Ahavas HaTorah and the True Wealth of Torah

Topics

• The Three Loves of Every Jew
• The Jewish Soul’s True Longing
• Torah Lishmah—Torah for Its Own Sake
• Torah Learned Through Love
• “Great Wealth”—This Is Torah
• The Fulfillment of Hashem’s Promise
• The Tzaddik’s Concern for Every Jew
• The True Meaning of Wealth
• “Wealth and Riches Are in His House”
• Torah as an Inherited Treasure
• A Living Family Inheritance
• The Candlesticks Carried into Exile
• From Yetzi’as Mitzrayim to Kabbalas HaTorah
• The Three Blessings over Torah
• The Tears of Mesirus Nefesh
• The Warmth of Those Tears
• How Does One Acquire Ahavas HaTorah?
• “If You Do This”

Transcript

## The Three Loves of Every Jew

We began this series with the three foundational loves of every Jew: **Ahavas Hashem, Ahavas HaTorah, and Ahavas Yisrael**. Previously, we spoke about Ahavas Hashem. We now turn to the second love: **Ahavas HaTorah**.

The Torah commands, “You shall love Hashem your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Devarim 6:5). “With all your heart” reflects Ahavas Hashem expressed through tefillah, deveikus, and attachment to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. “With all your soul” may allude to Ahavas HaTorah, because Torah is the deepest longing of the *nefesh Yehudis*.

## The Jewish Soul’s True Longing

There is a familiar phrase, *“nefesh Yehudi homiyah”*—the soul of a Jew longs. That much is true. But one must identify what the Jewish soul is actually longing for.

At the conclusion of Shabbos Shacharis, we recite in *Anim Zemiros*:

> “My soul longs to shelter in the shadow of Your hand, to know every secret of Your mystery.”

The piyyut identifies the *nefesh Yehudis* with remarkable precision. The soul desires to stand beneath the hand of the Ribbono Shel Olam and to know the depth and hidden wisdom of His Torah. That is its longing. That is what it seeks.

## Torah Lishmah—Torah for Its Own Sake

The Mishnah praises one who learns Torah *lishmah* (Avos 6:1). But what does *lishmah* mean? For the sake of what?

The *Nefesh HaChaim* explains that Torah *lishmah* means Torah learned *l’shem Torah*—for the sake of Torah itself. Torah is not merely a tool toward some other purpose. It is itself the foundation of a Jew’s life.

Yet in *Ruach Chaim*, his commentary to Avos, Rav Chaim Volozhiner adds another crucial expression. Torah must be learned not only *l’shem Torah*, but with **Ahavas HaTorah**—with love for Torah itself.

## Torah Learned Through Love

The ideal of Torah *lishmah* therefore includes a love for Torah. After Ahavas Hashem, expressed through “with all your heart,” comes “with all your soul”—the love of Torah that fills the *nefesh*. What is Ahavas HaTorah, and how is it attained?

## “Great Wealth”—This Is Torah

HaKadosh Baruch Hu told Avraham Avinu that his descendants would descend into exile, suffer terribly, and afterward leave “with great wealth” (Bereishis 15:13–14). On the simple level, this refers to the wealth that Klal Yisrael took from Mitzrayim. Yet the Midrash teaches that the ultimate “great wealth” was Torah.

This understanding illuminates several statements of Chazal. Before leaving Mitzrayim, Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu, “Please speak in the ears of the people, and let each man ask from his neighbor…silver and gold vessels” (Shemos 11:2). Rashi, citing Chazal, explains that Hashem said “please” because Klal Yisrael had to be urged to take the wealth. They said, in effect, “If only we ourselves could leave.”

Why would people need persuasion to accept money after generations of slavery? They were asking for freedom itself. And Chazal teach, “There is no truly free person except one who occupies himself with Torah” (Avos 6:2). Their deepest request was: Let us leave as free men through Torah. Let the promise of “great wealth” be fulfilled through the true wealth of Torah rather than through money.

## The Fulfillment of Hashem’s Promise

Chazal also explain that Hashem urged them to take the Egyptian wealth so that Avraham Avinu would not say: The decree of servitude was fulfilled, but the promise that they would leave with great wealth was not.

The question is obvious. HaKadosh Baruch Hu keeps His promise regardless of whether Avraham would raise a claim. Why, then, is Avraham’s concern emphasized?

The answer is that Hashem could have fulfilled the promise in its deepest sense through Matan Torah. Torah was the true *rechush gadol*. Avraham Avinu’s concern was that just as the slavery had been fulfilled literally and visibly, the promise of wealth should also be fulfilled in a way that every Jew could immediately recognize.

## The Tzaddik’s Concern for Every Jew

Avraham Avinu understood that Torah was the real fulfillment of “with great wealth.” Yet as a tzaddik concerned for the *emunah* of every Jew, he feared that not everyone would recognize it. After generations of suffering, some might see only money as compensation and fail to appreciate that Hashem had given them something immeasurably greater: the Torah.

