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How To Be Free (Part 1) — The Freedom To Focus

By BJLife/Rabbi Reuven Taragin

Posted on 01/03/23

Parshas HaShavua Divrei Torah sponsored by
Dr. Shapsy Tajerstein, DPM - Podiatry Care.
(410) 788-6633

אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי… וְהַלֻּחֹת מַעֲשֵׂה אֱלֹקים הֵמָּה וְהַמִּכְתָּב מִכְתַּב אֱלֹקים הוּא חָרוּת עַל הַלֻּחֹת, אַל תִּקְרָא חָרוּת אֶלָּא חֵרוּת, שֶׁאֵין לְךָ בֶן חוֹרִין אֶלָּא מִי שֶׁעוֹסֵק בְּתַלְמוּד תּוֹרָה.


וְכָל מִי שֶׁעוֹסֵק בְּתַלְמוּד תּוֹרָה הֲרֵי זֶה מִתְעַלֶּה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (במדבר כא) וּמִמַּתָּנָה נַחֲלִיאֵל וּמִנַּחֲלִיאֵל בָּמוֹת: (אבות ו:ב)




רַבִּי נְחוּנְיָא בֶּן הַקָּנָה אוֹמֵר, כָּל הַמְקַבֵּל עָלָיו עֹל תּוֹרָה, מַעֲבִירִין מִמֶּנּוּ עֹל מַלְכוּת וְעֹל דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ.


וְכָל הַפּוֹרֵק מִמֶּנּו עֹל תּוֹרָה, נוֹתְנִין עָלָיו עֹל מַלְכוּת וְעֹל דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ: (אבות ג:ה)


The Link of Freedom to Torah


Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi taught: “Ein lecha ben chorin ela mi she’osek b’talmud Torah — Only those involved in Torah learning are (truly) free.” Rebbi Yehoshua derived this idea from the Torah’s description of the writing on the luchot as “charut,a word spelled the same way as “cheirut, free.”[1] What did Rebbi Yehoshua mean by that? In what way are those not involved in Torah learning not free?


Many commentaries connect Rebbi Yehoshua’s statement to an earlier one of Rebbi Nechunya ben Hakanah: “The ol (yoke) of malchut and of derech eretz are removed from anyone who accepts the yoke of Torah.”[2] Man is put in this world to work[3] and chooses what kind of work to focus his energies upon. He can opt for backbreaking work in the fields, or “work” with his mouth by learning Torah instead.[4] If he chooses the latter, he is “freed” from the former.[5]


How does that happen? How does a person who accepts the yoke of Torah have other responsibilities removed from him?


Rashi and the Rambam[6] explain that other people do his work for him. Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai[7] famously applied this idea to the second parsha of Kriyat Shema. He explained that that parsha’s reference to our working in the field[8] must refer to a time when the Jewish People are not fully committed to Hashem’s will. At a time when we are, though, our work is done for us by others.


How does this happen? Who does the work for those learning Torah and why?




A Divine Directive


Rabbenu Yonah explains that our mishnah mandates the exemption of those fully immersed in Torah learning (torato umanuto) from both contributing to community tax collection as well as the responsibility to join the rotation of government-required work.[9] Other people are required to cover the talmid chacham’s share.


Rebbi Yochanan[10] understood this principle in an even broader way. He taught that in addition to covering the talmid chacham’s share of communal responsibilities, people are also responsible to do the talmid chacham’s personal work for him. All of us should express our appreciation of the importance of Torah by working to facilitate the Torah learning of those who choose to devote themselves to it.




A Divine Promise


The Rambam[11] himself explains the mishnah differently. Instead of a Divine directive, the Rambam understood the mishnah as a Divine promise. Rebbi Nechunya (and Rebbi Yehoshua by association) teaches us that Hashem spares those committed to Torah from the challenges and burdens most people endure.[12] The person devoted to Torah learning is freed from the yokes of malchut and derech eretz by Hashem, not other people.


The midrash[13] quotes this idea in Hashem’s name in reference to ol malchut. Moshe asked Hashem how He expected people suffering persecution in exile to devote time to Torah learning. Moshe wondered how people could commit themselves to the yoke of Torah learning while suffering under the yoke of shibud galuyot. Hashem replied, “Kol ha’osek baTorah, nitzol mi’shibud galuyot Hashem saves those involved in Torah from the yoke of exile.”[14]


The Gemara[15] summarizes this idea beautifully by asserting that it was the oil that Chizkiyahu used to light up the Batei Medrash and Batei Knesset that merited the removal of the ol of Sancheirev from the Jewish People.[16]


The Machzor Vitri and Bartenura apply this idea to the yoke of derech eretz as well. It is Hashem who ensures that those committed to Torah learning are unhindered by the need to (work too hard to[17]) earn a living. The Gemara[18] quotes Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar who points out that Hashem takes care of animals without them having to work for a living. Hashem would take care of our needs as well (with minimum effort on our part) if we lived our lives correctly.


