Love of God and Torah Study

By Rav Yehuda Rock

Translated by Kaeren Fish

"4. Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God – the Lord is One.

5. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6. And these things, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart,

7. and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your home, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up."

(Devarim 6:4-7)

"'And these things, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart' – Rabbi said: Why was this said? Because it is written, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart' – I do not know how one loves God.  Therefore it says, 'And these things, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart' – meaning, place these things upon your heart, such that you will thereby recognize He Who spoke and the world came into existence, and you will cleave to His ways."

(Sifrei Devarim, piska 33)

The Rambam addresses this midrash, or hints to it, in his Sefer Ha-mitzvot (positive mitzva no. 3), in two places in his Mishneh Torah (Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, 2:1; Laws of Repentance, 10:6), and in his Guide for the Perplexed (III, 28).  Despite the differences between the presentations (which I examine here: http://www.vbm-torah.org/archive/parsha67/45-67vaetchanan.htm), what is common to them is that he introduces knowledge of God as a link connecting Torah study and the love of God.  Hence, according to the Rambam, the words of the Sifrei, "You will thereby recognize He Who spoke and the world came into existence," are describing knowledge of God.  Torah study is a means of coming to love God – not directly, but rather via knowledge of God.  In other words, Rambam believes that Torah study leads to knowledge of God, and knowledge of God leads to love of Him.  However, as he writes in Mishneh Torah, one can also attain knowledge of God by other means (specifically, the study of nature, or of physics and metaphysics), and this knowledge can likewise lead to love of God.

I would like to humbly propose a different explanation for this midrash than the one offered by the Rambam.

It seems that the expression, "cleave to His ways," is not a stylistic innovation by Rabbi, in this midrash, but rather is borrowed from another verse further on in Moshe’s speech: "For if you will properly observe all of this command which I command you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all of His ways and to cleave to Him…" (Devarim 11:22).  In this verse, love of God is described explicitly as cleaving to Him and walking in His ways.  Our midrash simply condenses the two expressions into a single one – "Cleaving to His ways." Thus, the "ways" referred to here are the modes of behavior that are appropriate to follow before God. 

I believe that the knowledge of God that is mentioned in the midrash ("You will recognize He Who spoke and the world came into existence") is not a link between Torah study and love of God, but rather the result of Torah study – an additional result, over and above love of God.  Torah study leads to two independent results: knowledge of God and love of Him.

The opening verse of the unit, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God – the Lord is One," calls for recognition of the uniqueness of God as Creator of everything ("the Lord is One"), and His kingship and mastery over everything ("the Lord our God").  The midrash hints to this in the words, "You recognize He Who spoke and the world came into being," in other words, he recognizes the uniqueness of the Creator of all the world.

Recognition of God, which is mentioned in the first verse (v. 4), does not raise the same questions (“I do not know how one loves God”) as the second verse (v. 5).  However, in the wake of the question concerning the love of God in the second verse, the midrash concludes that the function of Torah study is to lead to love of God, and that the relationship between the third verse (v. 6 – “these things shall be upon your heart”) and the second (“you shall love the Lord”) is the relationship between means and goal.  What this conclusion suggests is that the second verse is the heading of the unit, establishing a general goal for the rest of the unit.  The means to attain that goal are set forth in the following verses.  Hence, the first verse is also part of the general heading, and it too establishes a general goal for the rest of the unit. 

The midrash explains that the means that are set forth in the following verses are the means not only to attaining the love of God that is mentioned in the second verse, but also to the recognition of God that is mentioned in the first verse.  Thus, the unit commands Torah study as a means, which leads to two separate goals: recognition of God and love of God.  For this reason the midrash concludes with the words, "Place these things upon your heart, such that through this you will recognize He Who spoke and the world came into being, and you will cleave to His ways."

How does Torah study lead to recognition of "He Who spoke and the world came into being?" The answer is that the act of studying Torah is an educational act, with the educational message being the centrality of God’s will.  For the purposes of recognition of God, this means the centrality of God’s will on the theoretical, speculative level, within the framework of a person’s beliefs and views.  When a person devotes his time to examining and clarifying the will of God, in such a way as to make God’s word his criterion for practical decisions, he is gradually educated towards a recognition of the One Who commands as the Master of everything, Whose commandments are worthy of observance and Whose will is worthy of being studied and known.

The essence of the educational message is on the level of theoretical content, but its ramifications extend to the existential level.  The obsessive, seemingly absurd involvement in God’s command, to the extent that man devotes every available moment – whether he is sitting alone at home, or while he is walking or journeying, with no need for any other occupation – to exploration of God’s demand of him, to a clarification of its exact content, and to engraving this upon his heart, even setting aside regular times for this occupation, at night when he lies down to sleep and in the day when he arises, is devoid of significance or purpose by any natural, mortal yardstick.  Such an obsession can arise only from an almost pathological love.  The filling of every available hour by engaging in a clarification of the principles and sub-sections of God’s word educates man as to the centrality of God’s will – not only on the speculative level, but on the existential level, too.  Thus the Torah scholar is educated towards love of God.

