The Torah’s guidance for the Jewish people as a whole is to work most of the day during the six weekdays, and establish regular times for Torah study in the morning and evening * The proper guidance for Torah scholars was to combine work with Torah study * The mitzvah of studying Torah day and night is fulfilled on Shabbat and holidays * Through this fixed daily study, one is considered as though he studied throughout the entire day * During the hours when a person is supposed to engage in Torah study, he must be extremely careful not to neglect Torah study
The Torah’s Guidance Regarding Work
Q: I heard a lecture in which the rabbi said that according to the Torah, every Jew should devote the entire day to Torah study, as it says: “You shall meditate on it day and night.” There is no need to worry about earning a livelihood, because if all Jews devoted the entire day to Torah study, God would help and provide for them. Is what he said correct?
A: If that is indeed what he said, then he was mistaken in understanding the basic foundations of the Torah. The Torah’s guidance for the Jewish people as a whole is to work most of the day during the six weekdays, and establish regular times for Torah study in the morning and evening. As it says: “Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:9–10). Our Sages said: “Just as the Jewish nation was commanded regarding the positive mitzvah of Shabbat, so too they were commanded regarding work” during the six weekdays (Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, ad loc.). In this way, the Torah gave sacred value to the work performed by the Jewish nation during the six weekdays.
This is also how the life of a person who works from morning until evening is described: “When the sun rises, they [the nocturnal animals] gather in and lie down in their dens. Then people go out to their work, to their labor until evening” (Psalms 104:22–23). We likewise learn from the work of Jacob our forefather, who testified that he worked for twenty years tending the flocks with great diligence, through hot days and cold nights. As it says: “By day I was consumed by heat and frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes” (Genesis 31:38–40).
The words of our Sages likewise indicate this (Berakhot 4b): it is the normal way of the world for people to devote most of their day to work and return home from the fields in the evening. We also find that our Sages instructed that no more than three people should be called to the Torah reading on Mondays and Thursdays, because of the interruption of work (Megillah 22b; above, Halakha 6). If people did not work throughout the entire day, why would adding another aliyah matter? (See also Rabbeinu Tam’s view in Tosafot Yeshanim, Yoma 85b; and Orot HaTorah 9:6.)
The Discussion Regarding Torah Scholars
However, Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai disagreed regarding Torah scholars (Berakhot 35b). According to Rabbi Yishmael, they should combine work with Torah study, whereas according to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, they should devote all their time to Torah study, and God would provide for them.
In concluding the discussion, the Gemara cites the words of two of the great Amoraim. Abaye said: “Many acted in accordance with Rabbi Yishmael, and it worked for them; [those who acted] in accordance with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, it did not work for them.” Rava would regularly say to his students: Please, during the months of Nisan and Tishrei, when agricultural work in Babylonia was extensive, and one could earn enough from it to live with difficulty throughout the entire year, do not come to study with me, so that you will not be preoccupied with earning your livelihood throughout the year.
Thus, the proper guidance for Torah scholars was to combine work with Torah study. They were nevertheless required to ensure that their Torah remained primary, and their work secondary, and in this way, they would merit having both Torah and work endure for them. Furthermore, according to many authorities, even Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai did not intend this to be the proper guidance for ordinary Torah scholars, but rather, a pious practice for exceptionally outstanding Torah scholars (Tosafot, “Kan Bizman”; Sefer Hasidim 995; Maharsha, Berakhot 35b; Novellae and Commentaries of the Vilna Gaon on the Talmud; HaMakneh on Kiddushin 82a; Nefesh HaChaim 1:8; Even Yisrael, Drush 3; Chatam Sofer, Sukkah 36a; Kuntres Acharon on Sha’agat Aryeh, section 1. Similar views were expressed by Tosafot of Rabbi Yehuda HaChasid and Tosafot of the Rosh.)
How Does the Public Fulfill the Mitzvah of “You Shall Meditate on It Day and Night”?
Indeed, our Sages themselves asked: How can the Jewish nation devote most of the day to work when, seemingly, the mitzvah of Torah study obligates them to study day and night, as it says: “This book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth, and you shall meditate on it day and night” (Joshua 1:8), and it likewise says: “Rather, his delight is in the Torah of the Lord, and he studies it day and night” (Psalms 1:2)?
They gave two answers. One is that the mitzvah of studying Torah day and night is fulfilled on Shabbat and holidays (see Peninei Halakha, Shabbat 5:1, note 1). The second is that during the six weekdays, the mitzvah is fulfilled by establishing regular times for Torah study during the day and night. Through the fixed study that takes place every day, even when it is difficult to maintain it, one is considered as though he studied throughout the entire day. Thus, the Rambam ruled (Laws of Torah Study 1:8), as did the Shulchan Aruch:
“Every Jewish man is obligated in Torah study, whether poor or wealthy, whether physically healthy or suffering, whether young, or very old. Even a poor person who goes from door to door, and even a married man with a wife and children, is obligated to establish a fixed time for Torah study during the day and at night” (Yoreh De’ah 246:1; and many others wrote similarly, including the Ritva, Alshich, Maharsha, Shelah, Shulchan Gavoah 246:6, Gra, Shnot Eliyahu on Peah 1:1, Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Yoreh De’ah, Laws of Torah Study, Kuntres Acharon 3:1, Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 156:1–2, Or Sameach, Torah Study 1:2, and Ma’amarei HaRe’iyah, pp. 198–199).
