מוסר אויף דברים 4:36

Truly, a person should make efforts to study Torah and not be concerned about his wealth. Rather, he should spend even all of his money in order to study Torah. And he should sell that which is light, which is wealth, and purchase that which is honorable, which is the study of Torah, as it is written, It is more precious than rubies, etc. (Proverbs 3:5). And fortunate is one who does so and fortunate is his lot! For he sells temporary life, which is wealth, and he purchases eternal life and existence forever and ever, which are words of Torah. And we have this text in the Pesikta [see Vayikra Rabbah 30:1]: Rabbi Yochanan was ascending from Tiberias to Tzippori, and Rabbi Chiya bar Abba was supporting him. They arrived at a certain field. [Rabbi Yochanan] said, "This field was mine, and I sold it in order to study Torah." They arrived at a certain vineyard. He said, "This vineyard was mine, and I sold it in order to study Torah." They arrived at a certain olive grove. He said, "This olive grove was mine, and I sold it in order to study Torah." Rabbi Chiya bar Abba wept. Rabbi Yochanan said to him, "Why are you weeping?" He said to him, "I am crying because you did not leave anything for your old age." He said to him, "Chiya, my son, is it insignificant in your eyes what I did, that I sold an item that was given in six days and acquired an item that was given in forty days and forty nights?" Behold, we learned that it, the Torah, is more precious to a person than any desirable vessel in the world. And we have this text in Bereishit Rabba (35:3): It is more precious than rubies, all objects cannot equal it, but [another] verse says, all of your objects cannot equal it (Proverbs 3:15). "[All] objects" – these are commandments and good deeds. "Your objects" – these are precious stones and pearls. These and those cannot equal it, [all] objects and your objects cannot equal it, as it is written, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom(Jeremiah 9:22), meaning if his wisdom is foreign wisdom; let not the strong man glory in his strength, meaning if it is not that he is conquering his [evil] impulse. As it has been learned [Avot 4:1], "Who is rich? One who is satisfied with his lot. [Who is strong? One who conquers his impulse.] Rather, let the one who glories, glory in this: perceiving and knowing Me (Jeremiah 9:23). And there is no knowing of the Holy One, blessed be He, except for the knowing of Torah, as it is stated, You have been shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God, there is none else (Deuteronomy 4:35). And it is written after it, From the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you, etc. (Deuteronomy 4:36). And I have heard if from the rabbi, Rabbi Yehudah, let the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, the son of Rosh: Thus said the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the strong man glory in his strength; let not the rich man glory in his riches. Rather, let the one who glories glory in this: perceiving and knowing Me, for I the Lord act with kindness, justice, and righteousness [tzedekha] in the world, for in these I delight, declares the Lord. It states in this verse, "wise, strong, and rich," and "kindness, justice, and righteousness" corresponding to them. This is to tell you, if he is wise, let him not glory in his wisdom unless he does kindness with it and teaches Torah to the masses. And if he is strong, let him not glory in his strength unless he does justice, since he has the capability. And let not the rich glory in his riches unless he does righteousness [gives tzedekha] to the poor.

There is a general concensus among our sages that the Torah was given to the Jewish people on the Sabbath. Torah originated in Heaven, (i.e. the domain of תפארת,) the domain in which the concept of Israel is at home. This domain radiates spiritual values in all six directions. Moses told the Israelites in Deut. 4,36: מן השמים השמיעך את קולו ליסרך, ועל הארץ הראך את אשו הגדולה, ודבריו שמעת מתוך האש. "G–d made you hear His voice from Heaven in order to discipline you, and on the earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire." The "earth" referred to here is the emanation מלכות. G–d told us that the emanations from תפארת up to and including the emanation מלכות, i.e. 7 emanations, were part of the revelation at Mount Sinai. These are the seven קולות, voices, that David refers to in Psalm 29 which we recite every Friday evening when ushering in the Sabbath. They are also an allusion to the tradition that this universe will continue for 6,000 years before it will experience a metamorphosis of 1,000 years after which the עולם הבא will be ushered in. The 1,000-year interval symbolises the concept of the Sabbath. We have discussed the dimension of "Time" on pages 208-209. When calculating the number of Sabbath days in the 6,000 years and adding the fact that the 1,000-year interval before the advent of עולם הבא is composed only of Sabbath days we get a total of 600,000 Sabbath days, or the same number as the number of the Jewish souls which experienced the Revelation and the building of the Tabernacle. This number also equals the number of letters the Torah is made up of.

G–d informed the Israelites of the fact that His Ineffable Name represents His Essence. They heard His voice via היכלו, His Sanctuary, which is a description of the name א-ד-נ-י. [G–d's Sanctuary or palace, in this case the fire on Mount Sinai, must be perceived of as a "shell" which protects the listener or viewer from being burned by G–d's Essence. Ed.] This "name" or fire, [the אש דת Ed.] is maintained by performance of the 613 commandments on Israel's part. This is what G–d alluded to when He said: זה שמי וזה זכרי. The Zohar has already pointed out that when you pair the word שמי with half the Ineffable name י-ה, you obtain the number 365, i.e. the number of negative commandments in the Torah, whereas when you pair the word זכרי with the other half of the Ineffable name i.e. ו-ה, you obtain the number 248, the number of positive commandments in the Torah. In order to emphasize the division we have outlined further, the Torah (Deut. 4,36) describes the episode of the revelation at Mount Sinai in the following words: מן השמים השמיעך את קולו … ועל הארץ הראך את אשו הגדולה, "From the Heaven He let you hear, etc.,on Earth He showed you His fire." It was because G–d wanted to acquaint Israel with the meaning of His Ineffable Name, that He commenced the Decalogue with the words: אנכי י-ה-ו-ה אלוקיך, and concluded the statement with: אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים. I have already explained on previous occasions that the miracles G–d performed in Egypt had as their objective to bring home to Israel the idea that the Ineffable Name stands for the G–d who was, is, and will be; who is able to renew the world-order at will, and who once before created the whole universe out of nothing. He is the absolute Master, and assigns what He chooses to whom He chooses. This was never more clearly demonstrated than when G–d dealt a fatal blow to the שר של מצרים, the most powerful force in the universe next to Him.