A Happy Life
`What should a man do in order to live? He should put himself to death. What should a man do in order to die? He should enhance his life.' So advise Chazal in the gemora (Tomid 32.) Herein lies the entire difference between the Torah outlook and the non Torah outlook as to what constitutes a happy life.
Superficially, there may seem to be little difference. According to the non-Torah outlook, the purpose of life in this world is to be happy and to enjoy life. This is also what the Torah intends for a Jew, as is apparent from the pesukim (Devorim 6:24): "And Hashem commanded us to fulfill all these statutes... for our own good, for all days, to give us life as we have it today" (see the comments of Sforno). However, the great difference is that gentiles are always in pursuit of happiness and therefore, on the whole, they do not achieve it.
The Torah's way is utterly different. We are to dedicate ourselves to fulfilling the duties that the Torah imposes upon us and this itself will lead us to happiness. Joy in life is like a Divine gift to those who give their lives for the Torah.
This is the explanation of the gemora. Whoever wants genuine life and happiness, should put himself [i.e. his own desires and ambitions] to death and dedicate his life to Torah and towards fulfilling his obligations to others. Ultimately, happiness will be his. He will find it because he has not spent his time seeking it. On the other hand, someone who wants to die in this world, to remain broken spirited and dissatisfied, should enhance his physical life. In other words, he should pursue happiness and pleasures, which will surely evade him if that is his course.
Solving Life's Problems
`Haskeis ushema Yisroel, — Listen and understand Yisroel, today you have become a nation...' (Devorim 27:9) The Yalkut mentions Chazal's teaching on the word `haskeis:' "Break your souls and your hearts into pieces, in order to hear [i.e. comprehend] divrei Torah."
What is implied by the term `breaking' that is used here? We could have simply understood this posuk to be telling us the importance of submission and of a contrite heart for understanding divrei Torah. However, it seems from Chazal's words that this is not the Torah's intention here.
In every community, and in the life of each individual too, many problems exist which must be solved. This is especially so among bnei Torah, who can have difficulties in finding a match, a livelihood, a suitable position and so on. People sometimes grow confused because of the whole range of issues they have to unravel in order to sort out a single matter. A person may not even start to try to solve one of them, precisely because there are so many.
Chazal's advice is to first tackle a single problem on its own. While one is occupied with unraveling one problem along Torah lines, one should forget about all the others. Only when the solution to the first problem has been found, should the second one be addressed. In this way, a person can find solutions to all his difficulties and he can always be successful in life.
Perhaps this was Chazal's intention when they advised: "Break your souls and your hearts in order to hear divrei Torah." One needs to break up one's heart and to divide it so as to keep one question at a time in view — whichever is most immediate — and not to grow confused before an assortment of different problems.
The Giving of the Torah (I)
`And they stood at the foot of the mountain,' (Shemos 19:17) Rav Avdimi Bar Chama said, this teaches us that Hashem held the mountain over them like a barrel and said to them, `If you accept the Torah, well and good. But if not, your place of burial will be right there.' The comparison to a barrel needs to be explained. Why not say simply, `He held the mountain over them?'
The truth is that one can live underneath a barrel, if one makes a great effort to rein oneself in. For example, one can live in a tiny room for many years, just in a very small way, confining oneself all the time to the same few square meters. This is meaning of the comparison to a barrel. It is possible to go on living without accepting the Torah, but in a very restricted way. Life will just consist of material affairs like eating, drinking and walking about, without any striving for greatness or spirituality. When one remains confined to the limitations of a purely physical existence, it is like being buried or confined within a tiny space.
The holy Torah opens up new vistas before a person, a new kind of life with new horizons and with the potential for unrestricted elevation. However, if the Torah is rejected, then life is akin to being buried inside a tiny vestibule, without having the slightest clue of what goes on in the big wide world of spirituality.
The Giving of the Torah (II)
" `And there were noises and lightning (uverokim).' (Shemos 19:16) A later posuk says, `And the entire people saw the noises and the beacons (halapidim'). (ibid. 20:15) `Why are the flashes that were earlier referred to as lightning now called beacons? Before the tikkun they were lightning and after the tikkun, beacons.' " (Zohar Yisro)
The nature of the tikkun referred to by the Zohar is as follows. A man stands in the middle of the night in a dark forest, with no idea which way to turn. Suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminates the darkness. If he has his wits about him, he'll use that moment to survey all of his surroundings so that even when the light disappears, he will know which way will lead him to his destination. The momentary lightning thus becomes a beacon which can show him his way wherever he goes.
It is the same with spiritual matters. A person can experience an awakening, such as that which bnei Yisroel experienced when the Torah was given. This is akin to a flash of lightning. If one knows how to use this flash, one can transform it into a torch that will provide illumination throughout a lifetime. We experience flashes of inspiration to lead a spiritual life but we must modify them so that they can become torches which cast light upon our entire life and have the potential to entirely change us.
The Table in a Jewish Home
Chazal say, `Tannu rabbanan, any talmid chochom who partakes of many meals in different places, will eventually destroy his home, widow his wife and orphan his young ones.' (Pesochim, 49) In what sense does someone who eats outside his own home make his wife into a widow and his children into orphans? (See the comments of Rashi and the Maharsha.)
This can be understood as follows. All the members of the family unit, the husband, the wife and the children, are busy during the day with their different occupations and they do not have much time for speaking to each other or coming under one another's influence. The most auspicious time for providing direction and guidance is mealtime, when a persons's heart is usually amenable to both receiving influence and influencing others. For this reason, these occasions should be used for family discussion.
From these words of Chazal, it is apparent that the Shabbos and Yom Tov tables form a very major and important part of the educational influence upon children. A talmid chochom who eats often in different places — in other words, outside his own home — undermines the entire influence of the education he is trying to provide and because of this, his wife is like a widow and his children are like orphans.
Reading the Torah Twice and the Targum Once
`One should always complete his review of the Torah portion together with the rest of the community, reading the pesukim twice and the Targum once,' (Brochos 8). This halacha appears in the Shulchan Oruch, Orach Chaim 285. Why did Chazal oblige us to read the pesukim twice and the Targum just once?
Perhaps their intention was to impress upon us the lesson that although we learn and understand the parsha according to the Targum or the commentary of Rashi or one of the other commentators, there still remains one reading which is without any interpretation. However much we learn Chumash with commentaries, there remains a vast part of Torah which we do not understand. The holy Torah possesses depths far beyond the limits of our intellectual capabilities.
This article was originally published in the Israeli English edition of Yated Ne'eman before Shavuos, 5756.
