Why do we Study Torah: Impressions of a Conversation with HaRav Professor David Weiss Halivni

By Rabbi Alan Yuter
Posted Monday, December 11, 2006

In the so-called Yeshiva world, Torah is learned for the sake of Torah. Not for the commandment, not for the reward in the world to come, not because there is social currency in being valued as a "Ben Torah," not for honor or glory, and not because Torah is an instrument for sharpening the mind. One does not study Shulhan Aruch, or Jewish laws, because that means the student is leaving the holy yeshiva with the intention to get a job, to earn a living, and see the practical side of Torah. This mindset is found in the teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

In the world of the Hungarians, one is ordained in one's teens after studying Jewish legal texts. One studies Torah, as a Traditional Orthodox Jew, to know the law and to obey God by observing the commandments. One has a life-time to learn, but one is not fearing God if one does not know the commandments, because failure to know the commandments will result in a failure to observe them correctly, precisely, and with the requisite intention. This mindset I found in the Halakhic conversations I have had with Professor, and in this case, HaRav David Weiss Halivni.

I have seen myself as a "Litvak," attracted to the historical and philological readings of the quintessential Litvak, Rabbi Saul Lieberman of blessed memory. On one hand, the Litvak learns Torah for the sake of Torah, almost as if the fact that there is a Divine command to learn the Divine canon did not exist. On the other hand, the Litvaks are not always known for their modesty. When as a rabbi in Springfield, NJ, I gave a young man a ride to the Springfield Yeshiva Tiferes Baruch, the young man complained that he will not be a "godol," a great one in Torah, because he does not have the right name. He is not the son of a "godol," and with his learning, he will never be a rosh yeshiva and will probably not get a position teaching "good boys," from the right families, with pedigree and good heads. I suggested that he look to teaching in a Girls High School, where he would busy his days in Torah learning, teaching, and earning a living. He retorted "there is no honor in teaching girls!" To which I asked, bemused, are we studying Torah for the sake of Torah or for the stake of the glory it gives its student?"

This summer I attended the "moving up" ceremony for my grandson, Eliyahu, who was advancing to the next grade at the Devir school near Modi'in. This school emphasizes the approach of the great Litvak scholar, Rabbi Elijah the son of Solomon Kramer, the Gaon of Vilna. One speaker charged the students that "they should all want to be gedolim in Torah." Being a godol should be the ideal of life for these people. After the ceremony, I privately approached the gentleman, who cited liberally from Michtav me-Elayahu {Dessler} who argued that the job of the yeshiva is not to produce good Jews but great Gedolim, redundancy intentional. I asked the speaker if we study Torah to create gedolim, to be gedolim, or just to obey God without the ego. For one without the mind—or family name—to be a godol, why would studying be important. How about the command to study what God wants us to know?

It is highly improbable that R. Elijah Kramer studied Torah in order to be recognized as a great man. And Rabbis Lieberman and Halivni studied and study Torah to hear the voice of God, to know what God wants from Israel, and to discover truth. Unlike the so-called yeshiva world, which professes a study of Torah for the sake of Torah, but lives a culture of hierarchy, deference, and honor, those who study Torah with refined faith and religious and intellectual integrity, are our real models.

HaRav Halivni spends his days in the Jewish Studies library of the Giv'at Ram campus at Hebrew University. Graduate students in Judaic studies and old world Hassidic types wait in turn to meet with Rav Halivni. At minha, I was introduced to a Bible scholar at Hebrew University, who although a Bible critic, believes enough in God, Torah, and commandments to pray minha in a minyan every day. For this person, Rav Halivni is a beacon of light because his mind as well as his heart is open.

In our conversation, I saw Rav Halivni in a radically different light. Here was no 21st Century Talmud critic; here was a Hungarian rov who has mastered everything in Torah, the law codes, the commentaries, the glosses, the notes, the customs. He is a human and humane poseq, with a tendency for leniency, fear of Heaven and no fear of humans, and an insistence on honesty. And although Rav Halivni has conquered Torah, he did so out of a covenantal mandate, not to be the gadol that he became. And in his teaching Talmud, Rav Halivni empowers his students to search, probe, test, and think on their own. In most yeshivot, the rosh yeshiva makes imperfect clones of himself. When the real motivation for studying Torah is social standing, masked as Torah for its own sake.

It has been suggested that studying the Talmud according to its "levels" is not Traditional. There was a time when Brisk, or conceptual school, also known derisively as "Chemistry," was not accepted as "traditional." While Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik took a Ph.D. in Philosophy at Berlin, his brother, Rabbi Samuel Soloveitchik, actually specialized in chemistry. Brisk was a way of studying that enabled the godol to read one's ideas into the text of Torah. Rav Halivni's pioneering study of the levels empowers his students to grow beyond themselves, because it is a tool for the study of Torah.

When a Rav who has perfect manners and perfect recall and total integrity is our master, we have a high benchmark to meet. We are studying Torah for God's sake, and we become sanctified by the enterprise.

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