Thursday, June 25, 2015
Parshas Chukas: Killing yourself for Torah
10:43 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"This is the teaching regarding a man who would die in a tent; anything that enters the tent and anything that is in the tent shall be contaminated for seven days" (Numbers 19:14).
Rav Moshe Sternbuch Shit'a in Ta'am V'Da'as explains that the rabbis teach us that the Torah will not have continuity unless people are willing to sacrifice themselves to keep it. The Torah here is very specific when it uses the word tent to teach us that this world is a temporary one just like a tent is a temporary structure.
This world is like a corridor to the world to come; we toil in this world to reap the benefits of the next one. Therefore one should contain all his days in this world in the study of Torah and perfection of character traits. Why is this the model for Torah continuity?
The Torah is called eitz chaim (a tree of life) to those that grasp it. We see this verse every time we return the Torah to the ark. The language is a causative one which tells us that the Torah is the one that strengthens us, not the other way around.
The more we are involved in learning Torah and implementing its timely message the more it become part of us as we give these ideas over to our children. If we live like we should then the message gets through which will be the most important way that Torah will continue in the next generation.
The Jewish people without the Torah is like a body without a soul, it can't survive. This is why it is so important to keep the mitzvos so that it will last forever. We have unfortunately seen over the generations that a people that is not connected to its history will not continue. This has resulted in high intermarriage rates and assimilation.
The result has been millions of people that know nothing about Judaism! The question though is why do I have to kill myself over it; can't I just learn a little bit here or there, won't that be enough?
No. The reason is because if you do something half-baked, that is how it remains.
We have to put our full effort learning, reviewing the laws of the Torah otherwise it gets forgotten and then people forget why they are keeping it in the first place! We say every day in the morning prayers that G-d renews creation every day.
This means that if He wouldn't then the world goes back to the original chaos which everyone would agree is bad. The world's existence depends on the fact that the Jewish people accepted the Torah and wanted to keep it.
This is a tremendous responsibility. If we do what we are supposed to do by keeping G-d's law then everything is good and the world will be where it is supposed to be. It takes hard work and dedication. It's worth it right?
No one ever said keeping the Torah is easy,. but it is life and gives us life! May we merit to learn it properly and make our father in heaven proud!
Shabbat Shalom
Rav Moshe Sternbuch Shit'a in Ta'am V'Da'as explains that the rabbis teach us that the Torah will not have continuity unless people are willing to sacrifice themselves to keep it. The Torah here is very specific when it uses the word tent to teach us that this world is a temporary one just like a tent is a temporary structure.
This world is like a corridor to the world to come; we toil in this world to reap the benefits of the next one. Therefore one should contain all his days in this world in the study of Torah and perfection of character traits. Why is this the model for Torah continuity?
The Torah is called eitz chaim (a tree of life) to those that grasp it. We see this verse every time we return the Torah to the ark. The language is a causative one which tells us that the Torah is the one that strengthens us, not the other way around.
The more we are involved in learning Torah and implementing its timely message the more it become part of us as we give these ideas over to our children. If we live like we should then the message gets through which will be the most important way that Torah will continue in the next generation.
The Jewish people without the Torah is like a body without a soul, it can't survive. This is why it is so important to keep the mitzvos so that it will last forever. We have unfortunately seen over the generations that a people that is not connected to its history will not continue. This has resulted in high intermarriage rates and assimilation.
The result has been millions of people that know nothing about Judaism! The question though is why do I have to kill myself over it; can't I just learn a little bit here or there, won't that be enough?
No. The reason is because if you do something half-baked, that is how it remains.
We have to put our full effort learning, reviewing the laws of the Torah otherwise it gets forgotten and then people forget why they are keeping it in the first place! We say every day in the morning prayers that G-d renews creation every day.
This means that if He wouldn't then the world goes back to the original chaos which everyone would agree is bad. The world's existence depends on the fact that the Jewish people accepted the Torah and wanted to keep it.
This is a tremendous responsibility. If we do what we are supposed to do by keeping G-d's law then everything is good and the world will be where it is supposed to be. It takes hard work and dedication. It's worth it right?
No one ever said keeping the Torah is easy,. but it is life and gives us life! May we merit to learn it properly and make our father in heaven proud!
Shabbat Shalom
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