Musar zu Jehoschua 1:8

Torah study is also a preventative against one's coming to (speak) lashon hara, as they said there (Arachin 15b): "What is the preventative against lashon hara? If he is a Torah scholar, let him occupy himself with Torah." The reason is obvious, as we find in Sanhedrin 99b: "All men are created for toil, viz. (Iyyov 5:7): 'For man is born for toil.' I would not know whether for toil of the lips or toil of labor — if it were not written: (Mishlei 16:22): 'For he saddles his mouth with it,' which indicates that he was born for toil of the lips. And I still would not know whether for the [lip] toil of Torah or the toil of converse — if it were not written (Joshua 1:8): 'Let the book of this Torah not depart from your mouth,' which indicates that he was created for the toil of Torah." The idea is that the nature was given man, when speech was given to him, that the tools of speech do what is theirs without becoming fatigued, unlike the other organs, which man must spur himself to put into operation. Not so, the faculty of speech. And this is the intent of "the toil of the lips." But a man must reflect that this power was given him only to merit Torah. Therefore, it is stated that the preventative of speaking lashon hara is only occupying oneself with Torah, for lacking this, he will certainly stumble into forbidden speech. For it is man's nature that his tools of speech not be inoperative (unless he is able to overcome his yetzer and make himself "mute," as they say in Chullin 89a).

And man was created only for Torah. For thus have Chazal expounded (Sanhedrin 99b): "All men were created for toil, viz. (Iyyov 5;7): 'For man is born for toil.' I would not know whether for toil of the lips or toil of labor — if it were not written (Mishlei 16:26): 'For he saddles his mouth with it,' which indicates that he was born for toil of the lips. And I still would not know whether for the [lip] toil of Torah or the toil of converse — if it were not written (Joshua 1:8): 'Let the book of this Torah not depart from your mouth,' which indicates that he was created for the toil of Torah."

And he who lacks the time to learn Torah continuously is obligated, in any event, to set times for Torah. For thus have Chazal said (Shabbath 31a): "When a man is brought to [Heavenly] judgment, he is asked: 'Were you honest in your [business] dealings? Did you set aside times for Torah study?'" And even if he is poor, he must set aside times, as they have said (Yoma 35b): "A poor man and a rich man come for judgment. The poor man is asked: 'Why did you not occupy yourself with Torah?' If he says: 'I was poor,' he is asked: 'Were you any poorer than Hillel the Elder?' It is said of Hillel the elder, etc.'" And so is it ruled in Yoreh Deah 246: "Every man of Israel is obliged to study Torah — whether he be poor or rich, healthy in body or afflicted, a youth or very old — even a beggar, even a married man with children — he is obligated to set aside times for Torah study, by day and by night, as it is written (Joshua 1:8): "'And you shall study it day and night.'"

The third particular is to make it a rule to study the words of our teachers of blessed memory, each day, to the best of his ability, for they will cause his countenance to shine and will open for him the gates of hope. Similarly, he should make it a rule to read in the Torah of the Lord each day, as it is said (Joshua 1:8), “And thou shalt meditate on it day and night.” He should look constantly into the writings of the righteous men, such as the work of the pious Bachya Ibn-Pakuda, of blessed memory, and in addition to that work are the books and writings which will cause him to remember and will arouse him from his lethargy (from his futile sleep). Or he should have a book which contains all of the matters concerning service, which he should read every day.

