Tonight the holiday of Shavuot begins. On Shavuot celebrates we celebrate the Revelation on Mount Sinai. Accepting the Torah has given our people meaning and a purpose in life. The second blessing before the evening Shema reminds us “With everlasting love have You loved your people, the House of Israel. You have taught us Torah and commandments, decrees and laws of justice. Therefore, Lord our God, when we lie down and when we rise up we will speak of you decrees, rejoicing in the words of your Torah and your commandments forever. For they are our life and the length of our days; on them will we meditate day and night…” (Koren Siddur translation)
Everybody can rationalize why he/she doesn’t have the
time to study Torah. Today’s daf TB
Yoma 35 deflates the rationalizations of a poor person, a rich person, and a wicked
person who allows his yetzer hara,
unrestrained instant gratification, to rule over him when comes to inappropriate
sexual behavior.
“The Sages taught: A poor person, and a wealthy
person, and a wicked person come to face judgment before
the Heavenly court for their conduct in this world. To the poor person,
the members of the court say: Why did you not engage in Torah? If he
rationalizes his conduct and says: I was poor and preoccupied with
earning enough to pay for my sustenance and that is why I did not engage
in Torah study, they say to him: Were you any poorer than Hillel, who
was wretchedly poor and nevertheless attempted to study Torah?
“They said about Hillel the Elder that each and every day
he would work and earn a half-dinar, half of which he would give to the guard
of the study hall and half of which he spent for his
sustenance and the sustenance of the members of his family. One time he did not
find employment to earn a wage, and the guard of the study hall
did not allow him to enter. He ascended to the roof, suspended
himself, and sat at the edge of the skylight in order to hear the words
of the Torah of the living God from the mouths of Shemaya and Avtalyon,
the spiritual leaders of that generation.
“The Sages continued and said: That day was Shabbat eve
and it was the winter season of Tevet, and snow fell upon him from the
sky. When it was dawn, Shemaya said to Avtalyon: Avtalyon, my brother, every
day at this hour the study hall is already bright from
the sunlight streaming through the skylight, and today it is dark; is it
perhaps a cloudy day? They focused their eyes and saw the image of a man in the
skylight. They ascended and found him covered with snow three cubits
high. They extricated him from the snow, and they washed him and smeared
oil on him, and they sat him opposite the bonfire to warm him. They
said: This man is worthy for us to desecrate Shabbat for him.
Saving a life overrides Shabbat in any case; however, this great man is
especially deserving. Clearly, poverty is no excuse for the failure to attempt
to study Torah.
“And if a wealthy man comes before the heavenly
court, the members of the court say to him: Why did you not engage in Torah?
If he says: I was wealthy and preoccupied with managing my possessions,
they say to him: Were you any wealthier than Rabbi Elazar, who was
exceedingly wealthy and nevertheless studied Torah? They said about Rabbi
Elazar ben Ḥarsum that his father left him an inheritance of one
thousand villages on land, and corresponding to them, one thousand ships at
sea. And each and every day he takes a leather jug of flour on his
shoulder and walks from city to city and from state to state to study Torah
from the Torah scholars in each of those places.
“One time as he passed through the
villages in his estate and his servants found him, did not recognize
him, and, thinking he was a resident of the town, they pressed him
into service [angarya] for the master of the estate. He said to
them: I beseech you; let me be and I will go study Torah. They said: We
swear by the life of Rabbi Elazar ben Ḥarsum that we will not let you
be. The Gemara comments: And in all his days, he never went and saw
all his possessions and his property; rather, he would sit and engage
in the study of Torah all day and all night.
“And if a wicked man comes to judgment, the members of the
court say to him: Why did you not engage in Torah? If he said: I was
handsome and preoccupied with my evil inclination, as I had many
temptations, they say to him: Were you any more handsome than Joseph,
who did not neglect Torah despite his beauty? They said about Joseph the
righteous: Each and every day, the wife of Potiphar seduced him with words.
In addition, the clothes that she wore to entice him in the morning,
she did not wear to entice him in the evening. The clothes that she wore
to entice him in the evening, she did not wear to entice him in
the morning of the next day.
“One day she said to him: Submit to me and have
relations with me.
He said to her: No.
She said to him: I will incarcerate you in the prison. He
said to her: I do not fear you, as it is stated: “God releases
prisoners” (Psalms 146:7).
She said to him: I will cause you to be bent over
with suffering.
He said: “God straightens those who are bent over”
(Psalms 146:8).
She said I will blind your eyes.
He said to her “God opens the eyes of the blind” (Psalms
146:8).
She gave him a thousand talents of silver to submit to her,
“to lie with her and be with her” (Genesis 39:10), and he refused.
“The Gemara elaborates: Had he submitted to her to lie
with her in this world, it would have been decreed in Heaven that he would be
with her in the World-to-Come. Therefore, he refused.
“Consequently, Hillel obligates the poor to study
Torah, Rabbi Elazar ben Ḥarsum obligates the wealthy, and Joseph
obligates the wicked. For each category of people, there is a role model
who overcame his preoccupations and temptations to study Torah.” (Sefaria.org
translation)
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