From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: L'Chaim 2 of 8
Date: 14 Aug 92 12:11:00 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

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L'CHAIM                     ISSUE # 228 PART                     2 OF 8
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                          LIVING WITH THE TIMES
                        THE WEEKLY TORAH PORTION
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   This  week's Torah portion, Va'etchanan,  speaks about the mitzva of
learning Torah, and  contains the verse "...and you shall teach them to
your children,  to speak in them."  In general, the mitzva  of learning
Torah consists of two separate commandments: The obligation each person
has  to learn  Torah  himself, and  the  obligation to  teach Torah  to
others, especially one's children.
 
   Although  a person might naturally think that the mitzva of learning
Torah  oneself takes precedence over  that of teaching  others, we find
that the opposite is  true. Both Maimonides' writings and  the Shulchan
Aruch begin the section on the laws covering the learning of Torah with
the  duty each parent has to teach his  children. Why is this the case?
And furthermore,  how can  a person teach  others before he  himself is
well versed enough in the subject matter?
 
   We  learn from the emphasis on teaching children the proper approach
we must  have when  we begin  to learn Torah,  G-d's Divine  wisdom and
blueprint  for  the  world. To  understand  this,  let  us examine  the
difference between Torah learning and the performance of mitzvot.
 
   When a Jew does  a mitzva he effects a change in the physical world,
elevating and making holy the physical objects he uses in  the mitzva's
performance. The  practical performance of the mitzva is therefore more
important than the intentions  and meditations of the person  doing the
deed, for the action itself serves to bring spiritual illumination into
the world.
 
   Torah learning, on the other hand, serves to refine and elevate  the
individual.  When a Jew studies Torah his intellect becomes united with
the G- dly  wisdom contained in the Torah and causes  him to be a G-dly
person  whose thoughts are those  of holiness. The  essence of learning
Torah is  therefore the humility  and self-nullification one  must feel
before even  approaching it to learn. In  order to learn Torah properly
one must have  the sincere  desire to understand  G-d's wisdom  without
seeking self-aggrandizement or having other ulterior motives.
 
   Before a Jew  learns Torah he  must subjugate his  own ego and  ask,
what does the Torah itself want from me? Without this prerequisite, say
our  Sages, Torah  learning  can  even  be  detrimental  and  become  a
"poisonous drug."
 
   Emphasizing the duty to teach our children before we ourselves learn
the Torah  stresses  that our  goal is  not merely  the acquisition  of
knowledge,  for the  mind of a  young child  cannot possibly  grasp the
greatness  of what he is  learning. Our goal  is, however, to cultivate
and  emulate the  child's purity  and innocence  with regard to  how he
learns  the Divinely written words. We must likewise approach the Torah
in the same  way, and not try  to "fit" what  we have learned into  the
preconceived,  jaded view of the world  we sometimes acquire as we grow
older. All of us, no matter how old we  are, are like young children to
our Father in Heaven.
Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
 
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