The greatest of the Tannaim and Amoraim supported themselves from their work, making their Torah study permanent and their work incidental — and both were sustained in their hands • There is a necessity to support learners in order to serve as rabbis and teachers, for if not, there will be no rabbis and teachers in Israel • When the learner does not receive charity, there is no desecration of God’s Name in his studying all day and not working • The distinction of a Torah scholar who supports himself from his work is greater than the distinction of a Torah scholar who is supported by others
Is It Proper to Encourage People to Be Avreichim?
Q: I heard a rabbi who said in a sermon that anyone who can be an avreich — subsisting on a stipend and his wife’s work and dedicating his life to Torah — should do so. His argument was that the commandment of Torah study obligates one to study at all times, and only one who has no choice and must work for his livelihood is permitted to be idle from it — but one who can support himself from a stipend is obligated to dedicate his life to Torah. He further added that in doing so he contributes to the Jewish people more than anything else.
He also added that it is preferable to study as many years as possible in kollel, and only as a last resort should one agree to leave the study hall to serve as a teacher — but as long as his family can subsist on his wife’s earnings and the stipend, it is preferable to remain and study in kollel. I was greatly astonished by his words, and I asked him: how can it be proper to encourage people to support themselves from stipends, allowances, and charity?! And besides, if all Jews were to conduct themselves this way, the Jewish people would be impoverished — and how could it be a light unto the nations?! But he answered that I was speaking like an ignoramus. Are his words correct according to the Torah?
The Words of the Rambam
A: The Rambam wrote: “Anyone who sets his heart upon studying Torah and not engaging in work, and who supports himself from charity — has desecrated God’s Name, disgraced the Torah, extinguished the light of religion, brought harm upon himself, and removed his life from the World to Come. For it is forbidden to derive benefit from words of Torah in this world. Our Sages said: Anyone who derives benefit from words of Torah has removed his life from the World to Come. And they further commanded and said: Do not make them a crown to magnify yourself with, nor a spade with which to dig. And they further commanded and said: Love work and despise the rabbinate, and any Torah that is not accompanied by work will ultimately come to naught — and that person will ultimately end up robbing people” (Hilchot Talmud Torah 3:10).
And so conducted the greatest of the Tannaim and Amoraim, who supported themselves from their work, making their Torah study permanent and their work incidental — and both were sustained in their hands (Berachot 35b). It is true that the Sages who were appointed as leaders ceased to engage in their work and needed to be wealthy. And if they were not independently wealthy, the community would enrich them, so that they would be respected and their words would be heeded (Kiddushin 70a). However, even they themselves — as long as they had not been appointed as leaders — even though they were great and mighty Torah scholars, engaged in their work. As they said regarding Shimon ben Shatach — that before he was appointed as Nasi, he was engaged in the flax trade (Jerusalem Talmud, Bava Metzia 2:5).
The Necessity of Supporting Learners in Order to Teach
Although the words of the Rambam are well-founded, in practice since the period of the early authorities, the majority of poskim (Jewish law authorities) hold that since the generations have diminished in ability and the body of learning has grown enormously, there is a necessity to support learners in order to serve as rabbis and teachers — for if not, there will be no rabbis and teachers in the Jewish nation. And so wrote the Tashbetz (Part 1, 142–148), Rabbi Yosef Karo (Kesef Mishneh on the Rambam ibid.), the Maharshal and the Shach (Yoreh De’ah 246:20), Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar (Rishon LeTzion 246:21), and many others.
However, all this was said regarding one who studies with the intention of teaching — but concerning one who does not intend to dedicate himself to teaching and rabbinic roles, they too agree with the Rambam that if he supports himself from charity, he makes the Torah a spade with which to dig, and thereby desecrates God’s Name.
Great is One Who Benefits from the Labor of His Own Hands
When the learner does not receive charity, there is no desecration of God’s Name in his studying all day and not working — for example if he supports himself from an inheritance he received, or if he receives a stipend in an honorable manner and not as charity: for instance, when there are donors who of their own initiative wish him to study Torah, and it is not necessary for the kollel heads to solicit donations on behalf of the kollel students.
However, his distinction is lower than that of one who engages in work and sets fixed times for Torah. As our Sages said: “Greater is one who benefits from his own toil than a God-fearing person” (Berachot 8a) — for regarding one who benefits from his toil it says: “When you eat of the labor of your hands, you are fortunate and it shall be good for you” (Psalms 128:2). Our Sages expounded: “You are fortunate — in this world; and it shall be good for you — in the World to Come.” Whereas regarding a God-fearing person it says: “Fortunate is the man who fears God” (Psalms 112:1) — fortunate in this world, but “it shall be good for you” in the World to Come is not stated. And so wrote the Rambam: “It is a great distinction for one who supports himself from the work of his hands, and it is the attribute of the early pious ones — and through this he merits all the honor and goodness in this world and in the World to Come” (Talmud Torah 3:11). The Tur and the Rema cited his words as halakha (Yoreh De’ah 246:21).
