NUM172 Rabbi Yose said … Prepare yourself for the study of Torah, for it is not given to you as an inheritance… Pirkei Avot, Perek II, mishnah 17. Scripture states: "The Torah which Moses commanded us is the inheritance (morashah) of the community of Jacob." (Deuteronomy 33:4). And the Sages comment: "Do not read morashah but rather m'orasah, betrothed" (T.B. Pesahim 49b). ... Rabbi Yode may have in mind the same thought. The person who falls heir to an "inheritance" is apt to treat the estate he never built and the money he never worked for, in a rather offhand and flippant manner. An inheritance is yours to squander or spend as you like. It comes to you easily, and you may choose to let it go easily. A betrothal, however, is quite another matter. In Jewish law a betrothal is the first part of a binding marriage, and for the man it means a serious obligation to cherish, maintain, and provide for his bride. Our Sages wisely envisioned the people Israel as "betrothed" to the Torah. In our fast-progressing, forward-looking age it would mean little to appeal that the ways of Torah be kept because they are hoary with antiquity and represent "beautiful old customs and traditions." It is foolish to ask for loyalty to Judaism because it is our "civilization" that we have inherited from our grandfathers. My grandfather ate with a wooden spoon. Should I, therefore, eat with a wooden spoon? My grandfather traveled by horse and buggy. Must I go by the same form of transportation? I wear tzitzith not because my father or grandfather wore them, but because the Almighty, Creator of the world, has commanded me to do so [this verse]. Over 1,500 years ago the Sages realized this important truth: We must not and cannot regard thee Torah as an inheritance, but only (speaking symbolically) as a bride to whom we have plighted our troth in a solemn covenant of betrothal. And the covenant directly and personally binds the present generation, as it obligated the past generations.