NUM326 Greater is Torah than the cohen's realm and than royalty: for royalty is acquired with thirty attainments, and the cohen's realm with twenty-four, while the Torah is acquired by forty-eight things. And they are: [21] by long-suffering patience; Pirkei Avot, Perek VI, mishnah 6. Whether you are a learner or a teacher, this quality is greatly needed. When a passage in the Talmud is perplexing, do not give up at once, in exasperation or despair. Try a little patience and persevere: go over it again and again; look up additional commentaries. Have patience, and you will ultimately see the light of understanding. Similarly, a teacher should never lose his aplomb or patience with his students. Often they can irritate and infuriate. Yet he should be ready to repeat his lesson again and again until it has been understood. It was Hillel, himself sweet-tempered, who warned in the second perek (mishnah six) that "a quick-tempered person cannot teach." ... Scripture tells: When the Hebrew soldiers returned, having vanquished the Midianites, "Moses was angry with the officers," etc. for sparing the enemy's treacherous women. Then, we find, El'azar the cohen explained to the soldiers the Divine laws for cleansing both war-booty metals and themselves from ritual impurity. Moses could not state these laws, says the Talmud: In his anger he forgot them! (Numbers 31:12-24. T.B. Pesahim 66b). And anger does worse things to the ordinary man: "He who has long-suffering patience," counsels the wise Solomon, "has great understanding; but a short-tempered person exults folly" (Proverbs 14:29).

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DEUT42 See [[NUM256]] Numbers 20:11 struck SINAI3 192-3

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DEUT87 Greater is Torah than the cohen's realm and than royalty: for royalty is acquired with thirty attainments, and the cohen's realm with twenty-four, while the Torah is acquired by forty-eight things. And they are: [44] learns in order to teach; Pirkei Avot, Perek VI, mishnah 6. This tells us not only why the dedicated scholar studies, but how. If a person learns merely for his own sake, he may give his lesson only cursory attention and stop after a superficial reading, "once over lightly." That, he may feel, is good enough for him. But when he intends to teach others, he knows he must gain a thorough grasp of the material, understand every point and every turn. It is not enough to fool himself that he has understood a given chapter. He will never fool his students, whose eager young minds will tear at the leash to try him and test him. So he studies "in order to teach"--with a persevering thoroughness. Actually, this is the only kind of study our faith considers worthy of the name. Scripture admonishes each parent about his precepts, "you shall make them known to your children and children's children"; "you shall teach them diligently to your children" [this verse, Deuteronomy 6:7]. Pure study just to the deck and festoon the mind is little valued in our faith. If you know, teach; share your learning; else, it will moulder and turn into a curse.

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DEUT93 See [[NUM180]] Numbers 15:39 follow SINAI3 275

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DEUT122 See [[NUM180]] Numbers 15:39 follow SINAI3 274-5

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DEUT267 … in the traditional Jewish family the roles of father and son fit together as in the join of a master mechanic: The father is bidden to provide his child with a thorough knowledge of the Torah; the son is obliged to respect and honor his parents; and when he obtains maturity and can appreciate his forefathers' worth and achievements, he is to say, "When shall my deeds equal theirs?" [this verse, Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:3. Seder Eliyahu Rabbah xxv (standard eds.).

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DEUT269 … when Scripture states, "And you shall teach them [the Torah's mitzvoth] diligently to your children" [this verse] the command is in the singular, from the Almighty to every parent personally: Educate your children in the Torah! Our tradition and its Sages were the first to demand education for all among an entire people, in every generation. In his Republic, the Greek philosopher Plato drew up a blueprint of his own for an ideal society: It was essentially totalitarian, quite undemocratic. Education, he wrote, must be limited to soldiers and the children of patricians (nobles, aristocrats). Children of the poor could become no more than laborers or artisans. Thousands upon thousands of Jewish children, since time immemorial, have become laborers and artisans too--but with a rich, masterful knowledge of their heritage. Quite a few Sages are identified in Talmud and Midrash by occupational titles: so-and-so the sandal-maker, so-and-so the carpenter, etc. Poverty has never been a factor to deprive a Jewish child from his rightful education. In fact, the Sages warned, "Treat the children of the poor with care, since from them shall Torah come" (T.B. Nedarim 81a).

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DEUT273 See [[DEUT87]] Deuteronomy 4:9 teach SINAI3 357

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DEUT393 Ben Bag-Bag said: Turn and turn about in it [the Torah] for everything is in it; and within it shall you look, and grow old and gray over it; and o not stir from it; for there is no better portion for you than this. Pirkei Avot, Perek V, mishnah 25. At the very least, this is a promise of longevity: If Torah is your main concern, you will be blessed with a long life. This was already implied by Solomon, when he said of Torah, "Long life is in her right hand" (Proverbs 3:16). But note that uv'leh (turn gray), actually means to fall apart, disintegrate. Torah study does weaken a person in a certain sense, or cause him to "fall apart." People who acknowledge no Creator develop an attitude of self-sufficiency and arrogance, and claim (as Scripture puts it), "My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth" [this verse]. But serious, penetrating Torah study evokes an inner struggle against the slightest trace of such arrogance or notion of self-sufficiency, and it becomes a lifelong battle. So the Talmud itself attests that "Torah weakens the strength of a man" (T.B. Sanhedrin 26b). The more he learns and absorbs, the more does the Torah demand surrender of arrogance and obedience to the Divinity that permeates human existence. In this sense, Torah breaks a man's strength until uv'leh, he falls apart. ... All grow old in time. But the person whose life centers about the golf course or the night club is truly lost when, at eighty, he can no longer indulge in his pastimes. If the student immersed a lifetime in Torah is aged and enfeebled by his study, not only is his strength replaced with a spiritual supplement, but (as R. Abraham Azulai notes) his Torah makes a venerated stage of him. Growing old in his study, he can say with David the Psalmist, "If Thy Torah had not been my delight, I would have been lost in my affliction" (Psalms 119:92)--in the affliction of old age.

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DEUT453 In the Sages' view, humility is an attribute of the Almighty Himself. There is a moving Talmudic passage, included in our prayers at the end of the Sabbath: Said R. Yohanan: In every instance where you find a mention of the Holy Blessed One's greatness, there you will also find His unassuming modesty. ... It is written in the Torah, "the Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who will not be partial nor take a bribe"; and immediately afterwards it is written, "He achieves justice for the orphan and the widow, and loves the stranger, in giving him bread and clothing"… [this and preceding verses, T.B. Megillah 31a]. Great in transcendent majesty is He, says the Torah -- and at once it assures us that no pride blocks His deep concern for those who need Him. So does the true Torah scholar become: his mind and vision are opened to soar to the heights and understand the loftiest and deepest matters of existence; yet he walks humbly among his fellow-men, ready to be concerned and give his help.

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