Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism

"He used to say, 'You are not called upon to complete the work (of Torah study), yet you are not free to evade it; if you have studied much Torah, much reward will be given you - your Employer can be trusted to pay you for your work; and know that the grant of reward to the righteous will be in the world to come"

Torah is as vast as the sea; we don't really plunge its depths as needed. Nonetheless, we are not free to evade it. How is a person supposed to learn it all? What if they are not given the capacity to finish it; is it a waste of time to try?

Rabbenu Yona explains that a person should never lose hope that they cannot finish learning all of the Torah since we get the mitzvah for learning it. Not only that but learning Torah helps transform and change us by inculcating its timely messages. After all, are we not doing what G-d wants us to do?

We cannot shirk our responsibility and say that I will learn a little here or there; we have to use our strength to the maximum and learn whenever we have free time! A person shouldn't say that they will learn when they are free but rather make fixed times for learning since we may not have that "free" time available to us!

We learn Torah not because we are forced to or because of the reward we will receive. We learn because we believe it is the word of G-d and that it will change us and make us great people. Even though we understand that we will receive reward for the Torah we learn, that is not the ultimate goal.

The goal is to internalize the message the Torah gives us. The more we learn, the more we realize the chesed that G-d does for us which will increase our love and fear of Him. This will teach us that even though there is no reward for keeping the Torah in this world, we will receive it in the next world.

How do we know this? The reason is because G-d could not have created man just for the sake of this world. There is tremendous hatred in this world, wars, sickness, people dying young...The world looks totally haphazard in the way it is being run. We know that the world has order just from the way it was created and G-d continues to run it and keep it going.

The problem is that we don't always understand the messages that G-d sends us. This is precisely why this cannot be the only world G-d created. Unfortunately many of us live in this world like it is ultimate and there is nothing else afterwards. This leaves us empty and with the mentality that I should eat, drink and be merry lest tomorrow I die.

G-d has a purpose for mankind and the world. The Torah keeps the world functioning and thriving. If we shirk our responsibility though, then we undermine what G-d wants from us and potentially bring disaster upon us.

May we utilize our time wisely making fixed times for learning and internalizing the Torah's message.