Kosher Money: More Valuable Than $ - Learning Torah {Part 2}

what else what else I'm sure there are there are other uh I see a whole list over there what else is more valuable than cash so if I may there's a very hot topic now and without getting knee deep into this you know this is this is the hot button issue in the state of Israel today there counter protest there are advocacy protests should everybody be drafted to the Army and I'm going to leave that question to people much greater than myself but just to give some insight some people wonder how could there be an entire segment of society dedicating themselves not to be gainfully employed not to defend the country just to sit and study now I'm not commenting on whether this is the morally correct thing or not I'll leave that to the leaders of the generation I just want to provide just a little insight we where are they even coming from why would somebody dedicate their life to full-time study I mean you know in the secular world you go to college to get a job to make money you go to school even if you want an advanced PhD it's ultimately to use it for something what is this ideal of learning Tyra right in Judaism we see there are people who dedicate their life to learning T what what value does that have so to give an appreciation there's a gamar the gamar uh in Tam the babyon ban T we spoke about Aramaic before Babylonian Tama is written Aramaic it tells a story of H one of the tanim one of the sages of the period of the mishna who made a very meager salary The Tam says he made a Tara piic which is a small coin every day half of it he used to support his family the other half he used to gain entry into the study hall to be able to listen to the Torah discourse of Shayan thear says to hear div elim the word of the Living God doesn't mean he heard God speaking the T the tamic tradition is the word of God he wanted to hear the the teaching of Shay so one day he would give half of his daily earnings to the guard so you see you know even to get into the the study hall it's not free nothing nothing good in life is free you got to pay one day he didn't have the money so the guard didn't let him in and it was a cold snowy January day so he has no choice he climbed up to the roof he pressed his nose and his eyes against the window and he was lying there on the roof listening in to the discourse of shalan so you know I guess you had to pay to get a warm cozy seat but you're you're still allowed to listen if you could finagle it and he's listening and you know they're sitting there in the hall and the and the room's getting darker and darker and darker and they what dark it's the middle of the day they look up the Skylight it's pitch black and what it looks like you know they see the outline of a guy they go up there they clear off the snow they you know they bring hillo to the fire they warm him up after he he you know regains his body temperature they say you know what were you doing he said well I couldn't get in I but I needed to hear the shear so just think for a moment how much would this man spend on his own personal learning literally half his money are you halachically allowed to do that you know the the gamara says in tractate kis that in one of the Babylonian cities in the times of the T they made an enactment you can't spend more than 20% of your money on charity on on religious causes it's considered uh extravagant too extravagant spiritually you know you have to live within reason within balance you can't spend so much money on a religious cause so they they capped it at 20% fifth oneth the gumar says we're doing a lot of Aramaic if somebody uh wants to give overly generously can't give more than a fif so but Hill gave 50% for his for his personal study how is he allowed to do that you know who asked this question mayor he lived about pass about 90 years ago or so this is what he asks in his commentary to the sacrificial parts of sh Kim and he says when we talk about a person's learning your learning is your life it's not your life in your physical life in this world you know the the the soul doesn't just live for 70 80 90 years in this world it lives on eternally in the afterlife what gives it its Vitality its ability to thrive its ability to enjoy the pleasures of the world to come Torah study is the primary commodity in the world to come so Torah study is your eternal life life so of course you're allow to spend more than 20% on your Torah study because your Torah study is your eternity it's your entire existence you see one of the important things we have to think of is if you have a million dollars how long do you have it for you know how long do you they have deals today how how do the banks get you to put money in a money market they say oh we have 9% interest for two days okay so you go you run you put in your money and two days you have 9% and then it's stuck there at 0.00001% interest so was that a good investment you're right it sounds like a lot but it's two days is not a long time actually I just you know I went to the bank today because some of the money was sitting in uh you know point1 they have a new deal 5% for three months I said three months last time it was 5% for six months but they got smart cuz they know sounds good 5% but uh I don't know if some people are going to call me you know they have have better deals but so okay a million dollars how long do you have the million dollars for you have it for uh so you make it when you're 30 40 then you have it until uh however long your teeth stay in your mouth you know you could enjoy it not a very long time a quick break from this week's episode to tell you that Autumn Fall is officially here it's my favorite season the ear is crisp the leaves are changing and it's the perfect time to transition to those cozy layers that's where twillery comes in I'm loving their long sleeve polos super soft and versatile so I'm wearing a polo shirt right now it's the long sleeve and they're perfect for those cooler days when you 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notes and create your account click around their website to learn more about it the donor's fund welcome to the Future and now back to this week's episode so funny you say the word enjoy it but if you think about it you have it you enjoy the fact that you have it but you're not actually enjoying it because it can only be used for something else which brings you back to your earlier point right it's it's like this great mystery right I'm happy I have the money right heaven forbid to spend it on something that could actually be useful right cuz then I won't be happy that I have it anymore and the thing that I use that's useful doesn't really make me as happy as having the the wad right but it's a finite amount of time you don't have this money forever right on the other hand there are Commodities that we believe we have infinitely so you know the soul everybody senses there's more to them than you know the hands the Flesh and the blood there's a soul that that feels satisfaction or shame or spiritual elevation or sometimes we feel if we do the wrong thing embarrassment there's something Beyond just the physical that spiritual entity is an eternal existence so you know what's the commodity there they don't take over they don't take credit