פרשת משפטים
This week’s Parsha begins with the verse, “And these are the statutes which you should put in front of the Jewish people”. Rashi quotes the Midrash which explains what it means to “put the laws in front of them”. The Midrash explains: lest one think that it would be enough to merely teach it to them two or three times and rely on them to “get” the rest of it through their intuitive abilities, Hashem commanded Moshe to “Put the laws in front of the Jewish people” – i.e. to lay it out for them clearly like a set table so that it is apparent what the Torah is saying.
I believe this Midrash requires explanation. What would Moshe have done had he not been commanded by God to make the laws clear? Would he have been purposely ambiguous or diabolical? The Gemora in Nedarim (38) extols Moshe’s unique ability to explain things very clearly. Furthermore, we know how far Moshe went to help each and every Jew in every way that he could. In fact, his excellence in this trait was the reason he was chosen to lead the Jewish people. Why then did Hashem have to command Moshe on this point if Moshe most probably would have done it on his own?
I found that R’ Chaim Kamil zt”l, the famous Rosh Yeshiva of Ofakim points out this difficulty and offers a truly novel solution. He says that it is well known that Torah can only be acquired if one is willing to toil diligently for it and without this integral factor, Torah cannot be acquired. We have many sources in Chazal to back this point up. This being said, we can now offer a possibility to answer our difficulty. Moshe Rabenu perhaps would have thought to himself that since it is imperative for the Jews to work hard in order to understand the Torah, perhaps he should only lay out the bare essentials of the Torah, and make the Jews work for the rest. Therefore Hashem had to expressly command him otherwise.
One might query further, however, why was Moshe wrong? If indeed the only way to acquire Torah is through industrious labor, then Moshe’s “spoon feeding” them would in fact be detrimental to their ability to understand the Torah and they would not be successful! Why then did Hashem command him to do something which would ultimately hinder their ability to accomplish their goal of learning the whole Torah?
R’ Chaim answers this question as well by explaining that even with the most elaborate explanations of every concept of the Torah, there would still be what to talk about and toil in for a life-time. This is true because the Torah is infinite and by definition, can never “run out” of ideas. Anybody who has every learned Torah even for a short while, realizes the truth of this principle. There is no end to the depth that one can pursue on each topic of Torah because it consists of endless layers of understanding.
R’ Chaim explained another fascinating point. Moshe did not merely give over to us the dry laws and expect us to memorize them. Rather he gave us all the laws and all the reasons behind the laws so that we could toil in Torah and be able, and in fact required, to regenerate the Torah in every generation. There is a tremendous benefit to the Torah being given over in this fashion. Had the Torah been given merely as a set of rules, many of them would have been misconstrued and or distorted over the many years of exile and many errors would have certainly arisen. But this way, anybody who toils in Torah properly can reach the same conclusions that Moshe Rabenu himself did by simply applying the laws and principles that Moshe taught us to do.
When one examines the references made to the Mitzvah of learning Torah, one sees clearly that the entire gist of the Mitzvah was meant to be done continuously and diligently. For example, in the Shema, we say “And you shall constantly review it with your children, and you shall speak it over in your home, on the road, and before you go to sleep at night”. Or the verse in Psalms says, “And you shall toil in it day and night”. In Parshas Bechukosai, we see that all the calamities and curses that befall the Jews are specifically because we are lax in this commandment, and of course, when we are performing it properly, there is no end to the amount of blessing that God pours forth on us.
The Slonimer Rebbe used to explain beautifully that the Jewish peoples’ relationship with the Torah is similar to that of a bride to his groom. The verse says “מורשה קהילות יעקב” – and the Midrash says, don’t read it “מורשה” – which means inheritance, but rather “מאורסה” – which means betrothed. The Jews are wed and intimately connected to the Torah. And the Rebbe added, the same way one’s wife would not be too happy if one day he was her husband, and the next day somebody else’s husband, similarly one must treat his relationship with the Torah – to be consistent and constant in his toil and diligence, never missing a day and always being dedicated faithfully to his holy bride.
The Sabba from Kelm used to quote the famous Gemora in Megillah (3) which says that an angel appeared to Yehoshua while he was fighting the seven nations with a sword in his hand and threatened to kill Yehoshua. The angel explained that although the Jews had forgotten to offer the afternoon sacrifice the previous day, that was not why he was coming. Rather he was coming because the Jews hadn’t been learning a sufficient amount of Torah during the war. The Sabba pointed out that during a war, it is quite difficult to learn and furthermore, the angel implied that they were learning, just not enough. Rashi explains that granted during the day, it would have been impossible to learn, but they could have learned at night. And even though they did learn, they were expected to learn more seriously and professionally, even though they were in the middle of a war. From here we see how seriously Hashem expects us to take the Mitzvah of learning Torah and toiling in the Torah with all of our might.
I would just like to conclude with the powerful words of R’ Dov Shteinhotz, the famous Mashgiach of Kol Torah. R’ Dov used to quote the famous Gemorah which says that God held the mountain of Sinai over the Jewish people like a barrel and said that if they don’t accept the Torah, they will be buried alive. Tosafos ask, why was this necessary, hadn’t they already said “נעשה ונשמע” ? R’ Dov offered an answer that although the Jews did say that they were willing to accept the Torah, perhaps it was only because they were very excited based on all the miracles they had seen, but there would be times in their lives, and indeed times throughout history when the Jews might regret that decision and not feel as much “desire” and excitement for the Torah. It was specifically for these times that Hashem needed to “threaten” and “force” the Jewish people to learn the Torah. Why? Why would Hashem force something on us that we don’t want? The answer, says R’ Dov, is that Hashem knows that once he forces us, and we begin to do it, we will see how sweet it is and will certainly not regret it. It is only the Yetzer Hara at the time that is trying to convince us that the Torah is bitter, but if Hashem forces us, or better yet, if we force ourselves to learn even during these difficult times, we will certainly see how sweet the Torah is and continue doing it with great desire and gusto.
May Hashem help us to learn the Torah with great joy and excitement all of our days!