Image: Torah Scroll.
I learn Torah because I think it offers a framework for living my life.
If I am busy observing 613 mitzvot [commandments] there is not much time or energy left for getting into mischief.
If I am busy blessing the food that I eat, the mitzvot I perform, and the ordinary pleasures of life there’s very little time left for being unhappy.
If I fill my days with chesed [lovingkindness] there will be no room for kveching.
If I fill my mouth with blessings there will be no room in it for lashon hara.
I learn Torah because it offers me a framework in which I can explore my options and make choices to live a better life. When I have a tough decision, I look to the tradition for the many discussions on that subject: what did the early rabbis have to say about it? What did Maimonides teach? What have more recent scholars had to say to people in my situation? What do my rabbis think? And then I use my brain, and I decide for myself.
But without the study, without the Torah, I have to make it up all on my own. There are things I won’t think of until it is too late. There are things I might never have considered. But when I have the Torah at my back, I know that while I may still make a mistake, I will know how I got there, and the tradition will still be with me to show me how to take responsibility and repair any damage.
With mitzvot [commandments] to shape my life, and the Torah to inform my choices, I believe I have a chance at making a real difference in the world.
I learn Torah because people much wiser than I found wisdom there.
