blogs/rabbi-huberman

Study Without Work Means Little 

Maimonides (1135-1204), one of Judaism's greatest teachers, was infuriated by a trend in his own lifetime -- one which continues today.

He noted large clusters of males sitting and studying all day in the Yeshiva without contributing any form of labor or service to the community.

Maimonides wrote in his Mishneh Torah: "Anyone who makes up his mind to study Torah, and not work, but lives on charity, profanes the name of God, disgraces Torah and deprives himself of life in the future world...

"The end of such a person will be that he will rob his fellow man."

It's a trend which continues today. Within many predominantly Jewish communities, in particular within Israel, there exist large groups of men who are not only jobless, but refuse to work.

In 2015, The Economist ran a story discussing the economic challenges facing the Israeli government, and observed:

"Any day of the week, save for short holidays, the study-halls at any of the elite yeshivas (Torah academies) in Israel are liable to be packed with students spending as much as 18 hours a day analyzing Talmudic texts.

"Once married, most students will graduate to kollels, smaller institutes where they live off a meager stipend, government benefits and perhaps their wives' modest salaries.

The Israel Democracy Institute recently reported that, in 2017, 50.3 percent of Orthodox men in Israel were unemployed, while the size of the average family rose sharply, and enrollment in Torah academies continued to rapidly expand.

Is this really in tune with the teachings of Judaism?

During World War II, Jewish schools and seminaries in Germany, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia and France were destroyed by the Nazis. As such, when the state of Israel was established in 1948, considerable latitude was devoted to establishing Torah academies.

The study of Torah needed to be revived. Students who attended, in most cases, were exempt from military service and other national responsibilities. But about twenty-five years ago, Israeli society and many Jewish institutions re-examined the situation, and asserted: "We have enough full-time students in Israel."

This is the week in our reading of the Torah (Vayekhel-Pikudei) in which this point of view is underscored. The Torah focuses on work performed with our hands.

Moses assembles the people of Israel and conveys God's instructions regarding the making of the travelling Mishkan(portable sanctuary).

The word Mishkan comes from the Hebrew root meaning "to dwell"; the tabernacle was considered to be the earthly dwelling place of God. (Exodus 25:8-9) We are told that God wishes to dwell among us.

The people donate materials in abundance, including gold, silver and copper; blue, purple and red-dyed wool; goat hair, spun linen, animal skins, wood, olive oil, herbs and precious stones.

These items were donated out of love-and there was so much love that Moses has to tell the Israelites to stop giving.

Under the stewardship of the Mishkan's chief architect, Bezalel, work is completed in today's terms: on schedule and on budget.

The Torah then tells us that Moses gave the entire people a blessing. But what was that blessing? The Torah itself remains mum. However, our Sages provide us with a clue.

According to Sifre to Bamidbar 143, Moses says: "May it be God's will that His presence rests in the work of your hands."

And the people responded: "May the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us. Establish for us the work of our hands, O establish the work of our hands."

The Psalms echo this sentiment by extolling the value of manual labor: "Let the work of our hands proper...O prosper the work of our hands." (Psalm 90:17)

In other words, what we accomplish with our hands, through honest and loving labor, is important to God. Over time, Jewish culture has often been accused of favoring spiritual pursuits over physical labor-but that is not a message which the Torah itself seems to support.

As God said to Moses, as the Israelites prayed on the shores of the Sea of Reeds, "Stop praying and do something."

The Kabbalah, our mystic tradition, teaches that there exists within each of us a piece of God. Each of us contributes something unique and specific to this universe.

Each of us carries the responsibility of using our unique contribution to help the Almighty complete creation.

For while most of what we physically need was created at the dawn of time, there still exists work to be done Adam l'Adam - person-to-person.

There is no question that Jewish study is central to who we are as a people. Not only is it important to examine the P'shat, the plain and simple meaning of the Bible, but also to delve deeper in order to understand life's subtleties.

But our tradition also tells us that these sacred texts mean little if we do not apply them to actual work.

Therein lays an important balance within Judaism. Work without connection to Jewish ethics and values fails to advance society. Such work amounts to labor without direction or purpose other than personal enrichment.

Likewise, the Talmud tells us that study without a place to apply it is virtually useless.

As the great Sage Rabban Gamliel asserted, study without occupation leads to sin.

I have a beloved cousin, an Orthodox rabbi who has a dream one day to establish a Yeshiva in Israel which will not only promote Torah study, but also provide Jewish men with training on how to become better spouses, how to maintain and repair their homes, how to engage with their children.

One day, if I am so blessed, I would love to find a way to support his dream.

For as the Torah teaches us this week, it is a blessing to work with our hands, our skills, our imagination and our love in order to heal and repair this broken world.

Somewhere, between all work and all study, lies a perfect balance which the Torah inspires us to achieve.

Israel has a tough road ahead as it strives to support Jewish life, while refraining from enabling those who refuse to contribute to society. This challenge also exists in many Jewish communities on our own shores.

Our tradition is clear from the lines of this week's Parashah, as well as the commentaries of our Sages: "While study is important, we must apply what we learn in order to better the world."

Or as the Talmud teaches, Ein kemach, ein Torah; ein Torah, ein kemach - "If there is no food, there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no food."

Within our own lives, let us remember that the work we do has value. Some days, as we rise to take our place within the workforce, it seems like a burden. But, like the Jews in the desert, each of us has something to contribute-a spark of God to combine with those of others.

That is how the world will be brought to completion.

Study for the sake of study may be intellectually stimulating, but without connection, it has little meaning.

God loves to work and to create. And God loves it when we do the same.

Shabbat Shalom, v'kol tuv.

Rabbi Irwin Huberman