Q&A: Torah
Torah
Question
Hello Rabbi (in parentheses, I’d be glad to know how you’d prefer to be addressed, “Rabbi” Michael or Michi?)
I assume that Torah study is one of the most central commandments in Judaism, based on a great many sources, “the study of Torah is equal to all of them,” etc. But I don’t understand what is so important about studying Torah. Fine, in earlier times, when there weren’t many learners and there was concern that the Torah would be forgotten. But today, when thousands are learning, even if I and hundreds of other people don’t study, nothing will happen. My question also applies to studying Jewish law, and all the more so to Talmud and the Humash with its commentators, since nowadays there’s no shortage of people to ask about Jewish law—so what’s the great significance of this?
Answer
Call me whatever you like. It doesn’t matter to me.
A. Do you understand why it is important not to eat pork or to observe the Sabbath? So the fact that you don’t understand is not evidence of anything.
B. There are two mistakes in your argument: 1. You assume that this is instrumental (in order to know Torah, in order to issue a halakhic ruling), but on that I disagree with you. In column 479 I showed that it has intrinsic value. 2. Even if it were instrumental, the situation you describe was created because of that very attitude toward study. If that attitude didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be in such a situation. And if we stop, the situation could change.