The Torah of Hashem is perfect, it restores the soul. The
testimony of Hashem is trustworthy, it makes simple people
become wise.The instructions of Hashem are proper, they
make one’s heart happy;the commandment of Hashem is
clear, it enlightens the eyes.The fear of Hashem is pure, and
endures forever.The judgments of Hashem are true,
consistently righteous.They are more desirable than gold,
even more than the purest gold!
Sweeter than honey that drips from the honeycombs.
Wow. Can you imagine what sort of person must have said
that? It must have been someone who had an easy life,
someone with the leisure to fully enjoy the Torah, studying it
day and night, someone who never felt any pain, and never
had any reason to complain about his life.
You know who said those words? King David, in Psalm 19.
The same King David who said: «If not for the fact that the
Torah is my greatest delight, my troubles would have
destroyed me!» (Psalms 119:42) Yes, King David said that,
the same King David who lived a life that was full of more
troubles than almost anyone who has ever lived. His father
considered him worthless for all his childhood. Later, he spent
years running away from King Saul, who chased him because
he thought David was trying to kill him. Two of his own sons
rebelled against him; one son fought a war against him andchased him off his throne. He spent his entire reign fighting
enemies. He did not have an easy life at all.
What sustained him in his troubles? The Torah!
King David, in all his holiness, foreshadowed the history of
the Jewish People. For we have also spent much of our
history being chased by people who claim we wish to harm
them. We have also been chased away from more countries
than we can count. We have spent our lives fighting enemies,
and sometimes our own children have left Judaism to join the
Gentiles, rebelling against us.
What has sustained us? Mark Twain asked that question too.
Many people have wondered how it is that a small people can
be scattered among the nations, persecuted, killed,
decimated, exiled again and again, and still remain true to
their heritage! For that matter, they wonder how we could
continue to exist at all! There is no other culture in the world
that has matched this feat.
What is the secret of our existence? The Torah. Though,
actually, it’s no secret. It is our very reason for existence.
More to the point, it is the reason that the worldexists.
The Midrash tells us that Hashem created the Torah two
thousand years before He created the universe (Midrash
Beraishis Rabbah, 8). When the time came to create the
universe, Hashem used the Torah as a blueprint. Just as a
builder places walls where the blueprint says to put them, and
doors where the blueprint says to put them, Hashem created
the Torah and used that as a blueprint. (Midrash Beraishis
Rabbah 1:1)
What does this mean? It means that the reason we are born
with hands is because Hashem wrote in the Torah the
Commandment of giving charity. We need hands to give
charity, so we are born with hands.
We have parents because the Torah says «Honor your father
and your mother.»
The Torah commands us to pray; the Torah commands us notto gossip; the Torah commands us to eat Matzah on
Passover night; the Torah commands us to teach our sons
Torah: therefore, we are born with mouths.
Without this knowledge, we would have thought precisely the
opposite. We would have assumed that since we have eyes,
Hashem commanded us not to look at idols, and not to look
at debauchery, etc. But the truth is the reverse. Hashem
created the Commandments first, and then gave us the ability
to obey or transgress those Commandments.
The Torah was not only the blueprint for Creation, it is also
what keeps the world in existence today! The Rabbis teach
us that the observance of the Covenant of Circumcision and
the Covenant of the Torah keep the world in existence
(Babylonian Talmud, Shabbos 137b; Pesachim 68b; Nedarim
31a).
The Rabbis also teach that when Hashem created the
universe, He stipulated the specific condition that «If Israel
will accept the Torah, the universe will continue to exist. If not,
I will return the world to empty void it was at first» (Babylonian
Talmud, Shabbos 88a).
This is the primary role of the Torah. It gives existence to the
world, and it gives existence to us as a people, both as a
whole and individually. Therefore, King David continues, «I
will never forget Your teachings, because through them You
kept me alive» (Psalms 119:93).
The Torah is that which gives us life, and reason to live.
It also gives us holiness. Hashem, in His great kindness and
wisdom, created the Torah as a way for us to get closer to
Him. When we study the Torah, we are drawn closer to
Hashem. The more we work at it, the holier we become. The
Rabbis therefore taught, «The Torah was given to purify
mankind» (Midrash Beraishis Rabbah 44:1). Not only that, but
each element of the Torah has the ability to elevate and
spiritually perfect some part of the universe (Derech Hashem,
4:2:4).
This is one of the reasons we study even the portions that wecannot fulfill. One reason is that each part of the Torah
elevates and purifies something else, and therefore we need
to study as much of the Torah as we can, in order to elevate
and purify the entire world.
Another reason is that when we study a portion of the Torah
we cannot perform, Hashem counts it as if we have actually
fulfilled it (Babylonian Talmud, Taanis 27b; Megillah 31b; see
also Midrash Tanchumah Parshas Tzav, 14). This way, we
elevate and perfect that part of our souls, and that part of the
universe, that this portion of the Torah affects.
This applies on a number of levels. The ultimate level of
Torah study is studying the Torah because it is a Mitzvah to
do so. Hashem wants us to study the Torah, as it says, «…
speak of them: when you sit at home, when you travel, when
you get ready for sleep, and when you wake up»
(Deuteronomy 6:7). Hashem told the Prophet Joshua: «This
Book of the Torah must not depart your mouth. You must
study it day and night…» (Joshua 1:8).
