In this week’s parsha we find the following pasuk. “לֹא בַשָּׁמַיִם הִוא לֵאמֹר מִי יַעֲלֶה-לָּנוּ הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וְיִקָּחֶהָ
לָּנוּ ... כִּי קָרוֹב אֵלֶיךָ הַדָּבָר מְאֹד .../It is not in Heaven [so
as] to say, ‘Who will ascend to Heaven to take it for us? … rather it is very
close to you …” (Devarim 30:12)
Rashi[1]
cites Chazal[2]
who say that if the Torah were in Heaven, we would in fact, be required to
ascend to Heaven to learn it. What does
this mean?
The Chiddushei HaRim explains that Chazal are teaching us something
very significant about learning Torah.
Intuitively we understand that we need to work hard to attain goals that
are far from us. We view the goal as
static so if it is far away we need to move a long way to get to it. When the goal is close, we do not need to
work as hard to attain it. The Torah,
however, is not static. When our goal is
the Torah and and we work hard for it, the Torah itself responds and comes
close to us. It appears that it was
never far from us. When, however, we do
not work for it, it remains far away.
Chazal are teaching us that when we want to connect to the
Torah so much, with all our heart, that we would search for a way to get it
even if it were in Heaven, then it is indeed very close. It is specifically because we would ascend to
Heaven to get it, if required, that it is very close to us.
2 comments:
a conditional continuation of the
instruction to Avraham: 'go [from inside out] from your father's house, and from your birthplace, and from your land,
and from your continent
[ --> overseas*], and from your
planet [ --> heaven], to what I
have to give you'
*possibly "required" (as in Avos 4:18, hevei goleh li'makom Torah);
the given explanation underscores the acceptability of Shema and
Tefilla said in foreign tongues, since dor ha'flaga did strive to reach Heaven (if for the wrong reason/s), & God did draw
"close" (11:5);
were the shofar sounds of Sinai
descents of God's devising,
or built of every future blast
a people's soul arising?
We picked the same shtickel this week :)
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