That is to say, the distinction of a Torah scholar who supports himself from his work is greater than the distinction of a Torah scholar who is supported by others — even though the one who supports himself from his work studies fewer hours each day (Maharsha and Penei Yehoshua, Berachot 8a; Tashbetz 1:148, and many others). And in the Merkevet HaMishnah (Avot 1:10) by Rabbi Yosef Alashkar, one of the Spanish exiles, he even wrote: “Great is one who studies for one hour and benefits from his toil, more than one who studies the entire day and does no work in order to sustain himself through Torah. And the reason for this is as we said — that he must give a portion to the body and a portion to the soul.”
Further on the Distinction of One Who Benefits from the Labor of His Hands
In Tanna Devei Eliyahu (Zuta 18) the words of the Gemara (Berachot 8a) are brought with additional elaboration: “Rabbi Yochanan said: I call heaven and earth to witness concerning myself, that every Torah scholar who reads and studies for the sake of Heaven and benefits from his toil — about him Scripture says: ‘You are fortunate and it shall be good for you.’ You are fortunate in this world, and it shall be good for you in the World to Come. And it further says: ‘How beautiful you are and how pleasant.’ And not only that, but his wife and children hold him in awe, and the nations of the world hold him in awe, and the ministering angels inquire after his welfare, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, loves him with a complete love — as it says: ‘And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the Name of God is called upon you, and they shall be in awe of you'” (Deuteronomy 28:10).
One Who Supports Himself from His Work Cleaves to God
One who supports himself from his work bears responsibility for his own sustenance and thereby reveals the image of God within him — as was said to Adam, that his purpose was to work and guard it, meaning to support himself by his own powers. And since he thereby expresses the talents that God placed within him, he benefits from the labor of his hands. In this he cleaves to the attribute of the Holy One, Blessed be He — for God created the world and did not complete it, in order to give man a place to be His partner in the sustaining of the world. For this reason, the Maharal wrote: “For one who benefits from the labor of his hands, it is impossible that he should not also attain love of God” (Netiv HaOsher 1). By contrast, one who does not support himself and relies on others becomes dependent upon others, his mind preoccupied with whether they will give to him, how much and in what manner — and the image of God within him is diminished (based on the Maharal ibid.).
Similarly, we learned that Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa and his wife did not wish to receive a gift that had not come to them through the labor of their hands — even when it was a golden table-leg that descended to them from Heaven — because they learned in a dream that this gift would diminish their distinction, and reduce their reward in the World to Come (Ta’anit 25a; Maharsha and Chefetz Hashem, Berachot 8a).
Torah Study Together with Derech Eretz
And so our Sages said: “Beautiful is Torah study together with derech eretz (a worldly occupation), for the toil of both causes sin to be forgotten. And any Torah that is not accompanied by work will ultimately come to naught and will bring sin in its wake” (Avot 2:2). That is to say, Torah scholars too must combine their Torah with derech eretz — work for the purpose of livelihood. And if they do not do so, they are liable to come to sin — for only toil in Torah and in work distances a person from transgression, because the Torah rectifies his soul and work rectifies his body, and thus he becomes complete (Meiri; Maharei Alashkar in Merkevet HaMishnah; and the Maharal on Avot ibid.).
The Danger Facing One Who Supports Himself from Charity and Stipends
In addition to this, the commentators wrote that a person who studies Torah and does not engage in work is liable to become pampered and to be drawn after desire. Furthermore, at times in order to receive his sustenance, he will need to flatter those in positions of power and wealth, and to love gifts. And furthermore, at times he will be in need of his sustenance and will be tempted to lie, to steal, to gamble, and to lay his hands on the property of others (Meiri; Tashbetz in Magen Avot; Bartenura ibid.). And as Rabbenu Yonah stated: “He will have neither rest nor quiet until he has transgressed all the commandments stated in the Torah” (ibid.).
Those Engaged in Teaching and Rabbinic Roles Are Considered as Doing Work
It is important to note that those engaged in the sacred work of teaching students or in rabbinic roles — since they must dedicate most of their hours to this — are considered as working, and they are considered as combining Torah with derech eretz in the most exalted manner (on another occasion I hope to elaborate on this foundation).
The Root Sin of the Spies
In a certain measure, those who hold that it is preferable for a person to sit all his days in Kollel, sin with the ‘Sin of the Spies’ — who thought that life in the desert was more sacred and exalted, since it did not involve engagement with practical and material matters. Something similar was written by the Alter Rebbe (Likutei Torah, Shelach 38b) — that they did not wish to enter the Land of Israel, and argued: why is it necessary to descend into the world of action, when it is possible to fulfill “the Torah and the commandments in spirituality, and not in physical deed.” “But in truth, they were mistaken — for the essential thing is to do them specifically in the Land. As our Sages said (Sotah 14a): “How many prayers did Moses pray to enter the Land of Israel? And they asked: Did he need to eat of its fruits? Rather, it was in order to fulfill the commandments dependent upon it.” For the fulfillment of commandments in the Land is the greatest sanctification of God’s Name — and consequently, a great light is revealed from it, greater than from spiritual life alone.
This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper and was translated from Hebrew.
