הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמוֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה
בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה. אִם לָמַדְתָּ תוֹרָה הַרְבֵּה, נוֹתְנִים לָךְ שָׂכָר
הַרְבֵּה. וְנֶאֱמָן הוּא בַּעַל מְלַאכְתְּךָ שֶׁיְּשַׁלֶּם לָךְ שְׂכַר פְּעֻלָּתָךְ.
וְדַע, מַתַּן שְׂכָרָן שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא:
He would also say: It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but
neither are you free to absolve yourself from it. If you have learned much
Torah, you will be greatly rewarded, and your employer is trustworthy to pay
you the reward of your labors. And know, that the reward of the righteous is in
the World to Come.
In the above Mishna Rabbi
Tarfon deals with the issue of the ocean of Torah and mitzvahs. It is possible
for a person to think that he will never master the Torah because there is so
much of it. In addition the goals of the Torah are so huge and distant that
there is no possibility that he will ever fulfill them. Therefore one may feel
it is pointless to engage in such a giant endeavor. Rabbi Tarfon comes to say
you should not feel that way. Rather the proper approach is for a person to do
what he can and trust the Holy One Blessed be He to give him appropriate
recompense.
The Gemara gives an approach
to dealing with this enormous task. It starts by analyzing the words from the
Chumash, “pay attention and listen, Israel,” (Deuteronomy 27:9). Resh Lakish
says that a person should cut himself into pieces to learn Torah because the
Torah only stays with somebody who kills himself for it. On the other hand Raba
says that a person should simply learn Torah and after that examine it in
depth, (see Brachos 63:). In line with this Rabbi Kahana said that by the time
he was eighteen he had read the entire Talmud but even so he did not know that
a verse does not depart from its simple meaning. Because of this he said that a
man should read the material and understand it later. Rashi explains that a
person should be meticulous to review that which he has learned so that it will
be available to him on judgement day, that he will be able to bring a proof as
if it is like a sword on the thigh of a champion to prevail in war, and this is
his glory and splendor. He continues that one should be able to absorb the bulk
of the idea even though he does not follow the reasoning. Over time though he
should review and inquire so as not to stand still. The general advice of our
sages of blessed memory is to first cover ground and after that go into detail.
The Pele Yoetz (199:1) praises
a person who learns with a study partner or with other students. However he
first states that one should choose the approach to learning that is straight
in his eyes. In any case it should be for the sake of heaven and on the
condition to practice it. The Machzor Vitry states simply that one should do
all that his abilities allow him to do.
The Messilat Yesharim (20:49) is more issue oriented and brings the verse, “This
is Zion and nobody looks after her”, (Jeremiah 30:17). He continues that the
Gemara comments that this implies we should be looking after Zion (Succa 41)
and we are not excused due to our lack of ability to do much as it says, “you
are not required to complete the task but you are also not free to
absolve yourself from it”.
The basic idea of this Mishna
is that there are enormous tasks to be done in this world. They may require
many people and many years to accomplish. However we are all required to do our
part. We need to have perception and faith that G-d will give us ample
recompense for our labors even if we do not see their final completion and that
some of the recompense will be in the world to come.
לע"נ
הדוד לייב הערש בן אהרן ז"ל נלב"ע יז תמוז תשמ"ב
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר
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