Therefore, the promise was fulfilled on both levels. Klal Yisrael received silver and gold, but the essential *rechush gadol* was Torah. After all their suffering and toil, the greatest possible compensation was that they became the nation entrusted with Hashem’s Torah.

## The True Meaning of Wealth

Each Simchas Torah, before the *chassan Torah* is called to the Torah, the gabbai recites a moving *reshus*. Its words describe Torah as more precious than gold and pearls and thank Hashem for granting us life and wealth.

What kind of wealth is meant? Talmidei chachamim and kollel families are not necessarily wealthy in material terms. Many live with very little. Yet the piyyut calls them wealthy because it is identifying the only wealth that is absolute and enduring: Torah.

On Simchas Torah, we rejoice because we understand what wealth truly means. Torah is the jewel. Torah is the diamond. Torah is more precious than material riches. A person who possesses Torah possesses true *osher*.

## “Wealth and Riches Are in His House”

David HaMelech declares, “Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever” (Tehillim 112:3). One might understand this simply: a wealthy person uses his possessions for tzedakah and chesed. But Chazal explain the verse differently. The Gemara applies it to one who writes Torah, Nevi’im, and Kesuvim and lends them to others, or to one who learns Torah and teaches it (Kesubos 50a).

What is the wealth within his home? Not the size of the house, the beauty of its furniture, or the jewelry within it. True wealth is Torah learned, Torah written, and Torah taught.

## Torah as an Inherited Treasure

The Torah states, “The Torah that Moshe commanded us is the inheritance of the congregation of Yaakov” (Devarim 33:4). Torah is a *morashah*, an inheritance.

This transmission itself testifies to Matan Torah. A father received it from his father, who received it from his father, generation after generation, tracing back to Har Sinai. Yet Rav Moshe Feinstein added a beautiful insight into the word *morashah*.

A kallah rejoices when she receives her Shabbos candlesticks. But imagine that these are not merely candlesticks purchased in a store. They belonged to her grandmother, who received them from her own grandmother. Their value is no longer measured by silver or craftsmanship. They are precious because they carry generations within them.

So too, every page of Gemara, every Rashi, and every word of Torah is a family treasure. A Jew learns with the awareness that his father learned it, his grandfather learned it, and his ancestors sacrificed themselves to preserve it. Torah is not simply information placed before him. It is “*morashah kehilas Yaakov*”—the cherished inheritance of Klal Yisrael.

## A Living Family Inheritance

This thought speaks deeply to me. Many times at the Shabbos table, I heard my grandmother, Rebbetzin Tzivia Walkin, describe how she fled from the Nazis. One morning, the family learned that the Nazis were coming for certain families, including hers. She had three young children, and before dawn her father arranged a horse and wagon to carry them away.

## The Candlesticks Carried into Exile

My grandmother fled before dawn with three children—two holding her hands and one whom she had to carry. Yet she also carried the candlesticks she had received from her grandmother. Through all the danger, she would not leave them behind.

That is the *mashal* Rav Moshe used for Torah. When one understands that Torah is the inheritance of his fathers and grandfathers, it becomes cherished beyond measure.

## From Yetzi’as Mitzrayim to Kabbalas HaTorah

The *Sefer HaChinuch* explains why Sefiras HaOmer begins immediately after the first day of Pesach. The moment Klal Yisrael left Mitzrayim, they began counting toward Kabbalas HaTorah, because Yetzi’as Mitzrayim was not complete until they received the Torah (*Sefer HaChinuch*, Mitzvah 306).

We did become a nation when we left Egypt, but we are not merely another nation. We are the **Am HaTorah**. Torah defines who we are. Therefore, the first act of freedom was to look forward to Matan Torah.

Hashem told Moshe, “When you take the people out of Egypt, you will serve God upon this mountain” (Shemos 3:12). Ordinarily, one would think that leaving Egypt was the essential promise and Matan Torah the proof. The Chinuch teaches the reverse: Kabbalas HaTorah was the purpose, and leaving Egypt was the proof that this purpose would be fulfilled. To a Jew, Torah is primary; everything else is secondary.

## The Three Blessings over Torah

Each morning we recite three brachos over Torah. Most mitzvos have one brachah, yet Torah has three, because Torah contains more than the technical fulfillment of a mitzvah.

One brachah addresses the mitzvah of learning Torah. Then we ask, *“V’haarev na”*—make the words of Your Torah sweet in our mouths. Torah requires feeling, sweetness, and love. When something is precious to a person, he wants it to remain within his family. Therefore, we immediately ask that we and our children should all know and love Torah.

The final brachah identifies the deepest point: Hashem chose us from all nations and gave us His Torah. We are not merely a nation that happens to study Torah. We are the nation of Torah.

The *nefesh Yehudis* longs to know Torah. This longing reaches so deeply that the Jewish soul is prepared to surrender even its physical life for Torah. Mesirus nefesh for Torah is itself part of the inheritance carried within every Jew.

## The Tears of Mesirus Nefesh

When learning is difficult—when a person is tired or burdened by the *nisyonos* of life—I draw strength from remembering the inheritance of Torah and the sacrifices of those who came before us. Their mesirus nefesh was rooted in Ahavas HaTorah.

