DEUT847 It is stated in the Midrash (Ruth Rabbah 1:1-2): "Rabbi asked Rabbi Betzalel: 'What is the meaning of (Hoshea 2:7): "For their mother has been adulterous"?' He answered:' When do words of Torah become adulterous? When their lords despise them. How so? As with the sage sitting and expanding [this verse]: "Do not pervert judgment," when he himself perverts judgment; "Do not play favorites," when he himself plays favorites; "Do not take a bribe," when he himself takes bribes.'" And thus did our Rabbis of blessed memory expound (Koheles 9:16): "The poor man's wisdom is despised." What does this mean? If one is poor in good deeds, his wisdom is despised. If he exhorts to the doing of good when he himself does not do it, his words are not accepted (Avos 1:17): "And it is not a learning which is primary, but the doing." Therefore, all men must perform their deeds for the sake of Heaven. This is clearly demonstrated in the case of Elisha ben Avuyah, who, because his father taught him Torah not for its own sake, in the end turned to heresy ... (Yerushalmi (Chagigah 2:1), Koheles Rabbah 7:8-18). [Note: See Milton Steinberg, As a Driven Leaf, 1939, for a novel based on the imagined life, times (early Rabbinic Era) and religious/philosophical struggles of Elisha ben Avuyah -- AJL].