Q&A: Studying English for a Test on the Holy Sabbath
Studying English for a Test on the Holy Sabbath
Question
My daughter, may she live long, wants to study English on the holy Sabbath.
She gets no pleasure or joy from it, only the desire to get a good score on her matriculation exams.
Of course not for the entire Sabbath, and a proper amount of time is devoted to prayers with a quorum, Sabbath songs, words of Torah, Torah study, etc.
Only during her free time.
Perhaps it can be permitted?
1.
After all, if she knows English properly, correctly, and well, she will be able to enlist in a unit with more important tasks for defending the people.
And later on she will be accepted to university in tracks more useful for defending the people, for its development, success, and flourishing.
That is, a talent that is realized in this way will ultimately contribute more to defending and settling the Land of Israel.
Let the positive commandment (rabbinic?) of settling the Land of Israel, which is equivalent to all 613 commandments (Sifrei, Re'eh), override the rabbinic prohibition of preparing on the Sabbath for a weekday.
(The question is for all inhabitants of the land, though perhaps somewhat less so for my family, since we fear that Bibism, corruption, ignorance, messianism, and their hangers-on will, within a medium time frame, bring destruction and ruin upon the inhabitants of the land, and in our home we are waiting for European passports, and if, Heaven forbid, we see that the situation is worsening, we will flee in time, so for us it is doubtful whether there will truly be any practical benefit to settling the Land of Israel, or whether, Heaven forbid, we will be forced to run away. Even so, perhaps the situation will improve; and in any case the question applies to those who are not thinking of fleeing no matter what.)
2.
Another reason to permit secular study for the sake of a test:
After all, sacred studies for a test are permitted because that is a commandment.
And "you shall gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil" in the Land of Israel is a commandment like putting on tefillin, at least according to the Hatam Sofer in Sukkah.
So secular studies are a commandment in the Land of Israel, and seemingly should be permitted.
It seems to me that studying mathematics and English nowadays is no less an important worldly occupation than gathering grain or apricots.
Am I right?
Answer
In my opinion, no. These are not commandments, except in a very indirect way. By that logic, there is nothing in the universe that is not a commandment. Eating breakfast is a commandment because it gives you strength to study and perform commandments. Going to the bathroom is a commandment because it relieves you and gives you peace of mind for serving God. Just as permissions based on saving a life are given only when there is a direct danger to life, so too here.