The Schar Syllogism
Schar is divine reward. According to the Oxford
dictionary, a syllogism is “an instance of a form of reasoning in which a
conclusion is drawn (whether validly or not) from two given or assumed
propositions (premises), each of which shares a term with the conclusion, and
shares a common or middle term not present in the conclusion (e.g., all dogs
are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore all dogs have four legs
).”
The Jewish world has syllogisms of its own,
including invalid ones. One of the latter goes like this: This purpose of
this fleeting world is only to earn some unspecified reward in the world of
eternal bliss via collection of mitzvah points. Gemara study, specifically contemporary pilpul, or Brisker lomdus
on yeshivishe mesechtas, produces more mitzvah points than all your
mitzvos combined, so we should spend all our time, if possible, on that.
One result of this formula is that mitzvos get pushed aside
as do one’s interests and talents. Those don’t produce the greatest schar,
so why waste time on them? But that contradicts Koheles which tells us
that “The end of the matter is to fear Hashem and keep His commandments. That
is the purpose of man.”[1]
Why would Koheles contradict the schar
syllogism if the latter is Torah truth? After all, you hear it all the time so
it must be true. That’s because the schar syllogism is a fallacy
and a perversion of basic Torah principles. Maimonides lists knowledge of God
first in his list of mitzvos[2]
and the first of his Thirteen Principles. As Rabbi Assaf Bednarsh writes,
“Rambam, however, views knowledge of God as a ‘mitzvah’ itself, as an end and
not a means, as an ennobling spiritual experience and a connection to the
Divine. It is no wonder, then, that Rambam counts the first words of God’s
revelation not only as the first of his thirteen principles, but as the first
and most glorious of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah.”[3]
We see this in the posuk from Koheles
because, as Rabbi Avigdor Miller explains, fear of God means awareness of God.
The awareness of Hakodosh Baruch
Hu, to be aware of God, is the prime purpose of our existence in life. We are
in this world chiefly to attain a clarity of perception of Hakodosh Baruch Hu. Reishis
chochmah yiras Hashem. The highest of all wisdom is to be aware of Hashem.
We call it yiras Hashem, but that’s a form of awareness of Hashem. [4]
Torah study is a fundamental tool for
acquiring knowledge of God for if the goal is knowledge, study will play a
major role in it. That’s obvious. But you need to perform mitzvos too for our
observance of them helps us attain the humility to acquire knowledge, and
observance of mitzvos brings knowledge into our ruach and neshamah
so that we enrich our daas, or experiential knowledge. True knowledge
consists of chochmah, binah, and daas. You see this again in Koheles,
as we are told to fear God (have awareness of Him) and keep His commandments.
They go together. Full knowledge of God requires observance of commandments. As
Rabbi Chaim Navon writes, “the Rambam maintains that perfection of the soul
cannot be achieved without perfection of the body.”[7] So, we can’t spend all our time on pilpul.
However, the schar syllogism encourages us to do exactly that.
Additionally, knowledge of God requires study
of nature. As Maimonides wrote in the Mishneh Torah:
And what is
the way that will lead to the love of Him and the fear of Him? When a person
contemplates His great and wondrous works and creatures and from them obtains a
glimpse of His wisdom, which is incomparable and infinite, he will straightway
love Him, praise Him, glorify Him, and long with an exceeding longing to know
His great name; even as David said, ‘My soul thirsts for God, for the living
God’ (Psalm 42:3).
And when he
ponders these matters, he will recoil frightened, and realize that he is a
small creature, lowly and obscure, endowed with slight and slender
intelligence, standing in the presence of Him who is perfect in knowledge. And
so David said: ‘When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers–what is
man that You are mindful of him?’ (Psalm 8:4-5).[8]
That’s not Brisker lomdus.
You also are
not going to acquire knowledge of God by squashing your talents after entering
a profession only based on how lucrative it may be, being miserable after
marrying person only for the support she’ll provide for Torah study or the
Torah that he will study, feeling uninspired by living in a place whose only
merit is that it is near a yeshiva, wallowing in the cynical outlook that
“nothing else matters” but the daf, or living in ignorance about the
world because all knowledge outside of the daf is branded flippantly as
“nonsense.” Your talents engage you in the experience of God. If you operate
from where you are weak, you’ll develop a weak connection. Passion for living
connects you to God. Moreover, a major part of knowledge of God comes from experiencing
gratitude to Him. The word Jew comes from the name Yehuda, which is the noun
form of the verb “to thank” or “to praise.” A Jew gives thanks to God. You
won’t do that if you are miserable. And one shouldn’t make people miserable and
then make them more miserable by demanding that they pretend to be happy or
make them feel guilty for being unhappy. That’s not a realistic approach.
