Nefesh HaChayim, Gate IV

Additionally, I desired to include the following in the range of the book’s contents:1. the tremendous obligation of involvement with Torah942Heb.: ei-sek ha-Torah. I translate this as “involvement with Torah”, implying that there is an active and intentional element, rather than it being incidental. Rav Chayyim, as it will be seen in this Gate, understands “involvement with Torah” to be constant active engagement with the Torah’s actual words and ideas, and not the performance of mitzvote, peripheral involvement with Torah, Jewish life in general, or other activities that promote Jewish life. that’s incumbent upon each person of Israel day and night, and2. to expand a bit in words about the greatness of:a. the Torah’s splendorous honor and high degree943Heb.: g’doolaht y’kar tif-ahr-ta u-ma-ah-la-ta shel Torah; and ofb. the righteous person who is involved with and attends deeply944Heb.: v’ho-geh to it [fem.]945With “her” being the Torah, the Torah of compassion being on his tongue so as to gratify his Former and Creator (blessed be His name); and ofc. the person of knowledge who expends effort to support it [fem.], and nourish it [fem.] and to reinforce its [fem.] condition, even after so long for Israel, during which the involvement with the holy Torah was denigrated in each successive generation.

And lo, now, in these generations, due to our many sins, it has fallen very far. It is cast in the hidden recesses of the lowest levels (may the Merciful save us), as we see now for the majority of our nation, as a result of the great difficulty of bearing the burden of earning a living, may God-YHV”H have mercy.

And also some of those who desire to come close to God-Elohi”m946Heb.: kirvaht elohi”m yakh-p’tzoon (Yeshayahu 58:2). This verse is used in the context of people who may be sincere about growing close to God but who take the wrong path. By using this verse, Rav Chayyim may be establishing a context in which a desire to approach and grow close to a just God requires truly understanding and integrating into ourselves the foundations of justice, which are the written Torah and the laws that are derived from it., they [emphatic] chose for themselves to make their steady practice, the core of their studies, books that cultivate awe/fear and teach ethical guidance947Heb.: sifrei yir-ah u-moo-sar all their days, without making a steady practice—the core of their involvement—with our holy Torah, in scripture and myriad laws948Heb.: b’mikra-ote va-ha-la-khote m’roo-bote. Rav Chayyim begins here to define what he considers to be the key features of involvement with Torah (ei-sek ha-Torah). He seems to take as a given that involvement with Torah primarily means the learning of texts, and then putting what’s learned into practice. His central focus here is the definition of what constitutes Torah. He specifically uses two words: mikra-ote and ha-la-khote. Mikra usually refers to the Choomahsh (the five books of Moses), but often includes the entire written Torah. Ha-la-kha usually refers to the texts that derive the Torah’s laws from the Mikra or other sources; this is usually taken to be the oral Torah, which is Sha”s (Mishna and G’mara) and Po-skim (rabbinic responsa). Also refer to Nechemyah 8:8, where mikra means reading from a book (there specifically the Choomahsh) and Bava Batra, perek 1 (yikh-n’soo) and perek 8 (kahtahn b’koolahm rabban yokhanan ben zakai, amroo ahlahv…).. And in their entire lives they have not yet seen the sources of light in the heavens949Heb.: m’oh-rote, this being the word that is used for the Sun and the Moon and the stars in the sky. Literally, “the illuminators”., and the light of Torah950The light of Torah is mentioned many times in this Gate. See footnote 91 in Gate 1, Chapter 2. has not touched upon them (may God forgive them, for their intention is towards heaven), but this is not the path by which the light of Torah will dwell within them.

And the truth is that books that cultivate awe/fear are like all the righteous ways of God, for the earlier generations had made a steady practice, all their days, of involvement with and rational consideration of our holy Torah, engrossed in the study tents of G’mara, RaSh”Y’s commentary and Tosafote. The flame of the love of our holy Torah burned in their heart/minds like a burning fire, in a pure love and awe/fear of God-YHV”H. Their whole desire was to increase its [fem.] honor and make it mighty. And they expanded their range via many proper students so that the earth would be filled with knowledge.

And as the ages passed, it being the manner of the [evil] inclination, from of old, to be envious of God’s nation when they [emphatic] are treading on the path of God in the way it deserves, it injected poison into them, causing some of the students to focus all of their regular practice and involvement only in hair-splitting intellectualism951Heb.: pil-pool and nothing else but that952Lacking the quality of awe/fear (yir-ah). And we learned in our Mishna953Mishna Avot 3:21: “If there’s no awe/fear, there’s no wisdom”, and there are many other statements of our sages (OBM) like this, as we’ll bring in chapter 4, G-d willing. For that reason, some of their great ones, the eyes of the community—those whose path in holiness was to be assiduous in correcting the collective of our siblings, the house of Israel—awakened themselves to remove the obstacles and seal the breeches, to lift the barrier from the path of God’s nation. They occupied themselves with rebukes and ethical guidance and character traits, and they authored books of awe/fear to straighten out the nation’s heart/ mind so that they would be involved in the holy Torah and in worship with a pure awe/fear of God.

However every intelligent person whose intellect operates honestly will understand on his own that they didn’t intend therewith to cause the involvement with the main body of Torah to be abandoned (heaven forefend), and to be involved solely, all the time, with their books of ethical guidance. Rather their intention was that the holy nation’s primary steady practice of learning would be only the holy Torah, written and oral, and myriad laws, them [emphatic] being the essentials of Torah, but accompanied by a pure awe/fear of God.

And so it came to be in these generations, because of our many sins, it became inverted. What was high was caused to fall, and some put the primary steady practice of their learning for most of their days only in books of fear/awe and ethical guidance, asserting that the whole purpose of man in his world is to always be involved with them, because they ignite the heart/minds, that then his heart/mind will submit and cause the [evil] inclination to surrender and subdue its desires, and become righteous via good character traits. And the Torah’s crown was set down in the corner. And with my own eyes I’ve seen in one province, that so much has this spread for them, until in most of their study halls there’s nothing in them but a vast number of books of ethical guidance, and it doesn’t have even one complete set of Sha”s. And their eyes are prevented from seeing954Ref: Yeshayahu 44:18, their heart/minds from understanding and intellectually knowing, that this is not the path that God chose, that it will not be accepted. And in a little while, as time passes, it could happen (heaven forefend) that they will be without a teacher955Heb.: l’lo ko-hein mo-reh, literally: “without a priest teacher”. And Torah—what will become of it?

And so, for this reason, whoever is capable with words should stop others, and tell the loyal tribes of Israel, those who awe/fear God-YHV”H and who contemplate His name, about the path on which they can walk towards the light of Torah. Woe is us on the Day of Judgment. Woe is us on the day of rebuke because of the transgression of disruption of Torah956Heb.: bee-too-la shel Torah, when He (blessed be His name) becomes zealous for it [fem.] to demand satisfaction for its [fem.] insult.

And first, I’ll focus my words957Heb.: ah-seem divrahtee. Ref.: Iyyov 5:8. on the matter of involvement with Torah for its own sake958Heb.: Torah lishma. Literally “Torah for the name [fem.]” or “Torah for its name [fem.]”. We translate it as “Torah for its own sake”. Torah lishma is the primary theme of Gate 4.—what “for its own sake” means—for this too is connected to a horrible misunderstanding959Heb.: pree cha-taht, ref: Meekha 6:7: pree vitnee, cha-taht nahfshee, denoting the horribly mistaken idea that the sacrifice of a child could atone for a transgression, for there are some who halt themselves from involvement with the holy Torah because they think that the definition of the matter of “for its own sake” is “with a great attachment960Heb.: b’d’veikoot ga-dole, without interruption”.

And there’s an evil even more pathological than this: in their thoughts they hypothesize that involvement with Torah without attachment amounts to nothing, and has no benefit (heaven forefend). And for that reason, when they observe that their heart/mind doesn’t arrive at the level where their learning would be with a constant attachment, they don’t even start to learn, and the result of this would be that the Torah will fade away (heaven forefend). And as the matter progresses, it will be explained (G-d willing) therefore, the high degree of the holy Torah and of the person who is involved with it [fem.] as it deserves.

To this end, there is a necessity to cite a few of our rabbi’s (OBM) statements in the Sha”s and midrashim and Zohar, for in them are discussed the wonders of the holy Torah’s high degree and of he who is involved with it, and the magnitude of its reward and punishment (may the Merciful save us). Even though all of those statements are well known and famous, even so I gathered them together to impassion the heart/minds of those who desire to motivate themselves to be attached961Heb.: l’hit-da-beik to the love of His (blessed be He) Torah, and to motivate themselves to rest962Heb.: l’hit-lo-nein in her awesomely supernal shadow.