Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated the completion of
Shas, perhaps the central work of Torah and the one that gets
the greatest attention among those who study Torah. These are
active, busy people, and many of them are quite familiar with
many of the other works that the world has to offer, they
have access to and can afford the greatest products of the
West — yet they spent thousands of hours studying the
Talmud, and happily came together to celebrate the completion
of one cycle of study and the beginning of another one.
What is the attraction?
The easiest answer is, of course, just try it yourself and
then you will see. This is also, undoubtedly, the best answer
as well, for many reasons. If one experiences for himself the
sweetness and depth of a study that has engaged thousands of
the best minds of humanity, that will certainly provide an
answer to the question.
Torah is generally an inward-directed system. It is not
primarily concerned with describing itself to those on the
outside as it is with providing the needs of those on the
inside. It is certainly not oriented towards flattering
itself or selling itself to those who are not committed. The
Talmud and all the other works are written for those who want
to learn Torah, and not for those who are hostile or
indifferent.
While a skeptic might say that all adherents of a system
speak in favor of their system, an honest evaluator would
notice that, while they all speak positively, they do not all
say the same things.
"It is more precious than pearls, and all that you have
cannot compare to it in value. Length of days is found at its
right, and at its left are found riches and honor. Its ways
are the ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace"
(Mishlei 3:15-17).
It is enlightening to hear what a dedicated talmid
chochom who lived not so long ago said about Torah.
"Toil in Torah has the power to purify the soul, to make it
delicate and clean and to draw to it the pleasant feeling of
purity and kedushoh. [It also] implants a deep disgust
for frivolity and empty pleasures" (Chazon Ish, Sefer
Emunoh Ubitochon, 3:7, p. 22).
"A man who achieves knowledge of the Torah [that is to say,
that his mind, which is put into the soul as a seed is placed
in a field, is united with the wisdom (of Torah) and they
become as one flesh] — goes among people and he seems
to those who see only with their eyes as just another person.
However! In truth he is like an angel who lives among
mortals, and he lives a life of nobility that is exalted
above any blessing and praise" (Kovetz Igros,
I:13).
The Chazon Ish is here talking about one who is utterly
dedicated to Torah and learns it diligently, working as hard
as he can to plumb its depths. No one who learns as "little"
as an hour a day, even if he learns 365 days a year for seven-
and-a-half years, can expect to reach this sort of level. He
may remember the taste of it from youthful years of greater
dedication, but it requires much more than learning just a
daf a day.
Yet this is the power and the possibility of Torah. Even
those who cannot expect to reach it, can appreciate it and
feel it in whatever they learn.
That is the attraction.