The Obligation to Maintain One’s Fixed Times for Torah Study
The times set aside for Torah study must be fixed. Otherwise, there is concern that a person will become absorbed in his work and affairs and forget to study (Rashi, Shabbat 31a). This was likewise established as halakha regarding the morning study period:
“After leaving the synagogue, he should go to the study hall and establish a time for study, and that time must be fixed, so that he does not forgo it, even if he thinks he could earn a great deal [of money].” (Tur and Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 155:1).
However, someone who needs to hurry to his work after prayer should establish his study time before prayer, or at another time during the day (see Shulchan Aruch HaRav, ad loc.).
The Jerusalem Talmud likewise said (Sotah 9:13) that “people of faith in Torah” are exemplified by a certain teacher who would study Scripture with his brother in Tyre. Merchants came and asked him to conduct business with them, but he told them: “I will not cancel my fixed time for study. If there is profit that is meant to come to me, ultimately it will come to me.”
The Shelah wrote (Tractate Chullin, Derekh Chaim 165) that if it happened that a person missed his fixed study time, he should make it up at night, and should not postpone it until the following day (based on Eruvin 65a). The halakhic authorities wrote that if, during his fixed study time, he encounters a business opportunity involving a very large profit, or a situation involving prevention of a loss, such as a davar ha-aved that is permitted during Chol HaMoed, or an important family event, he may postpone his study time and make it up later (Mor U’Ketziah 155:1; Magen Gibborim 155:3; Alei Tamar, Jerusalem Talmud, ad loc.).
The Severity of Neglecting One’s Fixed Times for Torah Study
During the hours when a person is supposed to engage in Torah study—both at the beginning of his studies, when he needs to learn the foundations of Torah necessary to guide his life, and later in life, during the times he has established for Torah study—he must be extremely careful not to neglect Torah study.
Regarding this, our Sages said: “Whoever interrupts words of Torah and engages in idle conversation is fed burning coals of the broom tree” (Chagigah 12b; see Maharal, Netiv HaTorah 4).
The Questions Asked by the Heavenly Court
Our Sages said (Shabbat 31a) that when a person enters judgment before the Heavenly Court, he is asked six questions. The first concerns work: “Did you conduct your business faithfully?” That is, were you honest in your work and business? The second question is: “Did you establish regular times for Torah study?” (Shabbat 31a).
From this we learn the tremendous value of establishing regular times for Torah study.
How Much Time Should One Devote to His Fixed Study Periods?
Our Sages learned from the words of Rabbi Yoesi (Menachot 99b), that in order to fulfill the establishment of a regular “time” for study, one must study at least “one chapter in the morning, and one chapter in the evening.”
According to Rabbi Yehoshua, at the very least, one should study “two halakhot in the morning, and two halakhot in the evening” (Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Exodus 16:4).
It is not clear exactly what amount of study is represented by “two halakhot,” through which, according to Rabbi Yehoshua, one can fulfill the requirement of establishing a fixed time. However, it appears that it refers to meaningful study through which even a person who works all day, can make some progress every day in Torah study and knowledge.
Indeed, if one studies every day, for example, two sections of Peninei Halakha, and likewise every night, then within one year one can complete approximately nine books.
Perhaps one can say that according to Rabbi Yehoshua, each “time” is a period of approximately five to ten minutes, during which one can study two halakhot, whereas according to Rabbi Yosei, it is approximately half an hour.
The Words of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai
According to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, “Even if a person has read nothing but the Shema in the morning, and the Shema in the evening, he has fulfilled the commandment of ‘it shall not depart’” (and likewise in Tikkunei Zohar 21, 60a).
However, our Sages added that “it is forbidden to say this in the presence of ignorant people,” lest they rely on his opinion, and become lax about establishing regular times for Torah study.
“Rava said: It is a mitzvah to say it in the presence of ignorant people,” so that anyone who recites the Shema will know that he too has a share in Torah together with all Israel, and will know how great is the virtue of reciting the Shema morning and evening, through which he has already merited fulfilling the mitzvah of Torah study at a basic level (Menachot 99b).
In practice, the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 246:1) wrote that every Jew is obligated to “establish a fixed time for Torah study during the day and at night,” without mentioning the opinion of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
However, the Rema added: “In a time of great difficulty, even if he only recites the Shema in the morning and evening,” he has fulfilled the mitzvah.
This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper and was translated from Hebrew.
