Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism

The next of the 48 ways to Acquire Torah is the knowledge of Scripture and Mishna. The commentaries tell us that one should be an expert in Scripture and Mishna since they are the foundations of Torah. The Mishna is what the foundation of the Talmud is which makes up what we learn and why we do the fundamental things in Judaism.

The Jewish people have survived this long exile because they have have kept to the laws of the Torah and have learned it. Unfortunately, we have seen the other side which is lack of knowledge of the Torah. This has resulted in assimilation and intermarriage.

The more the Jews know about their heritage, the more they are likely to perpetuate their priceless heritage to future generations. If we don't, then that lack of knowledge leads us to assimilation and intermarriage.

There is an example of this a number of a years ago an Arab terrorist was in jail and he saw his Jewish jailer eating pita during Passover. The arab terrorist said to the jailer, "Doesn't it say in your Torah, that you are not allowed to eat any leavened product during the holiday of Passover." The jailer responded, "that was thousands of years ago, it doesn't apply today, we today living in the land of Israel are the new Jewish people. We don't have to keep those old laws."

The arab terrorist replied that a people that has no connection to its history, will eventually relinquish the land that they hold right now. This gave him more of an impetus to keep up the intifada since eventually the Israeli's will give up the land because they don't have such a connection to it.

As we continue to count Sefira and make our way towards Shavuos, we shouldn't forget the importance of learning Torah but we should live it as well!