliezer is true to his position that rejoicing on the Festival is merely a
voluntary act and not an obligatory one, as it has been taught:
R. Eliezer says, an individual on the Festival may either eat and drink all day
or sit and study all day whereas, R. Joshua says: Divide the Festival Day, half for G-d
and half for you .
R. Yohanan explains that each of the disputants bases his position on (the same
two) Biblical verses. One verse teaches that 'The festival (Atzeret) is for the Lord
your G-d' while another verse teaches that 'The Festival (Atzeret) is for you' R. Eliezer
interprets them to mean 'either, or,' either wholly to G-d (in study)or wholly to people
(in eating and drinking with family and friends), whereas R. Joshua interprets them to
mean that each festival day must be divided in half, with part of the day for G-d (in
study and prayer) and part of the day for people (in the joy of family meals)."
On this Talmudic discussion there is a fascinating exchange between two leading
Hasidic leaders of the nineteenth century, the Kotzker Rebbe and the Voorker Rebbe
(and here, for the first time, I believe that the Voorker bests the Kotzker), each of
whom understanding that the normative practice accords with R. Joshua. The Kotzker Rebbe, after spending the first half of the Festival in prayer and study, would
then loudly proclaim, "I have just concluded the half of the day which was given over
to me, to human rejoicing. I shall now go to the meal, which is the portion for G-d."
Apparently for him - seeing as the Kotzker Rebbe was a great Torah scholar - the
deepest rejoicing emanated from Torah study and prayer.
The Voorker Rebbe, on the other hand, taught that yes, we divide the Festival day in
half, - half for G-d (Torah) and half for human beings (rejoicing at the family meal), -
but that we divide the day in accordance with its width and not in accordance with its
length. What did he mean?
I believe he was basing himself upon a fascinating postscript to the difference of
opinion between R. Eliezer and R. Joshua in the tractate Pesahim(68):
"R. Eliezar says, Everyone agrees that on Shavuot the Festival is to be
celebrated half for G-d and half for us human beings. What is the reason? Shavuot is
the day on which the Torah was given).
What could R. Eliezar possibly mean? I should think that if there is any time when the
entire day should be spent in Torah study it ought be on Shavuot, when the Torah
was given. Yet the other Festivals be divided in half, but Shavuot should be given over
exclusively to G-d and His words!?
However, there is a charming midrash which teaches that when Moses arrived in
heaven to receive the Torah, the angels began to complain. They wanted the Torah
to remain in heaven, with them. Moses argued that the Torah belonged on earth with
people. After all , the Torah prescribes laws of husband-wife, parent-child
relationships, and the angels have no families; Torah laws deal with food, warfare,
fields and produce, areas which are entirely foreign to the lives of angels. And Moses
won the day!
The Voorker Rebbe understood that the Torah is not an ethereal, heavenly, mystical
document, divorced from human life and worldly affairs. Much the opposite, the Torah
is a Torah of life, a method of perfecting our world and making our daily lives more
satisfying, enriching and joyous. Torah is a prescription for life, not a substitute for
life. We dare not escape the world in our pursuit of Torah; we must rather pursue the
Torah in order to sanctify and ennoble the very world in which we live.
Hence the Voorker Rebbe taught that we must learn from Shavuot to divide each
festival day, and even every single day of our lives, in half: part for G-d and Torah, part
for us and the world. But the division is width-wise, not length-wise. Our meals, our
family gatherings, our professional activities must all be uplifted and inspired by the
Torah infrastructure by which they must be informed; and our Torah study must be
directed towards teaching us how to live a better life, how to perfect our present
society and world. Torah and world must be involved in constant interplay so that the
one is never divorced from the other.
Hence our Sages teach that "Torah is greater than action because the study of Torah
must lead to inspired action"(B.T. Kiddushim 36a), and that (Mishna Avot) "It is truly
good to combine Torah with professional pursuit" - in the width and the depth of how
you make your living and how you spend the hours of your life and not nearly in the
length of the hourly division of your day.
Shabbat Shalom and Hag Matan Torah Sameah!
Shlomo Riskin
Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone
Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel
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