"For this thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in
your heart to do it."
The Torah emphasizes that keeping the Torah is something very
easy. The prophet Yeshaya also says, "But you have not called
upon Me, Yaakov, but you have been weary of Me, Yisroel"
(43:21). He is stressing here the simplicity in observing the
commandments of the Torah.
One cannot help asking: We find in Sanhedrin 63 that
Chazal say: Said R' Elozor: every person was born to toil. But
I still don't know if this toil refers to Torah or to speech.
But when it says, `This Torah scroll shall not budge from your
mouth,' I must conclude that toil refers to toil in Torah. In
other words, the very act of toil is a necessary condition for
man and for this purpose was he created. Furthermore, Chazal
say in Avoda Zora (5): Tono Devei Eliyohu: a person
should always make himself like an ox for the yoke and a
donkey for the burden.
This seems to be contradictory. On the one hand, it appears
that Torah observance is an elementary thing, very simple,
requiring little effort. On the other hand, it does seem to
demand a great deal of toil and trouble.
Here, then, did Chazal reveal the secret and essence of toil.
Is it really true that there exists a necessary obligation to
toil over Torah like an ox under a yoke and a donkey under a
burden? Nothing in the world is acquired without investing
toil. Man was created for toil. But the Torah's demand is that
this toil be steeped with the recognition that it is our life
and the length of our days, that it be accompanied with love
and adherence, to the point that a person will not even feel
the pressure of his toil. He will revel in it.
A man who is eating and drinking, a physically necessary
process, will not complain about the effort, for it is vital
to him and even pleasurable. He does not consider it
bothersome. The same should apply to Torah. And this is what
the Torah is trying to tell us further on in this portion, "To
love Hashem your G-d, to listen to His voice and to cleave to
Him for He is your life and the length of your days."
A healthy person does not feel he is exerting effort in the
process of eating. Rather, he actually enjoys it. If eating is
difficult for a person, it is a sure sign that he is not well!
Says the Torah: this commandment which I am commanding you
today . . . it is near to you . . . in your mouth and in
your heart to do it. Despite the effort required from you to
invest in it. Why? Because it is your life and the length of
your days. The toil of life does not rest heavy upon a person.
On the contrary, it is pleasurable!
The Yerushalmi tells us something wonderful
(Shabbos 16:8). R' Yochonon lived for eighteen years in
a place called Arav. Throughout this period, no one came to
ask him halachic questions, except for twice. Said R'
Yochonon: `Galil [this region], you must hate the Torah and
therefore, your end will be to be preoccupied with thieves.'
The impression is that he cursed them out of anger, but this
is not so. R' Yochanan only stated a fact: a place that is
devoid of Torah and lacks an absorbing interest in Torah will
naturally produce the sour fruit of robbers, thieves and
highwaymen.
We may imagine that study and toil are spiritual attributes
but Chazal seemed to think otherwise. Negative phenomena in
public life, juvenile delinquency, crime are not only isolated
events that require improvement. These are symptoms of the
void that is within, because of the lack of Torah that should
be "your life and the length of your days." For toil in Torah
through sincere devotion, steady and unwavering, produces a
change within a person's soul. "The hunger of a laborer labors
for him" (Mishlei 16:26). The soul of a person, itself,
creates the flame of holy fire that affects his thoughts and
outlook, liberates him from idle thoughts and implants in him
a boundless love to fulfill all the commandments of the Torah
and to cleave unto the One Who gives the Torah.
Therefore, R' Yochonon remarked of that very region that had
not developed an interest in Torah, that they hated it. For
wherever there is toil in Torah, there is a subsequent love
for it and its commandments, and then, that very toil becomes
pleasurable and not wearying. Then it is "in your mouth and in
your heart." It is your life and the length of your days. And
if it does not affect a change in the soul, the void in the
soul will necessarily be filled with sin and theft.
" `For are not all of My words like a fire,' says Hashem." The
nature of fire is to heat its surroundings. The bigger the
fire, the wider is its effect, the broader its spread. The
clinging love for Torah grips all the thoughts of the mind and
heart to the point that no room is left for sin. And one can
infer the greater from the lesser: if the toil of physical
labor banishes sin, as we find in Pirkei Ovos, then all
the more so that "The word of Hashem is pure," that it has the
power to expel laziness and boredom, to burn up every evil
thought, to elevate and sanctify.