Every man who comes to the service of God should keep all of these conditions mentioned, for they are the principles of the worship of God. It is essential that not even one day should occur on which he does not read the words of the Torah or the words of our Sages, of blessed memory. For concerning the words of the Torah, it is said (Joshua 1:8), “This book of the Torah shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night.” In the words of the Torah, he will see the wonders of the Creator, blessed be He, and all His deeds, and in the words of our Sages, of blessed memory, he will see all the aspects of things permitted and things forbidden, and they will provide Him with a fence, and they will not let him break it down or commit a sin. For the words of the Sages are explained and made clear even more than the words of the Torah, for the words of the Torah are obscure and concealed. A man should accustom himself to the companionship of the sages and the pious, and to keep at a great distance from atheists, scoffers, and men of violence, for if he joins the companionship of these, his faith will perish. But if he cannot separate himself from them because he needs them for his livelihood, then let him be less and less in their company. Let their relationship be a speaking acquaintance and not a matter of heart. Let him hasten to arrange his occupation so as to put them at a great distance from himself. A man should accustom himself to ponder all the fourteen causes which we have mentioned which deal with those qualities which nullify the service of God. A man should accustom himself to read those portions on reproof which are found in the Torah and in the Prophets, and those passages on punishment by the Creator, blessed be He, and His strength, His wrath, and the miracles and the wonders which He has done for His servants, and the awesome matters dealing with the creation of heaven and earth. These matters should be written before him in concise but comprehensive words so he may look at them at all times.

We have completed our brief list of the things a man ought to remember always. But everyone should continue to meditate on these according to his wisdom, and he will learn from them all sorts of good and pure qualities, and these will cleanse the soul and will beautify its ugliness. Be ever alert to remember them, and this will bring out in you a superior strength you never knew before. And a man is obligated to keep all of these thoughts in mind constantly, at every hour, at every moment. And he should be careful to remember them with his every breath so that he may never lose his awe and fear and shame before God, who looks upon him at all times. Go forth and learn from what the Torah warned the king to do, as it is written, … "that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life" (Deut. 17:18-19). And it is written, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night" (Josh. 1:8). And it is written, "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates" (Deut. 6:6—9). And he has emphasized this matter in connection with the fringes, for it is written, "And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them" (Num. 15:39—40). And according to this it is proper to remember God at every moment. And it is written, "Let thy garments be always white" (Eccl. 9:8).

And the Torah leads one to good deeds. For when a man occupies himself with Torah, and learns what is the punishment for sins and the reward for good deeds, then he sets his heart to do good. And the effort required in studying the Torah causes him to forget and restrains him from sin, while idleness leads to sin and brings him down to the nether world. Therefore, a man should be alert to occupy himself always with the Torah — day and night — even when he walks along the road or when he lies in his bed. And if he is not able to study by heart, let him think in his heart about what he has learned and let his mind be on his study, so as not to remove the thought of it from his heart, and then he will have fulfilled "But thou shalt meditate therein day and night" (Josh. 1:8); for the Scripture does not say, "You shall speak about it day and night," but "You shall meditate about it," and meditation is in the heart. And concern ing this it is said, "And shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" (Deut. 6:7, 11:19). And our Sages took pride in the fact that they did not walk four cubits without discussing the Torah. Either they would learn and study or they would think in their hearts about what they had heard concerning the Torah, or about their studies.

[It is clear, then, from Scripture, that day and night were created for the sake of the Torah. And I have hereby explained (Menachoth 29b): "Dammah, the son of R. Yishmael's sister, asked R. Yishmael: 'May one such as I, who have studied the entire Torah, study Greek wisdom?' — whereupon he pronounced over him (Joshua 1:8): 'This book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth, and you shall study it day and night.' Go and find an hour which is neither of the day nor of the night and study Greek wisdom in it!" I have explained this by analogy. A certain tailor had a great deal of work and had to hire a worker for a month to come to his house to finish the work. This he did, and he paid him. After this the worker brought some of his own work to do there — whereupon the tailor said to him: "Until now, when you did my work, I had to give you my table and all of my tools to work at it. But now, when you are doing your own work, why should I give you my table and all of my tools?" The analogue: The Holy One Blessed be He created time, day and night, to do His work, and you now want to learn Greek wisdom on His time! Go out and find an hour which is neither day nor night and learn it then!]