So, this idea
of shutting out secular studies, choosing a profession only to grab the most
money, marrying a person only so that she will help you to engage in more Brisker
lomdus -- all of that is not Maimonidean. Yet, he is the sage that Briskers
in particular look to as the ultimate authority for how to conduct oneself in
this world. (I’m not saying that Briskers proffer the syllogism, but that
it is often proffered in their name.)
There’s
another problem with the schar syllogism. The idea that Torah studying
produces the greatest schar is based on an interpretation of the
Mishnah: “Talmud Torah k’neged kulam” as Torah study produces a reward greater
than all the other mitzvos combined. (Actually, at most it would be equal to
all those others combined, not greater than them as is commonly stated.)
However, there are numerous other k’neged kulam statements of Chazal such those
concerning tzitzis,[9] bris milah,[10]
Shabbos,[11] tzedukah,[12]
and yishuv ha’aretz.[13]
All of these are described as being k’neged kulam. Even lashon hara is
described as being k’neged kulam.[14]
So obviously, you can’t take the phrase literally because each is included in
the others. Not only that but the word used is k’neged which does not
mean greater than and doesn’t even mean equal to. It means connected to,
against, or adjacent to as in eizer k’negdo (helpmate).[15]
It is possible that the phrase means that the mitzvah is adjacent to all the
others, ie. it is connected to them. For example, tzitzis remind us of all the
other mitzvos. Torah study brings us to do all the mitzvos. It is k’neged
them. Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik was asked by a student, “What do we mean by תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם?” He answered, “It is not that this
mitzvah is equal to all the mitzvos, but rather that it brings the person to do
all the other mitzvos. The whole purpose of the limud is that it comes
to asiah and asiah is the ikur.”[16]
His words likely are based on the Mishnah, “Study is not the most important
thing, but actions (are).”[17]
Meanwhile, Rabbi Soloveitchik was a once-in-a-generation scholar. Rabbi
Elchonon Wasserman said about him, “I was there in Boston and I never saw
someone eat, sleep, and dream Torah as he did.”[18]
Additionally, Brisker
lomdus is only one type of study of the Gemara, a recently invented type.
It’s a wonderful discipline; although it faced criticism when it was originally
introduced in the 19th century. Traditional Talmud study was more
concerned with halacha and understandings within the context of the page and
less concerned with the abstract categories across Shas that are the
hallmark of Brisker lomdus. I am not disparaging this form of Torah
study but rather the use of it as a wrecking ball to smash other forms of Avodas
Hashem.
Even study of Gemara is only one type of
study. The Gemara itself tells the story of the sages Levi and Shimon, the son
of Rebbi, who were learning the meaning of certain verses of Tanach from Rebbi.
After they were done, Levi wanted to study Mishlei and Shimon wanted to study
Psalms. Levi was overruled, and they studied Tehillim. When they reached the
verse, “But his desire is in the Torah of G-d,” Rebbe said, “A person learns
Torah only from a place that his heart desires.” Upon hearing this, Levi said,
“Rebbi, with this teaching you have permitted me to stand up (from studying
Psalms, and to learn Proverbs instead, as I desire).”[19]
The Ramchal
says you need kabbalah to teach about God:
The need for
this wisdom is very great. First of all, we have an obligation to know it since
it is a mitzva as it states (Devarim 4:39) “You should know this day and place
it in your heart that the L-rd is G-d in Heaven above and the earth below –
there is no other.” The verse says that it is not enough to have faith, but we
are obligated also to have knowledge about G-d to the degree that is placed on
the heart. We are obligated to know “the L-rd is G-d in the Heavens above and
on the earth below – there is no other.”
....We need to
find a way of achieving this knowledge. The sole answer is that it is only
obtained by this true wisdom which reveals and teaches the true nature of
Providence and everything which is connected to it. It teaches the true nature
of G-d’s unity from all aspects that are possible to comprehend. This is the
essence of kabbalah to teach the true meaning of G-d’s unity and to inform that
everything that was and will be is supervised by Him to the smallest detail. It
teaches the nature of G-d’s conduct and His deeds from the beginning of
creation to the end of the world.[20]
The schar syllogism reduces life to a
mathematical formula that works against the earning of Olam Haba because
it pushes away mitzvos, talents, interests, happiness, and the many avenues of
study -- all of which are necessary for gaining knowledge of God which is a
prime purpose of this life.
It is no
coincidence that the schar syllogism suits those who try to extract
money from baalei batim who are told that they can get a share in lomdus
by giving money to those who engage in it. Maimonides said that taking money
for Torah study extinguishes the light of faith from the world. “Anyone who
believes in his heart that one ought occupy oneself with Torah and not work,
but support oneself with charity, behold, this one desecrates the Divine name,
dishonors the Torah, extinguishes the light of faith, brings evil to oneself
and forfeits life in the world to come, because it is forbidden to benefit from
the words of Torah in this world.”[21]
We can see how because an over-the-top emphasis on one type of Torah study at
all costs at the expense of all other parts of
Jewish life pulls people away from mitzvos and other activities all of
which generate knowledge of God and faith, which are the most essential mitzvos
and which bring a person to Olam Haba.
[1]
Koheles 12:13
[2] Sefer Hamitvos 1.
[3] Rabbi Assaf Bednarsh, “Is
Belief in God a Miztvah? Maimonides on the First Commandment,” Orthodox Union,
Torah Initiatives,
https://www.ou.org/chag/files/2020/05/R-Bednarsh-article.pdf.
[4]
Rabbi Avigdor Miller, Tape, 047- Reliance on Hashem, 8:12
[5] Maimonides, Hilchos Teshuva
8:2. Translation from Asher Buchman, “Israel’s
Inheritance: Olam Haba,” Hakirah 10, 2010.
[6]
Rambam, Morech Nevuchim 21. See Rav Chaim Navon, “Intro to the Guide of
the Perplexed-Lesson 21: The Purpose of the Torah and the Reasons for the
Mitzvot, Etzion.org, https://www.etzion.org.il/en/ philosophy /great-
thinkers/rambam/purpose-torah-and-reasons-mitzvot. Nevertheless, Olam Haba is
not just for philosophers. As Asher Buchman writes, “Based on this statement
and other statements in the Moreh and Perush HaMishnah that equate Olam haba
with attained knowledge, some claim that Rambam would deprive all but the
greatest philosophers of the World to Come. Such a conclusion, however, would
render meaningless the principle that all of Israel has a portion in the World
to Come. Rambam’s meaning is more complex than some philosophers would have us
believe.” Asher Buchman, “Israel’s
Inheritance: Olam Haba,” Hakirah 10, 2010.
[7] Rabbi Chaim Navon, “The
Purpose of the Torah and the Reasons for the Mitzvot,”
https://etzion.org.il/en/philosophy/great-thinkers/rambam/purpose-torah-and-reasons-mitzvot
[8] Maimonides, Mishneh Torah,
Hilkhot Yesodei haTorah, 2:2.
[9]Nedarim 25a, Menachot 43b)
[10] Yerushalmi, Nedarim 12b.
[11] Yerushalmi, Berachot 9a.
[12] Yerushalmi, Pe’ah 3a.
[13] Tosefta, Avodah Zarah 5.
[14] Yerushalmi,
Peah 4a; Tosefta, Pe’ah 1:2.
[15] Genesis 2:18.
[16] David Holtzer, The Rav
Thinking Aloud, p. 69. The student paraphrased Rabbi Soloveitchik’s answer.
[17] Pirkei Avos 1:18.
[18] Henoch Cohen, “Learning with
the Rav: The Early Years in Yeshiva,” Mentor of Generations (Jersey
City: Ktav, 2008), p. 3. Edited by Zev Eleff.
[19] Avodah Zara 19a. See Rabbi
Moshe Newman, “Whatever Your Heart Desires,”
https://ohr.edu/this_week/talmud_tips/7741.
[20] Ramchal, Klali Mileches Moshe, in Eidensohn,
Daas Torah, p. 217.
[21] Maimonides, Hilchos Talmud
Torah 3:10,
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