Timeless Torah

Casualness or superficiality. How accurately these adjectives describe contemporary society. Once upon a time life wasn’t easy and few things were achieved casually. If you wanted a warm house in the winter, in all probability you chopped the wood yourself…

The final parsha of Vayikra (Leviticus) promises prosperity for the Jewish people if they follow Torah or devastating punishments if they do not. In these admonitions (Tochacha, in Hebrew), as well as in the warnings that appear in the middle of the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) the Torah details the harsh historical process that will come upon the Chosen People when Divine protection is removed as a result of their misdeeds.

Commentaries explain that the reason the Tochacha is read during these two times of the year is because both of these periods are set aside for self improvement and repentance. Thus the days between Pesach and Shavuos are meant to prepare oneself to receive the Torah anew, while Elul is the month of teshuvah prior to the Days of Awe. These readings remind us that there will eventually be reparation for our sins if we are not careful. One recurring theme of the Admonition is that the punishment is a result of “keri/casualness” as in the verse, “If despite this you will not heed Me, and you behave toward Me with casualness...” Rashi explains casualness to mean that our performance of the mitzvos will be haphazard and inconsistent. So rather than treating the commandments with reverence and esteem; one’s attitude is cavalier. This evokes Heaven to remark, “I too will act towards you casually.”
Casualness or superficiality. How accurately these adjectives describe contemporary society. Once upon a time life wasn’t easy and few things were achieved casually. If you wanted a warm house in the winter, in all probability you chopped the wood yourself, stacked the oven with wood, lit the fire, etc. If in middle of the night you needed to go to the bathroom, well...you get the picture. Simply put, you worked hard for what you had. Most people didn’t mind the inconvenience. True, they didn’t know better and thus they expected that all good things had a sweaty price tag - toil.
A side benefit was that people learned patience. With no instant gratification as part of their culture, they developed patience for achieving their gashmius (material needs) and their their ruchnius (spirituality). They found the time to daven (pray) slowly, and learn diligently. Just as they did not expect to have their laundry washed at the push of a button, so too they did not expect to experience depth in their prayers and develop a relationship with G-d over one hurried Shma.
But nowadays, instant gratification is the name of the game. If I can’t have it within five minutes - don’t bother. We’re impatient in our material lives and superficial. Unfortunately, this seeps through to our mitzvah observance as well. To create something meaningful and deep has become for many, too great an investment of time.
This casualness permeates all aspects of life: material success, spirituality and inter-personal relationships. The cry of the prophet that prayers have become no more than “lip-service” takes on new meaning in today’s bustling orthodox synagogues which provide round-the-clock, every-fifteen-minutes, have-no-time-to-wait, minyans. A similar phenomenon has affected the way we study Torah. Today there is an absolute abundance of learning aids and internet classes that has made the priceless wisdom of Torah far more accessible than ever before. But working and toiling over the Talmud is becoming a lost art. Why invest a great deal of effort when an English translation is so readily available? But sometimes these aids become crutches to those who might otherwise be capable of toil.

I am reminded of the Gemara’s statement which has fresh meaning for us today, “Take heed of the children of the poor, for from them will Torah come forth.” Why? Because Torah giants will more likely emerge from those poor families who could not afford to buy their children every new explanatory sefer that comes out, so that they will actually have to figure out the meaning of the Talmud themselves, thereby growing intellectually. The Ba’al Shem Tov taught that G-d is like our shadow. His actions towards us are a reflection of our posture towards Him. So let’s not be casual in our relationship with G-d. Instead, we should make the Torah the centre-point of our lives, developing a powerful and meaningful connection to Hashem.