By Rabbi Dovid Markel
In this week’s parsha, when discussing the laws of purifying oneself from coming in contact with a corpse, the verse (Bamidbar 19:14) states: “This is the Torah: if a man dies in a tent, anyone entering the tent and anything in the tent shall be unclean for seven days.”
Curiously, while this verse discusses laws of purity, our Sages of blessed memory have taken this verse completely out of its original context-explaining that embedded in these words is the secret of how to acquire Torah knowledge.
The Talmud (Gittin 57b) states: “R. Shimon b. Lakish said: The words of the Torah abide only with one who kills himself for them, as it says, ‘This is the Torah, when a man shall die in the tent etc.'”
Indeed, when enumerating the various traits that one needs to be able to acquire the Torah, the Talmud mentions three traits: humility, austerity and complete dedication. What is fascinating about these listings is that in none of them do they state that to acquire Torah one must be intelligent.
The lesson is clear: while often we mistakenly give unbalanced credit to intelligence, the reality is that character, perspective and grit are infinitely more important. Rather than worrying about things that are beyond our control, we must worry about the things that are.
Another intriguing idea is that the Talmud derived a point that discusses the acquisition to Torah in the context of a verse that discusses becoming purified from a corpse.
However, the two things seem to have no connection. Why then does the Talmud join two concepts that have nothing to do with one another?
There is however, another important lesson embedded in this strange correlation. Spiritually, death is the complete separation from G-dliness to the point that one spiritually has no life. The question then is: If someone is completely separated from G-dliness, how can they once again reconnect?!
The answer explained in this Talmudic dictum is through Torah study. The verse (Mishlei 3:18) states concerning the Torah: “It is a tree of life for those who grasp it.”
Torah is a veritable elixir of life to those that study it and are conscious of its G-dliness. When one studies Torah properly they can literally be revived from the dead.
May we indeed be permeated with the life of Torah and merit to the ultimate expression of spiritual and physical resurrection, with the coming of Moshiach-Now!
