Israel’s New Law: The Desecration of Torah

A Trojan Horse

Adapted from an article that was originally published at The Times Of Israel.

The charedi push for a Basic Law to recognize the value of Torah study is ingenious. After all, who can deny that Torah is the basis of the Jewish People? How can anyone vote against recognizing the importance of learning it? Unfortunately, it is a deception, for two reasons.

First is that this law is being proposed by the charedi parties and advanced by the government primarily for reasons that have nothing to do with Torah. It’s to pave the way for exempting all Charedim from helping with the IDF manpower shortage, and even more crucially, for making this legal and even officially praiseworthy, and thereby enabling the transfer of billions of shekels to them for this “service.”

The second reason why it is a deception is that it fundamentally distorts what Torah, and the mitzvah of learning Torah, are all about.

The Sages of the Talmud spoke at length about the importance of Torah study, but much of what they said has been either ignored, misunderstood or distorted. One explicit declaration by the Sages makes their view very clear. The Mishnah states: “It is not the exposition that is the main point, but rather the actions” (Avot 1:17). The main point is not to study Torah, it is to fulfill the Torah. As Rabbeinu Bechaye explains, “the goal of a person’s knowledge and toil in Torah is not that he should study much Torah; the goal is nothing other than that it should bring him to practice.”

The Talmud (Kiddushin 40b) does recount a debate in Lod regarding the question of whether study or practice is greater, and the conclusion was that study is greater. However, the reason given was that study is greater because it leads to practice. But if study is greater because it leads to practice, then this effectively means that practice is more important! Thus, authorities such as Maimonides and others explain the Talmud to mean that study is “greater” only in the sense that it takes chronological precedence; you have to study the Torah in order to know how to practice it.

This also demonstrates that the only study that is of value is study that leads to action. There can be some study that is valuable in terms of being generally motivational, but by and large, the purpose of studying Torah is to lead to action (or to teaching others how to act). Full-time Torah study as an end unto itself has no value and in fact is the opposite of the Torah’s purpose. This is explicitly stated by the Sages in a very sharp formulation: “Whoever says that he has only Torah, does not even have Torah” (Yevamot 109b).

How did this traditional understanding get distorted? It all began with Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, who sought to counter the Hassidic innovation that learning Torah was to be justified in terms of generating devekut, a sense of spiritual connection, which led people to negate the less inspirational parts of the Talmud. And so R. Chaim came up with his own innovation (which, like many successful innovations, was not presented as such). He expanded upon a mystical edifice in which the study of Torah has enormous metaphysical cosmic significance, and – critically – redefined “Torah Lishmah.”

Torah Lishmah, the study of Torah “for its sake,” had traditionally meant studying Torah for the sake of Heaven - knowing how to live as a good Jew – as opposed to learning it for the sake of glory or money. This is just as the concept of averah lishmah, debated by the Sages, referred to a sin committed for the sake of Heaven. But R. Chaim redefined it to mean studying Torah for the sake of studying Torah, as an end unto itself. This notion proved tremendously attractive, and R. Chaim’s novel explanation of Torah lishmah gained widespread acceptance, to the point that many people do not even realize that the term classically meant something very different.

The traditional view is that the primary purpose of studying Torah is to fulfill it. And what does that mean? Well, Torah is about one’s responsibilities to God, and one’s responsibilities to society. That includes, foundationally, helping others. And, as Rav Aharon Lichtenstein pointed out, the most fundamental way to do that in Israel is to protect people’s lives by serving in the IDF, aside from the milchemet mitzvah aspect. The mitzvah of “Do not stand by your brother’s blood,” the Sages’ urging of “Help bear your friend’s burden” (not just as empathy but as actual help), are all part of a broad Torah ethic of societal responsibility to help others. Torah also includes responsibilities to be financially self-sufficient and productive, as the Sages made particularly clear, and to economically aid society.

Meanwhile, charedi yeshivos focus all their learning on the Talmudic tractates of Nashim and Nezikin. Nashim is about a man’s responsibilities to his wife; Nezikin is about a man’s responsibilities to the welfare of others. Yet none of this is translated into practice. Charedim demand to be financially supported instead of supporting their wives, and exempted from any responsibilities to public welfare. With the rapid growth of the charedi sector, such an effect on the economy and the army poses an existential danger for the future of Israel. But it’s also simply not what Torah is about.

An academic studying classical literature is not learning Torah when he analyzes the Talmud from a literary perspective. And a charedi yeshiva or kollel student is not learning Torah when he spends years performing Talmudic intellectual gymnastics while avoiding actually putting the Torah’s values into action. It’s a pseudo-religious personal activity, with no material or spiritual benefit to the country. There is no merit to Torah study when it is done for the wrong reasons and at the expense of one’s Torah obligations elsewhere.

The Basic Law on Torah Study, being rushed through by the government, is not a law about valuing the importance of Torah. This is a law about pushing the learning of Torah at the expense of actually fulfilling the Torah. As such, it is not even what the mitzvah of learning Torah is all about. It is instead actually a terrible desecration of Torah, as well as empowering an existential threat to the country.

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