One of the great legal commentators, Rabbi Yoel Sirkish
(1561 — 1641) in his classic work the Bayis Chadash (better
known as the «Boch»), writes:
Hashem’s intention is that we be engrossed in the study of
Torah so that our souls get strengthened and united with the
essence of the spirituality and holiness of the Source of the
Torah. Therefore, Hashem gave Israel the Torah of truth as a
gift, and we must never forget the Torah, so that our souls
and bodies will be bound to the Commandments of the Torah.
If studied with this purpose, our Torah study and our
performance of the Commandments create a vehicle and
resting place for the Holy Presence of Hashem.. This way, the
Holy Presence of Hashem will firmly establish Itself literally
within each of us. The entire earth would be lit up with the
Glory of Hashem, and thus the forces of Heaven and the
forces of earth would be united…
— Boch, on Tur Orach Chayim §47, Laws of the Blessing on
the Torah.
To us, the Torah holds a special place in our lives. TheTalmud tells us that the Torah is our marriage contract with
Hashem (Midrash Vayikra Rabbah 1:10). Hashem gave us
the Torah as an act of love. In our prayers every night, we
say:
You love Your nation, the House of Israel, with an eternal
love; You have taught us Torah and Commandments, sublime
Laws and civil Judgments. Therefore, Hashem our G-d, when
we get ready for sleep, and when we wake up we discuss
your Laws, and we will rejoice in the words of the study of
Your Torah and Your Commandments forever and ever. For
they are our life, and our survival, and we will study them
deeply day and night. So, please do not remove Your love
from us in both this world and in the World to Come. Blessed
are You, Hashem, Who loves His nation Israel.
The Torah is the main part of our special relationship with
Hashem.
We also have the Commandment to teach the Torah to our
children and to our students, as it says, «And you shall teach
them thoroughly to your sons…» (Deuteronomy 6:7). The
Rabbis tell us that this applies to our students as well, and
our students must be to us like our own children (Sifri, quoted
in Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah 419).
Furthermore, we must be very familiar with the Torah so we
can know how to fulfill the Commandments. Moses therefore
told the Children of Israel, «Take note that I have taught you
rules and laws that Hashem has commanded me, so that you
will be able to keep them…. Safeguard and keep them, since
this is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the
nations» (Deuteronomy 4:5).
The Talmud therefore teaches, «Torah is great, because it
brings to deeds» (Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin, 40b).
Furthermore, the Torah is the only true help against sin.
The Rabbis taught: The Torah says, «Visamtem» «And you
shall place thesewords of Mine on your hearts and on your
souls…» (Deuteronomy 11:18). You can also read that as«sam tom,» a perfect medicine. The Torah is the perfect
medicine.
The Rabbis gave a parable, comparing it to a man who
wounded his son, so he put medicine and a bandage on the
wound. He told his son, «As long as you keep the bandage
with the medicine on your wound, you can eat with pleasure,
drink with pleasure, you can wash with hot water or cold
water, and you don’t have to worry about it. If you take off the
medicine, it will get gangrenous.»
Likewise, Hashem has told Israel, «My children, I have
created the Evil Inclination, and I have created the Torah as
an antidote against it. I wrote in My Torah: ‘If you do good,
you will be more powerful. If you do not do good, sin awaits
crouching at the door; it desires to control you, but you can
overpower it’ (Genesis 4:7).
«As long as you are engrossed in the Torah, you will not be
controlled by the Evil Inclination. This is why the Torah says:
‘If you do good, you will be more powerful’. But when you are
not engrossed in the Torah, you will be under the control of
the Evil Inclination, as the verse continues, ‘If you do not do
good, sin awaits crouching at the door.’
«Not only that,» Hashem said, «but the Evil Inclination will
spend all its time and energies trying to make you sin, which
is why the verse says ‘it desires to control you.’
«If you want to, you can overpower the Evil Inclination, as it
says, ‘…it desires to control you, but you can overpower it.’
(Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 30b).
The only way that one can overcome the Evil Inclination is
through Torah. (Gentiles must study and keep merely the
Seven Noahide Laws, as the Talmud says in Sanhedrin 59a,
and this way they can be righteous and merit the World to
Come. See also Chullin 92a; Avodah Zarah 64b.)
So it is the Torah that makes it possible for us to fulfill
Hashem’s will.
And it goes without saying that fulfilling Hashem’s will is the
most important thing we can do. For the Torah says, «You
must make the choice to love Hashem your G-d, to obey Him,and to attach yourself to Him. For this is your life and your
survival…» (Deuteronomy 30:20).
For this reason, each day we pray, «Blessed is our G-d, Who
created us for His glory, and separated us from those who are
confused in error, and gave us the Torah of truth, and
implanted eternal life within us. May He open our heart
through His Torah and place in our heart love for Him and
awe of Him, so that we may fulfill His will and serve Him
wholeheartedly, so that we do not struggle unproductively, nor
produce in vain» (Daily Prayers, Uva LiTzion Go’el).