Description: Chapter 6 - 02
Pirkei Avos
Chapter 6 – 02
The first Mishnah in Perek Vav says,
רבי מאיר אומר, כל העוסק בתורה לשמה זוכה לדברים הרבה, ולא עוד אלא שכל העולם כלו כדאי הוא לו
Rebbi Meir says, whoever toils in Torah ‘lishmah,’ merits many things, and not only that, but the whole world is worthwhile because of him alone.
This statement is somewhat enigmatic because it doesn’t explain what ‘devorim harbay,’ many things, are referring to. The continuation of the Mishnah goes on to list many beautiful character traits and benefits one gets from learning Torah lishmah, yet all those are besides the ‘devorim harbay.’ What are these many things?
Rav Chaim Volozhiner in his peirush on Pirkei Avos called Ruach Chaim, writes a beautiful explanation for this. He says that the Gemarah says that if someone learns Torah shelo lishmah, he is zocheh to wealth and honor. This means that if someone learns Torah for the sake of becoming wealthy in its merit, or through giving shiurim, he will merit what he had in mind, and become wealthy. If he is studying Torah to become respected and important, he will merit that as well. Whatever particular motivation he has for learning Torah will be granted to him. However, if someone learns Torah lishmah, for it’s own sake, and not for any other ulterior motive, he doesn’t care about wealth or honor, because the simple value of learning Torah is sufficient to motivate him, and that itself dwarfs any other reward in his mind. This person will certainly have a great reward because of his learning, as the Gemarah says, he will be zocheh to ‘orech yamim,’ which means in the world-to-come. But Rav Chaim explains, he certainly will merit whatever someone who learns Torah shelo lishmah merits! So, if someone who learns for the sake of wealth gets wealthy, most certainly a person who learns lishmah will become wealthy.
But here it gets interesting. Because someone who learns Torah lishmah doesn’t have any ulterior motive in mind! Therefore, he gets anything a person could desire, any other thing a person might think of and learn Torah for that reason, all those possibilities are granted to someone who learns Torah lishmah. He gets wealth, he gets honor, he gets everything – that’s why the Mishnah says, someone who toils in Torah lishmah gets any number of things – we can’t even list them out, because it is everything and anything that someone who learns Torah shelo lishmah gets!
In addition, Rav Chaim explains that the Gemarah says that no angel, and no creation has merited to see the schar that is hidden away for people who learn Torah lishmah. Therefore, the Mishnah can’t even explain what the great merit will be – it just says, ‘devarim harbay.’
Tomorrow, we will learn Rav Chaim’s famous explanation on what Torah Lishmah means exactly, iy”H.
Pirkei Avos
Chapter 6 – 02
The first Mishnah in Perek Vav says,
רבי מאיר אומר, כל העוסק בתורה לשמה זוכה לדברים הרבה, ולא עוד אלא שכל העולם כלו כדאי הוא לו
Rebbi Meir says, whoever toils in Torah ‘lishmah,’ merits many things, and not only that, but the whole world is worthwhile because of him alone.
This statement is somewhat enigmatic because it doesn’t explain what ‘devorim harbay,’ many things, are referring to. The continuation of the Mishnah goes on to list many beautiful character traits and benefits one gets from learning Torah lishmah, yet all those are besides the ‘devorim harbay.’ What are these many things?
Rav Chaim Volozhiner in his peirush on Pirkei Avos called Ruach Chaim, writes a beautiful explanation for this. He says that the Gemarah says that if someone learns Torah shelo lishmah, he is zocheh to wealth and honor. This means that if someone learns Torah for the sake of becoming wealthy in its merit, or through giving shiurim, he will merit what he had in mind, and become wealthy. If he is studying Torah to become respected and important, he will merit that as well. Whatever particular motivation he has for learning Torah will be granted to him. However, if someone learns Torah lishmah, for it’s own sake, and not for any other ulterior motive, he doesn’t care about wealth or honor, because the simple value of learning Torah is sufficient to motivate him, and that itself dwarfs any other reward in his mind. This person will certainly have a great reward because of his learning, as the Gemarah says, he will be zocheh to ‘orech yamim,’ which means in the world-to-come. But Rav Chaim explains, he certainly will merit whatever someone who learns Torah shelo lishmah merits! So, if someone who learns for the sake of wealth gets wealthy, most certainly a person who learns lishmah will become wealthy.
But here it gets interesting. Because someone who learns Torah lishmah doesn’t have any ulterior motive in mind! Therefore, he gets anything a person could desire, any other thing a person might think of and learn Torah for that reason, all those possibilities are granted to someone who learns Torah lishmah. He gets wealth, he gets honor, he gets everything – that’s why the Mishnah says, someone who toils in Torah lishmah gets any number of things – we can’t even list them out, because it is everything and anything that someone who learns Torah shelo lishmah gets!
In addition, Rav Chaim explains that the Gemarah says that no angel, and no creation has merited to see the schar that is hidden away for people who learn Torah lishmah. Therefore, the Mishnah can’t even explain what the great merit will be – it just says, ‘devarim harbay.’
Tomorrow, we will learn Rav Chaim’s famous explanation on what Torah Lishmah means exactly, iy”H.