In the delightful book, \u201cThe Little Prince\u201d by Antoine de Saint-Exupery there is a scene in which the Little Prince takes credit for the sunrise itself, glorying in his work in bringing about the new day.\u00a0 We find this scene charming because we recognize in the Little Prince the innocence and astonishment of childhood.\u00a0\u00a0 The delight in \u201ccausing the sun to rise\u201d is wonderful in a child but it is tiresome and troubling when adults behave similarly.<\/p>\n
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As we near the holiday of Shavuot, celebrating the crowning event in the annals of our Peoplehood, the Giving of the Torah, we cannot help but think of Torah as spiritually uplifting and inspiring.\u00a0 After all, Torah is the medium through which God communicates with mortal man.\u00a0 It stands to reason that the more Torah we learn, know and understand, the more intimate our relationship with God; the more we study, the more uplifted and inspired.<\/p>\n
And yet, Rav Chanan seems to turn this thinking on its head in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 26b), \u201cwhy is Torah referred to as toshiya? <\/em>Because it mateshes kocho shel adam <\/em>\u2013 Torah wears man out, it weakens man\u2019s strength.\u201d<\/p>\n What?\u00a0 Poll serious Torah learners and they will undoubtedly report that long sessions of learning leave them upbeat <\/em>and exhilarated.\u00a0 Hardly \u201cweakened\u201d.\u00a0 They are exuberant, not toshiya<\/em>.<\/p>\n What is Rav Chanan saying?\u00a0 His comment has been troubling scholars for decades upon decades.\u00a0 Over 90 years ago, a R\u2019 Moshe Frankel from New York took pen to paper and wrote to my grandfather, Rav Bezalel Zev Shafran z\u2019l <\/em>asking him to please<\/em> explain to him what Rav Chanan meant by his astonishing statement.\u00a0 R\u2019 Frankel could not imagine how Torah could be exhausting.\u00a0 He could not understand how the labor of learning \u2013 unlike physical labor \u2013 could be anything but pleasant and wholesome.<\/p>\n In response, my grandfather offered a novel interpretation of the comment (included in his Responsa R\u2019baz, 3rd<\/sup> volume \u2013 Siman 40).\u00a0 I present it here with the fervent prayer that his Torah continues to be passed down and learned by my children, grandchildren and beyond.<\/p>\n His response to R\u2019 Frankel begins with a citation of the Chavos Da\u2019as <\/em>on the verse in Bereishis (18:4) in which Abraham greets the three \u201cguests\u201d who came to visit soon after his bris<\/em>.\u00a0 As the visitors approached, Abraham extends every lavish courtesy to them, establishing our understanding of\u00a0Hachnasat\u00a0Orchim<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 He says to them, yukach nah meat mayim v\u2019rachatzu ragleichem \u2013 <\/em>let water be brought and wash your feet.<\/p>\n The Talmud (Bava Metzia) quotes the guests, \u201cDo you suspect that we are Arabs who worship the dust of their feet \u2013 ragleihem<\/em>?\u201d The Chavos Da\u2019as reminds us that Rambam argues that the word regel <\/em>\u00a0 used in Torah does not denote \u201cfoot\/feet\u201d but \u201ccause\u201d as in the verse where Yaakov speaks directly and honestly to Laban, telling him not to exaggerate his worth and accomplishments, because what he has is because God blessed you l\u2019ragli <\/em>\u2013 because of me.\u00a0 Here it is clear that \u201cregel<\/em>\u201d is the cause; God is saying \u201cI am the regel<\/em>\u201d, I am the cause for your abundance.<\/p>\n Similarly, the Arviim<\/em> believed that their parnasa<\/em>, their material accomplishments, came about as a result of their ragleiem <\/em>\u2013 they believed that they<\/em> were the cause for all they had and accomplished.\u00a0 Like the Little Prince, they believed that the sun rose by their smarts, toil, strength and hard work.\u00a0 But Abraham set them straight.\u00a0 He tells them to \u201cwash your ragleichem<\/em>\u201d.\u00a0 He tells them to cleanse themselves of the foolishness of bowing down and worshipping the dust of your own doings!\u00a0 Never think, even for a moment, that all you have is a result of your doing!\u00a0 For the one who fails to recognize that all s\/he has emanates from the First Cause has toiled for naught.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n My grandfather teaches that now we can well understand Rav Chanan.\u00a0 Whether through the innocence of youth or the arrogance of age, most who experience success claim responsibility for that success.\u00a0 Without shame they declare, \u201ckochi v\u2019otzem yadi asah li et kol ha\u2019chayil ha\u2019zeh \u2013 <\/em>It\u2019s my doing; my strength and prowess has allowed me to accumulate all of this wealth\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all me!\u201d\u00a0 So they believe, never giving a thought that were it not for the will of God their toil and effort would be in vain.\u00a0 They remain blind to the truth that success and failure, like the rising and falling of the sun, is a turning wheel.\u00a0 One invariably follows the other.<\/p>\n But the one endowed with the wisdom of Torah, the spirit of God and yiras shomayim<\/em>, the one who knows that it is God who grants him the koach la\u2019asos chayil<\/em>, the strength to succeed, he is the one rooted in truth.\u00a0 It is this<\/em> man who readily admits and proclaims that Torah is toshiya<\/em>.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because it mateshes <\/em>his strength.\u00a0 He knows it is not Torah learning that saps his strength or beats him down.\u00a0 Rather, as we learn from Abraham\u2019s lesson to his guests, Torah teaches us not to attribute our success to our own strength.\u00a0 Therefore, the Torah\u2019s outlook about parnasa<\/em> detracts from\/is mateshes<\/em> one\u2019s strength, meaning one\u2019s belief that his strength is the cause for his success.<\/p>\n Yes, Torah beats down on me (mateshes<\/em>).\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 So that I do not attribute my success to my own doing.\u00a0 To the student of Torah, \u201ckoach<\/em>\u201d does not mean strength (kochi v\u2019otzem yadi<\/em> – my strength) but to one\u2019s sense of self.\u00a0 A student immersed in Torah will ultimately come to the realization that his entire existence and being depends solely on God.<\/p>\n As my grandfather concludes, \u201cthe holy ones among Israel believe in the First Cause, the Master Lord God,\u00a0blessed be His name\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The innocent and arrogant believe in themselves.\u00a0 The wise and the holy believe in God.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n My grandfather’s own words in the PDF below:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the delightful book, \u201cThe Little Prince\u201d by Antoine de Saint-Exupery there is a scene in which the Little Prince takes credit for the sunrise itself, glorying in his work in bringing about the new day.\u00a0 We find this scene charming because we recognize in the Little Prince the innocence and astonishment of childhood.\u00a0\u00a0 The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":39432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[357],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shavuot"],"yoast_head":"\n