card they don't take mutual funds that you can't cash in miles over there you know so what what's the commodity that works because that commodity must be very valuable because it's it's more than 40 years it's infinite and if you imagine if you could use the commodity that you only have for 40 years to buy a commodity that's forever and ever so would you say oh look at that person who's utilizing his life life to serve to serve Hashem let's say you know we believe if you do a Mitzvah it's you reap an eternal uh reward would you say oh look at that person studying Torah he's really giving up of himself he's so religious he's so superstitious he would say he's smart he's smart it's not religion it's good business decision it's a good business decision cuz in instead of using his money or making money he's acquiring a commodity that's not 100 years not a thousand years that's Eternal just a good business decision why invest your money in something that will only earn interest for three months if you could put it somewhere that it's an unlimited uncapped uh potential so we believe the words of Torah are the most valuable spiritual commodity now so you say okay now I understand why these people would want to be involved in studying Torah after all but is that selfish because here they are they could be you know helping Society they could be defending the country so so what are they doing so they're earning spiritual commodities for themsel so now maybe I understand what they're doing but is that selfish again and I'm and you know sometimes without commenting on whether it's the right or wrong thing another thing that uh should be articulated is that aside from the fact that it's the greatest commodity in spiritual commodity it also is the single greatest thing to benefit the entire world you know we say every morning there's certain activities that a person eats the fruits of in this world and the the principle lasts eternally and the BR that we recite says different examples acts of kindness uh lending money helping a poor bride get married these are all things that we get let's say uh perks in this world but the main reward is for the world to come why would you get perks in this world you know if the reward is in the world to come why is God giving you like uh peros perks in this world the ram says look if you help someone in this world it's only right you should also get some benefit in this world so the main reward is going to be in the world to come but you're going to also get some goodu some treats in this world CU you helped someone else in this world so the question is if you noticed why is learning Torah listed in this list of things that you get perks in this world and the main rewards of the world to come because when you learn Torah you're not helping anybody in this world you're just studying so this is another important misconception and that is it's not true we believe it is our tradition it was taught in peros it was given to Moses on SI that one of the three pillars of the world is the learning of Torah but moreover the greatest religious activity that one could be involved in that upholds the whole world that brings peace to the world that brings success to the world that brings blessing to the world that brings security to the world that brings goodness to the world is learning Torah which means if you wake up in the morning you say you know I want to do something to benefit Society I could uh help an old lady cross the street I could save the whales I could help poor people I could help sick people according to Jewish tradition the learning of Torah is the greatest act of loving kindness that could be done for the entire world so again that doesn't mean sometimes a person could say well I'm not going to help anyone I'm just going to sit in the study hall and look at my gamar cuz I'm helping everyone so you suffer you suffer you suffer no sometimes you need to proactively and actively lend a hand and when is the correct time to study and when is the correct time to act I'll leave that to bigger people than me but this is giving a certain perspective the religious value of learning Torah is the single greatest activity that one could be involved in to come closer to God to earn spiritual reward to bring blessing to the whole world which means you know it's a 10 days of repentance now it's if somebody wanted to know I have 10 minutes what could I do for myself and the Jewish people what's what's the most important thing I could do go to your shelf open up gamar open up a and study t or if they don't have that watch a YouTube video on your YouTube uh Channel thank you Rabbi DG has his own YouTube channel but but it's interesting because one would think and this is where maybe the misconception comes from learning you know I can learn anything I can learn how to build a chair I can learn you know science you know this idea of learning God's word has an elevated role in this world okay so that's an important idea like what what exactly is so significant about learning Torah why is Torah different than any discipline Than Mathematics science biology chemistry physics you know when we fulfill God's Commandments he tells us sit in the Suka we are to sh we're doing his command he told us to do things we're doing the activities he told us to do but when we learn his teaching we are now developing our minds to think like Hashem so this is the greatest single act we could partake of to come close to him it is the the most uh Sanctified Divine activity that a Jew could be involved in because we're made we're made with the spark of God right like we have part of that God soul in in US yeah look uh you know the Zora teaches that when God created us he blew into our nostril the Living spirit and there's a cabalistic teaching when one blows they blow from within themsel so God blew from within himself and he gave us a piece of the Divine actually you know in rashash when we blow the there's an idea we are reenacting the act of God blowing the soul into man so that gives us a new beginning on the on the day that man was created so it's really a very empowering uh ennobling idea so learning Torah something more valuable sometimes you see somebody you know he's sitting in the study hall come on why you drive that car you live in that house you wear those clothing you maybe work a little more you'll live a better life and people oh he's being religious you know it's a superstitious type of thing that he that he's being involved in but what the say he's smart it's a business decision because if a guy had a shopping spree for uh 10 minutes and he spent nine of the minutes you know dressing up putting on his tie putting on his suit you know grooming himself say come on you know you'll do that later now take advantage of the time so you know people who devote give their heart and soul to the service of God it's it's a new perspective about them it's not from it's not saintly it's smart the old television show uh Supermarket Sweep where they only had a certain amount of time to throw it in the cart I'm just thinking of the guy standing there for the first few minutes you know just looking around seeing what he wants to grab but you're saying we're here for a limited amount of time grab the real gold right use your time super wisely