What Our Life Amounts To: Maximizing Our Torah Learning

Our last few pieces have spelled out the great value of talmud Torah. Sadly, many do not appreciate this value. Avot’s sixth perek teaches that a bat kol (Heavenly voice) cries daily over those who insult Torah by not taking advantage of the opportunity to study it. Torah learning is both extremely valuable and grossly underappreciated.

Heaven’s cry is not a distant concern; it is especially relevant to our times. The Industrial Revolution and subsequent technological advances shortened the amount of time needed to complete our workload, and electric lights have expanded our nocturnal productivity. Together, these advancements afford us an unprecedented amount of free time.

But how do we use the time we are gifted? Unfortunately, much of the world devotes it to leisure and entertainment, using their free time for activities that neither enrich them nor impact their surroundings in any meaningful way.

Many mefarshim see this as the problem Rebbi Chanina ben Chachinai highlights when he teaches that “one who stays awake at night … has forfeited his life” (Avot 3:4). The problem is not being up at night in and of itself, but instead, staying up at night without learning Torah. Hashem created nights for Torah study and sleep. One who wastes it does not deserve the life he was given.

To make matters more challenging, we live in an age of constant distraction. Distraction is, in fact, no further than the palm of our hands. Although people have always been drawn to meaningless pursuits, easy access to social media and entertainment has dramatically increased the temptation.

We need to consider the contrast between the great value of Torah learning versus the amount of time we commit to it. We should reflect upon what we gain from the activities we presently invest our time and energy in versus the growth we would achieve if we devoted ourselves to talmud Torah.

{Translating Our Good Intentions

Many of us attempt to increase the time we devote to Torah study, but struggle to put our good intentions into practice.

Chazal address this problem with a practical recipe for success. It begins with being “kovei’ah itim l’Torah.” Devoting a set time each day and night to Torah learning reinforces our appreciation of its importance and gives us a better chance of continuing consistently.

Ideally, we should set aside the first and last hours of each day, “when we go to sleep and when we awake,” for Torah study. Learning first thing in the morning demonstrates that Torah is our priority and ensures we learn before the day gets busy. Learning at the end of our day frames the day with holiness and infuses our sleep with thoughts of Torah.

Studying with a chavrutah in a beit midrash and joining a set daily learning program (like Daf Yomi) also helps maintain a commitment to learning. Learning with a chavrutah expands our commitment beyond ourselves and makes us responsible to someone else. Learning in a beit midrash adds atmosphere to our learning. Instead of learning in a vacuum, we are part of a cadre of learners. This sense of community and shared commitment can provide the support and encouragement we need for our journey of Torah learning.

{Time and Travel

In addition to the set times we devote to learning, our appreciation of Torah’s value should inspire us to actively seek additional opportunities to study it. There are many throughout the day.

Travel time is an excellent example. Many of us spend hours commuting each day. What do we do while driving, or on the train, bus, or plane? This travel time is an excellent opportunity to listen to a shiur or read a sefer. By doing so, we increase our Torah learning, reinforce our appreciation of Torah, and fulfill the words we recite thrice daily in Kriat Shema—“You should speak about them (words of Torah) when you sit in your home and when you travel on the road.”

{Torah Ambitions

Another important facilitator of Torah learning is the fostering and reinforcement of our ambition to become a talmid chacham. In addition to our commitment to fulfilling the mitzvah to study Torah, our appreciation of the Torah’s value should inspire us to expand our Torah knowledge and realize our potential for growth.

It is never too late to acquire Torah knowledge. Rabbi Akiva began his meteoric growth at age forty. Most of us are already ahead of him and just need to maintain our focus and continue our efforts.

{What Our Life Amounts To

Rav Ovadya Yosef, zt’l, told the story of a rabbi visiting a town for the first time. The locals gave their honored guest a tour, taking him to see the shul, the school, the mikveh, and, finally, the cemetery. The rabbi was shocked to see that all the matzeivot (gravestones) memorialized children who had died young: Reuven, 12 years old. Shimon, 11 years old. Levi, 15 years old, and so on. “Was there a plague here?” he asked. “A pogrom? Why did they all die so young?”

“No, rabbi,” the mayor explained. “In this town, we keep track of the time we spend each day learning Torah and doing mitzvot. At the end of the day, we tally up those hours and record them on a small pad. At the end of each week, month, and year, each person tallies their total hours of Torah study. When someone dies, we calculate the total amount of time they spent learning Torah and performing mitzvot. For this person, it was ten years, for that person twelve. The ages on the gravestone are their Torah ages, not their biological ones.”

In a similar vein, Rav Shmelka M’Nikelsburg would challenge his chassidim to consider what would happen if someone who was already deceased was allowed to return to this world for a few days. How would he spend his limited time? Having gained (after death) a better appreciation for time well spent versus time wasted, the newly revived man would surely rush to the beit midrash to learn as much Torah as possible and certainly wouldn’t waste his time on idle chatter and meaningless activities.

We, too, should appreciate the limited time we have in this world and use it well. n

Rav Reuven Taragin is the Dean of Overseas Students at Yeshivat Hakotel and the Educational Director of World Mizrachi and the RZA.

His new book, Essentials of Judaism, can be purchased at RabbiReuvenTaragin.com.