As a bachur learning in Yeshivas Mir in Yerushalayim, I once passed the home of an elderly dayan. He asked me to come inside and help move his wife from her bed to a wheelchair. Afterward, he asked my name. When I answered, “Aharon Walkin,” he insisted that I come to his shul for an early Shacharis the next morning.

I traveled before dawn to the *beis medrash*. I assumed he needed help completing a minyan. Instead, he brought me to a distinguished elderly Jew and introduced me by name.

The man’s expression immediately changed. “Aharon Walkin?” he repeated. “Rav Walkin was my rav in Pinsk. I was there with your great-grandfather until shortly before the Nazis took him away.”

He then told me the story.

Before the Nazis entered Pinsk, my great-grandfather, the rav, went into hiding, knowing that he would be among their first targets. But when he learned that they had forbidden public davening and Torah learning, he could not remain hidden.

Disguised as a Polish farmer, with his beard concealed beneath his clothing and a cap upon his head, he went from house to house. Wherever he knew there were bachurim, he asked them to sign a commitment to gather secretly in one home to daven and learn—even if doing so would cost them their lives. He promised that he would stand at their head, lead the tefillos, and deliver the shiurim.

The elderly man told me that his mother refused to allow him to sign. She believed that if they obeyed the Nazis, perhaps they would be spared. “We were foolish,” he said. “We did not yet understand that obedience would make no difference.”

Then my great-grandfather began to cry. Tears of Ahavas HaTorah fell upon the lapel of the young man’s jacket.

“I signed,” he told me. “I could not say no.”

## The Warmth of Those Tears

True love awakens love. When the Jewish soul sees Ahavas HaTorah expressed through tears, emotion, and sacrifice, it responds with its own mesirus nefesh.

That man told me that even decades later, whenever he learned or davened, he could still feel the warmth of those tears upon his jacket. He remained with the secret minyan and shiur until the final day, when the group was discovered and my great-grandfather was taken away.

This is our heritage. Ahavas HaTorah is transmitted from generation to generation. Even when a Jew does not consciously feel it, it remains within him. The *nisyonos* of life may prevent it from blossoming openly, but deep within every *nefesh Yehudis* is the longing to know the Torah of the Ribbono Shel Olam.

## How Does One Acquire Ahavas HaTorah?

Over the years, many bachurim have asked me: “You speak constantly about Ahavas HaTorah. But what should I do if I do not feel it? How can I acquire it?”

I answer with a teaching of Rav Elya Lopian that Rav Shalom Shvadron would often repeat. I heard it from Rav Shalom himself, and it expresses the *yesod* of everything we have discussed.

The Mishnah states:

> “This is the way of Torah: Eat bread with salt, drink water in measure, sleep upon the ground, live a life of hardship, and toil in Torah. If you do this, fortunate are you in this world, and it will be good for you in the World to Come” (Avos 6:4).

The end of the Mishnah is difficult to understand. Certainly one can understand “it will be good for you in the World to Come.” But what does it mean, “fortunate are you in this world”? Bread with salt, measured water, sleeping upon the ground, and a life of hardship appear to be the exact opposite of the life people identify with happiness.

Rav Elya explained this with a *mashal*. Imagine a man receives a brochure advertising the vacation of a lifetime. It promises an experience more enjoyable and memorable than anything he has ever known.

He opens the brochure to examine the cuisine. The menu reads: bread with salt. Perhaps stale bread; perhaps dry bread—but bread and salt.

He turns the page to inspect the beverages: measured portions of water, not even a full cup.

Surely, he thinks, the accommodations must compensate. But the brochure promises no luxurious bed at all: “Sleep upon the ground.”

## “If You Do This”

The man searches for the promised activities—tennis, golf, recreation—but finds only one program: “You shall toil in Torah.” Yet the brochure concludes, “If you do this, fortunate are you in this world.” How can such an offer be presented as the greatest possible enjoyment?

Rav Elya Lopian explained that the answer lies in the Mishnah’s words: **“If you do this.”**

Ahavas HaTorah cannot be fully explained to someone from the outside. No argument can make a person comprehend in advance the *osher*, sweetness, and happiness found in a life of Torah. It must be tasted.

> “Taste and see that Hashem is good” (Tehillim 34:9).

Begin learning. Enter the experience. “If you do this,” you will discover that the Mishnah is describing genuine happiness—not only reward in Olam HaBa, but *“ashrecha ba’olam hazeh,”* happiness in this world.

The happiness cannot be adequately explained because it belongs to the *nefesh Yehudis* itself. Torah is what the Jewish soul seeks. Torah is what it longs for. Torah is what makes it alive.

I cannot explain Ahavas HaTorah to you as one explains an external fact. I can tell you that it exists. Try it. Learn with consistency and effort. “If you do this,” you will see that Torah is the greatest wealth and the deepest happiness.

> “The precepts of Hashem are upright, gladdening the heart; the commandment of Hashem is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Tehillim 19:9).