Our Rabbis taught: The poor, the rich, the sensual come before the heavenly court — They say to the poor: Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah? If he says: I was poor and worried about my sustenance, they would say to him: Were you poorer than Hillel? It was reported about Hillel the Elder that every day he used to work and earn one small coin, half of which he would give to the guard at the House of Learning, the other half being spent for his food and for that of his family etc.

To the rich man they said: Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah? If he said: I was rich and occupied with my possessions, they would say to him: Were you perchance richer than R' Eleazar? It was reported about R' Eleazar ben Harsom that his father left him a thousand cities on the continent and over against that one thousand boats on the sea. Every day he would take a sack of flour on his shoulder and go from city to city and from province to province to study the Torah etc.

To the sensual person they would say: Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah? If he said: I was beautiful and upset by sensual passion, they would say to him: Were you perchance more beautiful than Joseph? It was told of Joseph the virtuous that the wife of Potiphar every day endeavored to entice him with words — The garments she put on for him in the morning, she did not wear in the evening, those she had put on in the evening, she did not wear in the morning etc.

Thus the example of Hillel condemns the poor, the example of R' Eleazar ben Harsom condemns the rich, and Joseph the virtuous condemns the sensual. (Yoma 34b)

The Sefer Sichos Musser asks: How is it possible that even the simplest Jew is obligated to spend his life learning Torah based on the accomplishments of these spiritual giants. Each individual is judged based on his own abilities and the fact that such powerful people were able to overcome their handicaps does not necessarily oblige the average person to live a life of total dedication.

We learn from here that the obligation to learn Torah is not dependent on the the strengths of the individual. We need to constantly learn Torah in order to live! Our spiritual survival is dependent on it. When it comes to the essence of life we are all equal and once some individuals succeed so we are all obligated.

The Rambam states in Laws of Murder 7:1
A disciple who goes into banishment is joined in exile by his Rav, in accordance with the text, and that "fleeing unto one of these cities he might live" (Devarim (19:5), and "so that a murderer might flee there, he who murders his fellow man unintentionally, but did not hate him in time past, that he may flee to one of these cities, so that he might live" (Devarim 4:42) The life of the wise and those who search, without Torah are considered as dead. And just like the Rav goes into exile so does the yeshiva.

Application:
Finds ways to put in more hours of Torah learning.

Give 10 quick answers to the following sentence stems:
If I would learn more Torah…
If I did not interrupt my Torah learning…

It is known that I study Torah.

A woman vehemently asserted to me that " A woman does not need to study Torah. All she needs is to know kashrut !"

What should I reply to her?

Rosemary

The woman is correct. Women are exempt due to the obligations of maintaining a home and a family. Women do not make minyan. Unless you are Bat Mitzvah, you need not concern yourself with the things of men.

B´H

Shalom All and Every One:

I would like to share a couple of ideas I arrived as a consecuence of Rabbi Mitterhoff writing, with your permission!.

There are sensitive differences bewtween a soul ( Nefesh, Ruaj, Neshama ),

the parts of Unity Soul(1) is

appropiated for the human being to

control all soul faculties as his

thought. There should be in front of

his eyes one objective " To comprehend

the Holy One, Hakadosh Baruj Hu," as

much understanding as his/her

intelectual capacity allows directing

all his behaviour: movement rest, and

all communication to this purpose.


, whose feet barely have touched the great ocean of Torah and the one who has mastered profoundly with his/her mouth and heart. Tehillim (49:4) My Mouth speaks wisdom, and the thoughts of my heart are understanding.
tehillim (19:8) The Torah of the Lord is Perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the lord is trustworthy, making wise the simpleton.

In Tana Devei Eliahu : In the future, the Holy one Hakadosh Baruj Hu sits on his Bet Hakenesset in Jerusalem and all jajamin will be seated besides in front of him. Every and each one will be lighted in proportion to the amount of Torah contained in them.(2)

Tehillim (36:10) For the source of life is with you in your light do we see light.