Torah study is valuable not merely because it is an educational means.  Earlier, we noted that the replacement of the expression "love of God" with "cleaving to His ways" teaches us that by contemplating the connection between Torah study and love of God, we learn about the nature and qualities of love of God.  Indeed, this is so.  Torah study educates one to love God – not in the manner of an external pedagogic device, but rather as an expression of the love of God itself.  The way to draw hearts to the value of love of God is through a practical action that expresses that love.  This point requires further explanation.

Let us consider the following parable: My wife gives me two pieces of paper.  On one, she has drawn a work of art, giving expression to emotions arising from the very depths of her soul.  On the other is a shopping list.  I may examine the drawing and thereby meditate on her personality and learn about it, and be awed by her ability and her wisdom.  I may also read the shopping list and learn its details out of a desire to ensure that she will indeed receive those items, to the extent possible.  Which of these two actions – meditating on the drawing, or meditating on the shopping list – is a greater expression of my love for my wife?

The concept of love, in the Torah’s view, is not identified with a set of subjective feelings of pleasure and closeness – even though such feelings may and should feature prominently within a loving relationship.  The essence of love, according to the Torah’s view, is placing the loved one at the center of the lover’s set of desires and aspirations.  The emphasis is on the loved one himself, rather than the feelings towards him.  The true lover concentrates all of his desires and aspirations around the welfare of the beloved.  In the case of a human beloved, at the center of the lover’s existential world will be concern for the needs of the beloved and fulfillment of his desires.  Where the beloved is the Master of the universe, we cannot speak of needs; we can only commit ourselves to fulfilling His will.

For this reason, studying the shopping list in order to execute it – an act expressing my desire to acquire the knowledge necessary to cater to my wife’s welfare and to fulfill her will – is a greater expression of love towards her than being impressed by her work of art.  Likewise, contemplating God’s command is a greater expression of love towards Him than meditating on His creation.  It is possible that a person who meditates on Creation will have a clearer perception of God’s hand in the world.  It is possible that he will have a better understanding of God’s ways in the world, and will feel greater awe at God’s wisdom and His greatness than that experienced by the Torah scholar.  But the Torah scholar, who devotes his time to a clarification of the content of God’s commandments, out of a seemingly absurd concern for the guardianship of God’s will, is a greater lover of God. 

Thus, Torah study is not only a means to inculcate knowledge and love of God in a person’s heart, but also is itself the supreme expression of love of God.  The midrash refers to love of God as "cleaving to His ways" because love of God is expressed in a powerful desire to know God’s word and to fulfill it, with existential cleaving to the ways that God desires.  The existential nature of Torah study is accepting the yoke of God’s Kingship willingly, with enthusiasm and love.  The way to inculcate love of God in one’s heart is by filling one’s life with expressions of love of God.

Clearly, this is something of a paradox: in order to achieve love of God, a person must perform acts of Torah study, which express love of God.  But the function of the command to study Torah is to initiate and maintain this cycle.  It is possible that a person will start studying Torah out of coercion, because of the command, and will gradually come to be educated to recognize and love God; his learning, too, will gradually become a full expression of his love of God.  This represents positive feedback in an ongoing process in which man inculcates within himself the love of God, by focusing and concentrating, through cleaving and love, on expressing that very love.  The practical expression – of the educational effort as well as of the existential connection itself – is Torah study.  Thus, Torah study does not appear here as a means to an external end, but rather it itself is both the means and the end.

As noted, Torah study here is of a dual nature: on the one hand, it is itself a fixed, daily expression of the love of God; on the other hand, its focus is the educational objective of inculcating this love in a person’s heart.  This status of Torah study as an educational act is the reason why the text begins with the command to teach Torah to one’s children and students, and only afterwards goes on to speak about the practical involvement in Torah by the person himself ("And you shall speak of them…").  One’s personal engagement in Torah represents a broadening of the basic model of teaching Torah.  Halakha regards both the command that a person engage in Torah himself and the command that he teach Torah as focusing on the educational objective, to the extent that only one who is to be taught is himself commanded to teach (Kiddushin 29b).

Based on the Sifrei’s understanding of the structure of the verses, and based on the emphasis upon teaching one’s children, it seems that from the halakhic perspective, the direct content of the command to study Torah is the educational act, which is aimed at inculcating Torah and love in the heart of the person who is being educated – whether he be the child, the student, or a person teaching himself.  But the command also gives rise to another level.  On the one hand, the educational command to study Torah establishes, as the supreme objective, the love of God.  On the other hand, it assumes that this love is expressed via Torah study that exhibits cleaving to God's commandments.  Hence, the direct command also gives rise to a general value-oriented statement: Torah study that expresses the love of God is itself the objective and purpose of the entire educational endeavor.