What should we do in a time when Torah scholarship is scorned and its wisdom neglected? Here is the advice of the Talmudic sage Hillel: "If you see a generation that loves Torah, you should spread [Torah]. And if you see a generation that does not appreciate Torah, you should gather in [withhold teaching Torah], as it says, 'It is a time to act for God, they have violated Your Torah' ." (Brachot 63)
Peculiar advice! Would it not be more advisable to increase the dissemination of Torah precisely in such a lost and confused generation, when it is most needed?
Appreciation of Torah requires preparation of the soul and purity of the heart. Only then can one recognize the tremendous importance of Torah, its special light, and the true success achieved by those who study it, and through them, the entire generation. Any moral decay in the world is rooted in a crisis of knowledge and beliefs. First the opinions and viewpoints of the intellectual leaders become warped, and they in turn influence and corrupt the views of the common people.
"If you see a generation that does not appreciate Torah" - This stems from a fundamental problem in beliefs. Those methods and images that were used to express the inner essence of the Torah succeeded in reaching and engaging the previous generation; but the current generation can no longer relate to them. The world has changed. The old images are no longer effective in opening the hearts and minds to the inner truth of Torah.
At such a time, we are obligated to increase knowledge in lofty matters, delving into the fundamental teachings of the Torah. The philosophical underpinnings of the Torah must be analyzed and clarified with depth of thought. And when the intelligentsia is able to grasp what they were missing in faith and knowledge, their relation to the Torah will be restored and appreciation for Torah will return to the entire generation.
When Torah wisdom is not respected, it is a sign that the inner concepts of the Torah have not been fully clarified. The matter will not be corrected by further spreading of obvious and simple ideas. Words of rebuke and shallow sentiments - even if they are essential correct, and effective for simple, unpretentious folk - will no longer work. We must attend to the root of the problem. The response must be to "gather in" - to delve into and re-evaluate the philosophical underpinnings of the Torah.
On the other hand, when the Torah is widely loved and respected, we should further spread its teachings. Since its views are widely accepted, it is appropriate to teach those unsophisticated ideas and simple messages that appeal to the common man. Even though this dissemination will not add qualitatively to our understanding of the Torah, it will enrich it quantitatively with more people studying and fulfilling it. And from these new students will come forth the great minds who will help reveal its light in a confused generation.
The Torah contains esoteric subjects that should not be publicized when the generation does not require them, but it becomes our obligation to clarify them when the generation needs them. Then, "it is a time to act for God", for the sake of Heaven, "they have violated Your Torah" - the scholars undertake to violate the usual principles and reveal hidden areas of the Torah. For example, the Oral Law was committed to writing, despite the prohibition against writing down that which was meant to be transmitted orally. Even sublime midrashic topics, normally taught privately to the select few, were written down and exposed to the public.
The more the Torah is abandoned, the greater is our obligation to analyze the hidden, 'gathered-in' portions of the Torah. This need of the generation is the Divine messenger to uplift the community and the individual. "For I fell, I have risen up; for I sit in darkness, God will be my light." (Micha 7:8) As the Sages explained the verse: If I had not fallen, I would not have risen up. If I had not sat in the darkness, God would not be my light. (Shir Rabba 6)
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Chanan Morrison, of Mitzpeh Yericho, runs a website (RavKook.n3.net) dedicated to presenting the Torah commentary of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, to the English-speaking community.
Peculiar advice! Would it not be more advisable to increase the dissemination of Torah precisely in such a lost and confused generation, when it is most needed?
Appreciation of Torah requires preparation of the soul and purity of the heart. Only then can one recognize the tremendous importance of Torah, its special light, and the true success achieved by those who study it, and through them, the entire generation. Any moral decay in the world is rooted in a crisis of knowledge and beliefs. First the opinions and viewpoints of the intellectual leaders become warped, and they in turn influence and corrupt the views of the common people.
"If you see a generation that does not appreciate Torah" - This stems from a fundamental problem in beliefs. Those methods and images that were used to express the inner essence of the Torah succeeded in reaching and engaging the previous generation; but the current generation can no longer relate to them. The world has changed. The old images are no longer effective in opening the hearts and minds to the inner truth of Torah.
At such a time, we are obligated to increase knowledge in lofty matters, delving into the fundamental teachings of the Torah. The philosophical underpinnings of the Torah must be analyzed and clarified with depth of thought. And when the intelligentsia is able to grasp what they were missing in faith and knowledge, their relation to the Torah will be restored and appreciation for Torah will return to the entire generation.
When Torah wisdom is not respected, it is a sign that the inner concepts of the Torah have not been fully clarified. The matter will not be corrected by further spreading of obvious and simple ideas. Words of rebuke and shallow sentiments - even if they are essential correct, and effective for simple, unpretentious folk - will no longer work. We must attend to the root of the problem. The response must be to "gather in" - to delve into and re-evaluate the philosophical underpinnings of the Torah.
On the other hand, when the Torah is widely loved and respected, we should further spread its teachings. Since its views are widely accepted, it is appropriate to teach those unsophisticated ideas and simple messages that appeal to the common man. Even though this dissemination will not add qualitatively to our understanding of the Torah, it will enrich it quantitatively with more people studying and fulfilling it. And from these new students will come forth the great minds who will help reveal its light in a confused generation.
The Torah contains esoteric subjects that should not be publicized when the generation does not require them, but it becomes our obligation to clarify them when the generation needs them. Then, "it is a time to act for God", for the sake of Heaven, "they have violated Your Torah" - the scholars undertake to violate the usual principles and reveal hidden areas of the Torah. For example, the Oral Law was committed to writing, despite the prohibition against writing down that which was meant to be transmitted orally. Even sublime midrashic topics, normally taught privately to the select few, were written down and exposed to the public.
The more the Torah is abandoned, the greater is our obligation to analyze the hidden, 'gathered-in' portions of the Torah. This need of the generation is the Divine messenger to uplift the community and the individual. "For I fell, I have risen up; for I sit in darkness, God will be my light." (Micha 7:8) As the Sages explained the verse: If I had not fallen, I would not have risen up. If I had not sat in the darkness, God would not be my light. (Shir Rabba 6)
--------------------------------------------------------
Chanan Morrison, of Mitzpeh Yericho, runs a website (RavKook.n3.net) dedicated to presenting the Torah commentary of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, to the English-speaking community.