Todah Rabah
Lej leshalom

Sources:
(1) Taller Maimonides, Las Enfermedades del Alma. Universidad Virtual de Judaismo. Rab.n Aryeh Nathan.

(2) Parabolas de Sabiduria. Rav. Israel Meir Hakolei- jefetz Jaim. pp.133.

As to women studying Torah, it may not be required b ut some of the best times I spend with my girlfriend involve Torah. She constantly inspires me to put more effort into it.

According to the Torah their is no such concept as a girlfriend. There is either a wife or someone you plan to marry.

So if a woman wants to learn Torah, should she allowed to do so after she is done with her housekeeping and childcare chores?

quote:

Originally posted by Alex:
So if a woman wants to learn Torah, should she allowed to do so after she is done with her housekeeping and childcare chores?

I don't think that was the point of Rabbi Mitterhoff's posting.

quote:

There is either a wife or someone you plan to marry.

I am curious if there is a concept in Torah terminology since if despite a man's intended plans to marry a particular woman, she does not want to - is there a word to describe a woman that a man wishes to marry, vs a woman who agrees to become married to him?

Or if a yevama is sent offers from multiple surviving brothers, is there a term for her that is different before or after they send in their maamer to express willingness, or after she accepts the maamer from one to the exclusion of any other?

And at a time when 1st and 2nd stage of marriage were separated, is there different terminology for a wife before the 2nd stage?

And should a man divorce his wife after only the 1st stage of marriage, would she be permitted to marry a kohein? Does she have any other terminology than a divorced woman?

Yisroel, I understand, and I was not attemtpting to challenge anybody. I was merely asking the question.

Alex, I'd ask the question the other way around. Why shouldn't she learn Torah if she wants to?

Well, good question. Remember the movie Yentl? Actually, it was a book by I.B.Singer and then a movie. I don't see a problem with a woman learning Torah, and Talmud, and everything there is to learn. You obviously don't either. But for example my grandmother in the 1910s could not study Torah in cheder in her shtetl. Her brothers could, but she and her sisters were not allowed. She was only allowed to study in the "school" - a place where they taught the kids to read and write in Russian, up to a 3rd grade level. Her knowledge of Hebrew letters came from their family friend, who was progressive enough to teach all kids Hebrew.

I am just trying to get a feel for how today's Orthodox Judaism feels about it. Are we still as insecure about a woman learning as we were 100 years ago? Are we more comfortable about it now than we were? Is it okay for a woman to study in a yeshiva? To receive semicha? Provided she does all the traditional woman's work, of course.

I will still post to this topic though it is old now. My notifications were disabled and I thought nobody replied.

I think my initial post was too brief. Alex is hearing what I was trying to say. The big clue was in the "vehemence" of the woman who told me I should only study kashrut. She was angry that I studied Torah. She put her anger on me.

I study Torah. Oh yes. In various ways. And it means so much to me. And I know I don't have to. What concerns me is the attitude that I should not do so - the attempt to stop me, which is what that woman was clearly trying to do (I know because I was there).

I just murmured something at that woman at the time when she said that, like "Uh, huh" and turned my attention elsewhere. But it was the last straw for me with her and I decided to become much less available to her as a "friend". Her constant disapproval of my consideration of Torah seemed incompatible to me with a good friendship.

I would treasure a friendship in which Torah was constantly discussed. I love Torah and surely it is the only real basis for a good life? It can be very helpful to hear words about Torah, and how much better to hear them from one's friends than to have them do other things such as engage in loshon hora or vain pursuits.

Somebody else told me a woman should not study philosophy. I said firmly but politely, "Well, I do, and that's that" and smiled nicely and acted calm and confident. In fact I have almost finished a Master's degree in it.

I am trying to get a proper perspective on these matters. Of course I will need Torah based justification .

Rosemary