Now we can also understand Midrash Rabbah Vayikra in section 35, concerning Leviticus 26,3: "If you observe My commandments and carry them out;" Rabbi Chama said in the name of Rabbi Chanina that the meaning is that if you observe the Torah laws, I, (G–d) will consider this for you as if you had carried them out, the word אותם meaning the same as אתם, you." Rabbi Chaninah son of Pappa said that you will be considered as though you had created them yourselves, and, by extension, have created yourselves. Rabbi Chiyah taught: "He who studies to perform, not he who studies in order not to perform- for in such an instance it were better he had never been created. Rabbi Yochanan says that if someone studies with the intention of not performing, he should have had the afterbirth flung in his face so that he would not have been born alive. Rabbi Acha says that he who studies in order to perform (the commandments) will have the merit of welcoming the Holy Spirit. How do we know this? It is written in Joshua 1,8: למען תשמור לעשות ככל הכתוב בו, כי אז תצליח את דרכך ואז תשכיל. "So that you may observe faithfully all that is written therein (the Torah). Only then will you prosper in your undertakings and only then will you be successful." The expression תשכיל means that one is granted Holy Spirit as we know from Psalms 89,1: משכיל לאיתן האזרחי "An inspired statement by Eytan the Ezrahite." Thus far the Midrash in Vayikra.

When Israel was freed from the dominance of the angel of death while it received the Torah at Mount Sinai, and lost this freedom due to the sin of the golden calf, the angel Mattatarmolin with the face of an ox took up position on Israel's left, and Satan and the nations of the world started counting the people. Once the sin had been redressed by means of, amongst other things, the ashes of the red heifer, Torah was restored to being perfect, i.e תורת ידוד תמימה, so that even the מלאך רע יענה אמן, the angel that normally negates, portends evil, had to approve of Israel's rehabilitation. When this condition does not exist our situation is reversed and all our adversaries are waiting in the wings to applaud our downfall. In the introduction of Midrash Rabbah on Eichah, we find the comment on Daniel 8,12, וצבא תנתן על התמיד בפשע, "and a set time (army) will be allotted to the daily sacrifice because of sin." צבא means Malchiyut, i.e. dominance by other nations. We know this from Isaiah 24,21, יפקוד ה' על צבא המרום במרום "In that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven in heaven and the kings of earth on earth." The תמיד we referred to in Daniel, is a reference to Israel, since it is written והגית בו יומם ולילה, “occupy yourself with it by day and by night,” i.e. תמיד, constantly (Joshua 1,8). The word בפשע refers to the sin of neglecting Torah. Any time Israel throws Torah to the ground, other nations will prevail over us, since it says ותשלך אמת ארצה "when it throws truth to the ground." We know that אמת, truth, is a reference to Torah: אמת קנה ואל תמכור, "buy the truth, never sell it!" (Proverbs 23,23). If you throw words of Torah to the ground other nations will immediately prevail against you. Confirmation of this is found in Daniel 8,12, ועשתה והצליחה, "it will act and succeed." Since Gentiles do not have Torah, the verse must refer to the Gentiles prevailing over Israel.

There are three aspects to this pillar of Torah, which is one of the pillars supporting the world. 1) Involvement with Torah must not serve ulterior motives, but must be designed to understand and observe its laws. Torah wisdom proclaimed must be halachically sound. 2) Its pursuit must be constant, in accordance with the maxim of והגית בו יומם ולילה (Joshua 1,8). At the very least it is required to set aside regular times for Torah study and to make one's working hours a lesser priority. 3) One must provide financial help to those who study Torah as their main occupation, much as our sages taught us based on the verse “שמח זבולון בצאתך ויששכר באוהליך” (Deut.33,18). Rashi explains on that verse that the two tribes made an agreement whereby יששכר shared the merit acquired through his Torah study with זבולון, seeing the latter had financed it. The fact that יששכר produced great Torah scholars is attested to in Chronicles I 12,33, when the delegation of that tribe at the crowning of King David is described as being composed of outstanding people, which compensated for the fact that it was such a numerically small delegation.