NUM246 Ben Bag-Bag said: Turn and turn about in it [the Torah] for ... there is no better portion for you than this. Pirkei Avot, Perek V, mishnah 25. ... From eighty to one hundred, says the earlier mishnah [24], man deteriorates and declines, on his way to his ultimate passing. Says Ben Bag-Bag, ובלה בה -- literally, "disintegrate in it." Even in these last decades, when health wains and fails, remain immersed in Torah. Said R. Jonathan: "Never should a man keep away from the beth midrash and the words of Torah, not even about the time of death; for it stated: This is the Torah, should a man die in a tent… Even at the time of death, be occupied with the Torah" [this verse, T.B. Shabbath 83b].
SHOW FULL EXCERPT