Reply To: Short & Sweet

Chukas: Do You Exist?

The Gemora famously tells us, based on the the Pasuk in this week’s parsha זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באהל, that the Torah is only מתקיים by a person who “kills” himself for it. What exactly is that supposed to mean?

Perhaps we can explain this with the attitude of Rebbi Akiva. When asked why he was teaching Torah despite the danger involved, he compared leaving the Torah to a fish leaving the water – certain death. He recognized that for a Jew to exist without Torah is simply not possible. כי הם חיינו ואורך ימינו, the Torah is our very existence and identity. When we truly feel that we cannot be without it, that is when we become one with Hashem’s Torah.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום