Ethics of our Fathers: Chapter 4 Mishna 12: Dont Squander Spiritual Opportunities Rabbi Meir said: Do rather less business and occupy yourself with the Torah; be humble before all men; if you neglect the Torah, you will have many disturbing causes in your way but if you toil in the Torah, G-d has abundant reward to give you. The first part of the Mishna tells us that we should minimize the amount of time we put into our livelihood and occupy the majority of our time with learning Torah. Livelihood is very important because without that, one wont be able to study! This means that we should try and find a livelihood that can make us enough money but be free to learn as much Torah as possible. When choosing a field of work this should be of utmost priority. Although it is not always easy to find, our goal in this world is to provide for ourselves and our families while maximizing the amount of time we learn Torah. The next part of the Mishna is a continuation of learning Torah because if we learn properly and truly internalize the eternal messages we will be humble and realize what our real task is in this world! The Torah will become part of ourselves which will help us strive and realize our potential through great effort in learning it. If we dont learn Torah properly or even neglect it then G-d will send difficulties our way. This means that if we have the opportunity to learn and dont or we dont learn at all then G-d will rebuke us by sending us difficult challenges. These are seen as a wakeup call, so-to-speak that will hopefully take us out of our slumber and put us on the right track. Just as parents dont like to rebuke their kids, they sometimes have to and correct their errant behavior. So to, G-d wants the best for us but sometimes has to punish us for our wrong actions. If we try and maximize all our efforts to try and learn and better ourselves spiritually, G-d himself will give us reward. Even though G-d has different messengers to do His work, in this case, G-d will see to it Himself that His beloved ones receive the merit they deserve. If G-d has to mete out justice, G-d forbid, He does it through His messengers whereas the reward comes straight from him. Although we know this to be true, we dont keep Torah and do mitzvos for the sake of reward. We do them because we believe it is the right thing to do regardless of whether we get reward or not! When we realize the great opportunity that G-d gives us to learn His Torah and keep His mitzvos, we must not squander it. That being said, it is not an easy task but at the same time, when we put in the effort we see the results. No one puts in effort and sees nothing; everything we do builds on previous things and makes us stronger in our beliefs!
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 05:44:41 +0000
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