Thursday, September 4, 2014
Ethics of our Fathers: Chapter 3 Mishna 21: Without a proper understanding of Torah we lack everything!
9:46 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said, 'When there is no Torah there is no proper conduct, when there is no proper conduct there is no Torah. When there is no wisdom there is no reverence; when there is no reverence there is no wisdom. When there is no knowledge there is no understanding; when there is no understanding there is no knowledge.When there is no bread there is no Torah; when there is no Torah there is no bread."
The first part of the Mishna explains that one must learn Torah to perfect one's character traits. The reason is because the Torah speaks at great length about character traits one must emulate to reach their spiritual potential.
The book of Genesis tells story after story about our forefathers and the great character traits they possessed. The Torah throughout the book of Numbers explains some of the failures of the Jewish people to inject in the future generations the importance of adherence to G-d's laws!
If we don't work on our character development, how can we learn Torah? This means that these two things go hand in hand. IF we see a Torah observant Jew steal or do other things that are in direct violation of the Torah, what does that say about his Torah learning?
We could say that a person is human and makes mistakes and will grow from them. That is true but at the same time, we see that his learning is not up to par and that individual does not actualize what the Torah wants from him!
The next part of the Mishna explains that without wisdom there is no reverence and vice-versa. When one learns and acquires wisdom, we realize how much we don't know which should humble us. The more we learn, the more we see how small we really are in the context of the world at large.
At the same time, if one has wisdom but does not incorporate reverence with that, an individual is then doing mental gymnastics. This means that the learning really has no relevance to their lives and they don't put it into action.
Learning is about doing and embellishing it. It is not like another academic subject, it is our life! Our goal is to incorporate these ideas in our lives and pass our priceless heritage onto our children.
The next part of the Mishna explains how much we have to concentrate on our learning to be able to understand it. We cannot just give a superficial overview of what the Torah tells us but we have to try and understand its depths to the best of our ability.
If we don't, then our learning will only become confusing and won't have the impact that it should. This is why it is important to have good teachers that can explain these things to us so we can explore the intricacies of Torah!
The last part of the Mishna tells us that when there is no bread there is no Torah and without Torah there is no bread. If we don't have money or a livelihood, how can we learn Torah? We have to make our best effort to put food on the table.
At the same time, we have to realize that even if we have ample livelihood, what is it worth without Torah? Torah is the essence of our lives; livelihood is just a means to be able to survive in this world but it is not the essence of who we are. We often forget this!
The first part of the Mishna explains that one must learn Torah to perfect one's character traits. The reason is because the Torah speaks at great length about character traits one must emulate to reach their spiritual potential.
The book of Genesis tells story after story about our forefathers and the great character traits they possessed. The Torah throughout the book of Numbers explains some of the failures of the Jewish people to inject in the future generations the importance of adherence to G-d's laws!
If we don't work on our character development, how can we learn Torah? This means that these two things go hand in hand. IF we see a Torah observant Jew steal or do other things that are in direct violation of the Torah, what does that say about his Torah learning?
We could say that a person is human and makes mistakes and will grow from them. That is true but at the same time, we see that his learning is not up to par and that individual does not actualize what the Torah wants from him!
The next part of the Mishna explains that without wisdom there is no reverence and vice-versa. When one learns and acquires wisdom, we realize how much we don't know which should humble us. The more we learn, the more we see how small we really are in the context of the world at large.
At the same time, if one has wisdom but does not incorporate reverence with that, an individual is then doing mental gymnastics. This means that the learning really has no relevance to their lives and they don't put it into action.
Learning is about doing and embellishing it. It is not like another academic subject, it is our life! Our goal is to incorporate these ideas in our lives and pass our priceless heritage onto our children.
The next part of the Mishna explains how much we have to concentrate on our learning to be able to understand it. We cannot just give a superficial overview of what the Torah tells us but we have to try and understand its depths to the best of our ability.
If we don't, then our learning will only become confusing and won't have the impact that it should. This is why it is important to have good teachers that can explain these things to us so we can explore the intricacies of Torah!
The last part of the Mishna tells us that when there is no bread there is no Torah and without Torah there is no bread. If we don't have money or a livelihood, how can we learn Torah? We have to make our best effort to put food on the table.
At the same time, we have to realize that even if we have ample livelihood, what is it worth without Torah? Torah is the essence of our lives; livelihood is just a means to be able to survive in this world but it is not the essence of who we are. We often forget this!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment