There
was once a scholar who was quite arrogant despite—or perhaps because of—his
Torah knowledge.
He
once chanced upon Reb Zushia, a Chassidic master known for his humility, who
taught him a life lesson.
Reb Zushia quoted the Talmudic discussion of whether
the holy ark containing the Torah scrolls could be counted toward the 10 men
required to form a prayer quorum—a notion the Talmud suggests and then rejects,
noting that an ark is not a person, and only people can constitute a minyan.
“Why
did the Talmud originally think,” Reb Zushia asked his visitor, “that the ark
containing the Torah scrolls can be counted? Surely the Talmud’s rejoinder,
that an ark is not a person, is obvious?”
The
man was dumbfounded, not knowing what to respond.
“Although
an ark is merely a wooden box,” explained Reb Zushia, “it contains within it
Torah scrolls. It was therefore supposed that the Torah it contains may elevate
it to human status. The truth is, however, that despite the Torah you possess,
if you remain a wooden box, unaffected by the Torah you’ve learned, you’re
hardly a mentsch (righteous person).”
The
name of this week’s Torah portion, Bechukotai, can be linked to the Hebrew root word that means “engrave.”
Just as words etched in stone are not a distinct entity from the stone itself,
so must our studies be internalized and engraved upon our hearts—or else we are
but wooden boxes.
This little story is reminiscent of the parables told
by Yeshua (Jesus), Himself a Torah observant Jew. There is a profound lesson
for Christians here, as well. The Apostle Paul expounded on it in 1 Corinthians
13:1, to wit: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have
not charity (agape love), I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal”
Or, put in another light: should one own every
translation and/or version of the Bible, bound in the finest leathers, and have
studied all of them from cover to cover, to the point that he can quote
appropriate book, chapter and verse as the occasion demands, if what has been
read is not being applied to one’s life, if it is not being lived then we, as Christians, are
hardly better than the animal skin with which our Bibles are bound. ~ Pilgrim
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