Far Away, So Close

By Yosef Yitzhak Lifshitz

How the commandments bridge the unbridgeable gap between God and man.

But Tora study is more than merely a didactic practice. In truth, the driving force behind this commandment is not the desire to perpetuate the tradition, or the need to understand the mitzvot in order better to keep them. Rather, it is an expression of the will to create a genuine link between the human and the divine. Here we must recall that, from the traditional Jewish point of view, the Tora is far more than a body of knowledge; it is the miraculous revelation of the Holy One, and the power that emanates from it nourishes and invigorates his entire creation. As the Talmud argues, “But for the Tora, heaven and earth would not endure, for it is said (Jeremiah 33:25), ‘If not for my covenant by day and by night, I had not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth?’”⁶¹Although it was brought down from heaven to earth, the Tora retains the mark of the divine and, in certain sources, is even identified with God himself. Thus opined, for example, Rabbi Haim of Volozhin, who concluded in Nefesh Hahaim that “There is no Tora but the Holy One.”⁶²

This belief in the divine qualities of the Tora naturally makes the act of studying it a powerful religious experience, one associated with a feeling of closeness to God. Rabbi Soloveitchik relates that, “When I am thus immersed in study, I feel as if the Almighty is there standing behind me, putting his hand on my shoulder, looking with me at the text lying on the table and asking me about it. This is not something I imagine. For me this is a true-to-life experience.”⁶³In Pirkei Avot, we find a similar description of the affinity between man and the divine achieved through Tora study:

R. Halaphta ben Dosa, of Kefar Hananiah, said: When ten men sit together and are occupied with Tora the shechina rests among them, as it is said (Psalms 82:1), “God standeth in the congregation of judges.” And whence [is it proved for] even five? As it is said (Amos 9:6), “He hath founded his troop upon the earth.” And whence even three? As it is said (Psalms 82:1), “He judgeth among the gods.” And whence even two? As it is said (Malachi 3:16), “Then they that feared the Lord spake one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard.” And whence even one? As it is said (Exodus 20:24), “In every place where I record my name, I will come to thee and bless thee.”⁶⁴

The presence of God in the beit midrash, or house of study, is a prominent motif in rabbinic literature. In one famous talmudic story, for example, a voice from heaven actually intercedes in an argument between the sages, although the intercession is eventually rejected.⁶⁵Elsewhere, we see God taking interest in another dispute, this time between R. Jonathan and R. Abiathar on the matter of the concubine of Giva:

R. Abiathar said that the Levite found a fly with her, and R. Jonathan said that he found a hair on her. R. Abiathar soon afterwards came across Elijah and said to him, What is the Holy One blessed be he doing? and he answered, He is discussing the question of the concubine in Giva. What does he say? said Elijah, [He says], my son Abiathar says so-and-so, and my son Jonathan says so-and-so. Said R. Abiathar: Can there possibly be uncertainty in the mind of the Heavenly One? He replied: Both [answers] are the words of the living God. He [the Levite] found a fly and excused it, he found a hair and did not excuse it.⁶⁶

These depictions of the Holy One as an active member in a community of Tora scholars even to the extent of getting involved in halachic disputes-may at first strike the reader as odd. Yet they express an important idea: The study of Tora is not merely the act of “reading” a text. Rather, it is an activity of profound metaphysical significance, translating the “words of the living God” into the language of reality. No other field of human life offers the possibility of such a close affinity between man and God. Not for nothing, then, did the sages laud those who made halachic judgments with the appellation, “The Lord is with him.”⁶⁷

But Tora study does more than fill the beit midrash with the presence of God. It also raises Tora scholars (talmidei hachamim) to a higher spiritual, and sometimes even physical, level than that of ordinary mortals. Agadic literature—parables and legends in rabbinic texts—abounds with stories of the superhuman abilities of the sages: R. Yochanan Napacha, for example, cured R. Elazar Ben Padat by laying his hands on him, and R. Shimon Bar Yochai is attributed with the power to set fire to objects and people merely by looking at them.⁶⁸The nearness of these scholars to the Holy One elevated them to the status of his representatives on earth, and thus into figures who are occasionally to be treated as one would treat God himself. The talmudic tractate Pesahim includes a rather bold statement made by R. Akiva:

R. Shimon Imsoni—others state, R. Nehemiah Imsoni—interpreted every et in the Tora [in an inclusive fashion]; [but] as soon as he came to [the passage] (Deuteronomy 6:13), “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God,” he desisted. Said his disciples to him, Master, what is to happen with all the etim which you have interpreted? Just as I received reward for interpreting them, he replied, so will I receive reward for retracting. Subsequently R. Akiva came and taught, “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God” is to include scholars.⁶⁹

R. Imsoni explained to his students why the Hebrew connective et appears in many places in the Tora, even though, in certain circumstances, it seems unnecessary. In his opinion, whenever this connective is used, it testifies to the fact that its objects are far more numerous than might be assumed from a superficial reading of the passage. The verse “And the Lord visited Sara,”⁷⁰for example, suggests that together with the biblical matriarch, God was gracious to all the barren women of the same generation. Yet R. Imsoni was reluctant to apply the same logic to “You will fear the Lord your God,” for to him, it was inconceivable that the fear appropriate to the Holy One should be accorded to others as well. R. Akiva disagreed with him on this point, insisting that the passage also applies to Tora scholars, who are to be treated with the same awe usually reserved for God.

This is a radical conclusion, to be sure, but not an altogether exceptional one. Elsewhere in the Talmud, the Amorite (later talmudic authority) R. Elazar Ben Padat makes a similar argument:

Master, I have found for them [the illiterate] a remedy in the Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 4:4), “But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.” Now is it possible to “cleave” to the divine presence, concerning which it is written in Scripture (Deuteronomy 4:24), “For the Lord thy God is a devouring fire”? But [the meaning is this:] Any man who marries his daughter to a scholar, or carries on a trade on behalf of scholars, or benefits scholars from his estate is regarded by Scripture as if he had cleaved to the divine presence.⁷¹

Like R. Yehuda Ben Rabbi Simon, R. Elazar Ben Padat also considers “cleaving” to the Holy One to be simply impossible—God is too exalted and too awesome for humanly contact. In light of this, he proposes a more practical alternative: Anyone who seeks to cleave to the divine presence should associate himself with those who are closest to God—that is, with Tora scholars. In this way, even laymen can attain a measure of closeness to God.

The crucial contribution the commandment of Tora study makes towards bridging the earthly and the heavenly grants it a unique status in Jewish law. In many ways, it is considered the most important mitzva. The Talmud even goes so far as to maintain that the study of Tora is “greater” than the sacrificial offering, the building of the Temple, the commandment of honoring one’s parents, and even saving a life.⁷²So, too, does the Jerusalem Talmud insist that “even the world in all its entirety is not equivalent to a single word of Tora,” and “even [the performance of] all the religious duties specified in the Tora is not equivalent to a single word of Tora.”⁷³These are not mere attempts at self-glorification by men who take their intellectual endeavors too seriously. Rather, these sayings communicate a basic dictum of Jewish tradition: If the Israelite nation was indeed chosen by God to fulfill a divine purpose on earth, this can only be achieved through the dedicated study and teaching of the Tora. Only in this way can the Jewish people live up to the expectations of their father in heaven; only in this way can they fulfill the hopes and longings that their sons and daughters have nurtured for centuries.

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