Before man ate from the Eitz Hada’at, he had what he needed without having to work “by the sweat of his brow.”[19] Rebbi Shimon and Rebbi Nechunya teach us that if we focus our lives on Torah learning, we are still (even after the original sin) able to tap into the prelapsarian ideal of survival without difficult work.


The Chassidim Harishonim were an excellent historical example of this principle. The Chassidim Harishonim spent nine hours a day davening. The Gemara[20] wonders how their work got done and answers that Hashem ensured that their work was completed quickly and easily. How long our tasks take and how hard they are to complete hinges on whether we devote ourselves to something (else) that Hashem wants to help us find the time and headspace for.




The Chicken and The Egg


People often feel like they do not have the time to commit to Torah learning because they are saddled with work and other burdens. The mishnah teaches us that, in truth, the linkage goes the other way. We are saddled with burdens because we do not commit ourselves to Torah learning.


May we devote ourselves properly to what matters most so we do not have to spend our time on what matters less.


We have seen how many associate the freedom mentioned by Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi in the sixth perek with the removal of the yokes mentioned in the third perek. Next week, we will iy”H see a second (more intrinsic) understanding of the freedom Rebbi Yehoshua describes. 







[1] Rabbeinu Shem Tov explains that the inference is from the Torah’s usage of this word instead of the more common “chakuk.


See Yirmiyahu 27:20 and Kohelet 10:17 which use the root “ch-r-n” to refer to freedom.




[2] Ruach Chaim Avot 6:2, Rambam Avot 3:5.




[3] This is already evident from the beginning of the Torah, when rain did not fall until Adam was created because “Adam ayin laavod es ha’adamah.




[4] Talmud Bavli, Masechet Sanhedrin 99b.




[5] Bereishit Rabbah 13:7, Eliyahu Rabbah 13:7.




[6] Rashi, Rambam to Avot 6:2.




[7] Masechet Berachot 35b.




[8] Sefer Devarim 11:14.




[9] See Rabbeinu Yonah (Avot 6:2), who quotes Sefer Ezra (7:24) and Talmud Bavli, Masechet Bava Batra (8a) as additional sources for this idea. See also Talmud Bavli, Masechet Berachot 35b and Rambam, Hilchot Talmud Torah 6:10.




[10] Masechet Shabbat 114a and Masechet Yoma 72b.




[11] Rambam, Avot 6:2. See also Tiferet Yisrael.




[12] See Divrei Hayamim (2:12)  where Hashem explains that “You abandoned me, so I left you in the hands of Sheishak, who attacks and persecutes you.”


Similarly, the Gemara (Talmud Bavli, Masechet Ketubot 66b) records that Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai observed the Jewish people suffering at the time of the second churban and commented, “When we serve Hashem, no nation can rule over us, but when we do not, Hashem puts us in the hands of even the lowest of nations.” See also Talmud Bavli, Masechet Eruvin 54a which explains (in the context of the drashah of charut al ha’luchot) that when we are involved in Torah, no nation can rule over us.




[13] Midrash Tanchuma, Parashat V’zot Habracha 5.




[14] This point is made in many places:


Talmud Bavli, Masechet Bava Batra (8a) quotes Rebbi, who explained that puraniyut (suffering) comes to the world because of the amei ha’aretz.


Talmud Bavli, Masechet Avodah Zarah (5a) says that the Jewish People received the Torah so that other nations would not rule over them. Freedom from servitude to others is not just an implication of Torah learning, but one of its purposes.


The Mechilta (Parashat Beshalach) writes  that the word “refidim” is mentioned (a second time) as the place where Amalek attacked the B’nei Yisrael in order to emphasize that is was the Jewish people’s weakness in Torah learning that caused the attack.




[15] Masechet Sanhedrin 94b, quoting Yeshayahu 10:27.




[16] This seems to be the backdrop of the Rambam’s (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Shemittah V’yovel 13:13) famous statement that shevet Levi can include all people in the world who decide to rely on God and focus on serving Him; God will ensure that they do not bear the burden of other responsibilities.




[17] Of course, we are still meant to play our part. Avot 2:2 declares that “Torah together with derech eretz is beautiful”; Rambam (Hilchot Talmud Torah 3:10) warns that learning without a means of parnassa is sofo beteila v’goreres avon. The point is that it wouldn't be an overbearing, weighty yoke, but a manageable responsibility. Similarly, Adam and Chavah were meant to work in the Garden of Eden, but only after the curse did parnassah become a difficult, sweat-inducing labor.




[18] Masechet Kiddushin 82b.




[19] Sefer Bereishit 3:19. See also Rashi there.




[20] Masechet Berachot 32b.