Hello Everyone,
Here is a summary of yesterday’s shiur on the עין איה.
There is a long running debate within the Jewish tradition over what is at the top of our system of values. Is it piety or is it scholarship? It may be that this debate is unique to Judaism. I don’t know if any other religion views erudition and a mastery of texts as the path to closeness to God. But in Judaism this is certainly the case. When Joshua assumed the leadership of the Jewish people, Hashem commanded him:
יהושע פרק א
(ח) לֹא יָמוּשׁ סֵפֶר הַתּוֹרָה הַזֶּה מִפִּיךָ וְהָגִיתָ בּוֹ יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה לְמַעַן תִּשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּכָל הַכָּתוּב בּוֹ כִּי אָז תַּצְלִיחַ אֶת דְּרָכֶךָ וְאָז תַּשְׂכִּיל:
The debate over the place of Torah scholarship in the hierarchy of values acquired urgency with the rise of the Hassidic movement in the 18th century. This movement extolled the values of faith and prayer without giving primacy to scholarship.
As a response to the growth of Hasidism, Rav Haim of Volozhin wrote a small but incredibly significant book titled נפש החיים. The fourth chapter of the book is devoted to explaining the primacy of Torah scholarship within the Jewish system of values. Rav Haim laments the decline in the level of serious Torah study in his time. He says that sincere but misguided people have substituted the study of ethical literature for the study of Talmud and Halacha which are the essential material which must engage everyone’s time and attention.
Rav Haim acknowledges that the Gemarah says that Torah knowledge which is not accompanied by piety is just about worthless. However, Rav Haim teaches, that piety can be acquired by a daily, brief period of reflection preceding the study of Talmud. The study of Talmud and Halacha in itself is the greatest spiritual exercise that a Jew can engage in and it brings a person as close as possible to Hashem.
The Gemarah which Rav Haim of Volozhin quotes regarding the necessity of having piety as well as scholarship is this one:
תלמוד בבלי מסכת שבת דף לא עמוד א-עמוד ב
אמר רבה בר רב הונא כל אדם שיש בו תורה ואין בו יראת שמים דומה לגזבר שמסרו לו מפתחות הפנימיות ומפתחות החיצונות לא מסרו לו בהי עייל
מכריז רבי ינאי חבל על דלית ליה דרתא ותרעא לדרתא עביד
Rav Kook zt”l also paid attention to this suggyah but he derived a different lesson from it. Rav Haim of Volozhin felt that the spiritual experience which is the lodestone for every religious person is the study of Talmud. Closeness to God occurs when a person is immersed in the study of a text:
נפש החיים שער ד פרק ו
לזאת האמת שזו היא הדרך האמתי אשר בזה בחר הוא ית”ש. שבכל עת שיכון האדם עצמו ללמוד. ראוי לו להתיישב קודם שיתחיל. עכ”פ זמן מועט ביראת ה’ טהורה בטהרת הלב. להתודות על חטאתו מעוקמא דלבא. כדי שתהא תורתו קדושה וטהורה. ויכוין להתדבק בלימודו בו בתורה בו בהקב”ה. היינו להתדבק בכל כחותיו לדבר ה’ זו הלכה. ובזה הוא דבוק בו ית’ ממש כביכול. כי הוא ית’ ורצונו חד כמ”ש בזוהר. וכל דין והלכה מתורה הקדושה. הוא רצונו ית’ שכן גזרה רצונו שיהא כך הדין כשר או פסול טמא וטהור אסור ומותר חייב וזכאי……
Rav Kook was himself one of the most famed students of the Volozhin Yeshiva founded by Rav Haim. He was an undisputed master of the Talmudic corpus and he wrote volumes of response dealing with all areas of Jewish law. Nevertheless he did not share Rav Haim’s opinion of the religious experience that can be had by study. Rav Kook wrote in עין איה that there is a contrast between the study of texts which he described as קרים ויבשים with the yearning for an emotional experience רגש הלב המתפעל והנרעש בקול רעש גדול.[1] Rav Kook wrote that what we can learn from Rabbah bar Rav Huna’s metaphor that a religious Jew needs to deliberately cultivate two aspects of his or her personality. A person needs to cultivate his intellect because scholarship in Torah is an essential mitzvah. But the person also needs to cultivate the emotional side his personality as well. Without emotion the Torah knowledge which a person accumulates remains superficial. It will not affect the personality to change the person into someone who has been elevated by the Torah.
This is the meaning of Rabbah’s metaphor. A person who studies Torah without piety[2] is like the caretaker of a fabulous treasure who has been given the keys to the inner treasure room but has not been given the keys to the outer door. This person will never be able to use the treasure.
A person who studied Torah and perhaps even has achieved mastery of the Torah has knowledge. However the purpose of studying Torah is to become a moral person. Knowledge which is not preceded by fear of Heaven will never help a person reach that lofty goal.
This is a summary of the class. Thanks to everyone who attended. Stuart Fischman
[1] עין איה, מסכת שבת, סימן קסט
[2] Rabbah bar Rav Hunah spoke of “fear of Heaven” in his metaphor. Rav Haim of Volozhin felt that fear of Heaven can be acquired with a daily period of brief meditation. Rav Kook sees “fear of Heaven” as an all-encompassing sense of Hashem’s presence in the world and this can only be acquired by constant work.