Q&A: Torah as a Spice
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Torah as a Spice
Question
It is written: “An uncultivated person cannot be God-fearing, and an ignoramus cannot be pious.” That seems to imply that an ignoramus can be God-fearing. Doesn’t that contradict what they said: “I created the evil inclination; I created the Torah as its antidote”?
Answer
I don’t deal with aggadic statements. But what contradiction do you see here? For someone who has an evil inclination, the Torah is the antidote. If there is an ignoramus who is God-fearing, then he manages without the antidote.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains on the Mishnah that there is a difference between an uncultivated person, who knows nothing and therefore is incapable of being careful about transgressions, and an ignoramus, who has basic Torah knowledge and therefore can be God-fearing, though not pious.